{"id":22866,"date":"2020-11-04T12:29:06","date_gmt":"2020-11-04T12:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/?p=22866"},"modified":"2022-10-05T15:16:58","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T15:16:58","slug":"look-forward-not-back-4-ways-to-future-proof-your-contact-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/look-forward-not-back-4-ways-to-future-proof-your-contact-centre\/","title":{"rendered":"Look Forward Not Back: 4 Ways to Future-Proof Your Contact Centre"},"content":{"rendered":"<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-22875 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/callfuture.jpg\" alt=\"Customer Support Assistant\" width=\"598\" height=\"399\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/callfuture.jpg 598w, https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/callfuture-300x200.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 598px) 100vw, 598px\" \/>\n<p><strong>Heightened customer expectations are here to stay and are having a huge impact on technology in contact centres. Ed Creasey at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.calabrio.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Calabrio<\/a> shares a forward-looking plan for the \u201cnew normal\u201d.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The pandemic is reshaping the world of work with social distancing and local restrictions now known as the \u201cnew normal\u201d. In contact centres, more employees than ever are working remotely while customer expectations have risen to their highest levels since Internet connectivity and the smartphone revolution first transformed our lives.\u00a0 In fact, when Calabrio interviewed over 300 contact centre professionals at the beginning of the current health emergency, 51% of respondents said they believe the customer service experience (CX) will impact brand loyalty even more than prior to the pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>Looking closer at the survey results, 57% of contact centre leaders in the UK predict that \u2018increased empathy\u2019 will be a part of customer expectations of the future. In the US changes in customer expectations was even higher, with 69% citing emotional empathy and 68% a need to be heard. However, one thing is for sure, \u201cheightened customer expectations\u201d are here to stay with UK contact centre professionals claiming customers now want \u2018quicker response times\u2019 (93%) and \u2018human agent availability over bots\u2019 (68%).<\/p>\n<p><strong>4 ways to maximise and future-proof your contact centre<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Calabrio\u2019s latest Evolving World of Work report revealed that more than half of contact centres have maintained Quality Management (QM) levels while one third have actually increased their QM evaluations during the pandemic.\u00a0 According to our research, 44% of operations are using predictive analytics and automation to enhance interaction evaluation.<\/p>\n<p>To thrive in this \u201cnew normal\u201d world contact centres will need technology that matches the requirements of their virtual workforce and in turn their customers. Therefore, it is time to review:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Workforce flexibility \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>invest in remote working solutions including video conferencing tools, because the many organisations which have moved to home working during the pandemic, have no intention of going back.\u00a0 Having enjoyed the benefits of enhanced employee satisfaction and productivity along with reduced office and facilities costs, companies plan to maintain a long-term flexible work environment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Blended Workforce Management (WFM) and Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) \u2013<\/strong> likewise, as more organisations recognise the chain that links workforce engagement management with employee satisfaction, performance and CX, investment in the latest workforce engagement (WEM) solutions is the way to go. They are the perfect motivational tools for contact centres looking to engage with their virtual teams to maintain productivity and recognise employee engagement as a two-way street.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Omnichannel CX &#8211;\u00a0<\/strong>expectations around<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>omnichannel service have significantly<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>risen during the pandemic. Contact centres will need to invest in multiple<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>communication channels and focus on building an omnichannel infrastructure (which also includes<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>video conferencing<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>tools) to meet and exceed customer requirements.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>A blend of self-service and human interactions \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>over this year, we have seen increased spend on self-service<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>tools. Brands know they need<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>to find the right balance between cost optimisation and CX. Customers<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>want convenient self-service options,<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>but they\u2019re also looking for the<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>empathy, personalisation and complex<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>support only humans can<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>provide. It all boils down to customers wanting \u2018human agent availability over bots\u2019.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For more insights and inspiration on how to future-proof your contact centre operations to meet the needs of customers in this \u201cnew normal\u201d world, download the full results of Calabrio\u2019s latest survey entitled:<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/info.calabrio.com\/evolved-contact-centre\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The State of the Contact Centre: Embracing the Evolving World of Work\u201d<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>About the Author<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Ed Creasey is Director of Pre-Sales International at\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.calabrio.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Calabrio<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-22869\" src=\"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Ed-Creasey-1.jpg\" alt=\"Ed Creasey\" width=\"235\" height=\"262\" \/>Calabrio is the customer experience intelligence company that empowers organisations to enrich human interactions. The scalability of our cloud platform allows for quick deployment of remote work models\u2014and it gives our customers precise control over both operating costs and customer satisfaction levels. Through AI-driven analytics, Calabrio uncovers customer behaviour and sentiment and derives compelling insights from the contact centre. Organisations choose Calabrio for its ability to understand customer needs and the overall experience it provides, from implementation to ongoing support.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Find more at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.calabrio.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">calabrio.com<\/a>\u00a0and follow\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Calabrio\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@Calabrio<\/a>\u00a0on Twitter.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Heightened customer expectations are here to stay and are having a huge impact on technology in contact centres. Ed Creasey at Calabrio shares a forward-looking plan for the \u201cnew normal\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[12,145],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22866"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/516"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22866"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22866\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22880,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22866\/revisions\/22880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.customerservicemanager.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}