Top 3 Contact Center Trends That Are Driving Business Outcomes

As a communications consulting firm that helps businesses uncover needs, plan, deploy, and support their new cloud-based systems journey, we work with many companies that adopt the technology primarily for enhanced call quality. At the same time, their contact center platforms are capable of advanced functionality that may not be top of mind. 

But that's starting to change. 

AI-driven productivity, personalized customer experiences, and redefined employee engagement are not new concepts to the contact center. However, they're becoming more recognized as helping forward-thinking organizations achieve meaningful operating benefits with improved employee productivity, efficiency, and engagement while providing tailored customer interactions and lowering costs. 

Here are some of the ways these top three contact center trends are driving business outcomes:  

AI Boosts Call Center Productivity and Efficiency 

Using cloud-based technologies with AI functionality can boost call center efficiency and productivity by allowing AI-enabled features to work hand-in-hand with your reps. Not every call needs to go to a live agent, but if it does, AI helps ensure a first-call resolution (FCR) by getting it to the appropriate person. Then, when live agents are brought into the digital loop, they are prepared with information and better equipped to help the customer.    

In addition, programming interactive voice response (IVR) menus and chatbots—which are growing in complexity for the problems they can solve—correctly not only help with improving call flow, but they can also make calls go more smoothly for everyone involved by automating mundane tasks like: 

• Verifying credentials 

• Determining reasons for calls  

• Collecting information before a live agent takes over 

This blended service delivery allows agents to focus on more complex tasks while providing high-quality customer service experiences and reducing overall costs associated with operations and staffing needs. These digital advancements are redefining the customer experience, and savvy businesses are taking advantage of them to boost productivity and efficiency, affecting revenue streams. 

Personalized CX in the Contact Center Impacts Your Bottom Line 

Of course, customer satisfaction is a top trend for organizations these days. But what's new is that businesses are beginning to realize that good CX is a path to profitability. 

By providing customers with an exceptional experience, companies can build trust and create long-term relationships that will lead to increased sales. Additionally, by delivering high-quality customer service from the start, companies can significantly reduce customer churn rates and ensure that their clients keep coming back for more. 

Additionally, cloud communications platforms now offer various customization options for users, allowing them to tailor their experience to meet their needs. Coupled with personalized service and proactive problem-solving capabilities, this gives customers an improved user experience, often leading to greater satisfaction and higher conversion rates. 

Lastly, having a strong presence in social media or other channels allows companies to engage directly with customers improving relationships while giving brands helpful insight into what customers think about their offerings. That's invaluable data for your bottom line when looking at enhancing CX practices or launching new products or services. 

Contact Center Redefines Employee Engagement 

Nationwide labor shortages are causing many call centers to rethink employee retention strategies. Attrition is costly; attracting and keeping agents has become more important than ever in today's business landscape. 

Workforce optimization (WFO) strategies (also driven by AI!) are a great way to ensure agents are appropriately scheduled, trained, evaluated, and rewarded. Cloud-based contact center systems have many tools that improve employee engagement:  

• Offering the ability to work from any device, anywhere there is an internet connection. 

• Giving managers the data and functionality to oversee and interact with remote and hybrid workers as they do with in-office staff. 

• Simplifying the outbound process for agents by using cloud-based dialer software that queues calls based on programmable options. 

• Providing historical data and other analytics that help call center managers schedule better for peak call volumes.   

• Using predictive AI to score both inbound/outbound calls to provide better guidance on calls and re-training when necessary.   

In addition, using employee work history records and call center trend analysis to provide employees with shift-swap tools to trade shifts quickly and easily offers flexibility to customer service agents, increases employee satisfaction, and provides nimble management scheduling while reducing operational costs.  

Is your organization wondering how to get more tangible business benefits out of your cloud-based communications system? Are you considering a move to cloud and don't know where to begin? We can help with everything from discovery, planning, implementation, and ongoing support. Contact our support team now! 

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