Contact Center Solutions Featured Article

Survey Shows Contact Centers Falling Short in Multimedia Offerings

November 02, 2007

For those that operate in the contact center space, it shouldn’t be any surprise that the consumer is changing. The way in which we communicate, the changes in consumer mobility and the demands for real-time information all the time are driving changes in the ways that consumers access information.


Young people especially have adopted new communication methods. In order for companies to ensure long-term success, they must be able to attract new customers and those in the younger demographic represent a large target market with significant spending potential. To attract these customers, businesses must be able to offer communications in the methods that this demographic prefers.

Rostrvm Solutions recently commission research that revealed that consumers are beginning to demand multimedia contact. The challenge in the contact center industry is that most centers are far from ready to meet customer expectations. The research indicates that adoption of new media is under way and customer contact mechanisms are changing, but not at a pace to meet consumer expectations.

Contact centers, like all other business divisions, are slow to change. This lack of speed is often the result of budget restraints, process implementations, management resistance and even user resistance. These challenges are really nothing new. What has changed is that technology moves at a much faster pace than anything else and companies are not designed to change that fast.

The survey, which included more than 100 contact centers across a wide range of business sectors, also showed that contact centers are more troubled by day-to-day operational issues as they are simply not focused on meeting customer expectations and building tomorrow’s operation and business processes.

The challenges that the contact center faces are difficult as they are under pressure from various and conflicting areas. Management wants lower costs and improved service, the customer wants quick satisfaction, the agent wants job satisfaction and motivation. At the end of the day, contact center leaders find it difficult to find that balance where everyone is satisfied.

It does not mean that the balance is impossible, just that these leaders must be able to identify the necessary strategy to get there. Taking a customer-centric approach is one way to improve customer satisfaction. By focusing on what the customer demands and building processes around those initiatives, the contact center can make significant progress.

Consumers and their demands will continue to change – that is one constant in the contact center industry. While it can be challenging to keep pace with these demands, contact centers can take a proactive approach in the ways that it serves the customer base. Placing importance on partnerships and customer satisfaction will help progress the center to the level of functionality it must have to attract the consumer of tomorrow.

Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMC and has also written for eastbiz.com. To see more of her articles, please visit Susan J. Campbell’s columnist page.



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