5 min
2020 has been a year to remember, unprecedented and unpredictable. Lockdowns from the pandemic altered the business landscape as consumers changed their shopping habits, businesses changed to survive, and many companies closed their doors permanently.
Analyzing how events have played out in 2020 and using that information to guide call center investments in 2021 is very important.
What Have Call Centers Learned In 2020?
First, contact centers should ask themselves: “Were we as prepared as we could have been for the impact of the pandemic?” Predicting this particular scenario was very difficult, so perhaps the previous question should be rephrased as follows: “Is our company prepared to handle the unexpected?”
Part of business continuity is ensuring that all functions of the organization, especially the call center, are resilient and can adapt to unexpected changes with agility and adaptability in all aspects of the business: agents, operations and companies that create flexibility and agility in all fields. This will ensure that the organization can better respond to any crisis, regardless of the specific scenario.
In 2021, call centers should invest for built-in adaptability by increasing agent support, implementing digital channels, and adopting bots powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
1) Investing In Agents Becomes More Critical
Agents are the greatest assets in call centers and play a critical role in customer satisfaction. Most contact centers were likely sent home to work early in lockdown, and many may continue to telecommute. Therefore, it is essential to include remote agents in the permanent operating model of call centers.
Agents at home must have the necessary tools and still feel like part of a team. To ensure they are well cared for and positioned for success, the following investments should be considered:
- Give them all the collaborative tools they need.
- Offload agent job with self-service.
- Make significant improvements in management processes with clients.
2) Go The Digital Way For Channels
If there is a strong trend stemming from COVID-19, it is around digital adoption and investing in long-term digital transformation. It is imperative that the organization turns this business model around as soon as possible.
In addition, customers want to interact with companies on digital channels. According to a study, 90% of users say they are more willing to do business with an organization that offers more ways to communicate. Additionally, digital channels like email and chat have strong preference scores, and others are gaining traction, especially among Millennials and Gen Z.
Digital channels are gaining popularity among decision makers, with live chat and SMS seeing the largest year-over-year increases as preferred engagement channels.
But these benefits aren’t just limited to agent-assisted digital channels. Self-service digital channels are also seeing a big boost, led by mobile apps.
Customer demand is not the only reason to implement digital channels. There are also very practical reasons to go digital: it can help call centers manage demand and provide more agility. Also, most digital channels, unlike voice interactions, do not require real-time responses. This means that agents can reply to, for example, emails and chats and switch to a real-time phone conversation and chat again at the same time.
This feature was particularly useful at the beginning of the pandemic when call volume and wait times were high – customers who were unable to communicate by phone, but had the option of sending an email or message and eventually receiving an answer without waiting in a long phone line. And also make agents respond to interactions in parallel: talk to a user in the chat, but take a call in the middle and return to the chat.
For maximum flexibility in reacting to changing customer preferences or emergencies, contact centers must implement software that enables digital channels to turn on and off quickly.
3) Bots Are Here To Stay
AI-powered bots are no longer experimental technology. Organizations are using them successfully for self-service or in conjunction with agent assistance for an optimized customer experience and more efficient operations. And, like digital channels, they can help manage the demand for contacts and should be part of business plans.
Bots can be deployed across multiple channels: voice, live chat, IVR, and many more, and are generally used to answer common questions or facilitate simple transactions. They are also effective in gathering customer information that can be delivered to the agent for faster agent-assisted interactions.
Both users and businesses believe that bots need to get smarter, which is happening over time. As Artificial Intelligence becomes more useful, its adoption by users and organizations increases.
Forward-thinking contact centers are including more AI in their short-term plans. In fact, 40% are investing in customer-facing AI capabilities, like chatbots, over the next year. But even more (52%) plan to invest in AI that will improve operations.
AI is not only used for chatbots. Contact centers can also use it to improve forecasting and routing and to measure customer sentiment. In addition, AI-powered bots can act as “co-pilots” for agents, advising them on the next best action and performing some of their administrative tasks.
4) Time To Go To The Cloud
Investments in digital media, bots and agents remain critical in 2021, especially if you are looking for that built-in resilience that companies have to think about now. All of these investments are important, but they must be implemented on the right platform to ensure maximum success. According to research, 66% of call centers not using the cloud today plan to accelerate their move to the cloud as a result of the pandemic, as they recognize the flexibility that cloud-based solutions offer.
A cloud platform enables agents to onboard quickly and works seamlessly from home. Also, when the contact center software is in the cloud, adding and integrating new digital channels is very easy. And the open nature of these platforms makes integrating AI capabilities much easier compared to local solutions.
In conclusion, starting 2021 in the best way for companies consists of making the decision to invest in agents, digital channels, bots and a cloud platform to ensure that the contact center is prepared for the unexpected.
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