The Tech world, as it is every January, is all a buzz over the Consumer Electronics show. Back in the day CES was truly all consumer technology: home electronics, cell phones (yes Millennials, that’s what we used to call them) gaming systems and the like. After enterprise shows like ComNet faded, enterprise tech found a new home at CES. This year show goers got sneak peaks into the latest HDTVs, drones and smart devices, and they were also exposed to what’s going on with The Internet of Things, robotic manufacturing and enterprise computing.
But what? Where is the contact center agent technology? There are only 5 million or so contact center agents in the U.S. alone. Shouldn’t we add a wing to CES to address their technology appetites? Or do we need to create and collocate an Agent Electronics Show?
Hypothetically, here are some of the trends Aspect would have offered as the notable trends at the inaugural AES Show:
Workplace Wearables
For contact center agents, productivity opportunities abound with the ability to access and utilize email and notifications remotely, speeding responses and increasing efficiencies. According to a forecast from industry analysts Compass Intelligence, the market for enterprise wearables will grow annually by 139% over the next five years with the market for business-facing devices expected to reach $8.5 billion by 2020.
UX/UI
Contact center agents, many of them Millennials, have grown up on digital. Catering to the way they use and consume information like a user interface for agents’ desktops with a modern icon and widget-based graphical user interface can increase agent productivity, job satisfaction and reduce attrition.
Mobile Workforce
Providing mobile solutions to supervisors can give them access to the information they need on the contact center floor, enabling them to notify their team or the entire contact center with easy-to-use real-time notifications without having to walk back to their desk to do so. And applications like virtual schedule attendant empowers agents with the ability to quickly dial into the contact center and remotely alert administrative staff of schedule affecting changes such as tardiness, absence and personal days as opposed to having to come in person.
These are just a few off the top of my head. What would you add if you ran AES?
