Seriously, stop buying software for call centers.
It's a strange thing for me to be saying, I know, but let me explain.
One of the biggest challenges facing call centers is the number of software systems and solutions they've accumulated over the years. Call center solutions promise the very best in customer engagement, ease of use, agent satisfaction, etc. But if that were the case, you wouldn't need to keep buying more, would you?
Too many systems to navigate = poor CX
Rethink what it is you actually need
What you should be doing is harnessing all of your systems and solutions together and making the most of those investments. Don't just think about your call center when you are evaluating various call center applications and solutions to keep up with increasing customer demand. You should take into consideration all parts of the organization that intersect with the customer experience - that touch or have influence in the customer journey.
Where does all of your customer data live? What other parts of the organization need to harness customer data to ensure customer satisfaction? Does your call center phone system work with all other systems? Most organizations today have data stored throughout the entire enterprise and the "single version of the truth" for customer data is highly dependent on who you ask. Many point to their CRM as the end all be all for customer data, but more than likely, it's telling only part of the story. And what about your communication channels? Are they integrated into the data feed for agents to understand past interactions? You may not think a single chat conversation is a big deal, but that conversation, and more importantly, understanding of the context of the conversation, can mean keeping a customer for life, or losing them forever.
Another factor that needs attention is the amount of time and effort managers and agents spend on training for the various systems and solutions being employed. This takes up a huge amount of time that could be better spent on training agents to handle contentious situations or advance their product knowledge, both of which will help improve customer experience. This more valuable training will also lead to happier agents. Call centers have some of the highest attrition rates of any industry. Agents have stressful positions, often dealing with irate customers ñ spending time training on dozens of different systems isn't going to make them want to stay.
What your call center needs is a single solution that integrates the very best of your current solutions and systems together into a single, easy-to-use, and adaptable interface that will evolve with your and your customer's needs and leverage the best in call center automation.
Having a true 360-degree customer view that harnesses data stored throughout your organization is a necessity for great customer experience. Many of the world's leading organizations have realized that continuing to buy traditional call center software isn't sustainable for growth or success.
Learn how the Appian Intelligent Contact Center can help you transform customer experience.
