The Global Association for Contact Center Best Practices & Networking

The role of contact centers in today’s economy is clear – "make customers happy" – a more demanding goal than many realize. For a long time, companies around the world have eschewed investing in their contact centers as an important segment of their business. This attitude has changed, and contact centers are now upgrading their infrastructure by implementing quality management, speech and content analytics, e-learning, recording, WFM and CRM.

It is easier to maintain customers through good service than to win disappointed ex-customers back. Therefore, investments in infrastructure and human resources have grown tremendously. New and innovative tools help companies make their contact centers more productive and aid supervisors in monitoring and improving agent skills. Agents are now extensively trained, and the "old generation," who had been recruited from students looking to make some extra money during their semester break, has been replaced by highly qualified, skillful and success-oriented individuals.

The Evolution of Contact Centers
Contact center supervisors once used the term "customer experience management," but customers don’t want to be managed! They want to be respected and satisfied. They want to be served by a competent agent who meets their needs quickly, efficiently and in a friendly manner.

Slowly, customers are starting to recognize changes. They benefit from new technologies and access to well trained and informed agents, who solve their problems in a single call.

The latest technology and systems match the skills of agents with the right customers, ensuring an expert will be found to handle their specific issues. Skill-based routing boosts the percentage of first-call resolutions tremendously, improving the reputation of contact centers around the world.

The Art of Listening
In contact centers, there is always room to improve. A 2009 study by Bain & Company found that 80 percent of contact centers operators believe they deliver a superior customer experience. Only eight percent of their customers agree!

And in the end, only one opinion counts – the customer’s! The industry has finally learned this, and now the customer’s assistance has become essential in improving the quality of contact centers. Today, many customers of contact centers are asked to participate in a survey after their call. The questions are designed to determine whether the customer is satisfied with the service and what could possibly be improved.

By the end of the day, the results are compiled in a report to identify individual improvement potential and training needs, and may also be used to verify and benchmark evaluations by supervisors.

Conclusion
In many industries, contact centers operators are listening to their customers for the first time and are relying heavily on this important input. And that’s the way it should be because in the end, it’s all about the customer.

About Bernhard Wagner:
Bernhard Wagner, Director Sales International, joined ASC in 1989. His responsibilities include coordination with ASC's subsidiaries and partners, and he has gained extensive experience in sales and pre-sales for contact centers, financial institutions and public safety organizations. He holds a Masters degree in Business Management (ICC).

About ASC Telecom AG:
ASC is a leading global provider of innovative solutions to record, analyze and evaluate multimedia-based communications. ASC’s solutions reveal vital information, enabling companies and organizations to considerably improve their value creation. Contact centers enhance customer service, efficiently deploy staff and increase productivity.