With the rapid advance of future technology in contact centers, new opportunities are arising for contact center operations. In fact, one of the most fascinating things about new technology is the opportunity that is affording to model a customer experience. Which then is simultaneously more efficient and more personalized.
However, just because the opportunity is there does not mean that every contact center leader is poised to take full advantage of it. Knowing how to reap full benefits of new technology means using it thoughtfully. While having a nuanced understanding of its potential.
Are you ready to take charge of future technology and harness its power for your contact center? Here are a few ways that these breakthroughs can impact your workplace. To top it up so does the experience of each and every customer.
1.Honor every customer as a unique individual
New advancements in AI and contact center communication technology are creating space for more personalized and interactive customer experience. As the technology of the future makes the administrative work of contact center employees more simple, it creates extra time for conversation and real listening between representatives and customers.
The end result? A customer experience that centers around the happiness of the customer and their value as a unique individual with specific needs and wants. Ultimately, this benefits everyone from the customers to the live agents themselves, the supervisors and managers. Who will need to expend significantly less time and effort coaching and redirecting frontline employees.
2.Value everybody’s time by creating friction-less experiences
Outdated technology brings with it a challenging and frustrating problem: friction between customers and live agents. The reason for this is simple. When customers feel that their time is being wasted, they rightfully approach interactions with suspicion and even outright hostility. It takes a great deal of skill, as well as time, for employees to de-escalate such situations, draining valuable resources.
By implementing time-saving artificial intelligence that reduces or eliminates hold times. The process can be significantly more smooth and comfortable for the people on both sides of the phone. This is particularly important in high stakes calls in places like insurance contact centers.
3.Understand ultimate intent and create memorable moments
Understanding where and how to implement future technology in contact centers has a lot to do with the ultimate intent of each and every conversation. Experiences can be impacted negatively as well as positively if the ultimate goal of communication is disrupted. Thus, you need to keep your eye on the prize when thinking about how to use future technology, instead of being sidetracked by things that simply catch your attention. Once ultimate intent is established, it will be significantly easier to make real connections between people in contact centers. While fostering memorable moments that leave customers and employees alike feeling satisfied and fulfilled.
4.Design highly responsive business operations that coordinate human and machine intelligence
Future technology in contact centers cannot and will not be about simply replacing humans with machines. The key to unleashing the full potential of technology in your contact center will be the thoughtful integration of these two worlds. In ways that complement each other instead of standing in opposition to one another. This will help build a system that is both highly responsive to the needs of customers. Also capable of utilizing the creativity and empathy of human agents in interesting new ways.
5.Create innovative products, services, experiences, and transformations that solve problems for people
True leaders in the contact center industry know that the future is about more than just improving upon what already exists. For those who are driven by a desire for success, it is apparent that growth will be driven by innovation that creators all new systems of interaction between the company and its customer base.
This includes traditional marketable goods and services, but it also goes beyond that. The future of success in every sector will be the experiences of each and every person involved. As well as the transformations that change the mundane world of work into something novel and stimulating.
6.Elevate human work
There is a common misconception that technological innovation comes at the expense of human work, making it less valued. While being the case, the goal of every leader in the contact center industry should be to harness the future technology. This is so to elevate the human work. Also to make the work force even more valued and valuable. Once again, this means approaching the situation thoughtfully and thinking about how these technologies will affect interpersonal communication, comfort, and job satisfaction. The approachable way will differ based on the specifics of your workplace, but it is always something that should be kept in mind.
Why you should plan with future technology in mind
The contact center industry is always evolving especially technology wise. As a business leader you need to plan strategies with this in mind. This means that agent and supervisor training should be a big part of work culture. It ensures that agents and supervisors are equipped with the skills to cope with whatever technology they may have to work with. Your teams ability to cope with new technologies will greatly impact your customer experience.
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Jim Rembach is the Editor in Chief of the Customer Service Weekly and it’s Podcast host. He is President of CX Global Media and the creator of the Call Center Coach Virtual Leaders Academy. As the host of the Fast Leader Show Podcast, he has interviewed hundreds of experts, authors, academics, researchers, and practitioners on various angles, viewpoints, and perspectives for improving the customer experience. He has held positions in retail operations, contact centers, customer support, customer success, sales, and measured the customer experience. He is a certified Emotional Intelligence practitioner, Employee Retention Specialist, and recipient of numerous industry awards.