Back in ye olden days when call centres were, well, call centres, they looked quite different. Imagine rotary-dial telephones, typewriters and exchanges with oodles-of-noodles wiring.
Nowadays, hi-tech contact centres are all about computers, smartphones and cloud-based data systems.
Yes, we’ve fully embraced the digital age . . . but the evolution hasn’t stopped, so what does the future hold?
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It’s unlikely centres will be operated entirely by robots but artificial intelligence is likely to play a bigger part of the customer service process.
While they can never fully replace humans, chatbots are in development that can mimic the crucial parts of our character in interactions, such as empathy.
Social media use will undoubtedly develop at an even faster rate.
Contact centres already utilise Twitter, WhatsApp and Facebook to interact with clients and most now recruit specially trained social media agents. Current estimates suggest one in three customers actually prefer this type of interaction to the traditional phone call.
This also means conversations will increasingly take place in public – so outward-facing customer service must continue to improve. With complaints, queries and praise often playing out in full view it’s vital contact centre agents find creative ways to provide first-class service while simultaneously strengthening the brand.
Expect to see humour play a big part here, with witty replies from agents and comedic exchanges becoming the norm.
This might be easier to achieve in the future when more employees are working from the stress-free comfort of their own homes.
With strong internet connections and all the right tech tools, agents no longer need to be based in an office. There is already a huge trend for home-based agents who have the skills to offer a complete experience to clients in a multi-channel way.
This includes web chats where agents use video in order to provide a more personalised service, offer demonstrations and enhance the client experience (homeworkers might want to swap their PJs for more formal attire!).
Ever been on hold for an hour only to find you’re through to wrong department? This could soon be a thing of the past with smarter call-routing systems. These will be able to pair customers to the agent they need to talk with much more effectively, so no more going round the houses.
Finally, despite the push for digitalisation, we predict humans will remain critical to the future of contact centres, although the nature of their roles is definitely changing fast.
If you fancy a career in this dynamic world, check out the latest Call/Contact Centre vacancies on s1jobs.