Did you know that 59% of customers said that they expect a much more improved customer support in the current year than they had a year ago? This gives us a definite conclusion —  upgrading the communication or contact center is a must for businesses. Features, offers and services that were working last year won’t work now in the present year. 

Although the communication centers now already have advanced technologies that use voice recognition and are highly automated to speed up and ease call routing and processing, further advancement is still more important now than ever. Remember that advances in digital technologies will always occur as time goes by to help centers provide a much better service to their customers at a lower cost than before.

Below, we discuss how contact centers can further their service-providing capabilities through digital evolution.

The Transition from Call Centers to Contact and Communication Centers

The history of call center dates back to the mid-1950’s wherein “phone rooms” were used by companies to provide assistance to customers. The system used then were, of course, just telephones. No concept of smartphones existed back then and computers were at a too early stage to even be used as a means of communication. Social media, in particular and as to be expected, would be a strange concept back then.  

In time, that all changed because of modernization. This is all to keep up with the contemporary setting which humans have rapidly adapted to —  everything being fast-paced and customer-centric specifically for businesses.  

Shifting our focus on the present day, digital contact or communication centers have now dominated the world over voice-based and analog contact. Even with its estimated costs to build, many corporations still chose/chooses to adapt to a digital center because of the invaluable benefits it provides. Through every advancement, more opportunities to provide better service and make customer more loyal becomes much easier to attain.

Need for digitization 

There is no need for a debate when it comes to determining the importance of digitization in a contact/communication center. From the continuous signal-sending analog to the non-continuous digital, contact/communication center have really gone a long way. Obviously, the transition is not just for decorations; it serves a purpose.

First, of course, is to rid of anything analog and replace it with digital because it is that much better and more advanced. Digital circuits are cheaper to make and easier to design. Moreover, cross-talk occurs less in digital communication. Expect error reductions when using digital communication because it often has error-detecting and correcting codes.

The benefits

The transformation of call centers to communication centers has a number of benefits that corporates enjoy nowadays. Below, we enumerate them:

Call centers became more efficient. As mentioned above, the call centers of the past that use analog technology cannot compare to today’s communication centers that boast of the much more refined digital technology. Software, AI, and many other digital technologies can help determine issues far faster and reroute the customer to an agent that can handle the problem, with no problem. Additionally, sensitive data is better-protected with digital communication because of its advanced features like encryption that counters hacking attempts. 

There is an improvement in accessibility. Gone are the days wherein customers use corded telephones to report a problem with a product or service to a business. Nowadays, customers want to get their services wherever they are and especially whatever channel and platforms they use. Businesses look to engage with their customers through social media, chat, email and others. They can do so with an Omnichannel contact center. Furthermore, self-service should now be more prevalent, like a self-service IVR system, for example. Remember that a customer is not going to wait for a business. So, businesses should make sure to apply self-service and FAQs to not make customers wait for an agent and find the answer themselves. And, make this available 24/7, 365. 

Gather data needed without hassle. Data is everything in the communication center nowadays. The transformation of call centers to communication centers made data a focal point in the quest for progression. Simply put, data is an important key for a business to prosper. There are many insights and statistics recorded that could be used to maintain, improve or even remove processes. Digitization made sure that everything is recorded and turned into data — views, clicks, sessions on the web and comments, suggestions and many more are recorded so that they can be analyzed for the modern communication center’s further improvement. 

Conclusion

The digital age is just starting. Expect further improvements in the future. We will see technology much more amazing than those that spearheaded the transformation of call centers into communication centers. 

With that said, digital evolution at this point in time is no longer a luxury — it is a necessity.

Tegsoft: Communication Software to Make You Happy

We continue to seek ways in improving our software and technology.

Tegsoft is a well-designed platform capable of helping companies provide the best customer experience. This can truly help in establishing good to great call centers capable of almost everything it intends to do!
As call or contact centers continue to improve, so does Tegsoft’s technology. Contact us to learn more.

REFERENCE/S:

https://www.tcs.com/perspectives/articles/reimagining-contact-center-digital-technologies?fbclid=IwAR1VRDgJy1UKn9weB6AbMjjCI_LF9Wk5md4qe2wdtlbW8aWn-6p-gYOTakM