The numbers don’t lie: today’s contact centers are expected to resolve issues fast. 80% of calls, according to data from Cloudtalk, are expected to be answered within 20-30 seconds and the average call duration is four minutes.
It’s no surprise then that leading companies are adopting voice self-service solutions in addition to their IVR solutions to not only manage call volume but provide a higher quality of customer service and improve call agent performance.
The question is no longer should I adopt voice self-service for my contact center? It’s how can I adopt it as fast and as efficiently as possible? This article will tell you where to begin so you can start unlocking the massive benefits of voice self-service for your business.
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Topics:
voice,
customer experience,
self-service,
IVR,
customer service experience,
voice self-service
Today, 70% of enterprises either have a digital transformation strategy in place or are actively working on one. Nearly half say improving customer experience and customer satisfaction were the leading influences driving the focus and effort. In fact, 72% of enterprises expect digital transformation to create closer relationships with customers. However a new report revealed that digital transformation projects are stalling due to a “hesitancy gap”, as enterprises struggle to navigate the risks and complexity associated with turning innovation from concept to reality.
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Topics:
customer service,
call center,
crm integration,
cloud call center,
self-service,
cloud,
customer service team,
cloud call center solution,
artificial intelligence,
telephony CRM integration,
voice platform,
digitaltransformation,
intelligent routing
An astounding 82% of today’s consumers say speed of service is the number one factor to a great customer experience. And as businesses increasingly seek ways to improve their customer service, many have turned to virtualization and self-service. Airlines use self check-in, restaurants allow customers to make their own reservations, and grocery stores have self check-out lines—the list goes on. In the case of contact centers specifically, 62% of best-in-class companies use interactive voice response platforms in some capacity to facilitate the delivery of fast but relevant customer service.
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Topics:
customer service,
self-service,
interactive voice response,
IVR
The customer service space has undoubtedly evolved over the past several years, and the momentum is not expected to slow down as artificial intelligence (AI) continues to advance. AI-powered voice recognition software—known to the customer service space as the “virtual agent”—has already made its way into many of today’s contact centers, replacing live agents to assist clients with a variety of tasks and inquiries. Coupled with the proliferation of messaging apps, many are also beginning to see the development of chatbots—software programs that use messaging as the interface through which to carry out any number of tasks, from checking an account balance, to making a reservation, to helping users buy a pair of shoes. Virtual assistant startup, Interactions, recently secured an additional $56 million in funding, indicating that the trend is certainly picking up speed.
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Topics:
customer service,
contact center,
self-service,
virtual agents,
artificial intelligence
By 2020, the customer is expected to manage 85% of their relationships with a business without interacting with a human—something that should come as no surprise when considering the rising popularity of self-service channels across the web, mobile apps, and voice (IVR). As a matter of fact, Forrester recently conducted a survey, which revealed that web self-service (through online knowledge bases) is now the most commonly used communication channel for customer service, the first and only channel to exceed voice in history. And as mobile device adoption continues to expand and consumers increasingly demand fast and effortless engagement with the businesses serving them, many have been left wondering—will alternative touch points soon cause the call center agent to become non-existent?
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Topics:
call center,
self-service,
call center agent,
multichannel
Each New Year brings its own set of unique opportunities to the contact center space, both from a technological standpoint as well as an operational one. And as businesses continue to adopt the latest solutions and best practices to support their employees, customers, and organizations as a whole, many continue to run into challenges piecing everything together and making good use of it all. But what are some of the challenges contact centers are anticipating in the coming months? And how can businesses more effectively manage what they have and mitigate the risk of a potential issue? Let's check out the findings of Contact Center Pipeline’s recent survey, “Contact Center Challenges & Priorities”, revealing some of the biggest challenges for organizations today—and how to alleviate them in 2016.
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Topics:
customer service,
call center,
CRM,
contact center,
contact center solution,
call center software,
self-service,
agent retention,
knowledge management,
knowledge base,
contact center attrition,
SLA,
ASA,
service level,
high attrition,
attriction rate
The contact center space is changing. So what should one expect in 2015?
Continued Implementation of Self-Service: Recent studies have shown 67% ofcustomers prefer self-service over speaking to a live representative, which has its benefits when considering self-service interactions are 200-300% less expensive than those handled by a live agent. While the use of live agents is not expected to decrease, the importance and extended use of self-service is likely to be a continued theme next yar.
Growing Deployment of Cloud Infrastructures: By 2015, cloud computing spending is projected to reach 155 billion, compared to 46.4 billion in 2008. And according to DMG Consulting, cloud-based infrastructure is the fastest growing area for the call center industry, predicted to almost double between 2013 and 2015. When compared to premise-based solutions, contact centers based in the cloud have experienced 27% reduction in annual contact center costs and a 35% improvement in uptime. Offering superior reliability, scalability, and cost-savings, cloud adoption shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon and likely to continue its successes in 2014 well into 2015 and beyond.
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Topics:
customer service,
cloud security,
cloud based contact center,
call center,
multichannel contact center,
contact center,
contact center solution,
remote agents,
cloud call center,
scalability,
WebRTC,
reliability,
big data,
cloud contact center,
customer experience,
self-service,
customer relationship,
at-home agents,
multichannel communications,
saas integrations,
security,
virtual agents,
personalizing customer service
Consider the Following:
- 20-40% of yearly sales for small and mid-sized retailers takes place during the last two months of the year
- 40% of consumers begin shopping before Halloween
- Black Friday sales are expected to top $2.4 Billion this year, representing 28% YoY growth
And what does a rise in holiday shopping generally mean for businesses? More sales, obviously. But it also tends to imply an increase in call volume tied to clients inquiring about purchases, requesting additional support, making inquiries, and also submitting the occasional complaint.
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Topics:
crm integration,
multichannel call center,
CRM,
remote agents,
scalability,
self-service,
kpis,
at-home agents,
IVR menu,
IVR,
high call volume,
multichannel communications,
business intelligence,
workforce management,
reporting and analytics