Call Center Software | Fewer Seats in the Contact Center | Envision
Sep 28, 2009

Fewer Seats in the Contact Center
Posted by: Jim Shulkin

Just in case there was anyone left that thought the Contact Center industry was immune to the global economic crisis (there isn’t really anybody, is there?), here’s new evidence to think again. In a recent report published by the National Association of Call Centers (NACC), it was determined that for the first time since the organization began collecting employment data in 2004, more contact center jobs were lost (approximately 5,000) than gained (2,500).
Although this shouldn’t come as a surprise to most of us, there are still some industries and specific geographies that have continued to grow through the recession and remain strong. The growth in these industries, and in some cases rampant growth (i.e., medical devices), has in large part been able to mitigate much of the losses of other industries that have been severely hit to show a continued industry-wide growth curve, albeit modest. For the first time in a while however, that’s no longer the case.
The good news is that David Butler, executive director of the NACC, also reports that there is light ahead. See the two key reasons he believes we’ll begin to see more jobs gained than lost again by the end of this year in this article by Chris Musico at CRM Magazine.
 
Fewer Seats in the Contact Center - 2:17 PM | General | Add Comment (1) |
Sep 25, 2009

Key Contact Center Trends
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:
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
 
Key Contact Center Trends - 12:00 AM | Call Center Best Practices | Add Comment (0) |