5 Things Contact Centers Think They're Doing Right

Customer management discussion generally focuses on what contact centers need to do better.  What are the challenges they need to address?  What are the changes they need to make? What are the solutions in which they need to invest?

Granted, that insight is very useful.  The customer contact function plays a pivotal role in the success of a business; businesses cannot afford to hesitate in addressing lingering issues and seizing new opportunities.

Indeed, our new CCW Market Study on Performance & Metrics (download for free here) is rich with insights of the sort.

But it also includes a section on some factors contact centers identify as "non-issues." We highlight the five factors that contact centers do not plan to address this year.

Maybe they're correct in overlooking these areas.  In that sense, their success should be celebrated.

Alternatively, maybe they're overstating their capabilities.  In that sense, their arrogance should be cause for concern.

Either way, it adds an interesting dimension to the contact center discussion.

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This list of non-issues includes “agents having trouble collaborating with peers” (only 21% believe it is a problem), poor leadership at the supervisor level (22%), monitoring for compliance (23%), a lack of subject matter expertise (31%) and “wrong metrics” (32%).

Insofar as each of these components factors heavily into the success of the customer contact function, organizations better hope they are correctly identifying them as non-issues.

Collaboration ensures agents have seamless access to information and support when they need it.  It also contributes to employee satisfaction; a harmonious work environment creates a better agent experience.

Supervisor leadership represents a pivotal component of the operation.  If supervisors are not spotting the right problems, delivering the right training and setting the right tone, agents will not perform as needed – and the business will suffer.

The consequences of errant compliance monitoring can be enormous.  Inconsistent communication will generally hurt customer sentiment.  Non-compliant communication will not only hurt customer sentiment but expose the business to significant legal and financial issues.

As customers embrace self-service for transactional issues, they will primarily seek agent assistance for complex matters.  If organizations lack the expertise to quickly, correctly and sufficiently handle those nuanced challenges, they will squander the opportunity to build lasting customer connections.  Worse, they will drive customer dissatisfaction.

Metrics serve as the guiding light for contact center strategy.  They quantify the organization’s key objectives, document the extent to which the business is achieving its goals, and  reveal the factors that are driving success or failure.  If the organization establishes the wrong metrics, it will condition agents and supervisors to prioritize the wrong aspects of the customer experience.  Worse, it will give the business a false or misleading perception about the efficacy of its initiatives.