Top 10 innovations driving Customer Engagement
Marketing technologies and best practices surrounding customer engagement are evolving rapidly, according to customer service technology systems integrator, Sabio, which has compiled its top ten technology trends that it believes will drive customer engagement in 2014 and beyond.
Building on major industry shifts such as mobile, social, cloud and Big Data, Sabio emphasised the transformative role that technology needs to play in improving service performance levels, as well as unlocking real operational savings within customer service operations. The company's top ten technology trends for 2014 include:
- Mobile apps set to bypass traditional IVR processes Smartphones and mobile apps now give users the chance to bypass traditional IVR processes and start interactions straight away. 2014 will see mobile apps combine with services such as callback and web chat to make engagement even easier for customers.
- Web-enabled omnichannel engagement Today's consumers are more demanding than ever, using 'always-on' multiple digital channels to interact, connect, share and shop. Organisations that provide consumers with a seamless, omnichannel delivery will have an advantage in 2014.
- Equipping agents to deliver social media support While voice remains the primary touch point for many, organisations are increasingly relying on the contact centre to manage other contact channels such as social media. The key to success here is making sure agents have the tools in place and the training to resolve issues quickly.
- Putting Big Data to work Today's contact centres generate essential Big Data feeds including ACD data, CRM systems, call & screen recordings, customer feedback, speech analytics outputs, and social media inputs to external databases. Technologies such as web and speech analytics will unlock the value inherent in unstructured contact centre data.
- Virtual Agents When it comes to successfully challenging contact centre demand, one innovation set to have an impact is the use of virtual, task-oriented assistants for enterprise. Unlike personal assistant technologies such as Apple's Siri, enterprise personal assistants can offer real domain expertise thanks to close knowledge base integration.
- Optimised 'Contact Us' strategies In 2014 more organisations will challenge demand levels by deploying Embedded Service solutions on their websites to streamline engagement. The goal is to pre-qualify queries - ideally resolving them with relevant information, removing the need for formal contact. Adopting such an approach requires a well-integrated customer contact infrastructure, but the benefits are significant in terms of challenging demand.
- Seamless Contact Centre security Contact centres are often caught in the middle of the growing conflict between the compliance and customer service functions of a business. The application of innovative technologies - such as voice biometrics and speech analytics - can help achieve compliance goals while still delivering a level of seamless customer service.
- Acting on Customer Feedback Capturing customer feedback is great, but it's what you do with it that really distinguishes an organisation. There are multiple ways of collecting feedback, however it's essential not just to collect scores but also capture customer comments to gain a sense of what customers actually think.
- Knowledge Management Effective Knowledge Management plays a critical role when it comes to addressing customer queries online, particularly when it's powered by near real-time knowledge base updates from the contact centre. Look for more organisations taking this approach in 2014.
- More effective Call Steering Bad IVR systems can undo multiple productivity gains, often leading to increases in transfer rates of up to 10%. Streamlining the experience by applying intelligent routing to each stage of the process will contribute directly to an improved customer experience.
"With digital now the default starting point for many consumers, it's essential for organisations to have a single, integrated view of customer engagement across multiple channels. However, the reality is that there's a growing gulf between customer expectations and service providers' ability to deliver," concluded Sabio's founding director, Adam Faulkner. "This needs to be the year that organisations actively close this gap, and they can start by taking advantage of the opportunities presented by our top ten technology trends."
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