Contact Center Technology in a Global Industry

A Conversation with John Federman, CEO, eStara

We were recently asked to share our thoughts on contact center technology by an organization dedicated to the global support industry.  Here are our thoughts on a few of the questions they asked:

Q: What are essential contact center technologies?

A: The most essential contact center technologies are those that bridge the gap between online and offline channels. Organizations need to think beyond whether or not customers are having a good call center experience, or a good Web site experience, and worry about whether customers are having a good brand experience.

Nothing is more frustrating to a customer than investing time and effort online and then having to transition to a phone call and “start all over again.” The best contact center technologies are those that provide a seamless cross-channel experience and offer a continuity of experience for the customer.

We’re seeing a movement towards channel agnosticism where companies leverage the strength of one channel to improve the results of another, and maximize total return for the company…not just a particular channel. This mentality not only does wonders for customer loyalty, but it increases sales conversions and improves contact center efficiency by equipping agents with the valuable information they need to close deals and generate valuable cross-sell and up-sell opportunities.

Q: What complexities are anticipated in maintaining a superior contact center technology infrastructure that provides real-time multichannel services?

A: The primary challenge is figuring out when and where to engage customers with the right form of contact, at the right time. For routine, customer service oriented questions customers are perhaps better served by FAQs or chat sessions where agents can use canned responses to address multiple inquiries at once. However, for more complex, high-value transactions customers still prefer speaking with a live human being over the phone.

Finding the right balance is tough. Organizations need to measure the cost/benefit of receiving a phone call from a customer. If you’re selling a book or a CD, you probably want to direct customers to self-service. But, if you’re selling a plasma screen TV and your customer is showing signs that they may abandon their cart, you’re going to want to engage that customer proactively with an opportunity to speak with a sales representative.

Q: Is it important to have a common or consistent objective in employing a new technology across different departments in a contact center?

A: Customer-centric organizations realize the need to provide a continuity of experience for customers as they transition across channels. Showing respect for the customer’s time by offering the right contact for their situation is key whether the contact is sales or support related.

If a customer has a poor online experience, they are less likely to shop at the same brand offline, delivering the context of one session to another is essential to building customer loyalty. The ability to track customer interactions throughout the sales cycle and lifetime of the customer also delivers tremendous value, but it means departments must be willing to share data.

There’s no one-size fits all solution to implementing contact center technology across departments. Based on the context of the customer’s behavior, companies should be prepared to deliver the right contact, at the right time. Again, measure the value of each contact and determine which opportunities have potential to drive revenue and which are opportunities to reduce costs.

Q: What are the key technical considerations in shopping for a new technology?

A: Contact center managers need to feel confident that the technology will work, so a good first step is looking at vendors that have been vetted by major enterprises.

Another consideration is when to use a hosted, on demand solution versus a premise-based solution. Many Fortune 500 companies are opting for the flexibility, scalability and reliability that hosted solutions offer as well as enjoying the benefits of leveraging existing technology and telecommunications infrastructure without additional investment in hardware or software upgrade.