SlideShare uma empresa Scribd logo
1 de 8
Baixar para ler offline
The Future of Contact Centers
By adding new SMAC Stack technologies, organizations can address
customer queries and issues in consistent ways across multiple
channels – enhancing customer loyalty and operational performance.
Executive Summary
Contact centers have evolved from rudimentary
stand-alone operations deployed over a single
channel to multi-channel, multi-function units
for handling customer relationship management.
Today’s contact centers take care of inbound and
outbound calls, e-mail, Web inquiries and chat —
globally, and across multiple business dimensions.
To keep up with this pace, organizations must
infuse their contact centers with robust SMAC
StackTM
(social, mobile, analytics and cloud) tech-
nologies that help extend businesses’ agility by
addressing ever-changing customer preferenc-
es and the need for multi-channel consistency.
Accordingly, future contact centers must provide:
•	 Cloud hosting: The ability to deliver communi-
cations as a service.
•	 Social media capabilities: The access and ca-
pabilities needed to resolve queries originating
from social media.
•	 Ubiquitous smartphone access: The tools
needed to equip contact center agents with
real-time contextual information.
•	 Video enablement: The capability to engage in
face-to-face video-linked calls.
•	 Virtual contact centers: SIP-enabled contact
centers to help reduce cost and complexity.
•	 Advanced analytics: Tools that analyze vol-
umes of unstructured data and deliver crucial
insights into customer behavior.
Contact Center Trends
As service moves beyond phone calls to other
communication channels — including e-mail,
Web chat and social media — businesses and
government agencies need to explore ways to
make it easy for customers to find answers and
resolve problems. (See Figure 1, page 2). This
means ensuring that the data and context from
the initial contact carries over to subsequent
channels, which helps reduce customer time and
effort, improve customer interactions and enable
the business to successfully tailor the customer
journey. The goal is to provide a consistent,
high-quality customer experience at every touch
point — regardless of how and where a customer
chooses to interact with an organization.
Preferred Channels of Communication
As shown in Figure 2 (page 2), while consumers
have more ways than ever to communicate with
contact centers, they have clear preferences:
•	Overall, customers still favor phone calls as
their preferred mode of contact — choosing
that channel over social media, Web chat and
text, as well as other options.
• Cognizant 20-20 Insights
cognizant 20-20 insights | may 2014
2
•	E-mail is the second most favored method —
even among older generations.
•	Web chat, Web self-service, text messaging,
social media and video conferencing appeal
more strongly to younger generations
The Increasing Use of Social Media
Social platforms are quickly becoming an
important mode of interaction, and customers
increasingly look to social media to interact with
enterprises. Rather than having to obediently wait
on help lines or for e-mail support, customers now
have a voice on social channels, and want to be
heard by a mass audience — sometimes creating
a viral effect.
Smartphone Adoption
With the explosion of smartphone devices and
mobile apps, more and more customers are
demanding access to customer service through
these channels.
Multi-Channel Enablement
Younger customers expect organizations to
respond to their queries through a variety of
channels — traditional phones, the Web, e-mail,
social media and smartphones, for example. (See
Figure 3, page 3). They also expect quick access
to an agent, and a consistent customer service
experience across each of these touchpoints.
cognizant 20-20 insights
Source: American Express 2011 Global Customer Service Barometer Report
Figure 1
Contact Center Services: Spanning Channels,
Countries and Business Areas
U.S. Canada Mexico France Germany Italy UK Netherlands Australia India
Speaking With a “Real”
Person on the Phone
90% 89% 91% 79% 80% 84% 90% 71% 90% 92%
Face to Face 75% 80% 83% 78% 57% 76% 79% 72% 85% 87%
Company Web Site
or E-mail
67% 65% 71% 71% 731% 74% 72% 60% 68% 81%
Online Chat/ Instant
Messaging
47% 38% 72% 54% 36% 54% 38% 30% 33% 73%
Text Message 22% 17% 39% 22% 17% 48% 26% 11% 22% 65%
Social Networking Site 22% 20% 41% 21% 21% 34% 19% 17% 19% 59%
Using an Automated
Voice Response System
on the Phone
20% 13% 36% 17% 14% 27% 10% 6% 10% 49%
Figure 2
Communication Preferences
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
4444%%
15%15%
9%
17%17%
2%
79%
33%33%33%
19% 19%
12%
Mode Used
Mode Prefered
Phone E-mail Web Self
Service
Automated Phone
System
Web Chat
cognizant 20-20 insights 3
Business Challenges
While a unified customer view and role-based
desktop activities are prerequisites for any contact
center looking to maintain a sufficient level of
customer service, best-in-class contact centers
are being driven by service-altering mega trends
that focus squarely on enhancing the customer
experience. Yet along with these activities come
challenges in several forms (see Figure 4).
The Contact Center 2.0
The strategic value of contact centers is growing —
reflected in the “traffic jam” caused by cross-
channel customer interactions over the last few
years. Driving this trend is companies’ increasing
focus on customer retention and customer
win-back activities, which complement traditional
customer acquisition efforts. These include:
Communication-As-A-Service
This model uses the functionality of the cloud
to provide a flexible, efficient customer-service
solution built on lower-cost, subscription-based
pricing. Moving support and upgrades for
complex contact center solutions to the cloud
allows companies to adjust to the changing envi-
ronment and pay only for what they need.
Source: Base 157: Global Decision Makers Aberdeen Report 2012
Figure 3
The Growth of Cross-Channel Communications
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Personalized
Interactions
Mobile
Integration
Outbound
Communications
Online SearchMedia-Rich
Solutions
Cloud-Based
Services
Social
Networking
Support
Non-
Traditional
Agents
Video
Support
53%
41%37%
34%
54%
36%
61%
39%
32%
20%
Proficient Important
64%
41%
67%
48%
68%
50%
76%
53%
Figure 4
Challenges Come in Several Forms
The economic downturn has created a dip in spending and
enterprises now have smaller IT budgets. Likewise, consumer
confidence has declined along with consumer spending.
Potential increase in agent load because of
increase in number of transactions, along
with increase in number of customers.
Lack of tailored services based on the customer’s
historical data, and inability to streamline the interaction.
Lack of channel integration for critical customer
interactions, including voice, e-mail, chat
interaction and collaboration.
No customer segmentation for increasing
customers’ experience and familiarity.
Inability to function and provide support to the contact
center (addition of skills or vectors) without turning to the
IT department or vendors.
Lack of contact center metrics and reporting
to check operational effectiveness.
No integrated channel service availability or
“One Customer View” for agent.
Limited self-service options in the IVR,
which leads to large number of calls being
transferred to the agent.
Lack of understanding of reasons for
initiating contact from customer.
cognizant 20-20 insights 4
Ubiquitous Smartphones
With the explosive use of smartphones, integrat-
ing mobility with existing call-center capabilities is
now imperative (see Figure 5 above). Enterprises
that fail to support Web-based customer service
(like smartphone apps on mobile devices) will
pay the consequences of fewer customers and
lost revenue. Such devices provide agents with
real-time contextual information, including details
about a customer’s location and transactional
data that has been stored in the smartphone (e.g.,
profile information, account information, service
history, etc.) One example is a mobile app for a car
insurance company. If a customer has been in a
car accident, he can take a picture of the incident
at the scene and begin filing a claim on site, from
his device. The claim gets routed to an agent who
can come to the accident site and settle the claim
on the spot. Providing mobile integration with
contact centers can help enterprises enhance the
customer experience, reduce operational costs
(claims that are settled immediately end up being
cheaper to resolve than those that linger on an
agent’s desk), generate brand loyalty and deliver
competitive advantage.
The Social Contact Center
Social media provides an excellent way to listen
to and gain insight from customers (see Figure
6, next page). Given its immense reach, social
media has also evolved into a useful medium for
disbursing information and inducing customer
advocacy. This can take different forms:
•	Conversations and/or actions that are visible
in the enterprise or in the public domain,
monitored by contact center data stewards.
•	Integrated enterprise social networks or
Facebook/LinkedIn profiles of the employee/
customer to enable better insight and
engagement when customers call the contact
center.
•	Crowd services (the customer-helps-customer
model), wherein blogs, wikis and social
networking sites are used to provide customer
service and extend the reach of the network.
•	Community management and direct communi-
cation to a group of customers or a community
in real time.
With a social contact center, social content is tied
to the contact record — enabling contact center
agents to join customer conversations on social
sites and integrate those discussions into an over-
all, multichannel customer-engagement process.
Technological Advances
Today’s contact centers reflect numerous tech-
nological advances that are transforming how
companies and their customers connect, interact
and respond (see Figure 7, next page).
Figure 5
Integrating Mobility With Existing Capabilities
AfterBefore
Alerts
Will Your Contact Center
Support This?
Augmented
Reality
Contextual
Advice
Sentiments
and
Mentions
Video
Assistance
Social
Coverage
•	Virtual Call Centers: These centers do away
with the need to have all agents in one physical
location — instead combining the contact center
infrastructure and geographically dispersed
agents into a single, virtual entity.
•	IP-Based Session Initiation Protocol (SIP):
SIP is transforming the way contact centers
operate by integrating the phone with the
computer and doing away with the landline
phone.
>> SIP offers significant cost savings by elimi-
nating the need for costly hardware, PSTNs,
expensive ISDN lines and the basic desk
phone.
>> It is easier to install and manage than legacy
CTI applications.
>> SIP can easily scale operations without the
need to add additional hardware through SIP
trunking.
5cognizant 20-20 insights
Figure 6
Query
Feedback
Idea
Perception
CategorizetheConversations
AnalyzetheConversations
ListentotheConversations
Social CRM SolutionSocial Sites
Assigntothe
ResponsibleDivision
Engagewiththe
Customers
The Contact Center and Social Media
Figure 7
Manage queries across
multiple channels like ee--mmail,
chat, Web, socciiaall, phonee, eettc.
Reliaabbllee ppllaattffoorm with bbuussiinness
connttiinnuity; SSuuiitte ooff aappplicationss
manaaggiinngg hommee aaggeennttss
Variable usage-based
pricing reflecting
