Contact centers provide a lot of the nuts and bolts that make operations possible. Running a modern business without a contact center is like trying to win a marathon while wearing steel-toe boots: it might be technically possible, but it’s not going to be a great experience. You’re going to work extra hard, and the results aren’t going to inspire a lot of confidence. Also, you almost certainly won’t win!
With that being said, even the best-intentioned contact center leaders and supervisors can feel overwhelmed when they set out to explore different contact center software—especially as they try to envision how it could impact the organization. In these cases, it’s often best to (at least briefly) get back to the basics by asking a few simple questions:
- What contact center services are we—or should we be—providing?
- How well are we currently meeting our customers’ expectations?
- Where are the best opportunities to optimize the contact center?
In this article, we’re talking about contact center services, meaning the finer details of the average contact center operation. More specifically, we’ll discuss the key priorities of the contact center, some of the most common contact center services examples, and the role of technology within the contact center
What Is a Contact Center Used For?
The contact center facilitates meaningful and productive interactions between a company and its customers. The better the company understands its customers—including their preferences and expectations—the better position it’s in to provide a great experience.
And by providing the best experience possible, organizations build a positive reputation and grow their customer base, making it a win-win. When a contact center doesn’t meet its customers’ needs or expectations, on the other hand, it can lead to customer churn. That’s an expensive yet avoidable outcome.
What Is an Example of a Contact Center Service?
Broadly speaking, there are two main types of services a contact center usually offers: sales and customer service.
- Sales | Agents make outbound calls to generate and develop leads for the business. This used to mainly involve cold-calling, but the modern contact center has evolved to accommodate other communication channels as well. As they work with prospects, sales agents use contact center software to keep track of important information like account details, interaction histories, and more.
- Customer Service | Agents answer inbound calls to answer customer questions and provide recommendations for troubleshooting and support as needed. Similar to sales, service and support agents also leverage contact center software to keep track of important customer information and provide a personalized, efficient experience.
For 2024 and beyond, providing a consistently high-quality customer experience should be at the forefront of most contact center leaders’ minds. Personal impact aside, customer opinion undoubtedly has a substantial impact on achieving business outcomes.
What Are the 4 Key Features of a Contact Center?
While every organization is unique, there are at least four key features you will find in most modern contact centers:
- An Omnichannel Experience | Plenty of people still prefer the telephone, but an increasing number would rather use chat/instant messaging, email, or even self-service. Providing the channels their customers prefer and expect goes a long way toward creating a positive experience.
- A Personalized Workflow | A high-functioning contact center is one that is agile and highly customizable. From optimizing how calls are routed to opening up new channels of communication, the best contact center leaders are always looking for ways to fine-tune their operations to remain their customers’ first choice.
- Tools for Supervisors | While most of the talk about contact centers focuses on agents and customers, the needs of leadership are also important. Organizations must empower their supervisors with the insights they need to better understand, motivate, and manage their agents. Common supervisor needs include call recording to real-time agent dashboards, historical reporting, and more.
- Data and Analytics | By harnessing customer- and interaction-based data, contact centers can identify areas for improvement. At a minimum, this means using a customer relationship management (CRM) platform to centralize contact center data. But that’s just the start: modern contact centers are increasingly leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to automate data collection and organization, going as far as to provide meaningful, actionable insights for supervisors.
What Is a Contact Center Service Provider?
The phrase “contact center service provider” has a few different meanings, depending on the context. For example, it could be referring to:
- A company that develops, sells, and supports a contact center software platform.
- A company that provides cloud-based software and support through a Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) or Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) offerings.
A Managed Services Provider (MSP) like InterVision who partners with an organization to help determine their needs and priorities, provide recommendations, and assist with the implementation and support of contact center software and services.
Ready to Optimize Your Contact Center?
Start your contact center journey with InterVision. Since being founded in 1993, InterVision has watched as the humble and unassuming call center of the 1990s has evolved into the high-tech, connected contact center we know today. And we’re always keeping our eyes on the industry, ready to help companies like yours find the best solutions for your contact center. Whether you’re exploring different contact center technology options or just looking to get the most value out of the latest cloud contact center software offering, we’re here to help.
After helping plenty of organizations write their own success stories, we’d love the opportunity to collaborate with your business. Reach out today to start the conversation!
