The future of voice - a six step survival guide for contact centers, from Teleopti

ury their heads in the sand or just accept that voice will eventually go away risk losing experienced staff as well as
customers and revenues. Here we look at the major trends affecting voice in the contact center industry, what
managers need to do to stay ahead of the game and how the latest Workforce Management (WFM) solutions can help.
Facing the future: a survival guide
1. Customer expectations are growing – this is something most of us have probably suspected but 80.3% of the 380
contact centre professionals who responded to Call Centre Helper’s latest survey believe this to be the case.[ii]
Advances in mobile technology and the Internet of Things have created an always-on culture that has radically
changed the way that people consume information along with the goods and services they buy. They expect instant
access to an organisation’s shop window 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Technology is a great enabler and
contact centers need to keepup with this trend and use WFM creatively
2. Accept that new technology is here and make it work for you – rather than seeing new technology as a threat to
the status quo or another thing to worry about, contact center leaders should view their operations as a strategic part of
the corporate digital eco-system where new technologies have the power to transform customer service. Email, web
chat, social media and SMS are all on the rise.
However, first of all step back and consider if it is absolutely necessary to offer all channels because if you do, the
quality has to be consistently high and meet expected service levels. Next, whatever channels you decide to offer, be
sure to blend them successfully with traditional voice to create a true multi-channel contact center environment that
gives customers greater choice of how they can communicate and delivers a faster, highly personalised customer
experience. Likewise WFM should be blended enabling resources to be switched between channels while ensuring
the most qualified agents respond to enquiries when and where required
3. Consider Artificial Intelligence (AI) to overcome staff shortages – according to Call Centre Helper, staff shortages
represent a real barrier to providing great customer service, a situation that has risen steadily to 30% since 2015.[iii]
In its report, ContactBabel reveals the alarming reality of agent skills today. In medium or large contact centres, 60% of
agents handle voice only and 5-10% handle text only (email, web chat and social media). Perhaps it’s time to turn to
the various forms of AI – virtual or digital assistants and chat bots or bots – to manage the gap between agent
abilities/time and the customer experience? Start by making bots the first port of call for customers and remember to
take them into account for WFM purposes.
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Virtual assistants, for example, can begin by directing customers to the correct part of the website or accessing the