productive work &
performance
Quality Monitoring
Softphone Integration
Dialer
VOIP
Voice Recording
Workforce Management
CRM Integration
Call Scripting
ACD
Predictive Dialer,
IVR Reporting
Elastic service
provision; open &
scalable architecture
uuaalllttuu
ntactCCoonoonnt ntteerrCenntt Cenntte
rreeeeeeee
AAAcccceessssiibbllee
UUssaaggee-BBaasseedd
TTeecchhnnoollooggyyy-FFooccuusseeedddMultichannel-
Enabled
Advancing How Companies and Customers Connect, Interact and Respond
cognizant 20-20 insights 6
>> It enables effective and simplified call rout-
ing by eliminating hardware-based routing.
>> By making everyone a virtual agent, SIP
helps increase customer satisfaction by en-
suring that not just the agent, but anyone
in the enterprise, can interact with the cus-
tomer.
•	Intelligent Call Back: This option helps
address one of the biggest customer service
issues: long wait times and abandoned calls.
Intelligent call back technology provides the
ability to schedule call backs to customers
at their convenience. Intelligence is derived
from the ability to map entire phone menus,
skip IVRs and directly arrive at the preferred
consumer choice. It also provides the flexibil-
ity for customers to choose the model of call
back — voice, Web or mobile.
•	Voice Biometrics: While voice is a much
stronger form of authentication than tradition-
al security questions and account information,
call centers today want to use voice biometrics
to shorten calls by verifying a customer’s iden-
tity through the unique patterns in their voice.
This can help prevent fraud and identity theft.
•	Video Assist via WebRTC: Browser-based
voice and video support that provides real-time
communication is one of the biggest disrupters
of call center technology. WebRTC allows
Internet users to reach the agent without
having to leave their Web or mobile application.
This will permit the agent to be “context-
aware” of the exact customer issue and provide
speedy resolution. The increasing availability
of high-speed Internet connections will be a
boon for WebRTC. By relying on the Internet
for customer interactions, WebRTC will:
>> Eliminate the need to provide toll-free num-
bers — drastically reducing the complexity
and cost of running contact centers.
>> Maximize agent utilization by combining toll-
free support and WebRTC.
>> Enable faster first-call resolution by provid-
ing context-sensitive data to agents.
•	Multichannel Agility: Contact channels other
than the phone — e-mail, Web self-service, chat
and other online routes — now account for a
large portion of customer service engage-
ments. Companies need to identify and match
agents with certain skills (e.g., written commu-
nications) and steer them to the most appro-
priate channel (e.g., chat, social). These types
of skills also play a critical role when matching
agents to a specific customer.
The goal here is to allow customers to get in,
get out and get on with their business quickly
through any medium. In this case, when they
enter the contact center, a well-designed mul-
tichannel environment ensures that their infor-
mation is already available — an advantage that
can lead to a better customer experience and
eliminate call deflection.
Advanced Analytics
Advanced analytics is the next megatrend that
contact centers must adopt to better understand
customer needs and behaviors. These capabili-
ties go beyond conventional business intelligence
and KPIs to include the ability to assess customer
sentiments across channels (see Figure 8 below).
•	Data analytics: Contact centers collect a
huge amount of structured (from systems of
record) and unstructured data (from social
channels) — capturing critical customer infor-
mation on preferences, loyalty, customer
Figure 8
Multichannel
Chat/IM
Contact Center
Phone/Voice
E-mail
Mobile
Customers
Web/Internet, etc.
Social Media
Advanced Analytics: Assessing Customer Sentiments Across Channels
cognizant 20-20 insights 7
value, service issues, etc. Data from multiple
channels, such as voice, the Web, mobile and
social media, is tracked and stored separately.
Traditional contact center analytical tools have
focused on agent performance. With the advent
of Big Data and advanced analytics, enterpris-
es can transform their contact centers into
customer insight centers. Analyzing growing
volumes of unstructured data in concert with
structured formats can help companies to
better understand, predict and serve today’s
customers.
•	Speech analytics with dynamic emotion
analysis: Call centers should proactively
capture customer-service feedback to adapt to
changing customer preferences and expecta-
tions. For this, advanced analytical tools mine
and analyze audio data (using keyword identifi-
cations, data mining, call recording and highly
advanced sentiment analysis) to detect things
like emotion and stress in a customer’s voice
and determine the reason for the call so that
the agent can quickly identify a customer’s
needs and help provide a better level of service.
•	Content analytics: Social/community engage-
ment analytics, text and video analytics and
customer engagement analytics, for example,
can help enhance an organization‘s ability to
better understand customer preferences, take
action and increase brand resonance.
Self-Service
Self-service options are widely considered to be
the best way to interact with customers. Accord-
ingly, leading contact centers empower their
customers with the tools needed to find their own
resolutions. Key to these techniques are:
•	Next-Generation IVR with Advanced Speech
Recognition: IVR systems combined with
speech recognition let customers interact
with the systems instead of pushing buttons.
Advanced contact centers perform speech-
enabled call routing, helping customers
describe their needs in their own words. These
centers rely on natural language processing
techniques to understand the customer’s
speech and help provide quicker resolution.
This leads to faster and accurate resolution,
increased customer satisfaction and less need
for agent support — thereby helping to reduce
operational costs (See Figure 9 below).
•	NLP-based Knowledge Management: Next-
generation contact centers provide a self-
service solution that allows customers to
submit queries in their natural language across
multiple channels and receive resolutions
automatically — without the need to reach out
to an agent. Integrating knowledge manage-
ment with NLP (neuro-linquistic programming)
through semantic analysis can lead to quicker
resolutions, reduce the need to speak to an
agent, and untangle the complexity and cost of
contact center operations.
The Connected Enterprise
To be able to vigorously adapt in real time to pro-
actively fulfill customer expectations, organiza-
tions need to plan for how to evolve and integrate
their internal communications, information and
processes. Creating an environment that is easy
to use, flexible for the future and reliable allows
Figure 9
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Dissatisfied Neutral Satisfied Very
Satisfied
Very
Dissatisfied
Dissatisfied Neutral Satisfied Very
Satisfied
Speech-Enabled IVR Non Speech-Enabled IVR
Overall Satisfaction with Current IVR System
About Cognizant
Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourc-
ing services, dedicated to helping the world’s leading companies build stronger businesses. Headquartered in Teaneck,
New Jersey (U.S.), Cognizant combines a passion for client satisfaction, technology innovation, deep industry and busi-
ness process expertise, and a global, collaborative workforce that embodies the future of work. With over 75 develop-
ment and delivery centers worldwide and approximately 178,600 employees as of March 31, 2014, Cognizant is a member
of the NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500, the Forbes Global 2000, and the Fortune 500 and is ranked among the top performing
and fastest growing companies in the world. Visit us online at www.cognizant.com or follow us on Twitter: Cognizant.
World Headquarters
500 Frank W. Burr Blvd.
Teaneck, NJ 07666 USA
Phone: +1 201 801 0233
Fax: +1 201 801 0243
Toll Free: +1 888 937 3277
Email: inquiry@cognizant.com
European Headquarters
1 Kingdom Street
Paddington Central
London W2 6BD
Phone: +44 (0) 20 7297 7600
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7121 0102
Email: infouk@cognizant.com
India Operations Headquarters
#5/535, Old Mahabalipuram Road
Okkiyam Pettai, Thoraipakkam
Chennai, 600 096 India
Phone: +91 (0) 44 4209 6000
Fax: +91 (0) 44 4209 6060
Email: inquiryindia@cognizant.com
­­© Copyright 2014, Cognizant. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the express written permission from Cognizant. The information contained herein is
subject to change without notice. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.
About the Author
Avinash Bhat is a Consulting Manager with Cognizant Business Consulting’s Customer Solutions Practice.
His core areas of responsibility include leading customer relationship management (CRM) strategy
consulting engagements across the sales transformation, marketing automation and service optimiza-
tion domains. He has more than 12 years of experience helping companies execute critical consulting
engagements, including CRM roadmap, business case, vendor evaluation and contact center transfor-
mation, for example. He can be reached at Avinash.Bhat@cognizant.com.
Priya Badri is a Consultant with Cognizant Business Consulting’s Enterprise Applications Services (EAS)
Practice. Her core responsibilities include working on consulting projects in the customer relationship
management (CRM) space across industry verticals. She has five-plus years of progressive experience
conducting business diagnostics to help clients establish industry-leading customer service solutions and
on-site evaluation of the existing technology/processes and procedures. She received her M.B.A. from
the prestigious S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research, specializing in Information Management.
She can be reached at Priya.Badri@cognizant.com.
agents in the contact center to enhance collab-
oration and facilitate more informed decisions
— translating into positive experiences for the
customers.
For example:
•	Gamification promises to make the workplace
more fun by applying game design elements to
business processes such as customer support.
•	With gamification software for the call center,
customer support becomes more enjoyable for
agents, leading to less churn.1
Looking Forward
With the economy in flux, today’s organizations
have to move forward by improving their custom-
ers’ experiences — with minimum investment but
maximum gain. Remodeling an enterprise with
high-quality service and a single point of contact
helps build differentiation by knowing the cus-
tomer’s mindset while at the same time under-
standing the inherent business value. We believe
that next-generation contact centers will trans-
form customer interactions by:
•	Providing fast, reliable and accurate customer
information across channels.
•	Increasing customer satisfaction and thereby
driving brand loyalty.
•	Providing a consistent customer experience
across channels.
•	Reducing the cost of operations.
•	Reducing contact center complexity.
•	Providing flexibility and scalability for the
contact center infrastructure.
Footnote:
1	
http://www.cognizant.com/InsightsWhitepapers/Reinventing-Customer-Employee-
Engagement-Through-Gamification.pdf.

