Though many people choose to use the Web to do their business (saves waiting on hold), many contact centers are not equipped to handle anything but phone calls. We spoke with Eyal Rudnik from NICE Systems about that.
Why are so many contact centers nothing more than call centers?
I strongly believe, and this was proven many times in the past, that the interactions that go on at a contact center hold invaluable information regarding a company’s service and product ideas for improvement. I see the contact center as a goldmine, and with the proper solution, such as NICE SmartCenter, an organization can tap into the insight that lies within the interactions.
Do you think that email and chat will continue to become more important in contact centers, or will voice calls still be the customer's preferred way to communicate?
I foresee more and more electronic communication, predominantly due to convenience. That said, I don’t see voice communication disappearing because of the converged nature of communication. IM interaction can very quickly switch from plain chat to voice communication with the click of a mouse and perhaps even more importantly, people like to speak with people.
Further reading: How to Staff for Text Chat
Photo: Steven PerezLearn more by reading about IP Phone, VoIP Providers and VoIP Router.
We have an unusual reason for not expanding beyond a call center. In our industry, very few people use email. We have a Customer Service email box, but we get very few emails. Most of our customers prefer the live person and the human touch. I had suggested setting up an email desk at one point, but so few customers use email or have any kind of internet access at work that one person can handle email requests.
We are a small call center, as well, so the current setup works best for us.
Posted by: Ann Onimous | July 24, 2007 9:22 PM | Permalink to Comment