Analysts Suggest Outsourcing Social Customer Support Channels to Experts

If you run or manage a contact center, you know it’s a juggling act. As companies seem to add new media to their multimedia mix every year, the juggling act seems to add more balls all the time. The latest balls, of course, are those of social media.

While many companies have correctly concluded that social media monitoring and interaction belongs in the contact center so it can be integrated fully into the customer relationship, the sheer volume, complexity and responsibility of correctly using social media is overwhelming many companies.

Organizations that can't keep pace with social media conversations and mobile applications should consider outsourcing the monitoring of those channels before getting lost in the shuffle, according to Elizabeth Herrell (News - Alert), an analyst at Constellation Research who studies customers and communications.

It’s also important, she says, to engage an outsourcer with experience in the social channels. This may mean that some of the traditional call center outsourcing resources just won’t do, reported Search CRM.

"The dynamics have shifted even more," said Herrell. "Customers now say, 'I don't want to call. I want to send an e-mail, a text. I'm going to tweet, and go on Facebook (News - Alert).'"

And speaking of those contact center outsourcing companies who haven’t added social options, Herrell said they had best get moving to implement these new channels.

"I had traditional outsourcers say, 'My clients just started asking for [social and mobile]',” she said. “These outsourcers don't realize they need to be leading with the technology and services."

In other words, if your clients have to ask you for social media support, you’re likely very late to the game…possibly even too late to keep up with your competitors who have already blazed the path.