Mais conteúdo relacionado

Mais de Cognizant

It Takes an Ecosystem: How Technology Companies Deliver Exceptional Experiences
It Takes an Ecosystem: How Technology Companies Deliver Exceptional ExperiencesIt Takes an Ecosystem: How Technology Companies Deliver Exceptional Experiences
It Takes an Ecosystem: How Technology Companies Deliver Exceptional ExperiencesCognizant
 
Intuition Engineered
Intuition EngineeredIntuition Engineered
Intuition EngineeredCognizant
 
The Work Ahead: Transportation and Logistics Delivering on the Digital-Physic...
The Work Ahead: Transportation and Logistics Delivering on the Digital-Physic...The Work Ahead: Transportation and Logistics Delivering on the Digital-Physic...
The Work Ahead: Transportation and Logistics Delivering on the Digital-Physic...Cognizant
 
Enhancing Desirability: Five Considerations for Winning Digital Initiatives
Enhancing Desirability: Five Considerations for Winning Digital InitiativesEnhancing Desirability: Five Considerations for Winning Digital Initiatives
Enhancing Desirability: Five Considerations for Winning Digital InitiativesCognizant
 
The Work Ahead in Manufacturing: Fulfilling the Agility Mandate
The Work Ahead in Manufacturing: Fulfilling the Agility MandateThe Work Ahead in Manufacturing: Fulfilling the Agility Mandate
The Work Ahead in Manufacturing: Fulfilling the Agility MandateCognizant
 
The Work Ahead in Higher Education: Repaving the Road for the Employees of To...
The Work Ahead in Higher Education: Repaving the Road for the Employees of To...The Work Ahead in Higher Education: Repaving the Road for the Employees of To...
The Work Ahead in Higher Education: Repaving the Road for the Employees of To...Cognizant
 
Engineering the Next-Gen Digital Claims Organisation for Australian General I...
Engineering the Next-Gen Digital Claims Organisation for Australian General I...Engineering the Next-Gen Digital Claims Organisation for Australian General I...
Engineering the Next-Gen Digital Claims Organisation for Australian General I...Cognizant
 
