"Maintaining a positive employee moral in the face of economic change and uncertainty and being able to communicate in such a way as to demonstrate that we are using this time to strengthen our internal processes and procedures."

"The biggest challenges in 2009 centered on reduced call volumes due to a slowing economy. Consumers are spending less which translates into fewer inquiries into customer service centers. Buying cycles grew longer in an effort by businesses to spread outsourced call center costs out into the future when the economy is more stable. This lead to an increased focus on cost reductions for companies and call centers.

Also many companies still do not fully understand how service providers like ACS can leverage technologies like social media and analytics in the call center environment. They are both enablers of new markets and new delivery models for the call center industry as well as changing the dynamics of a traditional call center business model."

"The contact center industry had to face impact of the financial crisis"

"Given the tough economic environment, budget constraints and headcount reduction, contact center executives have to think outside the box to achieve the operational efficiencies and resource productivity they desire.

At the same time, they have to deliver the intended customer experience that resonates and reflects their brand promise. The contact center is one of the remaining human bridges between the company and the end-customer, and is the best avenue to establish an emotional connection with the customer. A stellar or atrocious customer experience at this critical point of contact can make or break a customer relationship. However, this role is often under-recognized in today’s cost-preoccupied environment.

To stay relevant to the organization and the stakeholders, the contact center has to constantly reinvent itself. Finding smarter ways to balance the quality-cost ratio, leveraging existing assets with minimal capital expenditure while expanding the contact center from a cost center to an insight and revenue-generating center, have been and will continue to be the key aspirations of the contact center industry."

"The greatest challenge of the last 12 months has been the erosion of call volumes associated with declining customer demand for products and services. The telecommunications and travel and tourism sectors were hit particularly hard by the economic downturn, which in turn affected the contact center industry. Call volume decreases are a direct reflection of dampening in new customer sales, activations, reservations, claims, product releases and account opens."

"More than ever, the contact center's greatest challenge this year was the ability to provide excellent service while streamlining operations, via optimizing the workforce's efficiency."

"Our greatest challenge as an industry continues to be in the area of customer satisfaction. With call center operations collectively earning the equivalent of a "C" grade in industry-wide surveys, we clearly have a long way to go to consider ourselves even meeting standards. I don't know of any call center out there that accepts scores in the mid-70s from its representatives, yet that is what customers tell us we've been delivering."

"In the Philippines alone, the greatest challenge it had deals mostly with retention. Attrition rate have increased dramatically and resources to replace them have become scarce."

"When investigating Agent Satisfaction in 2009, the recurring reply rated as an issue has been:

"Our department has enough Agents for the workload we handle" and "The work is fairly distributed within our center.""

"The greatest challenge the contact center industry faced during last 12 months is of getting the new business for the call centers. This is due to world wide recession and has affected all the industries across the globe."

"Decline in business, it is more related to the global recession, but, the impact has been pretty significant and visible."

"Trying to achieve the right balance between performance and cost cutting."

"Meeting clients' interests in a quick turn-around manner"

"The pressure to reduce costs while still providing a great customer experience and realizing that there is only one loser when costs are cut - The customer"

"In an extraordinary year, against the backdrop of recession, the contact centre industry has had to face a stronger shift in customer expectations. They are demanding higher standards, a faster service and better value for money. Alongside this, contact centres have to comply with tighter regulations relating to customer service, such as those dealing with abandoned, or silent, calls."

"Last year’s challenge was almost same for everyone "more with less." And this was also the challenge for many contact centers in 2009."

"The greatest challenge for the contact center has been the numerous changes companies have made to their business models and strategies. Due to a sagging economy, executive management have been expected to develop navigational solutions within uncharted waters."

"The biggest challenge in 2009 has been the need to do more with less resource. The difficult economic climate has seen a cut back in resources at many businesses, with staff levels being reduced but companies still expecting the same or even more activity.
Businesses are suffering because of a lack of cash – either to set up an expensive and complex telephony system; or because there are hidden costs within the solution they already have."

"I think that contact centres have had to become more client focused, to retain existing accounts, ensuring that their service levels and customer experiences are consistent and top of their league. Training and coaching has seen more in-house activity, due to budget constraints and stronger business cases have had to be made for priority purchases.
Staff attrition has had to be reviewed, as a two fold activity, to ensure that good agents stay and less impressive staff are trained and coached to become acceptable and consistent."

"Providing excellent customer service while under severe cost constraints"

"I think the focus is on being highly competitive in the contact center industry. Ranging from: focusing on providing the BEST customer experience, while ensuring to be a highly profitable sale focused organization, while ensuring efficiencies, effectiveness, all while ensuring to attain a competitive cost to running the contact center."