Tag: contact centre

Artificial intelligence (AI) and data have the potential to radically transform contact centre quality assurance (QA). Where continuous improvement has traditionally been incremental, AI can drive progress in giant leaps. In the world of customer loyalty programs, contact centres play a pivotal role in the customer experience.

Simplifying customer interactions can lead to happier, more loyal customers. There is more choice than ever before, meaning customers are not forced to endure a customer experience (CX) that is characterised by clutter or unnecessary friction. We’ve all experienced difficult customer experiences. Just recently, I opted to use WhatsApp to engage with a business but was channelled back and forth between channels to ultimately accept that I was number 200-odd in the voice queue.

Unless you have a peculiar fondness for queues, chances are you prefer doing as many day-to-day tasks that fall under the “life admin” category as possible online. Whether it’s grocery shopping, renewing your car license disc, or paying your rates bill, most of us prefer doing them from the comfort of our desks or homes. It’s faster, more convenient, and saves a lot of hassle. 

South Africa narrowly escaped a technical recession, according to the latest figures released by Stats SA in early March. Recession or no recession, growth is just not high enough to improve economic conditions and coupled with record interest rates and increasing prices at the fuel pump and grocery store, South Africans are under pressure.

Today’s consumer is used to technology that makes communication easy and they expect organisations to offer every contact channel they want to use. Here are the insights on how today’s contact centre needs to redefine ‘omnichannel’ to deliver an excellent customer experience.

Creating a seamless performance means understanding your audience’s ever-changing needs, choosing the right tools, partners and systems, orchestrating this effort across global touchpoints, systems, people and processes, and adjusting on the fly, to create a best-in-class show for every customer.

The number of local businesses harnessing AI technology has drastically increased in 2020, as customers look to drive their own experiences with brands and businesses through omnichannel strategies. However, the level of understanding around the best use of AI technologies, like chatbots, remains low.

As more businesses face the technical realities of digital transformation and advance towards 4IR, the customer experience is always front-of-mind – and it is little wonder the call centre has emerged as the frontline of technology-driven, fully automated service delivery.

Hackers are becoming more brazen in the way they target organisations as they hunt for soft targets. Companies who see the value in outsourcing their customer experience services to contact centres should be wary of the risks this brings, coupled with the adoption of new technology.

The local contact centre industry is thriving and has seen substantial growth over the last four years, as South Africa became an enticing destination for offshore business. Concurrently, telcos across the world are seeking to improve their customer experience and reduce operating costs, largely due to disruptive business models, ever-increasing competition and the rising digital wave.