Profitability in the Direct-to-Consumer Marketplace: A Playbook for Media and...
Profitability in the Direct-to-Consumer Marketplace: A Playbook for Media and...Profitability in the Direct-to-Consumer Marketplace: A Playbook for Media and...
Profitability in the Direct-to-Consumer Marketplace: A Playbook for Media and...Cognizant
 
Green Rush: The Economic Imperative for Sustainability
Green Rush: The Economic Imperative for SustainabilityGreen Rush: The Economic Imperative for Sustainability
Green Rush: The Economic Imperative for SustainabilityCognizant
 
Policy Administration Modernization: Four Paths for Insurers
Policy Administration Modernization: Four Paths for InsurersPolicy Administration Modernization: Four Paths for Insurers
Policy Administration Modernization: Four Paths for InsurersCognizant
 
The Work Ahead in Utilities: Powering a Sustainable Future with Digital
The Work Ahead in Utilities: Powering a Sustainable Future with DigitalThe Work Ahead in Utilities: Powering a Sustainable Future with Digital
The Work Ahead in Utilities: Powering a Sustainable Future with DigitalCognizant
 
AI in Media & Entertainment: Starting the Journey to Value
AI in Media & Entertainment: Starting the Journey to ValueAI in Media & Entertainment: Starting the Journey to Value
AI in Media & Entertainment: Starting the Journey to ValueCognizant
 
Operations Workforce Management: A Data-Informed, Digital-First Approach
Operations Workforce Management: A Data-Informed, Digital-First ApproachOperations Workforce Management: A Data-Informed, Digital-First Approach
Operations Workforce Management: A Data-Informed, Digital-First ApproachCognizant
 
Five Priorities for Quality Engineering When Taking Banking to the Cloud
Five Priorities for Quality Engineering When Taking Banking to the CloudFive Priorities for Quality Engineering When Taking Banking to the Cloud
Five Priorities for Quality Engineering When Taking Banking to the CloudCognizant
 
Getting Ahead With AI: How APAC Companies Replicate Success by Remaining Focused
Getting Ahead With AI: How APAC Companies Replicate Success by Remaining FocusedGetting Ahead With AI: How APAC Companies Replicate Success by Remaining Focused
Getting Ahead With AI: How APAC Companies Replicate Success by Remaining FocusedCognizant
 
Crafting the Utility of the Future
Crafting the Utility of the FutureCrafting the Utility of the Future
Crafting the Utility of the FutureCognizant
 
Utilities Can Ramp Up CX with a Customer Data Platform
Utilities Can Ramp Up CX with a Customer Data PlatformUtilities Can Ramp Up CX with a Customer Data Platform
Utilities Can Ramp Up CX with a Customer Data PlatformCognizant
 
The Work Ahead in Intelligent Automation: Coping with Complexity in a Post-Pa...
The Work Ahead in Intelligent Automation: Coping with Complexity in a Post-Pa...The Work Ahead in Intelligent Automation: Coping with Complexity in a Post-Pa...
The Work Ahead in Intelligent Automation: Coping with Complexity in a Post-Pa...Cognizant
 
The Timeline of Next
The Timeline of NextThe Timeline of Next
The Timeline of NextCognizant
 
Realising Digital’s Full Potential in the Value Chain
Realising Digital’s Full Potential in the Value ChainRealising Digital’s Full Potential in the Value Chain
Realising Digital’s Full Potential in the Value ChainCognizant
 

Mais de Cognizant (20)

It Takes an Ecosystem: How Technology Companies Deliver Exceptional Experiences
It Takes an Ecosystem: How Technology Companies Deliver Exceptional ExperiencesIt Takes an Ecosystem: How Technology Companies Deliver Exceptional Experiences
It Takes an Ecosystem: How Technology Companies Deliver Exceptional Experiences
 
Intuition Engineered
Intuition EngineeredIntuition Engineered
Intuition Engineered
 
The Work Ahead: Transportation and Logistics Delivering on the Digital-Physic...
The Work Ahead: Transportation and Logistics Delivering on the Digital-Physic...The Work Ahead: Transportation and Logistics Delivering on the Digital-Physic...
The Work Ahead: Transportation and Logistics Delivering on the Digital-Physic...
 
Enhancing Desirability: Five Considerations for Winning Digital Initiatives
Enhancing Desirability: Five Considerations for Winning Digital InitiativesEnhancing Desirability: Five Considerations for Winning Digital Initiatives
Enhancing Desirability: Five Considerations for Winning Digital Initiatives
 
The Work Ahead in Manufacturing: Fulfilling the Agility Mandate
The Work Ahead in Manufacturing: Fulfilling the Agility MandateThe Work Ahead in Manufacturing: Fulfilling the Agility Mandate
The Work Ahead in Manufacturing: Fulfilling the Agility Mandate
 
The Work Ahead in Higher Education: Repaving the Road for the Employees of To...
The Work Ahead in Higher Education: Repaving the Road for the Employees of To...The Work Ahead in Higher Education: Repaving the Road for the Employees of To...
The Work Ahead in Higher Education: Repaving the Road for the Employees of To...
 
Engineering the Next-Gen Digital Claims Organisation for Australian General I...
Engineering the Next-Gen Digital Claims Organisation for Australian General I...Engineering the Next-Gen Digital Claims Organisation for Australian General I...
Engineering the Next-Gen Digital Claims Organisation for Australian General I...
 
Profitability in the Direct-to-Consumer Marketplace: A Playbook for Media and...
Profitability in the Direct-to-Consumer Marketplace: A Playbook for Media and...Profitability in the Direct-to-Consumer Marketplace: A Playbook for Media and...
Profitability in the Direct-to-Consumer Marketplace: A Playbook for Media and...
 
Green Rush: The Economic Imperative for Sustainability
Green Rush: The Economic Imperative for SustainabilityGreen Rush: The Economic Imperative for Sustainability
Green Rush: The Economic Imperative for Sustainability
 
Policy Administration Modernization: Four Paths for Insurers
Policy Administration Modernization: Four Paths for InsurersPolicy Administration Modernization: Four Paths for Insurers
Policy Administration Modernization: Four Paths for Insurers
 
The Work Ahead in Utilities: Powering a Sustainable Future with Digital
The Work Ahead in Utilities: Powering a Sustainable Future with DigitalThe Work Ahead in Utilities: Powering a Sustainable Future with Digital
The Work Ahead in Utilities: Powering a Sustainable Future with Digital
 
AI in Media & Entertainment: Starting the Journey to Value
AI in Media & Entertainment: Starting the Journey to ValueAI in Media & Entertainment: Starting the Journey to Value
AI in Media & Entertainment: Starting the Journey to Value
 
Operations Workforce Management: A Data-Informed, Digital-First Approach
Operations Workforce Management: A Data-Informed, Digital-First ApproachOperations Workforce Management: A Data-Informed, Digital-First Approach
Operations Workforce Management: A Data-Informed, Digital-First Approach
 
Five Priorities for Quality Engineering When Taking Banking to the Cloud
Five Priorities for Quality Engineering When Taking Banking to the CloudFive Priorities for Quality Engineering When Taking Banking to the Cloud
Five Priorities for Quality Engineering When Taking Banking to the Cloud
 
