Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
Ready to Add the Internet of Things Channels to the Contact Center Mix?
Is your contact center an integrated omnichannel wonder center that handles all customer communications, either inbound or inbound, regardless of communications channels? Do all customer support agents have a 360-degree view of the customer relationship, including self-service activities the customer engages in? Can your workers easily see a customer’s history with the company in a single view on the desktop? Do you have the social media channel integrated onto the contact center platform and do your agents use it for both inbound and outbound social media communications?
If you said “Yes,” then your organization is in a tiny minority of companies today. Give yourself a pat on the back. It’s important, however, to ensure that your organization doesn’t rest on its laurels, since more communications channels are coming, and these will need to be added to the mix. As more and more devices, appliances and systems become connected through the “Internet of Things,” (IoT) it will once again be the contact center’s jobs to keep an eye on these communications channels….even if they’re automated and it’s simply two machines speaking to one another through a network connection, according to Monet Software CEO Chuck Ciarlo.
“If the machines are talking to each other, the contact center agent’s computer will be in on these communications, so the agent will know about the issue before the customer calls – he might even be able to implement a solution in advance,” he wrote.
As devices, machines, appliances and home or office networks become smarter, they will begin reaching out with communications on their own. If an industrial machine is about to experience a failure, for example, it might send a message to the manufacturer of the machine. If a belt is about to fail in a customer’s dryer, it might notify the owner and the manufacturer, and even place an order for a new belt and get the process moving to set a service appointment. The contact center will need to be the clearinghouse for all this automated information. It may even need to “push” updates and information to devices in an automated outbound manner.
“Contact centers are accustomed to communication via smartphones and tablets; with IoT, other electronic devices may also have a ‘contact’ button from which customers can reach out to contact centers – or allow the device to automatically send a message that describes the problem,” wrote Ciarlo.
Customers that purchase devices or appliances with IoT capabilities will likely be shelling out more money than for traditional appliances. They will come to expect that the premium will be worth it, which is why companies cannot put these communications into some third tier of importance, or shuttle them to a company department poorly equipped to cope with them.
While it will present a significant challenge for most companies, it will also present opportunities. According to Ciarlo, data gathered from IoT-connected devices will deliver more insight into how they are used, which could inspire changes that have a positive impact on the customer experience. It may also help automate more interactions and take the pressure off agents handling live calls. But companies need to prepare themselves today to meet the new challenges.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi