With 2016 right around the corner, it’s time to start planning for the New Year in your contact center if you haven’t already. Sales and customer service professionals in the contact center serve as the “face” of an organization, which means that the contact center must be invested in accordingly. When employees have the tools needed to perform their jobs at a high level it keeps customers happy, which results in long-term profits.
Here are 5 contact center must-haves for the New Year:
Cloud-based technology
There are numerous benefits to upgrading to cloud-based technology in a contact center environment. Cloud-based solutions are far less costly than their on-premise counterparts. There is little to no involvement from the IT department and software can be up and running quickly. Small contact centers also benefit because there are no long term contracts.
Speech analytics software
Call recording software is now ubiquitous in a contact center environment. The phone remains the preferred channel of customer communication with an organization. Call recording software records all calls, allowing managers to listen in for quality assurance and training purposes. However, today’s modern contact center should take it a step further by investing in speech analytics software. Speech analytics software allows an organization to mine hours of call content, searching for specific words, phrases, or emotions, to gather market research data that can be used to improve business practices in the contact center and beyond.
Call tracking software
Call tracking software provides sales or customer service representatives with detailed information about the caller that can assist them during the call. For example, it captures details including where callers are located, when they are most likely to get in touch, and which advertising efforts are the most effective at generating sales.
A social media presence
While the phone remains the top communication channel for customer service issues, contact centers must understand that it isn’t the only channel people are using today to get in touch. Social media is increasingly being used as a customer service tool. In fact, some of the largest brands even have separate social media handles used strictly for customer service issues. Contact center representatives must be trained how to adequately use social media.
Efficient training procedures
A well-trained employee who is confident in their role is often a happy employee which is especially important in a customer-facing role. An employee’s positivity is conveyed to the customer, which can keep them happy and satisfied as well.
Is your contact center ready for the New Year? If not, it’s not too late to implement these tools and practices!
