Since the rise of mobile and connected devices, contact centres have seen a sharp increase in customers demanding a service ‘experience’ across numerous channels. Furthermore, they expect a company to be able to recognise their ‘journey’ of interactions on those various different channels.
Unfortunately, supply has yet to meet demand — a recent WebHelp survey of 200 businesses around the world has shown that nearly 90% of them have not yet fully consolidated their voice and non-voice platforms into one seamless experience; or an ‘omni-channel’ experience. This figure is particularly staggering when the study shows the use of non-voice contact among consumers has more than doubled (from 32% to 68%) since 2012.
The study also revealed that some 70% of firms are investing in analytics to better understand how to serve their customers, but it would appear that they are either not acting on the results or simply ignoring the desires of their customers.
As technology advances exponentially in the future, businesses will have to keep up with new developments and meet changing demands. Putting development of the customer experience on hold or neglecting a core audience altogether could, as WebHelp concludes, ‘be the worst decision [a company] has ever made’.
