The future of the contact centre: evolution or revolution?

There are already countless commentary pieces offering technology predictions—the growing use of chatbots and AI, connected “things”, holographic virtual assistants displacing human agents, or whatever the latest hype may be. Plenty of techies continue to speculate about the march of the so-called robot army without us adding to the noise.

At Genesys, we don’t advocate technology for technology’s sake (even our own), or a brutal rip-and-replace of CX systems every few years. Any investment in the contact centre has to move the needle on customer satisfaction, because simply becoming more efficient doesn’t necessarily make you more effective—you just get better at delivering a poor experience.

Automation of routine interactions must be focused on the customer’s ease and convenience, not simply as a means of operational cost-cutting. Chatbots may allow you to handle a higher volume of complaints, but you need to figure out why so many people are unhappy in the first place.  New channels are emerging all the time. But omnichannel doesn’t mean jumping on every bandwagon. The goal should be that however a customer chooses to reach out, you’re able to convert the interaction into a high-quality, accurate and positive experience every time.

Retailers’ systems are awash with “Big Data”, which has a high potential value, especially when sophisticated analytics and cognitive learning are added to the mix. But just because you can, doesn’t always mean you should. It’s imperative to make sensitive use of customers’ personal information, to understand and anticipate their needs in a way that feels intuitive rather than invasive, or even creepy.

Given the disruptive technologies that have emerged and achieved rapid mainstream adoption in recent years, it’s impossible to say with any authority what the contact centre will look like a decade from now. A big part of our role is to enable the organisations we work with to be able to deliver a better CX and achieve business value within two to three years, not five to ten. Often, that means focusing on clearly-defined initiatives that deliver measurable uplift in customer satisfaction and rapid ROI, rather than implementing “the next big thing” just because competitors are doing it.

In far too many businesses, CX technology investments are rooted either in internal cost savings or a desire to reduce negative emotions. We see the retail contact centre of the future as one that pays more attention to purposefully and proactively building positive emotions throughout the customer journey, offering retail providers a massive opportunity for differentiation. Or more simply, moments connected.

To learn more read this Forrester study that highlights the importance of customer experience transformation in the retail industry.