Do you see the contact center as an unavoidable expense?
Most managers don’t. They know the value of a customer call center.
But some senior managers do.
These managers are always asking you to squeeze more out of your people or find more ways to cut waste from processes.
Viewing the call center as an expense is asking for trouble.
It can significantly hurt customer service, reduce customer satisfaction, and slash revenues—things no business can afford to do.
Recent research shows that investing in technology can improve contact center performance, boost customer satisfaction, and increase return on investment.
What’s more, these investments often pay for themselves in a couple of years.
But if you’re like most contact center managers, you don’t really care how you improve contact center performance. You just want to improve it.
10 ways to improve contact center performance.
Five use technology to do it. Five use traditional, non-technology methods.
Technology Methods For Contact Center
- Improve first call resolution
Receiving and routing calls correctly is critical to improving FCR. No one likes getting bounced around from call agent to call agent. Use tools like contact data, advanced routing, and advanced reporting to boost FCR rates.
- Cut average queue time
Adding agents can cut average queue time. But that’s expensive. Technology tools, like a courtesy callback, blended routing, and multi-criteria routing, can help you cut average cue time cost-effectively.
- Improve multi-channel performance
The telephone is the preferred method of contacting companies. But e-mail and chat are coming on fast. Technologies like universal multi-queue, CTI and apps integration, and unified cross-channel routing, can help you handle the growing volume of email and chat traffic efficiently.
- Reduce costs per call
Reducing cost per call can significantly cut costs. Some companies reduce costs per call by 30 percent using multi-criteria skills-based routing, computer telephony integration, and courtesy callbacks.
- Boost customer satisfaction
To maintain top box customer ratings, you must continuously improve customer service. Many companies use agent desktops with CTI, real-time agent feedback tools, and advanced reporting and analytics, to improve services.
Non-Technology Methods For Contact Center
- Share best practices
Sharing best practices is a great way to build skills and increase organizational knowledge. So find ways of doing it. One way is to hold a group session and allow everyone to listen in.
- Ensure agents get the right information
Make sure that all your agents get the same information and that the information is as complete as possible. To do this, apply the same principles to all the information agents need to resolve problems efficiently, cutting agent frustration and boosting customer satisfaction.
- Get more from customer calls
Are you getting the most from ACD, call recording, workforce management data, and performance information? If not, consider ways to aggregate and analyze data more efficiently.
- Re-examine key performance metrics
Take a closer look at your metrics. Make sure they’re giving you the right information. Average call time, for example, tells you nothing about how the call was handled or its outcome.
- Plan for flexible working success
Flexible working practices, like working from home, can boost service quality. It can also lower costs and improve employee morale. But it requires systematic planning, clear execution, and effective communications.
Viewing the call center as an avoidable expense is asking for trouble. It puts customer satisfaction at risk.
Savvy managers won’t do this. They’ll consider all ways of improving contact center operations—whether it’s investing in new technology, improving processes, or outsourcing to an experienced after-hours emergency call center.
As an experienced outsourcing service desk company, 31West offers its proven expertise in delivering tech support services to small and medium-sized companies. Let us work for you and provide the support you need. Reach out to our sales team and request a quote today.
