4 min
By 2022, the trends in the call center industry are focused on creating a strategy based on efficiency, cost savings, and improved customer (CX) and employee (EX) experience. To achieve this, it will be necessary to invest in technological innovations, such as remote workforces, intelligent automation and cloud infrastructure.
To help an organization achieve long-term stability, here are 7 call center trends for 2022:
Strategy 1: Distribute the Workforce
Digital transformation skyrocketed during confinement. This sudden change in the way agents and customers communicated shook companies that only operated in isolated locations. Those that weren’t flexible enough to adapt faced agent shortages and operational challenges.
Meanwhile, organizations with distributed operations and deploying remote work performed better than those with centralized physical locations during the pandemic.
The future of contact centers is fast and agile. Therefore, it is convenient to use a hybrid work model to maximize diversification in skills, resources and locations. This flexibility will be necessary to implement customer service agents for various volumes and customer support needs.
Strategy 2: Continue Remote Operations
Disasters, natural or man-made, attracted large call volumes and exceeded the capacity of call centers, leaving customers on hold for longer than usual. According to Harvard Business Review research during the pandemic, some companies saw wait times increase by 34% and escalations by 68%. Learning from experience, leaders will want to be prepared for the next crisis, using remote options and flexible staffing models.
In times of uncertainty, the power of cloud-based contact centers lies in the ability to scale support capacity quickly.
Strategy 3: Prioritize Digitization
Digital transformation tools like automation, Artificial Intelligence (AI) enabled learning, instant messaging, and cloud-based systems are now a must. Customer-oriented organizations realized the benefits of digital technology when they had to quickly implement solutions during the pandemic.
AI’s ability to analyze caller sentiment and provide relevant real-time feedback to agents enables immediate results backed by human empathy.
Organizations with cloud-based systems have already seen costs decrease and query resolution, employee productivity, and customer satisfaction increase through a combination of agents and technology.
Strategy 4: Expand Self-Service
It took a lot of effort to meet the urgent needs of all industries when the pandemic struck. At the time, self-service was essential to help divert call volume. Advanced IVRs, frequently asked questions on the web and chatbots became key solutions for call forwarding.
These diversion solutions freed up agents for invaluable work that required more attention, consideration, and empathy.
The drive for self-service will allow organizations to gain more service capacity with the same agents. These advancements will be helpful in providing customers with relevant information quickly without having to force everyone onto the voice channel.
In the future, call centers will need to provide multi-channel support with human backing. When implementing self-service options, they need to be accessible for customers to navigate through the different channels and contact an agent immediately.
Strategy 5: Rethink Security Policies
Technological innovations enable secure remote work in areas including virtual private networks (VPNs) and private cloud systems, among others. As remote working becomes more common, security policies evolve to allow these technologies to be applied in a call center environment.
Now that a hybrid work model is consolidating, safety will need to be better defined. This may mean re-training people on what is expected of them when they work from home and introducing agents to refresher courses in call center security and compliance can help them understand what is acceptable in their new workplaces from home in the future.
Leaders will also want to consider implementing VPN multi-factor authentication. Using two-factor authentication is more secure than relying only on a password for protection. Two-factor settings are very important in tracking that has access to cloud systems that host sensitive data.
Strategy 6: Restart the Sales Engine
In-person sales visits will be greatly minimized in the future. And broad, undirected sales strategies won’t cut it on tight budgets. Leaders will need to consider how their digital tools fit into the “new normal” to allow their sales team to do their jobs.
The best practice will be to use advanced analytics to help identify the most likely leads and retention opportunities. From a tactical perspective, remote sales agents will also be essential in connecting with customers for renewals and upselling / cross-selling activities, helping to increase customer loyalty.
Strategy 7: Create a New Training Program
The training of call center agents is a fundamental piece to obtain a satisfactory CX. Companies will have to rethink what the training environment will look like in a remote and physical hybrid future. Now more than ever, agents separated by unforeseen circumstances will want to be connected to a strong and united organization.
In this sense, organizations can take advantage of asynchronous digital tools such as gamified learning, AI-powered training practice scenarios, and immediate feedback on individual strengths and weaknesses to tailor training that produces the best results.
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