The contact center solutions ecosystem that customer service organizations use has grown more complex over time, as highlighted in our latest Tech Radar on these solutions. Customer service executives struggle to enforce consistent processes for their agents to follow to deliver optimal customer experiences. Data and information that agents need to use to resolve customer inquiries is exploding. Vendor mergers and acquisitions as sectors consolidate create product and support risks. And, new contact center solution delivery models including managed services, outsourcing, and cloud-based offerings are presenting new opportunities.
To define the context for making smart contract center strategy and technology decisions for customer service, Forrester, in partnership with CustomerThink, surveyed 75 contact center professionals to understand which technologies were being used and who was making purchase decisions. We found that:
- A set of core technologies are must-haves for contact centers.Core contact center technologies enable agents to manage voice calls, email and chat requests from customers, log and manage inquiries via case management systems, and manage and optimize agent workforces. These solutions are mature, and they continue to deliver significant business value. 53% use case management solutions; 58% use workforce management solutions; 48% use quality monitoring; 62% use voice IVR or self-service speech platforms ; 44% use email response management systems, and 50% use chat solutions.
- Social technologies are growing in importance for customer service professionals.Organizations are using social technologies for customer service to participate in virtual conversations with community members in order to gather and act on their feedback on products and services, as well as to leverage their expertise to evolve product knowledge in-line with customer demand. 47% of those surveyed use customer communities; 39% use social listening technologies; 42% offer customer service via social sites like Facebook and Twitter.
- Technologies that help deliver a more personalized service experience are rising in importance.Contact center technologies that empower agents with the right knowledge to answer customer questions, help unify agent desktops and deliver real-time guidance are growing in importance due to their ability to make agents more productive and their actions more personalized. Our data shows that 55% of companies surveyed use knowledge management; 35% use real time decisioning and, another 40% are actively considering this technology, and, 34% use unified agent workspaces.
Who has the most influence in purchasing contact center solutions for customer service? We found that 57% of respondents said that business leaders have “complete” authority in deciding which contact center solution should be deployed in their organizations, and 15% said that IT execs held complete authority.
For more statistics on customer service goals, and barriers to implementation, read the report: Craft Your Contact Center Investment Plan In Terms Of Technology Adoption Patterns.
It is good to see the rise of knowledge management within the contact centre – but it is important that it isn't just a silo of information for agents. Having the ability to share information across phone, email, the web and social media doesn't just provide consistency but reduces costs as there is a single source of the truth for everyone to tap into. In a difficult economic situation capturing and sharing knowledge is at the heart of delighting customers.
Its strange. The Technology is getting better and better, but in german you have to wait even longer in the line for some service. One reason is, that the companies want to make money and hold the customer in the line to raise the telephonecosts. So thats not really the hugh developement of the new technology. On the other hand it would be interesting to learn how you can use twitter or facebook for personal contact. In my opinion both tools are often used as onesided informationsadvices. Just and simple to give the people information and to integrate them when they like something. But I dont see a real Q&A usage. But please correct me.