A whitepaper published by Odigo, a specialist in omnichannel cloud call centre solutions, highlights how forward-thinking innovations are revolutionising the world of contact centres. COVID-19 has amplified the need for a more digital world – long gone are the days of customer complaints being solved solely by post or email.
It’s the heightened level of customer accessibility that omnichannel contact centres permit that helps ensure repeat business via customer satisfaction. A report from Ombudsmen Services found that 28% of UK consumers admitted losing brand loyalty after receiving bad customer service, so an omichannel contact center in the UK could be viewed as an essential.
The power of AI and the cloud
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a powerful tool in the quest for a consistently positive customer experience. A key way AI is being implemented in contact centres is through conversational agents, more commonly known as bots.
Powered by machine learning and natural language understanding, bots can handle written (chatbots) or vocal (voicebots and callbots) communication and provide a simple way for customers to have quick communication with a business.
Further research also shines a spotlight on the power of the cloud. It shows that by the end of 2020, 67% of enterprise architecture will be cloud-based and 82% of workloads will reside in the cloud.
Research and advisory company Gartner reports that the worldwide public cloud services market was forecast to grow 6.3% in 2020 to total $257.9B, up from $242.7B in 2019. Rising investment demonstrates that corporate management understands the benefits of cloud implementation. This uptick in cloud adoption shows an exciting new openness for the tech that was once shied away from.
Investing time in your agents
Odigo’s whitepaper highlighted the direct correlation between the customer experience and the agent experience (AX), noting how ensuring the good quality of the AX leads to better performance and increased engagement.
Symmetry of attention, coined by the French Académie du Service, explains that happy customers are a direct result of happy agents.
Agents can now work from anywhere, on any device, at any time, and while that extends the pool for high-quality job candidates, it also creates an added pressure for managers to ensure agents are happy in their role, representing brand values to the customer base, and forming meaningful bonds with these customers while working from home.
Providing the necessary hardware and software is a given, but collegial relationships, administrative support and positive atmospheres are also essential components of an agent’s work. At home or in the contact centre, agents perform better when provided with the right conditions and instruments to demonstrate their abilities.
The digital-first world that has been created in part due to the pandemic has proved that, when successfully implemented in tandem, a combination of AI, agent training and omnichannel cloud contact centres can create consistently positive customer experiences and is an area that all businesses would be smart to explore.
Maddyness, media partner of Odigo.