Cutting Costs in the Contact Center: Don't Ask What You Can Do For Tech, Ask What Tech Can Do For You

Why fix a working system?

While few would say their call center is perfect, most feel that it is at the very least functional. And, as the saying goes: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. But what if simple changes could greatly improve your business’ revenue?

Call centers are faced with this dilemma every day. On the one hand, if they upgrade their solutions, there is the reality that these new technologies come with their own set of bugs and issues. Additionally, not only will the company be paying for the price of the new product, but they must migrate legacy data, abolish the old system, and train employees on the new one.

On the other hand, thought leaders in the space consistently insist that the pros of investing in new technology outweighs the cons. Kristen Kurelo, Director of Technology at AT&T, told us at our recent Customer Contact Week in Vegas that it’s not the technology you use, but how you use it.

Let’s break down exactly why new technology can be beneficial and how call centers can make it work for them.

1. New Systems Pay for Themselves

Kurelo recently invested in new Interactive Voice Response (IVR) technology with Mindful to improve customer satisfaction at the AT&T call center. Her vision was admirable: implement automations and callback technology to ensure the diverse customer base—ranging in age from 18 to 98—gets the personalized support it needs. When presenting this to the leadership team, however, they only had one question: what is the projected return on investment?

Whether you’re managing a small call center or one of the largest ones in the world, inevitably this same concern will come up. Fortunately, there are many upsides to defend the upgraded systems. Between the tighter security, reduction of overhead costs, and automations that reduce human error, it’s easy for an executive who sits outside of the contact center to see how investing in technology will improve both the employee and customer experience.

Kurelo’s leadership team was pleasantly surprised when her research presented the same conclusions. Now, after the implementation of Mindful, it doesn’t seem they have any regrets.

Investing in new technology can be expensive upfront. However, over time, these upgraded systems will end up paying for themselves and give you a stronger foundation from which to build.  

2. Upgrading Doesn’t Mean Starting Over

Technology is always being improved upon. You get the newest phone and feel on top of the world until, two months later, a better one is released making yours obsolete. In the call center environment where each change takes months and large sums of money, why even try to keep up? Kristen Kurelo is faced with this issue daily when promoting new technologies: “People will tell you that [new] technology is old, and by the time you’re done building it, you won’t even need it. I would disagree with that to an extent. I would say that knowing your audience and knowing how to build on that technology is more important.”

There are likely certain things about your current systems that make customers happy. When you update your systems, don’t throw out everything and start fresh—enhance the parts of your center that already work. For example, Kurelo’s call center employees were liked and their customer interactions were satisfactory. However, there were too many phone numbers for customers to call, unsatisfactory wait times, and customers that had to repeat their stories three times before getting support. By investing in Mindful’s systems she was able to better support her call center employees’ good work in two crucial ways. First, they could virtually eliminate customers’ repeat frustration by using the customer information that was automatically provided to them. Second, wait time stress was essentially removed by giving customers the opportunity to schedule a call back at a time that worked for them.

To have the same success, it is important to know your customer, understand their needs, and hear their concerns. With this information, you can work with their values and leverage their communication and experience preferences. This will improve both your call center and your customer satisfaction, all while setting a foundation that can prevent your service from becoming obsolete. This is because, in addition to providing ongoing upgrades, many cloud-based solutions integrate with application libraries that allow you to continue adding the features that matter to your customers without worrying about the upfront costs or inability to integrate existing tools.

3. Believe in Your People and They Will Surprise You

One of the primary fears of the AT&T call center leaders when investing in Mindful’s system was the employees’ new ability to accept or reject customer calls. Would this prevent customers with challenging needs to wait longer or, perhaps, result in them never receiving support?

Jared Evers, Director of Marketing and Communications at Mindful, consults with many clients who share this concern. His suggestion? Flip the script: “Create a culture where employees feel ready and eager to interact with tough customers.” If employees are shirking away responsibilities, ask yourself why. Perhaps there is a culture shift, training, or systemic support that could resolve this problem. Evers goes on to say, “The thought of work avoidance based on the case that comes to them—how can you approach that in a way that acknowledges that some customer issues are harder than others? How can you create an employee experience where they feel ready and equipped to handle that issue?” Perhaps by creating an environment where employees are encouraged to find creative solutions to tough problems instead of being held down to a script. The engrossing conversation would make these complex conversations a reward instead of a chore.

Kristen Kurelo has a similar philosophy. She says that if you believe your employees are good people who want to do the right thing, they will prove you right time and time again. This thought process doesn’t only show call center employees that you believe in them, but creates a culture of support that will make technological transitions easier.

Upgrading technology is just like any other financial investment: it takes money, time, and effort. However, if you keep what works, build on old systems, and believe in your employees, you should absolutely see a positive ROI.

For more information on systems that can help improve your call centers, check out some of our information on customercontactweek.com and sign up for our newsletter.