exec briefing - for contact centre decision makers€¦ · what do consumers really want? it's...

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Exec Briefing - for contact centre decision makers

#1: The ‘foothills of transformation’ groupSome organisations, large and small, are still struggling with the fundamentals – in an era when others are exploring artifi-cial intelligence, voice assistants and chatbots. It’s tempting to think we need to jump in with both feet and embrace leading-edge tech. But, for this group, often the best gains are to be had by improving the ‘boring’ things like taking payments in an IVR, improving email management or adding tailored mes-saging into an IVR flow

2: The ‘solid performer’ groupOther organisations might have the ducks in a row and are running like clockwork but are bearing the burden of un-necessary cost, or falling behind their competitors that have started innovating. Typically, these contact centres benefit the most from a range of changes. These include shifting from a complex DTMF menu to using speech recognition, using admin tools to make dynamic changes to IVRs rather than being stuck with static menus designed several years ago.

#3: The ‘cutting edge’ group These organisations have their customer journeys mapped out and road maps documented. They have focus groups and surveys for their customer base, analytics and data mining capabilities in-house. But now they are looking for help with a specific challenge. This might be a regulatory issue such as PCI-DSS compliance, it could be help in channel-shifting using Visual IVR or introducing new technologies like chatbots and voice assistants.

What's the best move for your contact centre in 2018?

Contact centres: The shape of our industry in 2018... It's often difficult to get a true picture of what's happening within the contact centre world. The media tends to focus on data security breaches and customer service meltdowns, while trade shows reflect what vendors would like us to believe — rather than what's really happening within our day-to-day operations.

Eckoh is in a unique position to present a clear picture of our industry in 2018 and around contact centre technologies in particular, as they impact in-life customer service.

We work with dozens of organisations with contact centres the world over, from small 25-seat boutique operations up to global outsourcers with tens of thousands of agents. We see a wide range of capabilities, requirements and technologies play out.

While every contact centre is different, patterns emerge — presenting common challenges and opportunities. This Executive Briefing pinpoints these and suggest the best approach.

We hope you'll find our advice helpful and we wish you every success in 2018 and beyond.

Do you recognise yourself?In simple terms, most of today's contact centres will fit within one of the groups shown on the right.


Of course, the real world is more complexOur groups are a simplified way of looking at the world. The reality is more of a spectrum or a patchwork of capabilities. A single contact centre might be a #1 in some areas but a number #3 in others. So it’s not always as clear-cut.

That said, our experience is that typically most of our customers fall into one of the first two groups with many surging ahead with initiatives that fall into the #3 category.

It is possible to jump from group #1 to group #3. But we recommend this is part of a road map, incrementally layering on improvements. That way, you can focus on areas where maximum benefit can be obtained while limiting disruption to the business and your customer base.

What drives the adoption of new technology? The two key drivers of technology in the voice space are customer experience (CX) and cost. But these are not necessarily exclusive goals.

The modern consumer is typically more likely to choose self-serve where an option exists than choosing to speak to someone. In many cases, CX and cost are two sides of the same coin.

As consumers adopt new technologies to communicate with each other, their habits and expectations shift. Ultimately, consumers will expect contact centres to communicate with them and offer self-service functionality using the new channels they prefer.

Over the years we have seen this with email, SMS, smartphone apps, and instant messaging services. The latest technologies riding this wave are Voice Assistants such as Alexa and Google Home as well as Voice Biometrics with organisations such as HSBC beginning to adopt voice verification.

Should contact centres leap into new technology? The answer depends very much on your customers base, their needs and their demographics.

On paper is may seem as though a new channel may offer great savings but if your customers don’t want or don’t like this channel then this could have the adverse effect of generating more customer service enquiries and even drive customers away to competitors.

Three fundamentals to get rightNew tech: think in terms of a journey...

Chatbots, artificial Intelligence and the rise of asynchronous messaging are among the trends capturing the imagination in 2018. But the key point is that no technology should be adopted without considering it as part of the broader customer journey.

A great way to get under this skin of this is to carry out a customer journey mapping exercise. Putting your customer journeys down on paper lets you see how customers interact with your organisation, where channels interact with one another and, crucially, where you can make improvements.

You'll then have some idea of where you want to go. It’s important to set goals for your transformation project and ask yourself key questions: Why are we introducing this? How will we how if it has been successful? How will this affect other contact channels?