Getting Ahead With AI: How APAC Companies Replicate Success by Remaining Focused
Getting Ahead With AI: How APAC Companies Replicate Success by Remaining FocusedGetting Ahead With AI: How APAC Companies Replicate Success by Remaining Focused
Getting Ahead With AI: How APAC Companies Replicate Success by Remaining Focused
 
Crafting the Utility of the Future
Crafting the Utility of the FutureCrafting the Utility of the Future
Crafting the Utility of the Future
 
Utilities Can Ramp Up CX with a Customer Data Platform
Utilities Can Ramp Up CX with a Customer Data PlatformUtilities Can Ramp Up CX with a Customer Data Platform
Utilities Can Ramp Up CX with a Customer Data Platform
 
The Work Ahead in Intelligent Automation: Coping with Complexity in a Post-Pa...
The Work Ahead in Intelligent Automation: Coping with Complexity in a Post-Pa...The Work Ahead in Intelligent Automation: Coping with Complexity in a Post-Pa...
The Work Ahead in Intelligent Automation: Coping with Complexity in a Post-Pa...
 
The Timeline of Next
The Timeline of NextThe Timeline of Next
The Timeline of Next
 
Realising Digital’s Full Potential in the Value Chain
Realising Digital’s Full Potential in the Value ChainRealising Digital’s Full Potential in the Value Chain
Realising Digital’s Full Potential in the Value Chain
 

Último

To Create Your Own Wig Online To Create Your Own Wig Online
To Create Your Own Wig Online  To Create Your Own Wig OnlineTo Create Your Own Wig Online  To Create Your Own Wig Online
To Create Your Own Wig Online To Create Your Own Wig Onlinelng ths
 
Borderless Access - Global B2B Panel book-unlock 2024
Borderless Access - Global B2B Panel book-unlock 2024Borderless Access - Global B2B Panel book-unlock 2024
Borderless Access - Global B2B Panel book-unlock 2024Borderless Access
 
Entrepreneurship & organisations: influences and organizations
Entrepreneurship & organisations: influences and organizationsEntrepreneurship & organisations: influences and organizations
Entrepreneurship & organisations: influences and organizationsP&CO
 
Slicing Work on Business Agility Meetup Berlin
Slicing Work on Business Agility Meetup BerlinSlicing Work on Business Agility Meetup Berlin
Slicing Work on Business Agility Meetup BerlinAnton Skornyakov
 
Mihir Menda - Member of Supervisory Board at RMZ
Mihir Menda - Member of Supervisory Board at RMZMihir Menda - Member of Supervisory Board at RMZ
Mihir Menda - Member of Supervisory Board at RMZKanakChauhan5
 
Lecture_6.pptx English speaking easyb to
Lecture_6.pptx English speaking easyb toLecture_6.pptx English speaking easyb to
Lecture_6.pptx English speaking easyb toumarfarooquejamali32
 
Michael Vidyakin: Introduction to PMO (UA)
Michael Vidyakin: Introduction to PMO (UA)Michael Vidyakin: Introduction to PMO (UA)
Michael Vidyakin: Introduction to PMO (UA)Lviv Startup Club
 
Fabric RFID Wristbands in Ireland for Events and Festivals
Fabric RFID Wristbands in Ireland for Events and FestivalsFabric RFID Wristbands in Ireland for Events and Festivals
Fabric RFID Wristbands in Ireland for Events and FestivalsWristbands Ireland
 
PDT 88 - 4 million seed - Seed - Protecto.pdf
PDT 88 - 4 million seed - Seed - Protecto.pdfPDT 88 - 4 million seed - Seed - Protecto.pdf
PDT 88 - 4 million seed - Seed - Protecto.pdfHajeJanKamps
 
Building Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn - Expert Planet- 2024
 Building Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn - Expert Planet-  2024 Building Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn - Expert Planet-  2024
Building Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn - Expert Planet- 2024Stephan Koning
 
Harvard Business Review.pptx | Navigating Labor Unrest (March-April 2024)
Harvard Business Review.pptx | Navigating Labor Unrest (March-April 2024)Harvard Business Review.pptx | Navigating Labor Unrest (March-April 2024)
Harvard Business Review.pptx | Navigating Labor Unrest (March-April 2024)tazeenaila12
 
Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer.pdf
Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer.pdfChicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer.pdf
Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer.pdfSourav Sikder
 
7movierulz.uk
7movierulz.uk7movierulz.uk
7movierulz.ukaroemirsr
 
IIBA® Melbourne - Navigating Business Analysis - Excellence for Career Growth...
IIBA® Melbourne - Navigating Business Analysis - Excellence for Career Growth...IIBA® Melbourne - Navigating Business Analysis - Excellence for Career Growth...
IIBA® Melbourne - Navigating Business Analysis - Excellence for Career Growth...AustraliaChapterIIBA
 
Borderless Access - Global Panel book-unlock 2024
Borderless Access - Global Panel book-unlock 2024Borderless Access - Global Panel book-unlock 2024
Borderless Access - Global Panel book-unlock 2024Borderless Access
 
BCE24 | Virtual Brand Ambassadors: Making Brands Personal - John Meulemans
BCE24 | Virtual Brand Ambassadors: Making Brands Personal - John MeulemansBCE24 | Virtual Brand Ambassadors: Making Brands Personal - John Meulemans
BCE24 | Virtual Brand Ambassadors: Making Brands Personal - John MeulemansBBPMedia1
 
Live-Streaming in the Music Industry Webinar
Live-Streaming in the Music Industry WebinarLive-Streaming in the Music Industry Webinar
Live-Streaming in the Music Industry WebinarNathanielSchmuck
 
Developing Coaching Skills: Mine, Yours, Ours
Developing Coaching Skills: Mine, Yours, OursDeveloping Coaching Skills: Mine, Yours, Ours
Developing Coaching Skills: Mine, Yours, OursKaiNexus
 

Último (20)

To Create Your Own Wig Online To Create Your Own Wig Online
To Create Your Own Wig Online  To Create Your Own Wig OnlineTo Create Your Own Wig Online  To Create Your Own Wig Online
To Create Your Own Wig Online To Create Your Own Wig Online
 
Borderless Access - Global B2B Panel book-unlock 2024
Borderless Access - Global B2B Panel book-unlock 2024Borderless Access - Global B2B Panel book-unlock 2024
Borderless Access - Global B2B Panel book-unlock 2024
 
Entrepreneurship & organisations: influences and organizations
Entrepreneurship & organisations: influences and organizationsEntrepreneurship & organisations: influences and organizations
Entrepreneurship & organisations: influences and organizations
 
Slicing Work on Business Agility Meetup Berlin
Slicing Work on Business Agility Meetup BerlinSlicing Work on Business Agility Meetup Berlin
Slicing Work on Business Agility Meetup Berlin
 
Mihir Menda - Member of Supervisory Board at RMZ
Mihir Menda - Member of Supervisory Board at RMZMihir Menda - Member of Supervisory Board at RMZ
Mihir Menda - Member of Supervisory Board at RMZ
 
Lecture_6.pptx English speaking easyb to
Lecture_6.pptx English speaking easyb toLecture_6.pptx English speaking easyb to
Lecture_6.pptx English speaking easyb to
 
