able of contentsChapter 1-Introduction to Contact Center TechnologyChapter 2-Contact Center ChallengesChapter 3- role of technology in Contact CentersChapter 4-Creating the True Omni-Channel Experience 51
With an excellent customer experience management strategyenterprises can add the power of proactive customer serviceday-to-day business operations
A robust contact centthis value-add to enterprises the experience going forward is a goodone and spreads through word- of-mouth bringing you repeat and newbusiness from the same customer base
ps on ImprovingCustomer ExperienceExperiences have become value propositions for every firm becauseevery company strugglescustomers experience that hitsthe spot And hitting the right spot has become a herculean task formany enterprises because of a myriad of customer touch points madeble through the advent of technology advancements
long goneare the days where customers judge the brand product or theprice performance or the quality of the product Weexist in an era where experience matters experience is the quarterbackevery company and will never cease being the most valuable playke it or not, consciously or unconsciously, customers evaluatebusiness relationships evee they touch the company
You should be capable to manage each and every touch pand maintain customer relationships of customers that are empowerconstancy can also be a firms pitfall, because the customers are able toevolves Delivering consistent experience aossible contact pointshas become a requirement rather than a perquisiaving an effective contact center in your organization is valuableproviding satisfying customer experiences, but there are companiesand long waits on hold can be frustrating for the customer that drivesm to do his business elsewhere Contact centers are the mcustomer interaction and are to be powered-up to provide unsurpassedcustomer experience Contact centersbusinesses, have made and lost revenues, not on price or performancebut to the quality of experienceHere are a few customer service tips that could bemplemented to improve your customer experienceCustomer Relationship Management(CRM): CRM software are nottop priorities for additional spending on enterprise applications
CRMtools are focusednew customers CRM software integrated with Computer Telephonythe details of the custowhich lowers the average call handling time, which in turn helps thecustomer in getting the issue resolved in minimum time with little or noverification details, improving their experience CRM technologies helpdevelop a more meaningful relationship wicustomers rathenning marketing campaigns
One view of the customer: one of the best ways to kill custogh maintaining customer information silos Eacdepartment should be able to view the customers information andction history that has bdgedof thepartment in the company Requesting the customer to repeat thessue is a risk that would most likely make the customer frustratede experience Companies should ensure that tlexperience is not broken down when the customers navigate acrossmultiple channelsnt ofcontact for your organization
they account for almost half of youcontact center costs therefore they are to be optimized to deliveexperience that impacts the customer for future sales Agents are to betrained motivated and acknowledged for their efforts thbe treated as mere machrobots Agemost of thcompanies are the only voice that the company haSocidia Integration: Social Media has transformed itself in beind customers share tainly grievances to the rest of the world Companies ought to investocial media monitoring to address these grievances because theree instances where these grievances have made the companies losepotential to grow into a social outbreak reeking havoc on the company
Monitor effectiveness: Evaluating your contact center periodirtant focenters prolcustomer engagement Companies shouldadopt an aggressive and proactive approach to explore the myriad ofdao be implemented to measure kPlsand the effectiveness of the contact center the company shouldeverage on metrics and analytics to identify opportunities to improveagent productivity and performancenvest in state of the art Contact Center Technology: Contact Centet cheap but definitely worth every penny paid
Nowthe most important question facing such companies becomes what areparameters should serve as a yardstick for choosing an optimal solutionwhich offers a decent RoL One has to follow the methodology of doingt right the very first time therefore a hit and miss method is highlyunadvisedBy implementing top-notch customer service solutions, your companycan create a better overall customer experienceer customeSatisfaction scores translate into long term loyalty and strategicbjectives like bolstering brand image and building revenueWith this solution in pace, opportunities for continuous improvemeand redefinition of service processes for the future can be attained
Personalized customerEngagement: Getting StartedPersonalized customer engagement is not a one-time occurrence,course of improvement and advancement that requires a tenaciousorkfostructure Once you have a persistent workforceand infrastructure lined up you can begin the journey of personalizedcustomer engagementOrganizations aim to deliverd-class
second toe service, tomeet the increasingly demanding customer base, who are well awaref their alternativesogy has now empowered the customersmore thanIt has changed the game and the custochanged the rules Customers are now digitally connected, sociallynetworked and always game for technology revolution they have toaccess to social networks mobilewhere they are able to connect and access information on the move
Once the commitment has been made to provide personalizedcustomer engagement, start where the biggest impact can be madeContact Center Contact center is the face of your organization, so makesure it is presentable to your customers because this is where yonteract most with themhe unpredictable naturecommunication Customers will decide when and how to communicatewith you, and they expect to be appropriately responded throughsame with no delays Organizations should aim at delivering consistentexperiencecommunication
Another challenge is to gain a comprehensive view ofe customer wheidling queries and resolving complaintsCustomers expect to be known, acknowledged and respectedqueries Customer dle is not a series of discreteexperiences, it is a part of an ongoing relationship violating thiselationship will result in profound consequencesArm your agents with the right technology tools and customernformation to provide them with a 360 degof the customersthereby allowing them to instantaneously obtain customer informationrom multiple systems that typically exist in departmentacontact center technology will seamlessly integrate information fromithoutexhausting the time of agents toggling between multiple systemsDeveloping sucaradigm of except
