The global contact center industry is interesting in that it can present various challenges to success based on location, and yet other obstacles can be the same for companies regardless of their location. At the end of the day, the successful contact center is one that is able to meet the customer service demands of its customer base while also staying on the path of the corporate strategy. While this seems simple enough, the path to getting there is a bit more complicated.

 

Contact centers and the organizations that they represent have come to a greater understanding of the importance of the center on the long-term success of the company. They are beginning to understand the role the center plays in customer loyalty and how that impacts the bottom line. As a result, many are incorporating new and different strategies in order to appeal to a broader customer sect.

 

In a survey conducted by Dimension Data, an IT services and solutions provider, and entitled the 2007 Global Contact Center Benchmarking Report, it was found that more contact centers have adopted broader organizational segmentation strategies than in the past in an effort to improve customer interactions. In fact, segmented service in call centers has jumped to 42.8 percent fro 28.3 percent last year.

 

The report indicates that 34.4 percent of call centers use the same segmentation as their broader organization. This is an increase of 10 percent from the results of the Global Benchmarking report from last year. The use of customer segmentation in the call centers is a result of the center’s efforts to raise service levels to increased heights, tie in customer loyalty and secure greater spend within their market.

Having a single view of the customer across all communication channels can also lend to a better experience for the customer. However, this report reflects that only 36 percent of organizations have a single view of the customer across voice, e-mail, chat and Interactive Voice Response (IVR).

The report also found that over 50.8 percent of call centers have a single view when it is across products and services, 48.2 percent across customer data and 46 percent across customer transaction history. As companies are beginning to realize the true value of retaining existing customers, there has been an obvious and concentrated move away from separate segmentation strategies with figures dropping to 26 percent.

Like any other industry, contact centers will focus efforts on strategies they believe will work toward the corporate strategy. Some will be successful, and others will be great misses. However, as long as the center is focused on meeting the customer service demands of the customer and all other decisions are made with this concept in mind, customer loyalty has a better chance of improving overall.

 

 

 

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