Contact Center Solutions Featured Article

Anyone working in a bureaucratic organization understands that there is sometimes a gap in perception and reality between C-level executives and those operating on the customer-facing front line.

In the contact center industry especially, employees have found that those working in the upper levels are somewhat removed from the action and therefore have a skewed perception of reality on the front line.

In a comprehensive worldwide survey, "The Executive Disconnect: The Strategic Alignment of Customer Service," an in-depth look at businesses across key regions worldwide is provided by Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc. The results are detailed with supporting data for major markets in Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific. 

Capturing customer feedback is essential for any organization that desires to make improvements in processing and the service that is delivered to customers. According to this study, there is a 16 percent gap between C-level execs who believe they are capturing important customer feedback, and the views of customer service professionals.

And, while 78 percent of C-level execs believe that their company is doing a good job of collecting information on customer and market needs and passing it on to sales, only 62 percent of customer service professionals agree with this statement.

When companies are examined on a regional basis, Germany emerges the leader as 75 percent of companies have processes for systematically passing on customer feedback, followed closely by Asia, France and Spain at 74 percent.

While this survey found a distinct difference between C-level perception and reality, the positive result of identifying this problem is that many companies have implemented or plan to initiate priority projects over the next 18 months to address this misalignment.
 

More than 28 percent of the companies surveyed have or will add “click for a call back” capability. To support proactive business management, nearly 30 percent of participants plan to enable information consoles to provide real-time views that leverage customer data across the entire enterprise.

Another 36 percent of companies throughout the world plan to improve visibility into customer processes by identifying the root causes behind customer interactions and behaviors through analytics.

To address this gap and try to leverage all resources within the organization, more than 28 percent of companies are already moving to incorporate branch offices to expand the pool of resources available during high volume periods. And, nearly 40 percent of contact centers worldwide are currently virtualizing by operating multiple contact centers as a single entity, or plan to do so.

While it is likely that it will take time and practice to close the gap between C-level perception and front-line reality, the benefits that will result will benefit both the company and its customers, driving increased revenues and customer loyalty.