CCaaS Underpins Top Trends Impacting the Customer Service Sector
While it’s been a turbulent time for businesses all over the world, there have been many inspiring stories of perseverance and success. In the category of a best supporting character, Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS) solutions infused with AI-powered technology has really excelled. Not only have they enabled the sudden shift to work from home they have also helped support customer services with digital customer experiences (CX) that have spread some of the workloads from swamped contact centres.
The customer service industry has certainly been through a period of accelerated change. Many contact centres rose to the challenges of COVID by embracing new technology, bypassing standard decision-making cycles, for the benefit of both customers and their staff. As we now look at a future of hybrid work and an increased customer willingness to self-serve what are the key CX trends contact centres need to consider in 2022.
The humble phone call is far from extinct
While it has been shown that some customer segments are even telephone-adverse, during COVID many industries saw unmanageable spikes in call volumes. In light of this the trend towards intelligent digital services underpinned with AI needs to be considered as a part of a bigger picture not a replacement for agent led CX.
The convenience of digital services should be balanced with human connection to fully cater to customer needs. Voice-to-voice interactions matter because they allow an organisation to convey empathy and understanding which can’t be duplicated with digital options. People are wired to articulate emotions and build connections because it serves a fundamentally social function. Organisations need to be mindful of this as it impacts how customers connect with a brand and whether they become loyal customers.
The key to this balance is choice, customers should not have their hands forced. By offering a range of channels with consistent messaging across all of the customers will have greater choice and the confidence to use more cost-efficient digital options when appropriate. But there are a few things to consider with this holistic approach.
The channel-less approach will continue to be a game changer
One of the most common pain points for customers engaging with a contact centre is having to repeat themselves. AI-powered digital options will only continue to gain popularity if they are fully integrated by CX technology so complete real-time histories are available regardless of the channel. Customers want the anytime, anywhere, any channel convenience that has started to become normalised over the past few years. However, if these alternative services start to be perceived as a waste of time because when they do have to call an agent they need to repeat everything, it will undermine the progress that has been made.
CCaaS solutions use omnichannel tools to integrate all interactions into a channel less strategy. This means that each interaction flows on to the next even if a client switches between channels. Agents can focus on giving the best most appropriate help and advice when they know what steps a customer has already taken. This increases not only customer satisfaction but also agent satisfaction and that is an important relationship to consider. CX is positively influenced by user experience (UX) or to put it another way, customer satisfaction and agent satisfaction affect each other.
Employee-centric working models
In 2022 – and after such a tempestuous couple of years – paying more attention to the needs and well-being of employees is a key trend and an important factor for businesses. Not only do happy and engaged workers lead to happier more satisfied customers, but staff retention amid “The Great Resignation” needs to be a focus. Employees in all sectors are re-evaluating their work-life balance and are now quicker than ever to leave a job if they aren’t happy. Losing staff, and the recruitment and onboarding required to replace them is costly.
Again, this is an area where technology can help. CCaaS solutions are cloud-based so enable the flexibility of complex staffing equations. Agents can work from home with security and supervision that does not undermine contact centre operations. Workforce optimisation tools and gamification also help bolster productivity and engagement by promoting a team mentality despite the distance. This is important as a human connection in a more physically remote world can have a positive impact too. The choice is crucial to agents as well as customers, and flexible technology provides that.
More specifically however what should be considered is the impact of AI-powered tools on agent satisfaction. By taking over repetitive tasks with low satisfaction agent time is concentrated on interactions where they can have maximum impact. Not only does this mean AI systems help divert some of the workloads, they can also lend a hand in working progress through agent assistance and next step suggestions. Crucially by allowing agents to spend their time on the interactions that really need their skills they are empowered to consider career development and further training.
Satisfaction often depends on both CX and UX and CCaaS solutions help contact centres take a definitive step in the right direction. This balanced view of the customer service equation means that not only is this trend a wise business strategy it addresses the moral aspect of looking after your employees’ wellbeing.
Mastering the trends to be 2022 prepared
There is a triple challenge moving forwards of creating long term relationships with customers to a backdrop of ongoing uncertainty, the rise of e-commerce and more digital customer service options. The concern here is that organisations could become entirely disconnected from their customers, or even in the case of vulnerable customers miss the chance to really provide help in a significant way.
Although technology can sometimes appear on the surface as a complicating factor it is really an underused tool. By harnessing CCaaS solutions to integrate and unify customer interactions with the human touch, provided by agents, organisations can really differentiate themselves through their service provisions. Although these trends may seem distinct, they all contribute to bringing customers and organisations closer together.
