Interactive Intelligence predicts which trends will revolutionise customer engagement.
1. Customer-centricity links the contact centre, enterprise and external stakeholders
In today’s customer-centric world, customer relationships are becoming everyone’s responsibility. One of the biggest challenges companies face in this new shared responsibility is the number of employees involved in handling customer interactions. This challenge will drive the need for digital workstreams powered by converged systems that support engagement, communications and collaboration. The cloud will play a key role in this.
These digital workstreams will help break down the barriers between the contact centre and enterprise, organisations and their partners, and suppliers and customers. The result will be faster response times and greater knowledge sharing.
2. The Internet of Things (IoT) expands the omnichannel experience
The explosive growth of device connectivity, wireless technology, cloud computing, and advanced analytics has driven the Internet of Things (IoT) from vision to reality.
Today, a full one-third of companies report using IoT, with another third planning to do so in 2016.
But how do companies use IoT to improve customer service without creating yet another siloed channel? Best practices for connecting IoT platforms to the contact centre will be critical if companies want to create a seamless customer experience across all interaction channels.
3. Artificial Intelligence: Machine learning hits prime time
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has seen explosive growth. Advanced speech analytics, which relies heavily on AI, has been used in the contact centre for years to monitor interactions and trigger alerts for intervention.
More recent AI advancements have fuelled the growth of machine learning. In fact, the global market for smart machines is set to grow to nearly $15.3 billion (£10.7 billion) by 2019 at a 19.7 per cent growth rate.
Machine learning can help companies identify patterns and predict customer behaviour. Companies will increasingly use machine learning to engage with customers and manage the contact centre, including the use of conversational bots that serve as virtual agents and supervisors.
4. Digital natives get sophisticated DIY service
As the influence of millennials on the purchase process increases, the demand for DIY customer service has skyrocketed. This need for more sophisticated self-service options (think Web, SMS and mobile) has left many companies scrambling to give millennials a true multimodal experience.
Despite these challenges, opportunities abound, especially for start-ups and small to mid-size companies. These companies are typically more nimble than their larger counterparts – and many foster cultures that naturally embrace DIY – thus can adopt these strategies faster.
5. Mobile everything
The topic of mobility is nothing new in 2016, but customers, members and citizens are fast anticipating the ability to do everything via a mobile device. In fact, nearly half of all inbound calls now come from mobile devices.
Developing apps for mobile devices will no longer be an afterthought but a mandate up front. The challenge will be to create an experience that ensures the context of the interaction is transferred as customers move from mobile apps to live interactions.
“It’s clear that companies are making customer interaction experiences a priority, and the trends we’ve identified will be critical if businesses want to stay competitive. Of note is that all these trends rely heavily on the cloud, analytics and big data. These now form the underpinnings of nearly all things customer-experience-related and will continue to be key components of any successful customer engagement strategy,” said Dr. Donald E. Brown, Interactive Intelligence founder and CEO.
For more information about Interactive Intelligence, visit their website.
Author: Megan Jones
Published On: 27th Jan 2016 - Last modified: 18th Dec 2018
Read more about - Archived Content, Genesys, Trends
