Doug Stein looks at the two areas every contact centre should invest in in pursuit of excellent customer service.
We live in a world of instant gratification: movies stream at our whim, web pages load in an instant on our phones, and we can deposit a cheque directly to our account simply by taking a picture. We are expecting more things faster and at a higher quality.
Customer-facing industries are finding themselves having to keep in line with the trends and are looking for better ways of providing customers with an experience that benefits both sides.
Future Banking is looking at how the financial services industry is working towards creating the ultimate contact centre that works not only to benefit the company but to provide amazing customer service at the same time.
The key to achieving the optimised strategy lies in bringing together the right people, processes, and technology.
Real-world experience is a far better indicator of how successful a person is
Taking away all the buzzwords and industry jargon, the most important part of a customer interaction is just that, the interaction of two people having a discussion.
Putting the right people with the right skill set in place is a vital part of creating an effective and productive contact centre. When considering what makes a great agent, looking past what’s on the resume is important; real-world experience is a far better indicator of how successful a person is at working with others than anything else.
Search out the people that are comfortable talking on the phone or answering a variety of emails. Find the folks that understand the importance of social media and are able to use it to your company’s advantage.
Perhaps most importantly, hire the people that are personable and able to respond to each and every call, email, or tweet in a personalised manner. When a customer calls into your contact centre, she doesn’t realistically believe that she is your only customer, but it goes a long way to treat her as such just the same.
Assembling a team is only the first of two important parts. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how much talent you have if you aren’t outfitting them correctly.
Find the technology that best fits your company’s and customers’ needs
Now that the best people are in place doing their thing, it’s time to outfit them with the right technology. The key here is to find the right technology; not the newest or flashiest technology, but the programs and software that best fits your company’s and customers’ needs.
That perfect match can include anything from high-powered analytics engines that provide insight into your customers’ journeys, all the way to an interface that allows you to better manage social media interactions.
As customers move more and more to mobile interactions, creating an effortless process is going to be vital for contact centres. The centres that are succeeding now – and will continue to succeed – are those that are handling transactions across the media their customers are using.
The omnichannel system, as it’s called, allows companies to identify their customer at any point along that customer’s journey, no matter what method of contact she uses.
Those that are unwilling to change are the first to be left behind
Doug Stein
The end goal of any technology should be two-fold: it should provide you with a way to consistently meet your customers across multiple channels (phone, email, social, etc) and it should provide your agents and customers with a far more effortless transaction. And don’t be afraid to constantly re-evaluate your process, as those that are unwilling to change are the first to be left behind.
The whole point of getting the right technology into the hands of the right people is to ensure wholesale success, for your company and your customers. As you work towards attaining that Ultimate Contact Centre Status, you’ll find right-right strategy fast becomes a win-win.
With thanks to Doug Stein at Nexidia
Author: Megan Jones
Published On: 11th Mar 2015 - Last modified: 22nd Mar 2017
Read more about - Archived Content, Nexidia
