Managing the customer service division of your company often falls under the umbrella of the contact center. Whether this is managed in-house or through a third party provider, the point is to optimize the interaction between the company and the customer.
As archaic as the contact center environment can seem to those outside of the industry, this is one area where development continues to demonstrate progress. This is no longer the stale environment where cubicles and headsets are the only exciting thing to grab your attention.
Agents are motivated through interactive dashboards; supervisors can coach the agent on a call from another room and the agent best skilled to answer a customer’s question may be located on the other side of the world. The focus is on innovation to improve performance, optimize the customer experience and drive bottom-line results.
For the company that needs to select their contact center solution, narrowing down the choices can be a challenging task. There are a few things to keep in mind that can help streamline the process:
Define Your Needs
Before you start considering the vendors that should be on your short list, define exactly what you need from the relationship. Are you looking for an in-house solution or are you wanting something hosted? Do you need to support virtual agents or is yours a small shop on-site? Are you aware of the all the features available and know which ones will apply and which can be left to the other guys?
Ask Your Colleagues
The process you are about to undertake is not new, so look to those who have already walked the path. Ask your colleagues about their own experiences and learn from their mistakes. Be sure to include the tough questions so you’re not stuck talking to your friend’s brother-in-law who is trying to break into the market. Look for real-world success stories that you can see first-hand.
Check on Support
When it comes to customer care, you can’t afford to cut corners. Ask about the level of support you can expect from the vendor and then ask for references. Inquire after a time the system failed and how the vendor supported a reboot or provided redundancy so they were never offline. When your business depends on the system to be operational, downtime isn’t an option.
One of the best ways to learn about the latest offerings in the market is to attend a respected conference, like the ITEXPO. NetSapiens was on hand at the most recent event and shared insight on their contact center solution.