How a One Stop Shop Contact Center Solutions Provider Can Help Maximize ROI

For years, contact centers consisted primarily of agents who fielded incoming calls and did their best to resolve customer inquiries or concerns. As contact center managers are well aware, however, businesses today are expected to interact with customers through a variety of channels, both for inbound and outbound communications.

In other words, the contact center is changing. Your business needs to keep up to ensure both operational and financial sustainability, and that means maximizing the return on investment (ROI) of your contact center services. Fortunately, there are comprehensive solutions available to help companies do just this.

So, what kinds of solutions are at business owners’ disposals? The kinds offered by a one stop shop contact center technology vendor that help streamline operations. That’s because these types of solutions free businesses from the hassle of relying on several different providers for the capabilities they need. A comprehensive suite of contact center solutions offered by an all-inclusive vendor enables you to capitalize on your business’ strengths and close the gaps on any potential areas of weakness.

For example, if you know that self-service is going to be a huge 2014 initiative of yours, you can optimize for interactive voice response (IVR) over in-person consulting without a hitch. After all, almost half of companies currently offering Web or mobile self-service reported an increase in site traffic and reduced phone inquiries, according to research from CRM Magazine. Perhaps you want to improve your own site traffic; with a one-stop-shop vendor that offers everything your call center could need, that’s never a problem.

A comprehensive, fully baked solution also helps improve the return on investment of your agents’ time. Consider the following:

Faster Resolution Rates: We’ve all been caught in the tangled web of call center transfers. Think back on the experience yourself: did it make you want to stick with the company or ditch it? In fact, 26 percent of consumers have experienced being transferred between agents without any resolution of their problem, according to the 2012 Global Customer Service Barometer. In an age of instant gratification, a faster resolution rate is an absolute must and is an outcome afforded by a vendor who offers a plethora of contact channels for use.

Happier Agents:  A recent study commissioned by WhitePages found that 60 percent of contact center managers feel they are unable to deliver actionable customer service information to agents due to data overload and a lack of focus on customer satisfaction. This lack of focus will do everything but motivate your agents. And, according to ICMI’s 2013 Multichannel Agent Report, 85 percent of contact centers believe that happy agents make happy customers. Bridge this gap by not only providing next-generation multichannel contact center services, but effectively training your agents with the right tools and strategies to optimally use them. Taking both of these steps is what will ultimately yield higher ROI of your contact center services.

Contact center ROI is no joking matter. If your company isn’t keeping up, it’s slipping farther behind in the game. What’s your plan of attack?