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Call Picked Up, Real Retention Work Begins

By Rory J. Thompson, Web Editor

It’s pretty well understood that customer care teams in call centers are a critical part of the business; sometimes, they’re the only “face” that customers can relate to. So it’s surprising that such teams are “often under-staffed, under-resourced and challenged with constant change and complexity.”

That’s one finding from Demand Metric Inc., a global marketing research and advisory firm serving marketing executives. The company’s latest report, “Transforming from Call Center to Contact Center” recommends that marketers get involved in all aspects of the customer experience, including contact center operations.

The independent study (available for free download HERE) identifies a number of reasons why legacy call centers cannot meet the needs of today's consumer. It also offer concrete steps for forming a modern contact center, selecting enabling technologies, and a multi-step implementation plan.

"Marketers must understand the importance of contact centers to marketing and lead generation," observed Jerry Rackley, Chief Analyst at Demand Metric. "The contact center agent is a company's frontline customer service representative; in many cases, the primary point of customer engagement. Demand generation, lead nurturing, up-sell and cross-sell opportunities are fundamental marketing and sales activities that the contact center can support and even initiate."

As part of its report, Demand Metric identified five specific characteristics that distinguish modern contact centers from legacy call centers. They include:

Intelligent Information Flow, which assures information presented to the agent is right-sized for the immediate need and in the right context for a multi-channel environment;

Context Awareness, wherein relevant information is filtered and rapidly presented to agents based on corporate process and compliance rules and guidelines;

Multi-Channel Communication where information flows freely between the customer and the company regardless of touch point or device. Customer information is shared by all internal points of contact;

It’s Cloud-Based, meaning Software-as-a-Service (SaaS (News - Alert)) applications provide users with cost, flexibility and scalability benefits; and

Virtual Support, which leverages the power of the cloud to outsource or decentralize key business processes, eliminating geographic constraints.

"The modern contact center is not a new name for the old call center," Rackley concluded. "A fundamental shift in strategic thinking and implementation is at the core. The evolution from legacy call center involves staffing, resources, organizational alignment and deployment of technology."