Top CX obstacles include technology and staffing issues
More than half of contact centres (55%) experienced a higher volume of customer interactions over the past 12 months, narrowly outpacing an increase in contact complexity (47%), according to the 'Contact Center Workforce of the Future' survey conducted by the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) for cloud contact centre firm Five9, exploring the current state of and future of working in contact centres.
However, survey respondents reported significant customer experience obstacles, including legacy technology (51%), staffing issues (44%), and a lack of integration between digital and voice channels (37%).
Specific workforce and technology challenges uncovered in the research included:
As the report notes, these findings suggest opportunities for contact centers to embrace a digital workforce of AI-powered assistance for customers and agents. This includes technology such as intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) and real-time agent coaching applications.
"Contact centers will need to automate where possible and free up live agents for more complicated tasks, which also opens the door for professional growth opportunities," said Callan Schebella, EVP of Product Management, Five9. "And as customer expectations rise, equipping employees with the right tools and resources will be mission-critical. To balance efficiency and employee satisfaction, the contact center of the near future will operate with a blend of live and virtual agents, and advanced analytics and modern cloud technology will be essential. For contact centers experiencing the shortfalls of legacy software, now is the time to innovate."
Survey respondents seem to agree. When asked to share the top strategies their contact center is pursuing to satisfy customer needs, 42% said they plan to enhance self-service functionalities; 42% of respondents said they plan to launch new services/offerings to focus on digital customer engagement, and 27% hope to deploy AI and automation to streamline processes and services.
Additionally, 52% of respondents said they expect self-service to have the most significant impact on the customer experience in the next two to three years.
Categorised as: