How Contact Centers Have Evolved in 2020: Four CX Transformations You Can’t Miss

2020 has transformed the way life looks both inside and outside the workplace, with a lasting impact that’s still affecting contact centers around the world. What does the global COVID-19 pandemic mean for contact centers? How are customers and agents evolving?

In this major annual customer experience report, The UK Customer Experience Decision-Makers’ Guide 2020-21, more than 200 contact center professionals and 1,000 UK consumers revealed just how much CX has changed and what that means for successful interactions. 

Going Digital on the Front & Back End

With consumers and agents working from home, maybe even with children in the background, digital communication is more critical than ever before. Surveys of hundreds of businesses revealed that stakeholders are looking for new ways to communicate.

When asked to define the most important defining factor in satisfaction, customers said first-time resolution of their concern or question. Increasingly, they’re looking to digital methods to bring this to life, from start to finish.

The UK Customer Experience Decision-Makers’ Guide revealed that over 70% of businesses found very high call volume to be a problem. Virtually every business is seeing an uptick in customers needing efficient and effective ways to communicate and take action.

Promoting Omnichannel Communication

Consumers want more ways to communicate — are you sharing new channels with them? For contact centers that have just launched self-service chat bots, promoting that capability can make for more successful CX.

Now’s the time to put out your call to action. “Our call volume is through the roof, but we have other ways for you to communicate with us now.” A simple reminder of the omnichannel support you offer can have consumers sighing with relief.

The annual CX report shared that for some organizations, call volume was so overwhelming they had to turn off the phone and move to email and social media only.

More than ever, contact centers are seeing customers come with a willingness to try new things. Those bots and IVR systems that might have been intimidating before are helpful solutions in this chaotic age. Pandemic pressure has actually motivated consumers to educate themselves on communication opportunities and get their questions answered quickly.

Racing to Optimize

Interestingly, The UK Customer Experience Decision-Makers’ Guide showed that only 10% of companies consider their digital business strategy to be optimized. However, we know that cloud is not the way of the future: cloud is the way of the present. With the huge digitalization of 2020, there is a major focus on optimizing this critical area.

Why are more and more contact centers hastening their move to the cloud? A move to the cloud helps accomplish digital business strategy more quickly and more effectively.

While contact centers may be offering email, they may lack SMS. With SMS, organizations also have the opportunity to offer two-way communication. Finding those gaps is critical to well-rounded CX. This complete omnichannel support ensures complete digital optimization and superior CX.

Another gap in optimization is connection. Can your agents see past customer emails when they call on the phone? What about when they reply on social media? As customers travel through departments their information can get lost and tank their customer experience. Having a full picture of the customer’s background can make a huge difference when it comes to CX and it all comes back to digital optimization.

Watching Remote Performance

The move to remote agents was a hurdle for some organizations and a smooth transition for others, but everyone’s thinking about performance. How is performance at home versus in the office and what do I need to be paying attention to? Contact center leaders are carefully evaluating this new scenario.

Contact centers have been put through the test as they see just how well their personnel performs at home. At NICE CXone, we’ve been talking to contact center agents to learn about the software they're using and their overall experience at home. Surprisingly, for some performance skyrocketed at home because of how well remote working fit in with their personality. 

Watch the short video where Ryan Olson of Trupanion shares how their organization moved nearly 900 employees home in less than 72 hours while ensuring that their member and customer experience remained a priority.

The at-home environment can prove to help agents focus more and get distracted less. Many companies have realized that the remote model isn’t so bad, especially for those employees who naturally thrive in an isolated environment.

This leaves contact centers with the decision of when to bring people back, especially those that are excelling at home. Who gets to work at home? Is it a privilege or an earned bonus? Is it included in job descriptions? These conversations will define agent success as we move forward in this digital time.

Your Next Move

How will your contact center evolve as the year continues to change the way we live and work? Dive into the latest developments in CX in The UK Customer Experience Decision-Makers’ Guide 2020-21.

In this major annual report, you’ll get an inside look into the CX strategy, performance, operations and technology aspects of UK contact center organizations. You’ll find out where your organization stands compared to competitors and what might be the next best move for your team.

But contact centers are just one side of the equation. The UK Customer Experience Decision-Makers’ Guide 2020-21 also includes consumer insights from over 1,000 UK customers. These revelations will show you how their attitudes to elements of businesses’ CX programs have shifted and what they understand a positive customer experience to be in the coming year.

Click here to download your complimentary copy of The UK Customer Experience Decision-Makers’ Guide 2020-21.

Ready for more? Dive into the biggest changes of CX in the on-demand webinar, CX Mega Trends of 2021. Click here to learn how digital megatrends will impact contact centers, what technology has the greatest impact on CX and what moving to digital really means for your contact center.