Top Five Contact Center Trends for 2014

The customer contact center experience is going through rapid transformation as new technology is improving the overall experience.

Customers are demanding that they be able to to interact with  their vendor by whatever method they choose.

Increased revenues, increased CSAT scores and increased customer retention is the primary benefit of those organizations that take a long hard look at their contact center and make improvements as necessary.

In many cases, this will mean replacing their aged and discontinued TDM based contact center for a cloud based or hybrid cloud based solution that offers a complete suite of interaction technologies.

The top trends are as follows:

1. Migrations to the Cloud

Cloud based contact center solutions are becoming a very strong viable choice. This is due to the ability to add features quickly, a monthly cost model, lower TCO than premise based solutions, and a strong redundancy solution. The best providers provide a list of applications that can transform your business.

2. Mobile Devices Driving a better Interaction Experience

Consumers want to be able to interact using their smartphone for voice, smartphone through an app, or tablet driven.

3. Big Data

Without a doubt a contact center that uses big data will have a better understanding of their caller and their buying patterns or history. This could improve the inbound experience but is also valuable in an outbound call. If you know Bobby buys his acne products every three months then it is simple to reach out and offer a reminder. I think Amazon does a great job with this because if you are buying books on woodworking then you might also be buying woodworking tools.

4. Speech Analytics

This powerful tool can really simplify the whole "please listen carefully as our options have changed.....press 1 for English and 2 for French....blah blah blah".

Service.......Internet......Cable Modem........ring ring ring...."Hello How can I help you?"

5. Social Media

With the rapid rise in social media networks and a place where consumers spend time then there may be a compelling business case to offer integration within those platforms. If a consumer is within Facebook or a vendor Facebook page then why not be able to click to the call center for service?

People also use twitter to blast out their dissatisfaction so coupled with Big Data a trigger can occur where the agent does an outbound call to the angry consumer..."I understand you are unhappy with your Delta Flight...how can I help?"

6. Personalized Multi-Channel Service

This will allow a better call experience for the consumer with a personal touch to their interactions. No need to offer a French or Spanish menu if they speak English, no need to got through multiple menu trees when the caller is a platinum rewards member and should be bumped or transferred to the high priority queue. if they always ask for a emailed sales receipt then just make it happen automatically without wasting 20 seconds of dialogue to ask for the email address. Its on file already.

7. The Browser is another interaction Channel

If I am getting upset with trying to make a purchase but before going through registration, verifying the email address , etc. etc. to find out my $12 purchase warrants a $40 DHL shipment cost, then why can I not do a web chat and confirm it before wasting time. Web chat works great when on your tablet while watching TV and trying to buy something. Make sure your website or e-commerce site is smartphone or tablet friendly. Shipping costs is the primary reason in the abandoned cart report.

8. CSAT is Important

Customer satisfaction scoring is important again for those that forgot the past ten years. It is easier to retain a customer than find a new one. Happy customers will continue to buy more stuff from you and with big data you can actually promote new products and services to your existing customers in order to increase the wallet share.