Last month, I told you about a live Google+ debate called “Will Technology Kill the Call Center?” Event moderator Software Advice chose Avaya Inc. as one of the participants in the event. Speakers, including myself, discussed consumer contact channel utilization, technology and the impact of these trends on the future call center.
I answered four scripted questions along with the other panelists before the discussion was opened up to the online audience.
The goal was to provide viewers advice about contact channel strategy and prioritizing technology service spend. Below are the prepared questions from the debate:
- How have you seen consumer contact channel utilization change in the last decade?
- What role has technology played in this change?
- How do you see technology impacting the way customers contact a company in the future, and the kind of service they receive?
- Will technology eventually render call centers irrelevant?
Here are several takeaways from the panel’s responses:
Utilize Contact Channels Together
All of the speakers agreed that consumers are embracing newer contact channels, such as virtual agents and self service, at a pace never seen before in the contact center world.
Avaya conducted a study , for example, that shows shows 78 percent of consumers using the Internet to research a product before they buy. At the same time, interactions through voice and email have remained steady while other channels grow. This doesn’t mean customers are choosing these new channels instead of voice. Rather, they are using self service, FAQs, mobile and other channels in addition to the telephone.
I told the audience that “Once a customer gets to voice contact, they are at a crucial juncture in the interaction. The company needs to be much smarter when they get there.”
In response, companies need to do more than just make these channels available. They should leverage each to better serve the customer. For example, can you tell what a customer was looking at in your FAQs before they called your 1-800 number? Do you know if they interacted with a virtual agent? Having these answers can bring context and personalization to the live response experience. This increases efficiency and customer satisfaction.
Respond to the Customer’s Choice
Technology has prompted much of this sea change in customer contact preference. Customers demand choice. In fact, according to our research, 60 percent of customers continually change how they contact an organization, based on time and location and convenience.
We refer to this as the autonomous customer, meaning their expectations need to be met no matter their touch-point of choice.
These innovations have also affected consumer behaviors in that new contact channels have finally improved to the point of leveling the playing field as far as user experience. This empowers the customer to pick the communication channel they want, when they want. It’s up to the company to “right channel” their business–to determine which channels are most important to its customers and invest in those technologies.
The Call Center Died and Was Reborn
All of the speakers agreed that customer contact preference is shifting away from voice. But this won’t kill the call center because consumers will always want the option to talk to a real person.
The concept of a call center comprising phone agents has evolved into a contact center comprising “command teams” who manage customer interactions through multiple channels. That’s because today’s consumer demands instant gratification and the reborn center is expected to support those demands, whether they come through Twitter, live chat or a phone call.
A decade ago call centers were thought to be dying with the rise of Web self service. What we are seeing now is the rapid adoption of new channels, but the reverse of the last trend. The center is not dying. These technologies drive more traffic and preference for voice at that crucial communication with customer.
Developers have at the same time made great strides in the underlying technology that improves the voice response experience. This includes advancements in automation, speech recognition, mobile, Web browser capabilities, geolocation and more. These innovations bring more personalization and immediate context to the customer service conversation. This provides better, more efficient service.
Check out the debate here!
And don’t forget…visit us on Avaya.com and search on “consumer preference”!