Agility and the speed to adapt has proven to be a critical business continuity factor over the past year. Cloud adoption – and cloud contact centres – accelerating faster than expected prior to the global COVID-19 pandemic. 2020 has highlighted more than ever the need to have an efficient and effective contact centre for customers to work with when asking questions and resolving issues. Customer service is a must-have for successful businesses, increasing customer loyalty and maximising profitability in the long term. A high-functioning contact centre can provide consumers with a positive experience that will incentivise them to come back to your business again and again.
Customer expectations are evolving, and it is important for contact centres to adapt to fulfil the increasing demands of consumers. A Microsoft customer service report found that 54% of consumers say that they have higher customer service expectations than they did a year ago, with most expecting greater responsiveness from companies. 64% of consumers expect companies to respond to and interact with them in real time. Customers want a more tailored experience when dealing with companies, with 70% of customers saying they expect engagement to be personalised based on their earlier interactions and that this is important to winning their business.
However, contact centres, especially for smaller-sized businesses, face several challenges which can hinder their ability to meet their full potential and provide customers with the experience they expect. Many lack the infrastructure and technology for instantaneous responses, omni-channel service or contextualised engagement.
These challenges can be overcome by utilising the power of CX CLOUD®. Investing in cloud contact centre technology helps your business grow and exceed customer expectations, resulting in the highest quality customer service and greater business success. CX CLOUD® offers innovative solutions that are designed to offer a seamless customer service solution and greater support for customer service agents.
Maintaining Agent Motivation and Performance
Live agents remain the most important asset of a high-functioning contact centre. Although consumers are increasingly embracing technology such as Artificial Intelligence in their customer service experiences, 71% of customers say they would be less likely to use a brand if it didn’t have human customer service representatives available, according to the Microsoft report.
It is vital for a business to take care of this important human resource and ensure that live agents are well trained, engaged, and fulfilled in their work. A lack of training or an uninspiring work environment can often lead to a high turnover of agents in contact centres, meaning that talented people are lost and it is difficult to grow an experienced team. Agents that don’t feel supported or appreciated in their workplace can find it difficult to be positive at work, and this can be reflected in the way they deal with customers.
The CX CLOUD® Agent interface provides agents with the support they need to find fulfilment in their work while also providing them with the tools required to fulfil customer expectations. Using queues and skills-based routing, CX CLOUD® ensures that each interaction is routed to the most appropriate agent in every case, so that agents always feel equipped to deal with the issue they are presented with. The interface provides important context for agents, ensuring they have a clear picture of the customer journey up to the point of their interaction.
Additionally, the CX CLOUD® Virtual Assistant helps to reduce the more tedious aspects of customer service. AI chatbots are able to answer basic FAQs, leaving agents to deal with more interesting and challenging customer queries. The interface can offer real-time assistance and help to upskill agents by prompting them with information, maintaining brand consistency and building a company ‘voice’ over time.
The CX CLOUD® Supervisor interface can ensure that agents are given the support they require, providing supervisors with the ability to view the status of each agent, monitor interactions, review historical data, and assist agents in real time.
Providing a Consistently High-Quality Customer Experience
Businesses that fail to provide customers with a positive customer service experience risk more than the loss of a single sale; 51% of people will never do business with a company again after a poor customer service experience. Considering that it is up to 25 times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to keep a current one (as reported by Harvard Business Review), this is a considerable loss for any business. Additionally, modern consumers are empowered to share their experiences with companies via reviews on websites and social media, so a poor customer experience could cost your company new business as well.
The CX CLOUD® Agent interface reduces customer frustration by providing live agents with complete context and history of a customer’s previous interactions, meaning that customers do not have to constantly repeat themselves. Call recording and data analysis helps to ensure quality consistency and motivates agents to perform at their best on every customer interaction. This tracking also enables pressure points to be identified and fixed, improving the overall customer experience.
With the CX CLOUD® Virtual Agent interface, customers receive a response to their query almost instantly. AI can provide fast answers to common questions and concerns, and also act to triage more complex issues to live agents who can work to solve the problem.
Are you ready to step into the Cloud? Organise a demonstration to see how a cloud contact centre can elevate your business.