5 Call Center Tech Trends That Have Become Mainstream in 2014

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Customer service has always been the competitive battleground for businesses.

That’s why all call centers are always on the lookout for new methods to create a more effective customer experience strategy.

With the emergence of new technologies and channels, this year brought an across-the-board opportunity for call center operators to boost their game.

As we come close to the last quarter of 2014, let us have a quick look at the five critical tech trends that came on the scene this year and are continuously driving changes in the call center landscape.

1. Mobile Customer Care

Today, the entire customer journey can exist on the mobile device- from browsing, making an online purchase, self-service, to interacting with the call center.

Smartphones and tablets are revolutionizing the way customers interact with every business. Many companies have embraced mobile customer care by simply moving existing web applications to a mobile platform.

Mobile apps are transactional, allowing customers to check their balance or flight schedules. They allow call centers to interact with customers through both Internet and voice.

2. The Cloud Migration

Contact centers have adopted the cloud to replace older solutions that have outlived their usefulness, and to obtain new capabilities such as customer chat, proactive customer contact, and enterprise feedback management.

Cloud-based call center software has transformed how call centers conduct customer service over the phone. It provides a cheaper and more efficient means of storing information, allows remote management and quicker deployment.

3. Social Media Revolution

Social media is now the frontier in contact centers. More call centers are responding to customers through social media platforms, which is, for many customers, the preferred method of contact.

Social media provides the convenience that customers are looking for in terms of brand accessibility and real-time response.

Twitter and Facebook are becoming first-contact resolution and escalation channels, helping lower inbound call volume. Social monitoring is also helping call centers measure the sentiment of their callers and providing real-time information about potential issues.

4. Automatic Call-Backs

Call-back technology is finally getting the mainstream acceptance it deserves. This gives customers their time back by eliminating their need to wait on hold, which is one of the three biggest complaints in the call center industry.

Auto call-back means that the consumer types in their number and, rather than sitting on the line for 10 to 20 minutes (maybe even more), they receive a call just before they’re about to be helped. This development saves resources and allows call center agents to enhance customer support.

5. Video support

Video support has made its way to the call center. IKEA, Verizon, and other companies have embraced video support and we expect more call centers to introduce video into their support strategies to give their customers a better customer service experience.

We are not talking only about video contact centers with agents that can be seen by people. We are also speaking about the creative use of video in customer service applications in and outside the contact center, for example, a help desk agent pushing a video on how to troubleshoot something, or how to do something.

Conclusion

These technological innovations will not only change the way agents take calls and the way contact centers measure success, they will ultimately have a profound effect on the customer experience.

Republished with author's permission from original post.

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