IT Systems Fall Short of Contact Center Needs
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Tech Connection
More than 35% of all contact center interactions are now digitally enabled via email, Web chats, social media and smartphone apps. -
Forward Momentum
74% of survey participants said overall contact center interactions will increase within two years, and 87% said non-voice digital interactions will rise within that time. -
Difference Maker
75% said customer service is a competitive differentiator, up from 63% two years ago. -
Precarious Position
30% said their IT systems don't meet current contact center needs, and 79% said their systems won't meet future needs. -
Socially Inept
63% said their call centers have no capacity for social media interactions. -
Missing Metrics
40% said their contact center doesn't have the tools to conduct data analysis, even though 53% said analytics has the most potential to reshape the industry in the next five years. -
Exclusive Intelligence
52% said their contact centers don't share customer information with the rest of the company. -
Unknown Element
91% said their organization measures the quality of voice contact interactions, compared to 61% which measure non-voice interactions–despite the acknowledgement of the importance of digitally enabled contact center experiences. -
Off Premise
34% said their organizations are planning for a hosted solution for their contact center operations. -
How Hosting/Cloud Technologies Benefit Contact Centers
Increased functionality: 64%, Improved flexibility: 65%, Reduced costs: 62%
A significant number of CIOs and other executives believe digitally enabled customer interactions will play a key role within their organizations' contact center operations, but many said their IT systems aren't supporting current needs, according to a recent survey from Dimension Data. The "2015 Global Contact Center Benchmarking Report" revealed that contact centers are lacking when it comes to analytics capabilities and social media accessibility. The latter will prove essential for the future, given that nearly one-quarter of Generation Y users consider social media as their primary means of contacting a company. "Digital contact–in the form of email, Web chat, social media and self-service channels –continues its explosive growth as a popular engagement method," according to the report. "Digital will overtake voice-based contact within two years. Why? Because customers demand it. The new generation of tech-savvy consumers entering the market–mostly Generation Y–use the phone only as a last resort for queries that couldn't be solved in any other way. Customers younger than 40 would much rather use social media and Web chat than any other way of achieving their desired service outcomes." More than 900 global executives and professionals with at least some level of responsibility and oversight over contact centers took part in the research.