In your opinion, what has been the greatest challenge the contact center industry has faced in the last 12 months?
Meeting increasing work-loads whilst at the same time maintaining or reducing costs
Why do you believe has this been a challenge?
Whilst normal workloads are increasing in line with business, Contact Centres are today have been taking on additional functionality as senior management becomes more aware of the low cost option that a contact centres provides. Whilst workloads are increasing there has not been a proportionate increase in staff numbers and therefore centres have had to not find additional efficiencies in order to meet their goals
In 2012, what do you think will be the top priorities in the contact center industry for:
a) Contact Centre Directors: Continue to meet the centres goals in an environment of continued increases in work volumes
b) Company Executives: Integrating the contact centre operations across all facets of the organisation
c) IT Directors: Creating a technology platform that provides a single “picture” of the customer and allows the centre to interact seamlessly with the customer across multiple channels
d) Human Resources Directors: Recruiting quality staff
What technology do you believe will have the biggest impact on the industry over the next 12 months?
The contact centre will need to customise its service deliver to suit the needs of individual customers and this will require the organisation to create as a complete picture of the customer that they can so I believe CRM platforms will need to be developed to meet this need. In additional I also think that knowledge systems will also grow as the centre becomes the central location of information for both external and internal customers
What impact have "external events" even had on your company, and how have you adapted your business?
Australian centres have had to deal with various natural disasters in 2011 and in the main they have done this well. This has increased the profile of the centre within the organisation with senior management who now see the centre as a strategic tool rather than just an area that processes work.
Do you feel the service you personally get as a customer is better or worse than it was a year ago?
I feel that it is mixed, organisations that have operated a contact centre for some time know how to deliver service at a high level; those that haven’t are still learning how to operate at a high level. I feel that the recent GFC has forced organisations to review how they deal with customers and especially for those that did not have an across the company policy on service delivery are now working to establish one
What contact center technology or other innovation excites you the most as an Executive in the contact center industry?
The development of personalised service delivery; instead of treating customers by segment I believe that centres will look to service individual customer how and when they wish to be serviced.
What has been the most important contact center related conversation topic in 2011 and what are your views on this?
The use of social media has been a topic that has been discussed at length during 2011. As a vehicle for the dissemination of information (i.e. during disasters) social media has been very useful but I feel at this time no one has really worked out to use the medium to generate sales and service. Most organisations are monitoring social media to better understand their customers and to deal with any negative comments but as yet they have not been able to use the channel proactively. I’m not sure if social media is just a passing fad but maybe in the future we will be using it to generate sales and service, we just don’t know how.
Lastly, what do you think 2012 holds for the industry?
The industry will continue to “do more with less” as work volumes continue to grow and management continue to put pressure on budgets. Service centres will be asked to cut their cost bases through improved productivity, increase automation or more effective processes whilst sales centres will be asked to generate higher revenues. As centres increasingly become the link between and organisation and its customer base they will have a greater voice across the organisation particularly in areas that directly affect the customer i.e. marketing, retail networks, distribution etc.
A centre manager’s role will become more strategic as they identify what functions the centre performs and how it interacts with the rest of the business while the day to day operations being managed by Operation managers.
Centre will make a greater use of technology as the more simple interactions are automated and centre staff will be called upon to handle the more complex calls or those that directly result in sales
Customer satisfaction will continue to be the main driver with other service measurements such as Net Promoter Score and Customer Effort becoming more prevalent
Recruiting good quality staff maybe an issue with a skills shortage approaching so centres will look to reduce their attrition and find alternative ways of attracting staff to the centre. Centres will also become recruitment portals for the rest of the business.
Overall the industry will continue to grow and add value to the business
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