Sep 25, 2009
Key Contact Center Trends
Posted by: Jim Shulkin
Posted by: Jim Shulkin
In its most recent Customer Contact eBulletin, Frost & Sullivan asked principal Contact Center Analyst Joe Outlaw what he believes are the key trends on the rise in the contact center.
His answers were as follows, and I definitely recommend checking out this link to read the full description/explanation for each:
- Social Networking for Customer Contact
- Speech Recognition Interfaces for Inbound and Outbound Customer Contact Applications
- Pro-Active Customer Contact
Although I wasn’t surprised by the answers, as they all make good tactical sense and are consistent with efforts we’re seeing in the market, I actually think there may be a few less apparent, but real important underlying messages to be taken from the trends he gave:
- The global recession and resulting impacts that have touched us all in some way have had at least one positive affect on the contact center industry – it’s forced us all to look closely at our operations and be creative and assertive about how to do things by new or even unconventional means in order to more closely manage costs and in many cases do more with less. It’s made almost everyone leaner, which can be limiting of course, but is also historically a tremendous impetus for change, and even innovation when we’re motivated or mandated to do so.
- As if delivering excellent customer service wasn’t important before, the economic crisis has likely even amplified the requirement for it. Because consumers (businesses and individuals) are leaner as well, they are pickier and more careful about their investments in products and services, and have less tolerance for ineptitude in their delivery by vendors, as there are typically many other hungry (leaner) competitors standing in line to service them better. So the cruel irony is the demand for better service has only intensified, while the traditional means and resources to deliver on it have likely been decimated or at least “modified.”
I believe these two realities are largely responsible for the trends mentioned, and driving several others we’re also seeing.
Post tags: Contact Center Best Practices, Joe Outlaw, Frost & Sullivan,
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