Demand for improved contact centre performance has never been greater. At Foehn, we’re receiving an unprecedented number of enquiries from businesses that are seeking to deliver better customer service. It’s a requirement that’s been at the core of customer-centric organisations for decades. More recently, though, the need to improve the customer experience (CX) and to make the customer journey as effortless as possible has been pursued with renewed intensity.
What’s driving this groundswell of CX activity? Why are businesses rebuilding their organisations around CX?
Why has CX perfection become the most critical objective in the business strategy?
For sure, the Internet has turned consumer behaviour through 180 degrees over the past ten years. From star ratings to social media rants, consumers are taking the lead in expressing their opinions and impacting market shares, with just one click of a button. Mobile apps and a proliferation of communication channels have given consumers the power to demand service and make a purchase when, where and how they want it.
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Rafael Cortes[/caption]
Clearly, consumer power is driving businesses to go up a gear when it comes to CX. But businesses themselves are raising the CX bar as well, escalating service levels in the hope they will outperform the competition. This side of the story isn’t about consumer power, it’s about technology. It takes a lot to change consumer behaviour, but this is one of the those few occasions when technology is truly driving demand, changing expectations and reshaping the sales process.
The contact centre has replaced the market stall, the retail outlet and the online store as the battle ground for sales, repeat sales, customer retention and brand values. Omnichannel communication, automated processes, machine learning, voice analytics, intelligent routing...the list of new and evolving technology is pushing the contact centre towards the heart of the business and impacting virtually every business process.
That’s why our phones are buzzing with customers wanting to upgrade or rip-and-replace old call centre systems that are just not up to the job required today. In the past, there have been ripples of interest in technical advances such as omnichannel and CRM integration but today there’s a wave of interest in a complete refresh of the contact centre design in line with digital transformation strategy or a broader CX culture-change within the organisation. That’s why our consultants are being kept busier than usual with helping clients build a business case or advise on integrating the contact centre with business operations.
Interestingly, for all of our customers, there’s always a specific issue or problem that forces the decision to tip over in favour of taking action rather than putting up with the status quo. Individually, each of these issues sheds light on the problem with the legacy system but, as a whole, this list of issues offers a broader view of a contact centre specification that organisations need today. Take a look.
What’s your problem?
1 - Inflexible, hardware infrastructure
Yes, it’s the obvious one, but none the less crucial. A fully maintained, upgraded, cloud-powered platform saves money, offers per-user pricing and always delivers the most recent features. As usual, though, simplicity is often more important than financials. Cloud infrastructure allows scalability, configuration and implementation to be managed easily through a dedicated management portal. For busy IT managers, that counts for a lot more than financial savings.
2 - Poor management information
Data analytics is the lifeblood of any CX strategy. It powers the customer journey, supports KPI measurement and gives valuable insight into agent performance. Consistently, owners of legacy contact centre systems bemoan the inadequate provision of feedback data which in turn limits the management task. Latest systems offer the dashboards, wallboards and real-time monitoring required to optimise resources.
3 - Declining productivity
Agents waste a lot of time on enquiries outside their scope or on those that can be answered simply with published information. The provision of self-service IVR gives the caller access to answers faster and without tying up the agent. A modern contact centre allows self-service tasks to be built into the customer journey to improve the experience and reduce response time.
4 - Slow service providers
Administration and configuration of the contact centre system are essential for optimal performance. Left to third-party service providers, though, response can be slow, costly and a threat to the customer experience.
A management portal with a simple, intuitive user interface can allow managers and employees to undertake many of the simpler tasks more rapidly and at less cost.