Every day, more than half a billion calls are made back and forth between customers and contact centres.
Traditionally, these calls were handled through physical contact centres staffed with live agents. However, today, the landscape is quite different.
A majority of customer calls and queries are routed through digital channels with the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and evolving cloud contact centre software in today?s time..?
Companies now offer customers multiple communication channels including:
Mobile applications:
Given the rising penetration of mobile phones, providing access to sales and services to customers via mobile applications helps brands greatly improve their customer experience delivery.
Websites:
The ability to purchase products and subscribe to services via the company?s Website offers a great deal of comfort to buyers. Businesses can also add FAQs to their sites in order to answer common queries.?
Chat and voice bots:
AI software can analyse basic frequent customer problems and offer a quick resolution. This helps reduce the need and expenditure of hiring employees for contact centres.
Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems:
These systems automate processes like payments and other simple queries that can be resolved via self-service.?
All of these technological upgrades have become the new norm. Businesses are adapting themselves to the digitisation of interactions and leaving behind older methods that demand mandatory human presence.
However, instead of formulating a binary mindset of relying solely upon either human or digital solutions, businesses are realising the need to strike a balance between both in order to offer optimal CX.
By making their operations chiefly revolve around either of these two, brands may experience a gap between their human channels and their cloud contact centre software.
This disconnect may result in fragmented CX, which may in turn fuel frustration on both ends of the exchange.
An effective solution
Brands that have successfully transitioned to a technology-driven communication system have done so by strengthening not just their digitisation efforts, but also have worked on training their agents.
Explained below are three potential ways to create a perfect blend for seamless communication and enhanced CX:
Connect with customers where they?re most comfortable
As the usage of smartphones becomes increasingly widespread, more and more consumers are getting used to alternative ways of communication such as messaging, emails, social media, etc.
Not just with friends and family, they want to communicate with businesses in a similar fashion too. They want human assistance, but they also want to connect with companies via channels they are most comfortable using.
Thus, companies that offer effective information exchange through mobile phones see better rates of digital consumer engagement and satisfaction.
The hybrid era of contact centres
The pandemic fast-tracked changes in the workplace that would otherwise have taken years. Most offices had to move their entire operations to a virtual workspace after having functioned offline for decades.
As the world is now gradually returning to its usual order, businesses are investing time and money into coming up with their own unique hybrid work models. These models allow employees to work from both homes and offices.
Such hybrid models also allow for quicker digital transformations. Four major areas of focus for such models are:
- Development and training
- Educating and managing the workforce
- Regular quality management
- Talent acquisition on a wider, more global scale
Adequate training can help every organisation transition to a digital way of work, build a more proactive workforce and save valuable time and money.
Reassessing voice calls
Making the digital space comfortable and effective for consumer interaction should be amongst the biggest priorities for all businesses.
Instead of simply putting out a toll free number that forces callers to navigate long-winded menus, the focus should be on making the Website more interactive and user-friendly.
While completely eliminating calling features is not an option, taking a ?digital first? approach can be greatly beneficial for many businesses. Not only does it offer financial gain, but also strengthens the CX that a business offers to its audiences.
A digital approach is also where Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be integrated to smoothen the process of customer communication. Artificial Intelligence can help callers feel more independent, while also cutting down the need for emotional and time investments that human interactions demand.
By switching to AI, companies can restructure their operations to reach solutions that fuel digital growth and help a traditional business model become more contemporary and agile.
Summary
The market?s demand for technology-driven solutions is only going to rise.
Companies that adapt rapidly without resisting this change are bound to gain a sharp competitive advantage in a very short span of time. According to Statista, 84% of global business organisations believe that AI will give them a strong edge over their competitors.
Organisations that step forward and decide to question the current status quo, while taking a closer look at their existing customer journeys are going to yield the best results.
Author Bio
Kritik Verma is a marketing enthusiast with a specialization in digital marketing. He is currently working at Servetel, a leading cloud telephony provider offering cloud services like IVR Solutions, Toll Free Number, Virtual number system and many more to boost business success. He enjoys cycling, travelling, indies music, and reading about the latest digital marketing trends.
