{"id":223085,"date":"2020-01-28T02:42:45","date_gmt":"2020-01-28T10:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/?post_type=blog&p=223085"},"modified":"2020-01-28T03:23:41","modified_gmt":"2020-01-28T11:23:41","slug":"top-8-challenges-for-small-and-mid-sized-contact-centers","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/blog\/post\/top-8-challenges-for-small-and-mid-sized-contact-centers","title":{"rendered":"Top 8 Challenges for Small- and Mid-Sized Contact Centres"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_section full_width=”stretch_row”][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]No matter what business your contact center serves, your ultimate goal is to deliver a great customer experience. That means you need to empower your agents to deliver seamless customer journeys<\/a> and build lasting relationships<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Small- and mid-sized contact centres have the inherent advantage of adaptability, but they also have some unique challenges. And many of those challenges are interconnected. The bright side is that the right cloud-based contact centre platform<\/a> can solve those challenges. Here\u2019s a look at the top eight challenges and how a cloud contact centre addresses them.<\/p>\n

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  1. Agent Training<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The contact centre is growing increasingly complex; agent performance<\/a> levels suffer if they aren\u2019t empowered to do their best. The right technology can help \u2014 from performance management tools to automated training systems. It also enables you to meet today\u2019s workforce demands by sending training to workers\u2019 cell phones or providing more visual or video-based content, instead of PDFs and Q&As, for example.<\/p>\n

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    1. Agent Attrition<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Small- and mid-sized contact centres feel the financial pain from agent turnover. Often, insufficient training, unsatisfactory work environments \u2014 stress, repetition overload, scheduling challenges \u2014 outdated or overly complex software systems, and having to deal with frustrated customers are reasons for employee turnover.<\/p>\n

      The latest technology can help \u2014 with forecasting, scheduling and assignment rotation, to avoid stress and burnout. An omnichannel platform that lets customers use their preferred channels creates happier customers. And that creates happier employees.<\/p>\n

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      1. Lack of Integration Among Technologies and Processes <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        In legacy contact centres, front- and back-office systems typically aren\u2019t connected on the same platform. They also offer limited data to analyze agent performance and skills. This makes it difficult to gain deep insights from your customer conversations and to forecast and schedule employee time from a single interface. Workforce optimization integrates siloed technologies and automates processes to support seamless omnichannel customer journeys, reduce operational costs and manage employee performance.<\/p>\n

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        1. Inconsistent Customer Experiences<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Legacy contact centre limitations lead to inconsistent customer experience. Creating an amazing experience requires organization, planning, and setting up your infrastructure and workforce to deliver extraordinary services. An omnichannel platform delivers the necessary infrastructure; and workforce management tools put the knowledge and instruments at agents\u2019 fingertips to answer customer questions and follow up, as required.<\/p>\n

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          1. Technology<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Siloed technologies and an inflexible infrastructure limit your ability to deliver a great customer experience. If your customers can\u2019t switch seamlessly between their preferred channels or if agents can\u2019t see their contact history, everyone ends up frustrated. And when you can\u2019t scale easily to meet demand, you lose business and waste valuable resources.<\/p>\n

            An omnichannel, cloud-based platform<\/a> delivers a complete customer engagement and communication solution, enabling you to provide the experience your customers demand.<\/p>\n

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            1. Demands on the IT department<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              Contact centres often rely heavily on IT, particularly if your legacy platform limits a manager\u2019s ability to update customer service rules. This can cause delays (you submit a ticket to IT \u2026 and then you wait) as well as an unnecessary expense. This makes your contact centre less agile and means that IT has less time to work on other issues.<\/p>\n

              An updated software solution puts IT in control when needed. But contact centre managers can leverage simple and intuitive tools that deliver the agility they need.<\/p>\n

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              1. Metrics<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                It\u2019s been said that you can\u2019t manage what you can\u2019t measure. So, it\u2019s nearly impossible to deliver the best customer experience without insights into the customer journey or agent performance. Contact centres need analytics and dynamic reporting. The right software can unlock actionable insights from every interaction, across every channel.<\/p>\n

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                1. Management Buy-In and Budget<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                  Increasingly, executives are demanding efficiencies across the board \u2014 and requests for additional staff or upgraded technology can fall on deaf ears. Your management team needs to understand the contact centre\u2019s role in driving customer experience and improving ROI. Often management thinks of the contact centre solely as a \u201cnecessary expense.\u201d The right software platform will demonstrate how your contact centre serves as a profit centre \u2014\u00a0 not a cost centre. Without it, you\u2019ll struggle to solve many common issues.<\/p>\n

                  Sustaining a Competitive Advantage<\/strong><\/p>\n

                  If these challenges sound familiar, the best way to address them \u2014 and sustain competitive advantage \u2014 is to invest in contact centre software that adapts with your needs. By eliminating massive upfront costs and streamlining implementation, a cloud-based platform levels the playing field \u2014 and ensures that you have the most current tools to optimize your customer experience.<\/p>\n

                  For more information, check out the customer service best practice<\/a> e-book and the journey mapping ebook for delivering great customer experience.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][\/vc_section]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                  [vc_section full_width=”stretch_row”][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]No matter what business your contact center serves, your ultimate goal is to deliver a great customer experience. That means you need to empower your agents to deliver seamless customer journeys and build lasting relationships. Small- and mid-sized contact centres have the inherent advantage of adaptability, but they also have some unique challenges. And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":197099,"template":"","tax_priority":[],"tax_blogtype":[17751],"tax_blogcategory":[15939,13125,13232,13571],"tax_contenttheme":[],"tax_bundle":[],"tax_contenttheme2":[],"tax_capability_sitewide":[],"tax_products_programs":[],"tax_buying_job":[],"tax_buyer_persona":[],"tax_sector":[],"tax_segment":[],"class_list":["post-223085","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tax_blogtype-genesys-en-gb","tax_blogcategory-ai-and-machine-learning-en-gb","tax_blogcategory-cloud-en-gb","tax_blogcategory-digital-en-gb","tax_blogcategory-workforce-engagement-en-gb","tax_content_type-blog-en-gb"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/223085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/223085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224745,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/223085\/revisions\/224745"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=223085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"tax_priority","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_priority?post=223085"},{"taxonomy":"tax_blogtype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_blogtype?post=223085"},{"taxonomy":"tax_blogcategory","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_blogcategory?post=223085"},{"taxonomy":"tax_contenttheme","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_contenttheme?post=223085"},{"taxonomy":"tax_bundle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_bundle?post=223085"},{"taxonomy":"tax_contenttheme2","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_contenttheme2?post=223085"},{"taxonomy":"tax_capability_sitewide","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_capability_sitewide?post=223085"},{"taxonomy":"tax_products_programs","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_products_programs?post=223085"},{"taxonomy":"tax_buying_job","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_buying_job?post=223085"},{"taxonomy":"tax_buyer_persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_buyer_persona?post=223085"},{"taxonomy":"tax_sector","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_sector?post=223085"},{"taxonomy":"tax_segment","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genesys.com\/en-gb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tax_segment?post=223085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}