The only constant in any industry is change.
In the technology and communications landscapes, vendors, suppliers, and businesses are constantly searching for new ways to deliver enhanced experiences to customers.
After all, today’s customer expectations are higher than ever. No matter which vertical you work in, you can rest assured that your clients are looking for timely, personalised, and consistent service.
Whether speaking with an agent directly or taking advantage of automated self-service, these individuals expect every channel to be connected.
At the same time, we’re also dealing with a changing workplace, in an age where people are working from locations other than a traditional office or call centre hub.
How do businesses deliver the kind of experiences customers need from a contact centre, while remaining open to this workplace revolution?
Embracing the changing workplace
We’re living in a world where work is no longer a place, but a process. Cloud-based connectivity, applications and mobile technology enable us be productive from anywhere – and it’s not only everyday office workers that are seeking digital work
opportunities, but contact centre agents too.
Virtual contact centres are allowing geographically-dispersed agents to benefit from greater flexibility and engagement outside of the office.
The biggest driver of this new work environment? Productivity.
Remote employees are increasingly proving that they can deliver better results than their office-based counterparts. Choosing your own environment for work helps you to maintain your motivation and inspiration at work.
The Virtual Contact Centre
There’s now a growing demand for a virtual environment that can deliver the kind of always-on connections that modern employees and customers need.
The virtual contact centre offers benefits such as:
- Greater hire flexibility: You’re not restricted to working with people who are closest to your business premises. Instead, you can hire talent from around the world. Contact centres can even recruit people from different time zones to provide 24/7 support for clients.
- Reduced overheads: You don’t need to find the real-estate or pay for the running costs of a vast contact centre facility anymore. Your teams will have access to all the tools that they need in their own home. Your business can become software-focused, instead of relying on hardware.
- Improved employee satisfaction: Employees that have the option to work flexibly are more comfortable and happier in their environments. They are also less likely to abandon your workforce, and more likely to go above and beyond for customers.
However, there are challenges to consider.
Managing the always-on contact centre
Running a virtual contact centre, rather than a physical environment, means that you don’t have as much control over agent activities. It’s impossible to physically watch what people are doing, so you need to find another way to make sure that
everything is running smoothly.
Tools for contact centre management can help supervisors and managers to regain control. They can check who’s available in the contact centre at a moment’s notice, and monitor and control agent activity in real time.
The power of the right tools leads to everything from improved customer conversations, to enhanced business metrics, and stronger client journeys.
What does the future hold?
Trends like flexible working and customer experience aren’t going anywhere.
Businesses must embrace the always-on digital landscape, or risk falling behind.
Fortunately, choosing to explore the benefits of a cloud-based service for omnichannel communication could provide companies with new opportunities for efficiency and performance.
In the future, companies could provide their agents with everything they need to deliver sensational customer experience, with nothing but a cloud-based app. At the same time, this app can give agents and team leaders a 360-degree view of the
interactions between customers and employees. This means that even with remote teams, companies can still monitor realtime data, understand business progress, and track end-to-end performance.
It’s time to discover the value of the always-on contact centre.
