Achieving success
Follow the roadmap
It is a bit of cliché to always want to win and beat your competitors, but how do you do that? Sports people will tell you it is about following the process and not chasing the result, and in business the same is true. You need to be able to plot a route and then visualise the outcome that you want to achieve, taking appropriate guidance along the way.Factors to consider
Many contact centres are looking to become digital first, and that means assisting customers whilst they are online through support solutions such as web chat and messaging. Having the solid foundation of knowledge is also important, not just to serve the right FAQs to customers looking for self-help, but also to ensure that agents have the answers to customer queries at their fingertips to ensure a consistent user experience.
One enabler for digital first success is new technology, with a vast array of contact centre solutions to choose from including self-service solutions such as voice biometrics, visual IVR or intelligent assistants. But the reality of the situation is that it is the actual operational execution that is key to delivering the benefits. When implementing technology developments, an agile methodology allows early sight of how the solution impacts the contact centre and overall customer experience. A ‘test and learn’ approach with the ability to adapt the implementation mid-flight then ensures that the full rollout will land the best outcome for the business and customers alike.
Whilst the term “omni-channel” is not always liked, it can be used to describe the ability that customers have to use more than one channel simultaneously to complete their transaction. One technology innovation in this area is to augment a customer telephone conversation with a visual solution. This is where an agent asks a customer whilst on the call if they have access to a tablet or desktop computer and they then get the customer to open up a secure browser session that allows the agent to push information to the customer. The clever bit is that this unique session is a private conversation that can be audited, so you have a definite record that the customer has seen regulatory information and has clicked on a box to give their consent. It can also speed up any fulfilment activities as the customer has real-time access to information that is generated as a by-product of the conversation.
Social media is another opportunity area for proactive customer support – responding directly to distressed customers when they turn to facebook and twitter for support. This requires a clear strategy for monitoring, selection and response so that you can spot your customers and migrate them onto your formal support channels to deal with their issue – ideally within 60 minutes, as this is the speed of response that impatient consumers expect!
It should also be remembered that customer behaviour when presented with new self-service solutions cannot always be predicted, so most business cases now include an initial phase of proving the hypothesis through proof of concept trials. This then provides an evidence base to demonstrate the true ROI for the technology solution as well as allowing the business operational users to buy-in to the new ways of working. A true win-win outcome for all stakeholders involved in the project.
We partner with a specialist technology communications consultancy Artisiam to implement technology related change in contact centres.
Please request a brochure on their services to find out more..