The fast-moving world of technology creates operational challenges in managing the entire customer service environment, but the key advantage here is the advent of cloud-based software as a service.
Applications like the Ringover are accessible on a transparent and flexible per-user-per-month basis, and you can effectively outsource all issues related to upgrading, security, and features, in that simple monthly subscription. It’s a far cry from managing the depreciation cycles of legacy PBX equipment on-site and creates a flexible and responsive solution for call centres of all sizes.
That said, there are still technical challenges to consider:
Changing customer expectations
Consumer technology moves fast, and the shifts which took place during the pandemic lockdowns accelerated the adoption of e-commerce, video calling, and remote working. This is all good, for call centre operations! But it’s important to realize that today’s customers might be savvier and switched on than ever before, and their expectations are driven by the latest social media experience. It’s multi-channel, native, and mobile-first.
The adoption of video is a significant case in point, and while we still talk about call centres this label is no longer limited to the single channel of voice. All Ringover plans include Meet videoconferencing as standard because this has ceased to be an optional extra or an edge case — it’s simply the expectation.
Similarly, the power to quickly share screens with a customer via Ringover’s partnership with Crank Wheel is another great asset. It’s always better to show than to tell, and when you can do so without dropping a call or switching an app, you make the experience smooth and easy for the customer and agent alike — all contributing to better outcomes, and the ability to seize the moment for sharing satisfaction.
From an operational perspective, businesses will need to resource this adequately, ensuring that both homeoffices and shared workplaces are equipped with high-bandwidth low-latency connections for flawless video calling.
The ability to follow the customer’s lead and shift frictionlessly from one mode to another is a powerful move in the direction of centring the customer at the heart of the interaction and solving this technological challenge will underpin an important emotional one: it’s not about you, it’s about them.
True omnichannel sales and support may still be out of reach of many organizations, but ensuring you go where your customers are to start with, is a powerful paradigm shift.
As such it’s operationally essential to ensure that all channels you offer are carefully monitored, and consistently responded to. Customers will decide for themselves where they want to get service, and you might not have intended your Twitter account, for example, to be used to address their needs.
But if they’ve got a problem they might decide to address it there, so someone must be keeping an eye on it, and responding — even if you are not equipped to resolve the issue via this channel. It won’t be just the one unhappy customer who sees a disregarded public complaint, by definition, it’s public. So from an operational point of view, you need somebody tasked with monitoring all this and replying, “We’re so sorry you had a negative experience with product A, please contact XYZ, so we can get your issues sorted out directly.”
Integrating customer journey data for business insight
One important operational challenge can be the connection of different data sets within the business, to support the entire interaction of the customer, and also the correct attribution within your enterprise.
The Ringover business phone system enables integration with a range of other database-driven applications to support this so that you can:
- Connect your customer relationship management (CRM) backend to your phone system — see exactly who is on the phone before you pick up (and pick up fast if they’re one of your VIPs), having their entire interaction history at your fingertips as you speak. You don’t ask customers, never mind VIPs, to explain their problems twice or more.
- Connect with your fault ticketing system, and ensure you have access to the customer’s issues that have previously arisen, through a range of popular Helpdesk applications.
- Connect with your knowledge base, and ensure agents have prompt access to the most up to date and accurate support resources, so they can best advise your customer
Above all, integrating your calling into your business intelligence system will enable you to put each phone interaction to work for you like data and insight, rather than a standalone interaction.
In 2021, the call centre needs to take its place at the heart of the marketing technology stack and have its role correctly attributed across all business success metrics, not just those related to phone conversations.
For example, the CRM integration can track the entire journey of the customer, from their first click on the website to their lifetime customer value.
They might have a long conversation with an agent which resolves many of their concerns, but then go on to complete their sale online after further directed reading. This is not an uncommon scenario for a big-ticket item with lots of options, such as a car or a holiday.
In many setups, this will be operationally coded as an online sale, because the customer ultimately inputs the options and transacts on their own — but in a properly integrated intelligent setup, this is a sale that should correctly be attributed at least in part to the call centre, which allayed their concerns and let them talk everything through with a sympathetic human. If there’s a commission structure in place then the human should be recognized there too, as part of their rewarding professional career.
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