#contactcenterworld, @Calabrio

What does it mean to be a Connected Enterprise and does it really matter? Ross Daniels at Calabrio believes it’s a great aspiration for all modern organisations and presents a unique opportunity to elevate the status of the contact centre.

Meeting rapidly changing customer expectations in the new world of remote work demands far higher levels of agility from organisations everywhere - and places an even greater focus on improving customer service. As businesses prepare to take advantage of a revitalised global economy, the phrase ‘we are all in it together’ applies to everyone—not just the contact centre working to accommodate fluctuating spikes in contact volumes and new social media channels.

Today, the key to success lies in becoming a Connected Enterprise where all parts of the organisation work together to deliver exceptional customer experiences. Such experiences are driven by insights that lie within the heart of the contact centre and supported by a pragmatic approach to digital transformation.

Calabrio’s new blog series explores the rise of the Connected Enterprise. What do Connected Enterprise businesses have in common? What are the benefits of connectedness to customers? Along the way, we uncover some interesting insights into the elevated role of the contact centre and share a step-by-step plan for transforming your organisation into a truly Connected Enterprise.

Top 3 characteristics of a Connected Enterprise

Let’s begin by defining what it means to be a Connected Enterprise. Here are the ‘must-have’ attributes of all Connected Enterprises. They represent a key milestone on the new roadmap to success and are a good place to start:

1. No more silos – successful organisations intuitively understand – or they learn from experience – that disconnected IT systems, information, ways of working and even thinking are major barriers to improving customer service. Connected Enterprises are 100% focused on eradicating these harmful silos to achieve all-round connectedness - and it all starts at the top. Leaders are responsible for inspiring a connected ethos, one based on a spirit of collaboration that transcends departmental functions and job roles from C-level executives down, to sales and marketing, product development, IT, finance, HR, manufacturing, operations and importantly, the customer service team or contact centre.
   
   
2. Increased workforce engagement – connected processes, information and thinking motivate staff to shine in their roles and collectively impact positive customer outcomes. Connected Enterprises recognise the importance of empowering their employees with flexible workplace practices and open, transparent communication. They offer tangible opportunities for personal development by giving constructive performance feedback and building carefully tailored e-learning and training. Connected Enterprises also never skimp on technology, and make a concerted effort to provide staff with the right tools to do their job and improve customer service.
   
   
3. Outstanding CX – successful organisations are fuelled by the customer experience (CX), where everyone works towards the same goal of delivering exceptional CX. Connected Enterprises introduce processes that are simple, customer-centric and designed to be implemented organisation-wide. Facilitated by connected systems and information, these processes enable joined-up customer service that results in loyal customers, enhanced corporate reputations and greater profits.

The reality for many organisations however, especially larger ones, is they are frequently divided by disparate systems and disjointed ways of working. One of the biggest barriers to becoming a Connected Enterprise is the lack of data that can provide a clear picture of what makes great customer service and benchmark performance internally and against competitors or industry peers.

Connectedness starts with the contact centre

The beauty of aspiring to connectedness is the opportunities it provides to:

• Elevate the role of the contact centre - as the shop window to your organisation and often the first point of call for customers, the contact centre is a ready-made library of living and breathing customer intelligence that emanates from millions of customer calls, texts, emails, Tweets and Chats. These powerful insights are the critical first step to becoming truly connected across an organisation.
  
  
• Promote collaboration and knowledge-sharing – let your contact centre lead the way in sharing customer success stories, knowledge and learning to help all parts of the organisation succeed in meeting corporate CX objectives.
  
  
• Unlock the potential of digital transformation – with a cloud-based IT refresh. Today’s tightly integrated solutions capture every customer interaction along with everything that impacts customer journeys such as agent engagement levels and whether processes and systems are holding agents back. The path to connectedness is a great opportunity to unlock the value of Artificial Intelligence (AI). As well as automating tasks, AI tools crunch unlimited amounts of customer data, powerful intelligence that can be shared with other departments to make a real difference to business insight and decision making.

#contactcenterworld, @Calabrio