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‘Contact Centres Are Trapped in a Vicious Cycle’

Sandra Radlovacki
Jul. 1 2022
Man with headset writing in a book while working at a contact center
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Over the past few years, many contact centres have implemented emerging and disruptive technologies to improve customer journey efficiency.

Yet, despite utilising cutting-edge technology, pain points within the service experience continue to plague the industry.

CX Today Senior Editor Charlie Mitchell hosts John D’Anna, President and CEO of Hammer, to uncover how contact centres can react and fulfil their potential in 2022.

The discussion starts by introducing some of the most common challenges contact centres have faced in the last couple of years. Referencing the findings from a recent Hammer report, D’Anna points out three concerning trends.

“90% of contact centre leaders are feeling that the business has unrealistic expectations of them. Contact volumes are still rising across all channels. On top of that, customers and agents are leaving organisations more than ever before.”

Hybrid working environment has created a real challenge for contact centres, as agents are dealing with an increased cognitive load, notes D’Anna.

“Agents have to deal with hybrid technology in the networks themselves, whether it’s all private cloud-based or on-prem technologies.”

“80% of organisations we surveyed have migrated all their contact centres or part of them to the cloud.”

Surprised by this figure, D’Anna says the migration should have gone much faster than it has. He continues:

“We’ve also found that 39% of contact centres have a mix of home-based and office-based agents. 30% of them are still office-based and another 30% is entirely remote.

Finally, voice quality for home-based agents seems to be another striking challenge over the last 12 months, as 70% of surveyed contact centres attested.

Breaking the vicious cycle

Deeming the investment unnecessary, some organisations skip implementing a quality assurance solution and often experience many more operational and CX-related problems as a result.

“If you don’t do any testing for problems, your customers are going to find them”, says D’Anna.

Due to the lack of resources, organisations become trapped in a vicious cycle of dealing with a high volume of calls, fewer agents, and changing technology.

“This causes service failures, leading to repeat calls and similar issues,” he continues. “At the same time, they don’t have the bandwidth to implement the technology improvements such as IVR updates or self-service, that is actually necessary to provide great customer experience.”

Thankfully, D’Anna shares tips on how contact centre can sidestep this vicious cycle and fulfil their potential.

“There’s been great advances around testing automation. For example, Hammer Voice Explorer can go through the IVR and understand the calls received through this channel, finding any errors or flaws.”

“Through testing, we can deliver a blueprint for success for our customers, ensuring that technology and the improvements do deliver what is expected from the business and deliver outstanding customer experience.

Sandra Radlovacki, CX Today - Read the original article here.

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Sandra Radlovacki
Sandra Radlovacki
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