Advances in technology continue to accelerate an exponential rate. If you blinked in 2018, you may have missed the latest developments in today’s digital B2C and B2B environments. What were the biggest technology-related concerns for customer care and contact center leaders in the past year? Read on to find out! We’ve compiled the top most-read technology posts from 2018 below.
Build Your Strategy for Authentication and Fraud Prevention
Optimizing authentication and preventing fraud are hot topics in the industry. Knowledge Based Authentication (KBA) has been the approach for most centers until now; however, it is terribly flawed and vulnerable. Much of that information has been compromised and can be obtained through the dark web and social engineering. So it’s time to build and execute a strategy now, before you incur unnecessary costs and put innocent customers through the ringer.
Is SIP Right for Your Contact Center?
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) has been around for many years and has become the de facto answer for both network trunking and endpoints, or “phones.” Vendors, analysts and perhaps even your IT department may position SIP as a panacea for the contact center. But what is it really, and why should you care?
Technology: The Catalyst for Service Excellence
I’m pretty sure, regardless of the size of your center or company, you seek to deliver a great customer experience. And I’m willing to bet your customers have a choice of channels. Unfortunately, I’m almost nearly as confident that your customers sometimes feel pain from their inability to easily cross channels and achieve the coveted “first-contact resolution.” Perhaps employees struggle when they lack visibility into customer activity, can’t get to the right information to solve a problem, or must convey the dreaded “someone will get back to you.”
Coming Soon to a Contact Center Near You!
The landscape for engaging with customers is changing fast. Consumers expect hyper-personalization—and they want a choice of ways to communicate with the companies with which they do business. Bots, asynchronous messaging, augmented reality and machine learning are at the doorstep of the contact center, too, modifying the customer journey and putting pressure on traditional businesses to adapt.
Mobile Apps for Agents
Some things just go together like chips and salsa, Frick and Frack… millennials and smartphones. It doesn’t seem that long ago that managers were contemplating whether Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies made sense for the workplace. In fact, a 2016 poll conducted by Service Agility and Contact Center Pipeline found that 42% of contact centers did not allow agents to use their mobile phones at their desks; understandably, though, contact centers must proceed cautiously due to customer privacy and data security concerns.
Fast Implementation with Success
Look up “hasty” and you will find synonyms that convey speed and quickness next to others with less flattering connotations: injudicious, thoughtless, impulsive, and rash. The latter will not earn you a spot in the Contact Center Hall of Fame. In this fast-paced era, doing things right doesn’t have to mean slow. In fact, a little planning can help you move at a good pace while still delivering business value.
Good, Fast and Cheap! Can You Really Have It All?
The old saying, “Good, fast, cheap… pick two,” tells us we can’t have it all. But today’s low-cost contact center technology options send a resounding message that is as odds with this maxim. And it’s not just one or two vendors with this message. It comes from legacy premise solution providers, long-standing cloud infrastructure and application providers, and a host of newer players.
What to Expect for Contact Centers in 2018
Of the most impactful priorities for contact centers in 2017, customer experience was at the top of the list. In a competitive landscape where consumers are inundated with options, delivering a seamless customer experience can be a key differentiator in building engaged, loyal customers. As we kick off 2018, businesses will continue to improve the contact center to meet changing consumer expectations, transforming it from simply a troubleshooting channel into a significant driver of business growth via better customer experience. This will require more than bolt-ons or minor upgrades to legacy infrastructure.
How to Get the Best Results from Your RFP
Request for Proposal. RFP. Frontline users and vendors alike let out a collective groan at the prospect of a long, cumbersome and painful process. Vendors may opt out of participation or put forth a half-hearted effort. Frontline users increasingly find end-arounds and engage directly with vendors for discussions and demonstrations. There must be better way for all involved!
Volume Reduction Is a Multichannel Opportunity
Our annual challenges and priorities survey, as well as our project experience, show that high attrition, absence and adherence issues, and the uphill battle to gain budget approval for additional staff remain pain points for many centers. While technology is not a “white knight” riding in to solve the staffing problems, I’m willing to bet you can identify a lot of contacts that could be handled with less labor.
