t seems that technology is evolving at a faster pace than ever before.

What was innovative just five years ago is now outdated. At the same time, customer and employee expectations have evolved just as quickly.

So how can you be sure the investments you are making in your contact centre will keep you successful in the years to come?

It’s important to make strategic investments that provide the foundation for great service, both now and in the future. Here are three ways to do just that.

Simplify

One thing is for sure – customer service issues are more complex than ever. Across all industries, from retail to telecommunications, from insurance to utilities, the products and services offered by companies are growing in both number and complexity.

At the same time, the rise of self-service means that simple customer service inquiries often don’t ever reach the contact centre.

This trend will only grow in the future. Contact centres need to find a way to simplify these complex issues and offer agents a way to easily find answers and access information instantly.  

Employees are empowered to handle complex issues when information is proactively provided to guide them from step to step in an efficient, accurate manner.
 

Modernise

With today’s advancements in technology, walking into a contact centre can sometimes feel like going back in time.

While it’s no easy (or inexpensive!) task to replace contact centre infrastructure, it’s still important to provide modern tools for employees to get their work done.

For example, unified desktop solutions are able to act as a ‘single pane of glass,’ pulling together data from multiple back-end systems, without the need to actually replace the underlying infrastructure.

Similarly, these systems can congregate messages from a variety of communication channels such as email, chat and social media, so that employees don’t have to respond to customer messages in Outlook.

Modern tools such as mobile apps can also help employees manage their daily lives and balance work with their personal lives.
 

Automate

Automation will be crucial to providing efficient, accurate service in the years to come.

The more we can use automation to complete repetitive tasks, the more we can shift employees to focus on creating meaningful interactions with customers.

To future-proof your contact centre, look for ways to replace manual work with automation, adding efficiency and accuracy throughout your processes.

Automation can also be used to dramatically improve how a contact centre assesses overall quality.

By using automation to analyse every single interaction, contact centres no longer need to waste time manually scoring calls and can gain a complete picture of the quality of all interactions, rather than just a tiny sample.

With these three strategies, you’ll be able to lay the groundwork to provide your employees and your customers with the experiences they deserve.

Learn more about how to future-proof your contact centre – check out our new eBook.