If there were a Bible for the contact center industry, it would most likely be ContactBabel’s (News - Alert) “U.S. Contact Center Decision-Makers’ Guide,” an annual report studying the performance, operations, technology and HR aspects of the nation’s call center operations.

This year, the multimedia section of the report’s fifth edition – which encompasses trends related to multimedia and multi-channel best practices – got a helping hand from Zeacom (News - Alert), a company specializing in a call center software solution that offers comprehensive management of a contact center’s dispersed agents and multiple communication channels.

“Today’s consumer expects to be able to reach the appropriate service, support or help desk representative immediately, using their preferred media of choice,” said Samuel Williams, vice president of Marketing for Zeacom, noting the pertinence of multimedia communications within the call center. “Zeacom is steadfast in its commitment to not only address this need, but to also empower enterprises with the resources to exceed customer expectation. We are honored to have worked with such a reputable, globally recognized firm in providing the market with this unique, mission-critical information.”

Findings of the report reveal that the most popular methods for non-voice customer contact, separate from fax and letters, are e-mail and self-service, with SMS, text chat and Web collaboration following closely behind. Additionally, when it comes to desired features looked for in a channel, customers want effectiveness, availability, affordability, and simplicity.

Offering up some interesting data included in the study, Steve Morrell, author of the report, said, "The Multimedia section of the report, sponsored by Zeacom, revealed some of the most interesting trends currently happening within the contact center industry. In the past five years, e-mail has jumped by 67 percent and web chat by 50 percent, with traditional forms of communication such as letters, fax and even telephony in relative decline.

"Respondents to the survey indicate that Web chat, e-mail and direct social media channels are very much at the forefront of their customer contact strategy, and the report shows their strong intentions to invest in multimedia solutions in the near future,” he added.

Zeacom may have been occupied with backing ContactBabel’s 2012 call center report, but that hasn’t stalled the company from making several significant enhancements to its Zeacom Communications Center solution over the last few months. Back in January, Zeacom introduced ZCC to Microsoft (News - Alert) Lync to enable users to oversee the delivery of every contact, whether it’s via phone e-mail, SMS and social media alerts, on the Microsoft telephony platform. Nearly a month later, the company unveiled Zeacom Communications Center 6.1, the latest version of the call center software that now includes mobility applications for Android (News - Alert) users, business intelligence features for the contact center, and more flexibility for PBX users who want to benefit from integration to Lync.

“By leveraging the popularity of Android and Microsoft Lync among business customers, we increase the return on investment from Zeacom software,” said Williams back in February. “Version 6.1 offers our partners additional opportunities to add value through enhanced business process automation and integration services.”