3CLogic's Contact Center Blog

Today’s customers have a bevy of choices for nearly every type of product or service. Whether it’s a car, pair of shoes, restaurant meal, or subscription-based software they’re in need of, customers can be quite discerning in deciding which company will ultimately win their business.

Today’s customers don’t just want tailored experiences, they expect them. This is even truer when they reach out to contact centers to receive support for an issue. Customers crave one-on-one interactions with agents who are empathetic to their frustrations and able to provide useful solutions.

As remote work becomes the new norm due to COVID-19, it has only served to exacerbate the inefficiency that comes with non-integrated systems and on-premise technologies. According to a recent survey, only 10% of employees are able to establish a complete view of the relationship between their company and customer without toggling between several different platforms. Not surprisingly, many CIOs are turning to a few key providers to streamline operations to improve employee productivity and the overall customer experience. Among those at the top of the list? Microsoft.

Today, only 1-2% of recorded voice calls are analyzed by the average contact center, leaving hundreds of thousands of minutes of data untouched. That’s because an analysis of every single call by hand – a process that can take up to a half hour per call – would be a waste of time and resources. But there is value in this “dark data”.

Voice Remains a Key Part of the Customer Service Value Chain

For decades companies have been experimenting with new technologies (chat bots, emails, artificial intelligence) to respond more effectively to customer inquiries. However, if the recent COVID-19 events have revealed anything, it is that sometimes people simply need to talk to a real-life person. This is not only true for the current crisis but extends to any complex, time-sensitive, or personal crisis at any point in time.