Test #1: QualityIt's better to take a little more time — and get it

right. Don’t release a sub-standard app just so you can say you’ve got one.

Test #2: Consistency Customers have to feel that the new channel or feature is part of your

brand identity. Visual ele-ments can play a

huge part.

Test #3: Tone of VoiceIt’s not just the looks but

the ‘tone’ of what is being presented to customers that creates a consistent

journey for them.

Any new technology must pass three

fundamental tests...

67% of people would rather use Self-Service that speak to someone [2]

Exec Briefing


29% or organisations are confident they can deliver a seamless customer experience across all channels [1]

Older channels still tend to stick around...It’s worth noting that as new channels are added, old ones rarely disappear and certainly not without a concerted effort to deprecate them. Here are three examples ...

Fax: After several decades, the humble fax machine has all but disappeared from most industries. But we still run fax services for some customers.

SMS: Despite the rise of instant messaging and push messages, SMS is increasingly popular and a growth area for certain use-cases.

Voice: Even in areas where we’ve seen web and app channels aggressively promoted over

years, a core of 15-20% of customers tend to stick with the voice channel regardless.

What do consumers really want?It's easy to be dazzled by new technology and forget the core needs and aspirations of consumers. Rather than shiny bells and whistles, consumers crave simplicity, immediacy and personalisation.

People want to get help fasterModern life is busy, people are busy and most people have limited time and they don’t want to spend precious minutes paying bills and looking up balances.

The term ‘micro-tasking’ is a great way to describe the modern consumer method:

People have a few minutes to spare while boiling the kettle, waiting for a train or

rocking the baby to sleep. So, why not let them interact with your services in these

gaps and focus on short, sharp, clean journeys?

Consumers want to be understoodMuch of the recent wave of ‘FinTech’

innovation and ‘Challenger Banks’ entering the financial sector aren’t offering any

technology that traditional players couldn’t do themselves. But their focus is different.

The stuffy old banks focus on money. Their service is about spending, saving and

creating money effectively. The FinTech banks however focus on the customer, living up to the millennial spirit of “my bank helps me live my life” – focusing on personal budgeting and helping the

consumer to stay on top of their finances.

Users expect you to know their historyThe wealth of information and services provided to consumers by companies such as Google, Apple, Amazon and

Microsoft are setting the bar for customer experience. On Amazon we can see orders going back to 2008, track our travels on Google Maps over years and even search photos based on where they were taken.

Even though you may not compete with these companies, you are being judged

against them in terms of customer experience.

Contact centres have to work hard to eliminate broken journeys where

customers know you have the information they need and know you could make their lives easier. If you don’t, then consumers

will feel as though you’re making their lives harder and if a competitor does this better

it’s one less reason to stick around.

Some people just want to talk to someone

When they want to speak to an agent, why not let them? Consider perhaps the

approach of offering and encouraging self-service without forcing it upon

your customers.

If each customer’s demographic leans towards or away from a particular channel,

then use that knowledge as part of the design to make their future

journeys better.

You can also adapt services on the fly, so if someone falls through to an agent several times in a row then maybe next time the

service just takes them straight there.

Exec Briefing

39% of ogranisations use Web Chat and just 21% offer web Self-

Service, despite it rapidly becoming the consumers'

first choice.


What's the best move for me now?Eckoh has an exciting portfolio of contact centre solutions — so you can delight your consumers, wherever you currently sit today on the technology spectrum.

Our solutions offer the simplicity, immediacy and personalisation that today's consumers desire.

How we can help...We can transform your contact centre operations by delivering a better customer experience across every channel, boosting agent productivity, reducing operational costs and maximising payment security.

We’ve been a PCI DSS Level One Service Provider since 2010 and we currently process £1.5 billion in card payments annually. We’re experts in PCI security, telephony and integration, with over 20 years of award-winning experience in contact centre technology. Large and medium-sized organisations rely on us, every second of every day across all industry sectors so we can help you in the same way.

At Eckoh, we’re committed to your success. We care for your business as if it were our own. and we make sure we understand your challenges and we think and act like business partners, not technical advisors.

Contact us today...

...to discuss any of these options and we'll be delighted to provide expert advice and discuss your broader customer journey.

That's the best place for a conversation to begin.

Exec Briefing

exec briefing - for contact centre decision makers€¦ · what do consumers really want? it's...

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