CHAPTER ONENTRODUCTION TO CONTACCENTER TECHNOLOGYv How to Choose the right Contact Center SoftwareV Re-architecting your Contact Center SoftwareV Customer Experience as a Business Strategyv Tips on Improving Customer Experiencev Personalized Customer Engagement-Getting Started
ow to Choose the RightContact Center SoftwareContact centede to show slow but steady growth Howevermost of thecontact center setups,es
human errors orother dependencies that such business usually turnsBroadly the three pillars of such businesses areBusiness Development and Customer managementQuality of agents and operatiConnectivity and Technologystorically, these start-ups are mostly entrepreneur driven businessesand micro management of all the three pillars is done by a one manteam Such entrepreneurs instead must focus on Business Developmenttechnology issues the latter should ideally be handled by hiring goodesources or finding good technology partners
push entrepreneurs to curtail expenses on basic infrastructure at quality and thus the entreprft toperations internally rather than focusing on business developmentContact centers are primarily iTes and it obviously plays one of themost important role among the three pillars therefore it should not beised to beTechnology options available:globally Renowned Solutions: A What makes them an unpopularoIce among the contact centerse cost implications with eacther addsoftware OS/DB/Server licenses or hardware implications Recurringservice and maintenance costs are additional pain areasFree or White Labeled Solutions: these are almost free solutions thatcan be downloaded off the internet anby ferS500 forly $200 per seat they are not meant forbusiness and are at most a short term fix
Sales or engineering orientedteams downloadurce solution and eithemost cases illegally white-labelle companiefrequent site visits only to simply reboot the server and restartthe bugsSo the bottom line is that the right solution should be one whichoffersrobustness and reliability2)Intelligence Predictive Dialer, ACD systems, AMD, LeaManagement, Call Back Management, CTl, Supervision and reportingVoice Quality and VolP Handling Dynamic IVR3)Return on Investment
Re-Architecting youContact centerRe-ArchitectingContact Center日d you know that two-thirds of your customers have hung up durce calls before their particAndwhopping 71% were extremely annoyed at not being able to reach outto a real person on the phone while 56% were infuriated because theyhad to go through multiple phone loops to get the right information Doevolve your process and re-architect your internal and externasystems
the company that offers a positive customer experience wisurvive, while the rest will fade into oblivion
Ways to Boost the value of your Contact CenterHere are some steps that ytake to ensure that ycenter adds value for your customStart with the Staff: go by the long standing idethe contactcenter world -"happy employees equal happier customers Agents, oran average, attend 10,000 calls in a year from angry and upsetsure to affect them athiring the right set of people, who dont not fit in with the needededucational qcations but also do exceptionally wekills area then focus on their retention by providing them the rightonment comfortabdhatncentivizing it Right: Money can't buy love So, plan yoight
Do not tie up the agent's performance to the number of caday Rather choostative approach Set a performanceevaluation parameter, based on customer complaint resolutionfirst call and the customer's feedback Reward agents for meetingexceeding performance metrics and let their focus be on enhancing theCatering to training needs: To provide cross-channel customerd foichone area to assist in another as and when needed however it is alsoaining should focus on optimum utilizationng thtraining requirements, and motivating and leading their team toccess
Tackle the technology a survey conducted by velociti Partners pointsut that the average customer care executive in a financial servicescontact center uses seven or eight applications every day to resolvessuesMoreover, the applications and databases connected to themare siloed, which means that even the simplest processes takes extraime and effort
As a result, call handling times customer satisfactioneven costs, suffer Consequently the ftechnology issues is breaking down silos and integrating data acrossdepartmentautomate andle systems btgging all customer interactions (regardless of the channel) andautomatically adding them to customer recordsomate the delivery of cross-sell or up-sell ofFers to yoYou can do so by alloyaccessdadatabauser-interface, and providing a means that generates automatic alertsto agents when avalue client is on the line
Customer Experience as aBusiness Strategyor enterprises business doescreating products anbeing content atg themgreat biwhich help a business succeed Business requires more work than justandomly making sales pitches to customers
It is about finding tight customers and creating products and services for them But whereBusiness strategies and marketing techniquesnd allow retailers to interact directly with the customer andgain their feedback So far, this has been an effective strategy but it isestricted to a physical area and depends heavily on foot trafficommerce sites howes and global shhas brought markets in foreign countries closer than ever So, retabusinesses should learn from them
he first and foremost objective of every business stratecommerce is Customer Experience Management(CEM) Any enterprisethat can manage to create differentiators in service delivery is able todecipher the code of Happy Customers Today businesses which areaware of the best practices of cem and are widely implementingautomation systems to optimize their service delivery methodologybe considered smarSome of the best practices of CEM are as belowMinimization of routine enquiries by proactive outreach: Everydaycustomer queries like order status, confirmations etc
can beminimized by an effective outreach system that proactively connects toSMS and e-maNot missing even a single customer call: Any e-commerce business justcannot afford to miss calls the missed call could mean a lost businessopportunity or further annoying a dissatisfied customer which could bedisastrous for any b2C businessGiving special attention to repeat cavery important that an ecalls they receive If there are repeat calls from a customer, connectingm/hehterence to theexperience he/she takes back homeMeasuring experience across platforms: Businesses should be able tomonitor and analyze the service delivery afrastructure Each technology component facilitatebusiness processes plays a crucial role in cier experience delIveryand needs to be measured effectively