Angus, “but the adoption of cloud contact centres, as an industry, is key to changing that. “Staff retention is really important, because it’s far more expensive to hire somebody new than it is to retain staff. “If you think about the world we live in today, businesses are concerned with agent’s satisfaction, their mental health, how they’re handling the stresses and pressures of having the role, as well as physical health and their output. “Agents in the contact centre are now balancing home life and work which can be tough. So being able to provide an agent experience that has improved, takes one of those pressures away which allows them to be more satisfied and more fulfilled in their job.” Working from home is a key improvement to the conditions agents find themselves in when talking to customers. That, according to Martin Taylor, Co-Founder and Deputy CEO of Content Guru, could not have happened without the cloud. “The cloud has unlocked the potential of hybrid working on the contact centre. The
in a larger pool of talent and increased flexibility.”
Better Resolution “The experience for both the customer and the agent has changed significantly,” continued Tripathi. “Customers can now receive support from agents located anywhere in the world, resulting in faster response times and increased availability.” This decrease in resolution time is a key performance indicator that agents have hit since the turn of the decade. With Sinnott adding that flexibility of the cloud is allowing agents to make themselves available and to take calls around their day-to-day lives. “Since cloud-based contact centre technology enables staff to engage with external audiences from anywhere and at any time, customers can expect more timely responses. With the customer experience increasingly the main differentiator in many markets, this quality of customer service makes a huge difference. “Employees, on the other hand, can enjoy greater flexibility around their working days, for instance, choosing to respond to incoming customer enquiries when
Chris Angus Vice President of Commercial Sales
8x8.com
cloud has enabled agents to be a part of the contact centre from
anywhere, and not just a central location. Agents can simply log in via a web browser or mobile app and have access to all the tools they
working from home, while waiting to pick up the kids from the
school gate, or on route to the gym.”
would use when physically in the workplace.
This maintenance of standards is key according to Taylor, who simply said: “Customers should notice no change and it’s highly unlikely they’d be able to determine if
“Having learnt new
behaviours, office workers in general now expect their employers to provide hybrid working, and call
centre agents are no different. Agents expect flexibility and this has become a key differentiator in deciding where to work. “The higher satisfaction derived from the hybrid workplace is then passed directly onto customers in the service they receive. At the same time, the business’ expensive property assets can be worked harder for longer.” On top of this Piyush Tripathi Lead Engineer at Square points out that the talent pool has also increased: “Almost 56% of US call centres have implemented remote work due to the Cloud. This has allowed call centres to hire agents from anywhere in the world, resulting
an agent was in an office environment or working remotely.”
Martin Taylor Co-founder & Deputy CEO
Combining Channels Improving customer experience is not just limited to customer calls though. As customer interaction methods change, so too does the requirement to be available where customers would like to communicate with brands. According to Sinnott, the cloud is a great enabler for businesses to be able to interact with their customers across different channels, adding: “Cloud is a major contributor to converged contact. “Fixed voice, mobile, video, chat, email,
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CONTINUED
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