Survey Touts Modernized Call Center Benefits

Two-thirds of surveyed organizations are “behind the curve” in evolving their traditional call center to a modern customer service operation, says Liveops.

That’s too bad. Because only modernized call centers allow for optimal forecasting, scheduling, and agent payment and recruitment, the company suggests.

Liveops offers an on-demand skilled workforce of onshore home-based agents. They can be employed for customer service and sales.

The company gathered information from 750 customer service professionals for its 2018 Call Center Industry Report. The report says there are four stages of call center evolution maturity.

Traditional call center is the first. In this case, the workforce is an expense due to an undisciplined process and a reactive approach.

Developing is the second. The workforce in this stage is a resource. That’s because such organizations only employ basic management and a guided approach.

Mature is the third. The hallmarks of this stage include strategic plans and the collection of measurements. That allows the workforce to become a flexible asset, according to Liveops.

Optimized is the fourth stage. Getting to this stage requires organizations to have an evolution strategy and do continuous improvement. And that gives these organizations a competitive advantage, Liveops says.

“Companies with the ability to leverage their call centers as a strategic asset will see not only increased revenue and a more engaged customer, but they will have the overall competitive advantage,” said Liveops CEO Greg Hanover. “The report shows that many companies settle into what we call ‘the developing stage’ because they feel that they’re doing well. They might suspect there’s a better way, but they don’t see the value of, nor a clear path to enhancing the customer experience.”

Organizations that optimize their call centers can more easily adapt to traffic variations, Liveops says. They can pay their agents only for their time on the phone because they can shift from salaried to per-minute payments to agents. And they can offer more flexible work hours and locations, and select from a broader pool of agent candidates as a result, it adds.

Edited by Maurice Nagle