Investment Opportunity for Thailand's Automotive & EV Industries
Investment Opportunity for Thailand's Automotive & EV IndustriesInvestment Opportunity for Thailand's Automotive & EV Industries
Investment Opportunity for Thailand's Automotive & EV Industries
 
WAM Corporate Presentation Mar 25 2024.pdf
WAM Corporate Presentation Mar 25 2024.pdfWAM Corporate Presentation Mar 25 2024.pdf
WAM Corporate Presentation Mar 25 2024.pdf
 
Michael Vidyakin: Introduction to PMO (UA)
Michael Vidyakin: Introduction to PMO (UA)Michael Vidyakin: Introduction to PMO (UA)
Michael Vidyakin: Introduction to PMO (UA)
 
Fabric RFID Wristbands in Ireland for Events and Festivals
Fabric RFID Wristbands in Ireland for Events and FestivalsFabric RFID Wristbands in Ireland for Events and Festivals
Fabric RFID Wristbands in Ireland for Events and Festivals
 
PDT 88 - 4 million seed - Seed - Protecto.pdf
PDT 88 - 4 million seed - Seed - Protecto.pdfPDT 88 - 4 million seed - Seed - Protecto.pdf
PDT 88 - 4 million seed - Seed - Protecto.pdf
 
Building Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn - Expert Planet- 2024
 Building Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn - Expert Planet-  2024 Building Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn - Expert Planet-  2024
Building Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn - Expert Planet- 2024
 
Harvard Business Review.pptx | Navigating Labor Unrest (March-April 2024)
Harvard Business Review.pptx | Navigating Labor Unrest (March-April 2024)Harvard Business Review.pptx | Navigating Labor Unrest (March-April 2024)
Harvard Business Review.pptx | Navigating Labor Unrest (March-April 2024)
 
Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer.pdf
Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer.pdfChicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer.pdf
Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer Chicago Medical Malpractice Lawyer.pdf
 
7movierulz.uk
7movierulz.uk7movierulz.uk
7movierulz.uk
 
IIBA® Melbourne - Navigating Business Analysis - Excellence for Career Growth...
IIBA® Melbourne - Navigating Business Analysis - Excellence for Career Growth...IIBA® Melbourne - Navigating Business Analysis - Excellence for Career Growth...
IIBA® Melbourne - Navigating Business Analysis - Excellence for Career Growth...
 
Borderless Access - Global Panel book-unlock 2024
Borderless Access - Global Panel book-unlock 2024Borderless Access - Global Panel book-unlock 2024
Borderless Access - Global Panel book-unlock 2024
 
BCE24 | Virtual Brand Ambassadors: Making Brands Personal - John Meulemans
BCE24 | Virtual Brand Ambassadors: Making Brands Personal - John MeulemansBCE24 | Virtual Brand Ambassadors: Making Brands Personal - John Meulemans
BCE24 | Virtual Brand Ambassadors: Making Brands Personal - John Meulemans
 
Live-Streaming in the Music Industry Webinar
Live-Streaming in the Music Industry WebinarLive-Streaming in the Music Industry Webinar
Live-Streaming in the Music Industry Webinar
 
Developing Coaching Skills: Mine, Yours, Ours
Developing Coaching Skills: Mine, Yours, OursDeveloping Coaching Skills: Mine, Yours, Ours
Developing Coaching Skills: Mine, Yours, Ours
 

