The renowned poet Maya Angelou once said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
That statement applies to all kinds of interactions, including those between your company’s customer service representatives and your clients. During the past few years, the customer experience (CX) has emerged as a make-or-break factor in the corporate world. In 2017, 39 percent of organizations lacked a chief experience officer (CXO) and 37 percent didn’t have a chief customer office (CCO), according to Gartner. By 2019, however, only 11 percent didn’t have a CXO, and just 10 percent reported not having a CCO.
With many still working from home as COVID-19 continues to disrupt the lives of people around the world, delivering outstanding experiences that keep clients coming back has become particularly challenging in 2020. Cloud-based contact center solutions have emerged as an appealing option for businesses that want to give remote agents access to all the tools necessary to adequately address customers’ needs and queries from anywhere.
With so many options in the market, however, choosing the right Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) provider for your company can be a challenge. If you’re considering implementing this type of technology to help your business create the best possible CX, here are some factors you should be sure to consider.
1. True omnichannel communication capabilities.
Today’s consumers want the choice to connect with companies using various channels of communication – including web chat, text messaging, email and voice, according to Gartner. They also prefer to be able to switch from one channel to the other without running into any issues. As a result, you’ll want to look for CCaaS software that offers seamlessly integrated multichannel communications.
2. Integration with your CRM.
The contact center software you choose should be able to pull in details from your CRM so your agents can easily deliver highly personalized customer service. When you evaluate CCaaS suppliers, be sure to tell them which CRM you use and ask whether their product integrates with it.
3. Advanced security and compliance.
Malicious actors continue to orchestrate cyberattacks at high rates, so protecting your customers’ data remains a top priority. Any CCaaS platform you implement should have built-in cybersecurity features to keep your data breach risk level as low as possible. Additionally, if your organization is subject to any industry-specific regulations such as HIPAA, you’ll want to look for compliant software.
4. Analytics and reporting.
Real-time and historical analytics offer insights into performance and shed light on specific ways your contact center agents can improve customer service. As a result, you should consider implementing a CCaaS platform with robust analytical capabilities.
5. Artificial intelligence (AI).
As we discussed in a previous blog entry, AI has the potential to revolutionize contact center operations with abilities like intelligent routing, sentiment analysis and predictive analytics. This cutting-edge technology can also handle basic queries, freeing up your agents to tackle more complicated tasks.
At the end of the day, the specific Contact Center as a Service platform that will produce the best results for your company depends on your specific pain points, needs and objectives. If you’d like help evaluating your options, our trusted technology advisors can leverage their extensive experience working with CCaaS solutions to streamline the shopping around process for you. We utilize advanced tools to quickly produce comparison matrices for our clients that show the pros and cons of all their options.
To learn more, just give us a call at 877-599-3999 or email sales@stratospherenetworks.com.
