Words really do have meaning. This includes the jargon industry uses in describing what it does and the value it delivers. There are lots of examples of how the evolution of how a sector talks about itself can have impacts. The Cloud, for instance, started out in the computing world back in the 1970’s as “shared space computing” and has gone through many different names until the current moniker stuck. People may not know precisely what it is or does but they know it is important and has value to them.  Truth is the same can be said in the communications world where a shared space purpose-built computer that served up applications from a telecom central office rather than was located on the customer premise, known as Centrex, in many ways was the first real cloud. 

The reason to bring this up is because of the increasingly rapid transformation we are witnessing of what used to be the lowly and costly “call center” into the “contact center.”  In fact, contact centers have been further described as customer interaction centers, particularly as they have increased their functionality to encompass multiple-media/omnichannel interactions. They have also come to be viewed as hubs of using integration with other systems like CRM and ERP as prime places for having visibility about the entire customer journey so that frontline people, aka agents, can provide compelling customer experiences.  And, just as we are getting used to the name “contact center” realities are that thanks to technology and changing customer requirements those entities actually could use a name refresh. 

Customer Engagement Center (CEC) is one I have grown fond of. The reasons are that contact and interactions are just about establishing connectivity, whereas “engagement” implies a relationship with a purpose.  Indeed, as Millennials and those who follow them become more digitally adept and hence as customers have expectations as to how they wish to engage with sellers, the need to transcend interaction and reap the fruits of engagement is no longer a business nicety but rather a necessity.  It is driven by the requirements to understand the customer context and identify the customer on every single interaction, comprehend why each customer interacts with the organization, and build a detailed profile based on preferences, issues, purchases, use of products, or even personality.

In short, as futurist Alvin Toffler predicted several decades ago, technology was going to create a world defined by “markets of one.”  This means every seller needs to have a defined personalized relationship strategy and processes to engage each individual customer with the customer service team with a successful outcome that will drive sales, covert customers into brand subscribers, improve customer client´s loyalty, and leverage customer engagement information to create sustainable competitive advantage. 

Presence Technology, who describes itself as a leading solutions provider of multi-channel contact center solutions, is at the forefront of articulating why we need to transform contact centers into customer engagement centers. In fact, you are invited to join me, and Presence Technology (News - Alert) Vice President North America, Paul Dickinson, for an insightful webinar, Customer Engagement Center in 30 minutes: How the Customer Engagement Center can increase sales, improve client’s loyalty, and adopt to your customer. To be held, Tuesday, September 29, 2015 2:00 PM ET 11:00 AM PT, Paul will be detailing the tools and best practices you should be evaluating in order to really engage your customers. It will be a little more than 30 minutes since there will be what promises to be a lively Q&A session following Paul’s presentation where you are encouraged to engage, and will certainly be time well spent.