Imagine what a contact centre may look like in ten years time. In the technological world, a decade is a generation. If you can remember the year 2000, consider what technology was like then. Hosted telephony was still just a dream, as was SIP, and social media wasn't even a proper term. It's amazing, albeit a bit scary, how rapidly technology progresses, with less focus on direct interaction and even less focus on the human being. Bearing that in mind, here are some of the advancements that will no doubt shape the call centre of the future.
The largest continuing change is, without doubt, investment in VoIP, or Voiceover Internet Protocol. Businesses have generally been utilising VoIP for one reason - to lower costs - while neglecting to recognise its full potential. Research is showing that investment in VoIP and, to a lesser degree, workforce optimisation and CRM systems looks set to increase.
The great platitude, which does hold some meaning, is that customers are either a phone call or mouse click away from finding another service. Whether true or not, it must be assumed: successful interactions are imperative. Thus, the emphasis on customer service is more important than ever. Multi-channel technology will be a step up in customer choice, allowing them to choose text messaging or video, personalising the way one-to-one and web interactions are accommodated and handled.
Further down the line, then, the total virtualisation of call centres isn't so hard to imagine. In fact, it's inevitable. It will be just as easy for agents to work remotely - from home, a personal office, hub buildings, or even on the go. High speed connections to the web are getting faster, more reliable and more ubiquitous - therefore, there is less need for agents to work in offices, as a team. This will ultimately lower already inexpensive costs, as firms will no longer have to consider commercial property and equipment. This immediately raises the question of whether customers' enquiries will be handled properly and professionally - although interactions would typically be monitored by workflow and CRM systems.
Another vital change will be call routing, which we see on a small scale now, but will eventually allow customers to be quickly matched to the most appropriate agent. Voice recognition software will let centres deal more efficiently with customer and security checks, such as questioning. Already in effect is social customer service, which proves a hit with consumers. The concept is simple: customers interact online, in forums and such, answering each other's questions and solving one another's problems.
It may be a decade away, but as companies vie for new customers, optimised service and lower costs, the call centre will inevitably evolve. Hosted telephony was the last game changer, and it will continue to shape the industry, but who knows what's next. But with the focus on customer service and retention bigger than ever, one thing is for sure: the integration of new technology will make interactions easier and more personalised, offering a better service for clients and even better results for companies.
Steve Alexander has been writing about the future of the contact centre. For more information on hosted telephony, as well as SIP services, go to btlnet.co.uk
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