Contact centers are no longer simply a last line of defense when a customer needs assistance. Focusing mainly on the products or services your business provides without considering the overall brand experience can put your company at a disadvantage in today's encounter-based culture.
The modern contact center has become a vehicle that companies use to connect with their clientele. Achieving this core value of the customer service initiative takes two things: understanding your customer and giving your contact center agents the proper tools to meet your customer's expectations.
How Modern Contact Centers Helps Customer Service Initiatives
The truth is, what customers want hasn't changed much from the past— they want to contact your company and resolve their issue or question without inconvenience. That said, the way customers interact with your business has changed. They're looking to connect with your company in the way that feels most comfortable to them while experiencing expedient, personalized service.
Businesses know they need to provide numerous channels for customer contacts, but that alone isn't enough. Cloud contact center (CCaaS) technology expands that concept by customizing the service experience and making it seamless, something a legacy phone system typically cannot do as easily. With CCaaS platforms, communications are delivered through one application for a genuinely unified encounter.
Here's how:
Personalized Encounters
· Connect via social, SMS, in-app messaging, chat, video, or phone—whichever your customer prefers.
· Self-service options allow customers to access resources and resolve specific questions without an agent.
· Visible histories of past encounters, purchases, and customer demographics let agents provide a more personalized contact.
· Automation features such as chatbots, call deflection, or virtual hold give customers flexible resolution options.
Multiple Types of Smart Routing
· Omnichannel Routing: Configure specific routing set to deliver optimized voice and digital interactions from one routing engine.
· Skills-based Routing: Customers get to the best agent for their call based on pre-set determinations, including agent skillset, language, or even channel.
· Artificial Intelligence (AI) Routing: AI learns to recognize message intent and routes digital communications accordingly.
All this leads to an enhanced customer experience where wait times are shorter, first call resolutions are higher, and service is more personalized for your customer.
Cloud Contact Center is a Modern Business Culture Initiative
The Great Resignation has shown that employee expectations have shifted, centering on work-life balance, specifically working from home. Today's workforce is more likely to quit their jobs should work overshadow their well-being. That's not a good trend for contact centers as they already have a high turnover rate.
Traditional contact centers may lack the tools to simplify the agent’s workload, tending to lead to agent burnout. Agents are typically struggling to keep up with an influx of calls, and many customers are angry due to the inefficient and frustrating experience. That only adds to the growing exodus.
Implementing a CCaaS platform can help change your team's perspective about business culture. Employees are more likely to feel empowered and engaged because not only have they got what they need to get their jobs done easier, they're also more readily connected to their colleagues through the platform itself.
One plus is that the platform is the same, whether they're on the go, at home, or in the office. All they need to do is sign in to the app from anywhere there's an internet connection on any device, and they're ready to work.
Secondly, better tools mean your workforce can provide superior service, and it's easier for them to do so. Modern contact centers make that happen through enhanced:
· Collaboration: Your team can contact each other and even share files when the need arises, so agents get answers in real-time.
· Coaching: Provide immediate feedback on agent performance through screen capturing, silent monitoring, and call recording.
· Productivity: Shorter wait times and higher first call resolutions mean less stress and increased productivity for your agents.
· Efficiency: Routing calls to the best-suited agent the first time ensures everyone stays at their most efficient.
As digital technology evolves, so too do consumer and employee expectations. Companies who want to rise to the challenge of exceeding such expectations can look to adopting the core value that the modern contact center provides.
Would you like to learn more about the many features and benefits of today’s contact center and how it can help your business thrive in today's landscape? Contact us here.
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