The Future of Contact Centers

  • 1. The Future of Contact Centers By adding new SMAC Stack technologies, organizations can address customer queries and issues in consistent ways across multiple channels – enhancing customer loyalty and operational performance. Executive Summary Contact centers have evolved from rudimentary stand-alone operations deployed over a single channel to multi-channel, multi-function units for handling customer relationship management. Today’s contact centers take care of inbound and outbound calls, e-mail, Web inquiries and chat — globally, and across multiple business dimensions. To keep up with this pace, organizations must infuse their contact centers with robust SMAC StackTM (social, mobile, analytics and cloud) tech- nologies that help extend businesses’ agility by addressing ever-changing customer preferenc- es and the need for multi-channel consistency. Accordingly, future contact centers must provide: • Cloud hosting: The ability to deliver communi- cations as a service. • Social media capabilities: The access and ca- pabilities needed to resolve queries originating from social media. • Ubiquitous smartphone access: The tools needed to equip contact center agents with real-time contextual information. • Video enablement: The capability to engage in face-to-face video-linked calls. • Virtual contact centers: SIP-enabled contact centers to help reduce cost and complexity. • Advanced analytics: Tools that analyze vol- umes of unstructured data and deliver crucial insights into customer behavior. Contact Center Trends As service moves beyond phone calls to other communication channels — including e-mail, Web chat and social media — businesses and government agencies need to explore ways to make it easy for customers to find answers and resolve problems. (See Figure 1, page 2). This means ensuring that the data and context from the initial contact carries over to subsequent channels, which helps reduce customer time and effort, improve customer interactions and enable the business to successfully tailor the customer journey. The goal is to provide a consistent, high-quality customer experience at every touch point — regardless of how and where a customer chooses to interact with an organization. Preferred Channels of Communication As shown in Figure 2 (page 2), while consumers have more ways than ever to communicate with contact centers, they have clear preferences: • Overall, customers still favor phone calls as their preferred mode of contact — choosing that channel over social media, Web chat and text, as well as other options. • Cognizant 20-20 Insights cognizant 20-20 insights | may 2014
  • 2. 2 • E-mail is the second most favored method — even among older generations. • Web chat, Web self-service, text messaging, social media and video conferencing appeal more strongly to younger generations The Increasing Use of Social Media Social platforms are quickly becoming an important mode of interaction, and customers increasingly look to social media to interact with enterprises. Rather than having to obediently wait on help lines or for e-mail support, customers now have a voice on social channels, and want to be heard by a mass audience — sometimes creating a viral effect. Smartphone Adoption With the explosion of smartphone devices and mobile apps, more and more customers are demanding access to customer service through these channels. Multi-Channel Enablement Younger customers expect organizations to respond to their queries through a variety of channels — traditional phones, the Web, e-mail, social media and smartphones, for example. (See Figure 3, page 3). They also expect quick access to an agent, and a consistent customer service experience across each of these touchpoints. cognizant 20-20 insights Source: American Express 2011 Global Customer Service Barometer Report Figure 1 Contact Center Services: Spanning Channels, Countries and Business Areas U.S. Canada Mexico France Germany Italy UK Netherlands Australia India Speaking With a “Real” Person on the Phone 90% 89% 91% 79% 80% 84% 90% 71% 90% 92% Face to Face 75% 80% 83% 78% 57% 76% 79% 72% 85% 87% Company Web Site or E-mail 67% 65% 71% 71% 731% 74% 72% 60% 68% 81% Online Chat/ Instant Messaging 47% 38% 72% 54% 36% 54% 38% 30% 33% 73% Text Message 22% 17% 39% 22% 17% 48% 26% 11% 22% 65% Social Networking Site 22% 20% 41% 21% 21% 34% 19% 17% 19% 59% Using an Automated Voice Response System on the Phone 20% 13% 36% 17% 14% 27% 10% 6% 10% 49% Figure 2 Communication Preferences 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 4444%% 15%15% 9% 17%17% 2% 79% 33%33%33% 19% 19% 12% Mode Used Mode Prefered Phone E-mail Web Self Service Automated Phone System Web Chat
  • 3. cognizant 20-20 insights 3 Business Challenges While a unified customer view and role-based desktop activities are prerequisites for any contact center looking to maintain a sufficient level of customer service, best-in-class contact centers are being driven by service-altering mega trends that focus squarely on enhancing the customer experience. Yet along with these activities come challenges in several forms (see Figure 4). The Contact Center 2.0 The strategic value of contact centers is growing — reflected in the “traffic jam” caused by cross- channel customer interactions over the last few years. Driving this trend is companies’ increasing focus on customer retention and customer win-back activities, which complement traditional customer acquisition efforts. These include: Communication-As-A-Service This model uses the functionality of the cloud to provide a flexible, efficient customer-service solution built on lower-cost, subscription-based pricing. Moving support and upgrades for complex contact center solutions to the cloud allows companies to adjust to the changing envi- ronment and pay only for what they need. Source: Base 157: Global Decision Makers Aberdeen Report 2012 Figure 3 The Growth of Cross-Channel Communications 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Personalized Interactions Mobile Integration Outbound Communications Online SearchMedia-Rich Solutions Cloud-Based Services Social Networking Support Non- Traditional Agents Video Support 53% 41%37% 34% 54% 36% 61% 39% 32% 20% Proficient Important 64% 41% 67% 48% 68% 50% 76% 53% Figure 4 Challenges Come in Several Forms The economic downturn has created a dip in spending and enterprises now have smaller IT budgets. Likewise, consumer confidence has declined along with consumer spending. Potential increase in agent load because of increase in number of transactions, along with increase in number of customers. Lack of tailored services based on the customer’s historical data, and inability to streamline the interaction. Lack of channel integration for critical customer interactions, including voice, e-mail, chat interaction and collaboration. No customer segmentation for increasing customers’ experience and familiarity. Inability to function and provide support to the contact center (addition of skills or vectors) without turning to the IT department or vendors. Lack of contact center metrics and reporting to check operational effectiveness. No integrated channel service availability or “One Customer View” for agent. Limited self-service options in the IVR, which leads to large number of calls being transferred to the agent. Lack of understanding of reasons for initiating contact from customer.
  • 4. cognizant 20-20 insights 4 Ubiquitous Smartphones With the explosive use of smartphones, integrat- ing mobility with existing call-center capabilities is now imperative (see Figure 5 above). Enterprises that fail to support Web-based customer service (like smartphone apps on mobile devices) will pay the consequences of fewer customers and lost revenue. Such devices provide agents with real-time contextual information, including details about a customer’s location and transactional data that has been stored in the smartphone (e.g., profile information, account information, service history, etc.) One example is a mobile app for a car insurance company. If a customer has been in a car accident, he can take a picture of the incident at the scene and begin filing a claim on site, from his device. The claim gets routed to an agent who can come to the accident site and settle the claim on the spot. Providing mobile integration with contact centers can help enterprises enhance the customer experience, reduce operational costs (claims that are settled immediately end up being cheaper to resolve than those that linger on an agent’s desk), generate brand loyalty and deliver competitive advantage. The Social Contact Center Social media provides an excellent way to listen to and gain insight from customers (see Figure 6, next page). Given its immense reach, social media has also evolved into a useful medium for disbursing information and inducing customer advocacy. This can take different forms: • Conversations and/or actions that are visible in the enterprise or in the public domain, monitored by contact center data stewards. • Integrated enterprise social networks or Facebook/LinkedIn profiles of the employee/ customer to enable better insight and engagement when customers call the contact center. • Crowd services (the customer-helps-customer model), wherein blogs, wikis and social networking sites are used to provide customer service and extend the reach of the network. • Community management and direct communi- cation to a group of customers or a community in real time. With a social contact center, social content is tied to the contact record — enabling contact center agents to join customer conversations on social sites and integrate those discussions into an over- all, multichannel customer-engagement process. Technological Advances Today’s contact centers reflect numerous tech- nological advances that are transforming how companies and their customers connect, interact and respond (see Figure 7, next page). Figure 5 Integrating Mobility With Existing Capabilities AfterBefore Alerts Will Your Contact Center Support This? Augmented Reality Contextual Advice Sentiments and Mentions Video Assistance Social Coverage
  • 5. • Virtual Call Centers: These centers do away with the need to have all agents in one physical location — instead combining the contact center infrastructure and geographically dispersed agents into a single, virtual entity. • IP-Based Session Initiation Protocol (SIP): SIP is transforming the way contact centers operate by integrating the phone with the computer and doing away with the landline phone. >> SIP offers significant cost savings by elimi- nating the need for costly hardware, PSTNs, expensive ISDN lines and the basic desk phone. >> It is easier to install and manage than legacy CTI applications. >> SIP can easily scale operations without the need to add additional hardware through SIP trunking. 5cognizant 20-20 insights Figure 6 Query Feedback Idea Perception CategorizetheConversations AnalyzetheConversations ListentotheConversations Social CRM SolutionSocial Sites Assigntothe ResponsibleDivision Engagewiththe Customers The Contact Center and Social Media Figure 7 Manage queries across multiple channels like ee--mmail, chat, Web, socciiaall, phonee, eettc. Reliaabbllee ppllaattffoorm with bbuussiinness connttiinnuity; SSuuiitte ooff aappplicationss manaaggiinngg hommee aaggeennttss Variable usage-based pricing reflecting productive work & performance Quality Monitoring Softphone Integration Dialer VOIP Voice Recording Workforce Management CRM Integration Call Scripting ACD Predictive Dialer, IVR Reporting Elastic service provision; open & scalable architecture uuaalllttuu ntactCCoonoonnt ntteerrCenntt Cenntte rreeeeeeee AAAcccceessssiibbllee UUssaaggee-BBaasseedd TTeecchhnnoollooggyyy-FFooccuusseeedddMultichannel- Enabled Advancing How Companies and Customers Connect, Interact and Respond
