With cloud contact center growth on the rise, several trends are emerging that offer encouraging news for 2020 and beyond. According to Mitel, seventy percent of businesses already operate their contact center in the cloud (or are planning a migration to the cloud in the next year). With growth expectations in the next 5 years nearly tripling 2018 numbers, it’s worth taking a look at what is working well for those who are seeing success after adopting a cloud-based contact center. Here are a few practices that are trending right now. Take a look and see if any of these match your current contact center experience:
Data Analytics
Critical for continued success is the ability to put together a strategic plan of action. Good action plans cannot be accomplished without accurate data and visibility of important business measurements like trends, behaviors and preferences. If businesses lack these numbers, it becomes increasingly difficult to adequately plan for future months, quarters, years.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one way to efficiently analyze and apply information gathered about customer behaviors, buying preferences, cycles and more. It’s possible to process and analyze data without AI, but it’s extremely time consuming and can be unreliable if data is fragmented and requires manipulation to be evaluated properly. AI helps alleviate the labor by giving businesses the ability to crunch numbers in seconds. The advantage comes with information being available in real-time, allowing your business to respond quickly and keep customers satisfied (creating lasting customer loyalty).
Help the Customer Help Themselves
Gone are the days when a customer is willing to call customer service and wait in the queue to get their question answered. When time is of the essence, the speed with which questions are answered is what differentiates you from the competition. That’s where chatbots come in to play. Chatbots have become a popular way of being the first line of defense for businesses. They can be used to answer frequently asked questions (FAQs) or route the customer to the proper agent based on their question or the issue at hand. This keeps the customer engaged and moving while at the same time keeps wait times low for those who are waiting for a live agent.
TOLLY ENTERPRISES FAVORS MITEL MICLOUD FLEX OVER SOLUTIONS FROM 8X8 AND RINGCENTRAL
Growing Remote Workforce
As cloud contact centers gain popularity, so does the ability to operate with a new kind of remote workforce. As opposed to low-cost, offshore agents through a third-party vendor, organizations can afford to hire local expertise in regions around the country to bring old-fashioned customer service closer to the customer. This trend, often referred to as “homeshoring” is a cost-effective way to offer quality customer service without needing to rent out or own office space to accommodate the agents, keeping business overhead to a minimum.
Moving Forward
What’s worth mentioning is the importance of having the infrastructure in place to support these efforts, as it will be difficult to implement these practices without the right tools. This is where it helps to have an expert on hand to guide you through the terrain that is today’s array of contact center solutions. From cloud adoption, to application software and training, a lot of planning goes into making sure execution goes well and implementation is successful. Be sure to talk with a solution provider with experience and documented success before moving forward.
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