It’s no surprise that new tech and bigger, faster data have changed how we work and communicate. But with more and more businesses moving online, the pressure on contact centres is ramping up with no signs of slowing down.
Now, customers expect to connect with agents however they want, whenever they want. And they expect a reply in minutes — if not seconds.
To keep up with increasing demands, contact centres must adapt and implement advanced solutions to enhance customer experience and performance. So, which three contact centre trends should resellers pay attention to as we speed into the new year?
1. Self-service and automation
Not every customer query needs human assistance. We saw that when the pandemic hit, self-service became essential to help dilute volume calls.
Smart Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems and automated chatbots freed up agents for work that needed more attention — and it doesn’t look like this trend is going anywhere. Gartner reckons proactive or outbound customer engagement reactions will outnumber reactive interactions by 2025.
By integrating self-service and automation into their functionality, contact centres can effectively reduce the agent workload, cutting costs in half without compromising customer experience. Plus, agents won’t have to spend hours on a call with a single customer, which isn’t an efficient (or fun!) use of time — for anyone.
2. XCaaS
There’s sometimes a disconnect between unified communications (UC) and contact centres. But if customers are constantly getting transferred from one agent to another, repeating the same information over and over again, they’ll often abandon the service.
Will 2023 be the year unified communications and contact centres finally get in sync? We reckon so, and it’s all thanks to Experience Communications as a Service (XCaas)…
XCaaS solutions, like Avaya Cloud Office by RingCentral, will erase the boundaries between UC and contact centres by connecting every touchpoint together. Voice, video, chat, messaging — you name it.
No matter the touchpoint, XCaaS means agents will have all the information they need at their fingertips, ready to handle customer interactions seamlessly and effortlessly in 2023. Not to mention gain valuable insights that help contact centres maximise performance and customer service.
3. Artificial intelligence
To ensure a successful, frictionless customer support experience, contact centres must get on board with artificial intelligence (AI) ahead of the new year.
How a customer experience unfolds has a lot to do with how it’s initially routed. And thanks to AI routing algorithms, all incoming queries — via phone, email, messaging or any other channel — can be directed to the right solution or agent instantly, meaning interactions can be handled efficiently and positively.
AI can even help to identify when a conversation needs to be taken from a self-service chatbot to a real-life agent, passing on the collected information to make for a seamless transition. AI chatbots may be good at solving simple problems — but the more complex issues still need an agent’s touch!
We think AI technology really shines when it comes to security, though.
Contact centres are a rich source of sensitive personal information. Think credit card and account details, email addresses and logins…
Because of this, they’re constantly exposed to internal and external data security threats. Less than ideal. But thanks to advanced algorithms and data pattern prediction, AI-based solutions like Invosys Call Shield can identify the tell-tale signs of potentially fraudulent or spam phone calls.
And if the recent rise in contact centre fraud is anything to go by, these kinds of AI solutions will be absolutely essential as we head into 2023…
The communications industry is constantly evolving, and we’re determined to lead from the front with our boundary-pushing, transformative solutions that make the complex simple. Want to become an Invosys channel partner and demystify the business communications market for everyone, from contact centres and financial institutions to SMEs? Get in touch today at sales@invosys.com or call us on 0161 444 3333.
