Earlier this month, we took some time to reflect on the year gone by and report on some of the biggest call centre trends we saw in 2019. We recognised an increase in cloud-based call centres, a rise in social media conversations and more innovative ways to involve artificial intelligence as well as more developments in analytics tools.
2020 is now nearly upon us, so here we are with some predictions for the year to come. We expect Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Customer Experience (CX) to continue to separate the big players but here are some other things we think you should be prepared for in 2020:
- Using an Omnichannel Approach to Improve CX
- Understanding how and where your clients are contacting you is essential for providing a top-level customer experience. Whether it’s through your website, on the phone or through social media, it will become increasingly important that your clients can communicate with you via whatever channel suits them best. A holistic approach towards customer contact should be taken to ensure that all conversations are centralised and easily accessible by agents allowing the customer to continue their conversation across different channels.
- An Increase in AI
- Chatbots and AI will continue to form an important part of the call centre strategy. Big improvements in these technologies mean that basic queries can be easily sorted. We predict that AI will be able to manage low-level enquiries; both resolving simple issues quickly and easily while increasing productivity within a business. As AI develops, more and more tasks will be handled without any human involvement.
- Evolving Agent Roles
- With more menial tasks taken on by technology, we expect agents roles to evolve to manage the more complex issues. Now is the time to ensure that your agents are equipped, with both the tools and skills, to handle these issues efficiently.
- Real-time Call Monitoring
- Real-time call monitoring is a big help to supervisors. The ability to monitor conversations in real-time means that they can ensure their agents are compliant with policies and procedures and that they are leading positive conversations and providing value for customers. Call monitoring technology is continuing to evolve and can pick up keywords and flag when problems arise. This gives supervisors the opportunity to intervene or offer support where it is needed. This boosts agent confidence and lets them rest easy knowing that support is on hand during complex calls. It also helps organisations to better understand the conversations their agents have and develop their training programmes.
- It’s All About CX
- There has been a big focus on customer experience over the last few years. We expect CX to be the primary brand differentiator in 2020. Customers are looking for better relationships with the brands they choose and their loyalty is tied to their experiences. Evaluate the CX you are offering and do everything you can to exceed the expectations of your customers.
These are just some of our predictions for 2020 and beyond. Ultimately, for any business to succeed, it needs to keep its customers, both new and existing, at the heart of its operations.
Thanks to advances in technology, powerful call centre solutions are readily available for all businesses, no matter their size. Using an omnichannel approach combined with sophisticated AI, analytics and monitoring features, any business can boost its CX and stay at the forefront of its industry.
If you haven’t yet taken advantage of some of the benefits of cloud-based call centre software and would like to know how to implement them for your business, please feel free to get in touch on 02921 111202 or sales@porthlas.com.
Kane is a leading, independent telecoms company based in South Wales. We understand that no two businesses are the same and use our knowledge and experience to deliver secure and reliable phone systems to help you provide your customers with an experience that is second to none.
