Ever wondered what the future of the contact centre will look like? According to most experts, in twenty to thirty years they will be unrecognisable to their pre-pandemic counterpart. The last two years have been detrimental to most businesses, forcing them (where possible) to make rapid changes, move online, and prepare their employees to work from home.
Contact centres, as the central point from which customer interactions are managed, were one of the earliest and hardest-hit areas. As people sought information by phone, online chats, and email, the questions flooded in and overwhelmed an office space trying to adapt to social distancing and fill-in for absent employees. Since being fully remote, some contact centres are moving back to brick-and-mortar workspaces. Is this trend set to continue, or does the future promise a fully remote contact centre?
An Expanding Role
The best call centre software operates across all customer communication channels — from phone to email, web chat, and SMS services — and incorporates them in a single consolidated interface that’s equipped with professional call centre capabilities. Features like analytical insights and effective call queue or routing are crucial to ensure customer happiness and avoid a frustrating scenario when they are left waiting or passed between different agents. As contact centres embrace technology to provide more services and achieve an all-in-one solution, many experts expect to see an increasing number of responses moving from humans to AI chatbots in the future (providing staff with the freedom to dedicate their time to queries that require a human touch).
Is working from home here to stay?
A recent survey of contact centre leaders concluded that 57% predict a socially distanced workspace, 35% see working from home as the future of the contact centre, and a mere 7% are confident in the return of a pre-pandemic contact centre. The recent crisis has changed the contact centre industry forever.
To the Cloud
The recent crisis forced contact centres to quickly implement the cloud-based solutions needed to enable remote working. Luckily, turning to the cloud enables employees to deliver exceptional customer service (while remaining supported in their role and maintaining a remote community for workers). Virtual call centre software, such as that offered by Microtalk, enables teams to work online and without any hardware or IT technicians; it is simply downloaded from a browser or mobile app to be used on existing devices — from smartphones to tablets and laptops.
A Future-proof Contact Centre
Virtual call centre software will future-proof your business. If you can turn your smartphone into a call centre, then you can work from anywhere. At Microtalk we are proud to offer cloud-based call centre software that provides unparalleled productivity features and detailed analytics from a single intuitive interface. Why not book a demo or trial our fully virtual call centre today?
By Elena Leeming