  • 6. cognizant 20-20 insights 6 >> It enables effective and simplified call rout- ing by eliminating hardware-based routing. >> By making everyone a virtual agent, SIP helps increase customer satisfaction by en- suring that not just the agent, but anyone in the enterprise, can interact with the cus- tomer. • Intelligent Call Back: This option helps address one of the biggest customer service issues: long wait times and abandoned calls. Intelligent call back technology provides the ability to schedule call backs to customers at their convenience. Intelligence is derived from the ability to map entire phone menus, skip IVRs and directly arrive at the preferred consumer choice. It also provides the flexibil- ity for customers to choose the model of call back — voice, Web or mobile. • Voice Biometrics: While voice is a much stronger form of authentication than tradition- al security questions and account information, call centers today want to use voice biometrics to shorten calls by verifying a customer’s iden- tity through the unique patterns in their voice. This can help prevent fraud and identity theft. • Video Assist via WebRTC: Browser-based voice and video support that provides real-time communication is one of the biggest disrupters of call center technology. WebRTC allows Internet users to reach the agent without having to leave their Web or mobile application. This will permit the agent to be “context- aware” of the exact customer issue and provide speedy resolution. The increasing availability of high-speed Internet connections will be a boon for WebRTC. By relying on the Internet for customer interactions, WebRTC will: >> Eliminate the need to provide toll-free num- bers — drastically reducing the complexity and cost of running contact centers. >> Maximize agent utilization by combining toll- free support and WebRTC. >> Enable faster first-call resolution by provid- ing context-sensitive data to agents. • Multichannel Agility: Contact channels other than the phone — e-mail, Web self-service, chat and other online routes — now account for a large portion of customer service engage- ments. Companies need to identify and match agents with certain skills (e.g., written commu- nications) and steer them to the most appro- priate channel (e.g., chat, social). These types of skills also play a critical role when matching agents to a specific customer. The goal here is to allow customers to get in, get out and get on with their business quickly through any medium. In this case, when they enter the contact center, a well-designed mul- tichannel environment ensures that their infor- mation is already available — an advantage that can lead to a better customer experience and eliminate call deflection. Advanced Analytics Advanced analytics is the next megatrend that contact centers must adopt to better understand customer needs and behaviors. These capabili- ties go beyond conventional business intelligence and KPIs to include the ability to assess customer sentiments across channels (see Figure 8 below). • Data analytics: Contact centers collect a huge amount of structured (from systems of record) and unstructured data (from social channels) — capturing critical customer infor- mation on preferences, loyalty, customer Figure 8 Multichannel Chat/IM Contact Center Phone/Voice E-mail Mobile Customers Web/Internet, etc. Social Media Advanced Analytics: Assessing Customer Sentiments Across Channels
  • 7. cognizant 20-20 insights 7 value, service issues, etc. Data from multiple channels, such as voice, the Web, mobile and social media, is tracked and stored separately. Traditional contact center analytical tools have focused on agent performance. With the advent of Big Data and advanced analytics, enterpris- es can transform their contact centers into customer insight centers. Analyzing growing volumes of unstructured data in concert with structured formats can help companies to better understand, predict and serve today’s customers. • Speech analytics with dynamic emotion analysis: Call centers should proactively capture customer-service feedback to adapt to changing customer preferences and expecta- tions. For this, advanced analytical tools mine and analyze audio data (using keyword identifi- cations, data mining, call recording and highly advanced sentiment analysis) to detect things like emotion and stress in a customer’s voice and determine the reason for the call so that the agent can quickly identify a customer’s needs and help provide a better level of service. • Content analytics: Social/community engage- ment analytics, text and video analytics and customer engagement analytics, for example, can help enhance an organization‘s ability to better understand customer preferences, take action and increase brand resonance. Self-Service Self-service options are widely considered to be the best way to interact with customers. Accord- ingly, leading contact centers empower their customers with the tools needed to find their own resolutions. Key to these techniques are: • Next-Generation IVR with Advanced Speech Recognition: IVR systems combined with speech recognition let customers interact with the systems instead of pushing buttons. Advanced contact centers perform speech- enabled call routing, helping customers describe their needs in their own words. These centers rely on natural language processing techniques to understand the customer’s speech and help provide quicker resolution. This leads to faster and accurate resolution, increased customer satisfaction and less need for agent support — thereby helping to reduce operational costs (See Figure 9 below). • NLP-based Knowledge Management: Next- generation contact centers provide a self- service solution that allows customers to submit queries in their natural language across multiple channels and receive resolutions automatically — without the need to reach out to an agent. Integrating knowledge manage- ment with NLP (neuro-linquistic programming) through semantic analysis can lead to quicker resolutions, reduce the need to speak to an agent, and untangle the complexity and cost of contact center operations. The Connected Enterprise To be able to vigorously adapt in real time to pro- actively fulfill customer expectations, organiza- tions need to plan for how to evolve and integrate their internal communications, information and processes. Creating an environment that is easy to use, flexible for the future and reliable allows Figure 9 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% Dissatisfied Neutral Satisfied Very Satisfied Very Dissatisfied Dissatisfied Neutral Satisfied Very Satisfied Speech-Enabled IVR Non Speech-Enabled IVR Overall Satisfaction with Current IVR System
  • 8. About Cognizant Cognizant (NASDAQ: CTSH) is a leading provider of information technology, consulting, and business process outsourc- ing services, dedicated to helping the world’s leading companies build stronger businesses. Headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey (U.S.), Cognizant combines a passion for client satisfaction, technology innovation, deep industry and busi- ness process expertise, and a global, collaborative workforce that embodies the future of work. With over 75 develop- ment and delivery centers worldwide and approximately 178,600 employees as of March 31, 2014, Cognizant is a member of the NASDAQ-100, the S&P 500, the Forbes Global 2000, and the Fortune 500 and is ranked among the top performing and fastest growing companies in the world. Visit us online at www.cognizant.com or follow us on Twitter: Cognizant. World Headquarters 500 Frank W. Burr Blvd. Teaneck, NJ 07666 USA Phone: +1 201 801 0233 Fax: +1 201 801 0243 Toll Free: +1 888 937 3277 Email: inquiry@cognizant.com European Headquarters 1 Kingdom Street Paddington Central London W2 6BD Phone: +44 (0) 20 7297 7600 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7121 0102 Email: infouk@cognizant.com India Operations Headquarters #5/535, Old Mahabalipuram Road Okkiyam Pettai, Thoraipakkam Chennai, 600 096 India Phone: +91 (0) 44 4209 6000 Fax: +91 (0) 44 4209 6060 Email: inquiryindia@cognizant.com ­­© Copyright 2014, Cognizant. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the express written permission from Cognizant. The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners. About the Author Avinash Bhat is a Consulting Manager with Cognizant Business Consulting’s Customer Solutions Practice. His core areas of responsibility include leading customer relationship management (CRM) strategy consulting engagements across the sales transformation, marketing automation and service optimiza- tion domains. He has more than 12 years of experience helping companies execute critical consulting engagements, including CRM roadmap, business case, vendor evaluation and contact center transfor- mation, for example. He can be reached at Avinash.Bhat@cognizant.com. Priya Badri is a Consultant with Cognizant Business Consulting’s Enterprise Applications Services (EAS) Practice. Her core responsibilities include working on consulting projects in the customer relationship management (CRM) space across industry verticals. She has five-plus years of progressive experience conducting business diagnostics to help clients establish industry-leading customer service solutions and on-site evaluation of the existing technology/processes and procedures. She received her M.B.A. from the prestigious S.P. Jain Institute of Management & Research, specializing in Information Management. She can be reached at Priya.Badri@cognizant.com. agents in the contact center to enhance collab- oration and facilitate more informed decisions — translating into positive experiences for the customers. For example: • Gamification promises to make the workplace more fun by applying game design elements to business processes such as customer support. • With gamification software for the call center, customer support becomes more enjoyable for agents, leading to less churn.1 Looking Forward With the economy in flux, today’s organizations have to move forward by improving their custom- ers’ experiences — with minimum investment but maximum gain. Remodeling an enterprise with high-quality service and a single point of contact helps build differentiation by knowing the cus- tomer’s mindset while at the same time under- standing the inherent business value. We believe that next-generation contact centers will trans- form customer interactions by: • Providing fast, reliable and accurate customer information across channels. • Increasing customer satisfaction and thereby driving brand loyalty. • Providing a consistent customer experience across channels. • Reducing the cost of operations. • Reducing contact center complexity. • Providing flexibility and scalability for the contact center infrastructure. Footnote: 1 http://www.cognizant.com/InsightsWhitepapers/Reinventing-Customer-Employee- Engagement-Through-Gamification.pdf.