Call center environments are constantly changing with the trends, just like any other business in this century. To keep up with the trends and meet customers where they are you need to embrace practical strategies. To start, consider who you are, where you want to go, your capacity and your customers’ profile.
To integrate means to combine one thing with another so that they become a whole. Integrated customer engagement involves interacting with customers via a single face as opposed to several channels. It is a harmonized operational model that ensures you respond to customers in a preferred manner.
The 21st century has expedited the evolution of call centers from multi-channel to Omni-channel interactions, driven by your customers’ journey with you, which is more vibrant, non-stop and easily reached. Most call centers became contact centers to accommodate the above changes.
Are you ready to adopt an integrated approach to meeting customers’ needs?
Here are some key signs you are ready to adopt a seamless customer experience:
1. Channel Ownership Challenges
If you are currently struggling with channel ownership, whereby, agents in the voice department only know how to work the phones or the live chat agents only know how to interact with customers in that way then it is time to align your services.
Your agents should be well-rounded because customers may reach out through various platforms before a problem is resolved. For example a customer may connect with you via email, but due to the complexity of their issue require a phone call. If you have to redirect them to someone else then you waste time and the customer will have to explain their issue all over again.
When you align your offerings, the customer can get assistance from one agent. The faster a customer gets support, the higher his or her satisfaction level.
2. Technological challenges
For your call center to deliver on commitments you rely heavily on technology. If you are at the point of having several systems, separate customer relationship management for each department, multiple sources of data for performance evaluation, several routing options and lots of contact management, you should consider an Omni-channel strategy.
Managing different departments that handle various aspects of customer support can be stressful for you, not to mention costly for your company. When you streamline your operations you can also optimize your operations.
3. Operational challenges
The day-to-day running of a call center requires proper planning. If you feel you are expending too much energy streamlining operations in different departments, and how they relate to each other, then you need a different strategy. Likewise if you are spending too much time trying to marry data from different departments to understand your customer v. spending that time satisfying your customer, focusing on an Omni-solution could be your answer.
Complex department structures can also affect customer satisfaction. The back and forth of checking which channel is lagging behind and evaluating performance is taxing. With a simple, streamlined end-to-end process, your operations will be seamless and thus increase your ability to keep agent and customer effort low and satisfaction high.
If your call center is experiencing the above challenges, not all is lost. Here is how you can start the implementation process:-
- Plan – chart your course from where you are to where you want to go. Every key stakeholder should be involved in the planning process for it to incorporate every aspect.
- Act – after thorough planning, ensure you put the plans into action. Allocate the necessary resources; undertake training and use your strategy document as your guide.
- Optimize – evaluate your performance and improve areas that will give customers superior experiences as well as achieve corporate goals.
In summary, integrated customer interactions will affect your center in a positive way. When you resolve the channel ownership, technological and operational challenges, you will be on the right track to implementing an Omni-channel strategy.
This blog was first published on LinkedIn
