Customer Service in 2013 and Beyond

In a more specific sense, there will be continued demand for fundamental and essential technologies that help automate the processes associated with efficiency and effectiveness. Interaction recording, coupled with quality assurance and staff forecasting and scheduling, will be as important in 2013 as they are now.

Five Key Areas That Will Evolve

While change within the contact center is generally deliberate, there are several key areas — both in terms of technology adoption and management practices — that will see significant evolution. These include the virtualization of the contact center; the rise in self-service; movement to home-based agents and the use of knowledge workers both within and outside the contact center; an increase in multichannel communications — including the kind and number of channels — in which agents/ customers interact; and further advancements in analytics — both in the business intelligence it delivers and how that insight manifests itself as a change agent enterprise-wide.

1. Contact Center Virtualization

Virtualization of the contact center is a continuing trend, and one that is accelerating. This momentum is projected to carry on over the next four to five years, and will continue to evolve as new technologies emerge.

This virtualization envisions a model in which customer service operations add especially skilled agents and other domain experts (i.e., back-office personnel and subject-matter experts) on an as-needed basis. With widespread broadband and mobile adoption accelerating, virtualization of the contact center can help businesses leverage relevant resources — whether they are agents working at a regional facility, employees at branch offices and retail locations, back-office knowledge workers at the company’s corporate headquarters or work-at-home agents — all with the singular purpose of providing excellent customer service.

As it evolves, contact center virtualization is poised to give rise to a single Web-based or Web-connected central portal where customer care professionals can manage virtual and physical resources that are part of a greater customer service operation.

Such a single central portal can provide managers with a consistent and integrated view of all relevant customer care workers, from at-home agents and those sitting at the brick-and-mortar contact center, to branch workers in the bank who can be maximized during non-peak periods, and backoffice personnel, such as those in fulfillment, claims processing, finance and other customer supporting departments.

While the possibilities of 24/7 availability and access to a greater set of knowledge workers hold appeal as part of the virtualized contact center model, there is also the added benefit of potentially receiving more localized, one-stop care.

2. The Rise in Self-Service

Another area experiencing a rapid change involves customer self-service. From voice services that provide directory assistance and customer service, to automated chat and virtual agents, self-service is poised to become smarter and more adept at handling customer queries. Of course, greater proliferation of customer self-service, whether through a Web interface or phone, will lead to a change in the role of the contact center agent as we know it today.