Leaders across all departments—including the contact center—are now dealing with hiring challenges AND problems with legacy technology just a few years removed from the 2020 pandemic. More contact center agents are working remotely than ever before, managers are struggling to boost agent productivity, and tech stacks are being tested.
One thing is for sure: Organizations need more customer and employee feedback to make the contact center better. Knowledge managers and front-line agents must be included in new contact center initiatives , simple knowledge management mistakes must be corrected. Many changes are needed in the contact center, and the survey data reflects this reality.
Contact center trends to watch in 2022 and beyond
In this post, we’ll dive into a few key contact center trends and supporting statistics to watch this year. A storm is brewing in contact centers across the globe, things are ripe for change. The days of being placing customers on hold for 30 minutes won’t cut it much longer.
Contact centers are growing, but growth must occur sustainability
2020 was a challenging year for nearly all businesses, and if your organization struggled to keep agents, you’re not alone. The Great Resignation—the largest employment exodus in recent history—surveys indicate was simply due to factors like low pay and employees feeling disrespected. Since contact centers can’t fully replace workers with technology, expect hiring managers to offer more incentives and growth plans, especially for new agents.
1. 80% of contact centers have planned for growth in 2022 (ICMI)
Contact centers will look to automation to solve productivity problems
You’ve heard automation thrown around the contact center setting for years, but expect contact centers to find creative ways to layer in automation—like Agent Assist technology for agents, now that many organizations must do more with fewer resources.
Task switching and tab switching continues to be a big productivity killer for contact center agents and reflects one thing: An integrated experience is needed to increase agent efficiency.
Difficult to use and ineffective contact center software will no longer cut it
Over half of all customers who interact with customer support via phone admit they still must repeat their reason for calling—despite contact center new technology on the market. Expect legacy solutions in the contact center to continue to be replaced by tools that are easy for agents to use, and also provide more context.
Ineffective software also remains a multi-billion dollar productivity killer for businesses; look for managers to upgrade components of their contact center tech stack to achieve productivity—or risk losing customers.
5. Usability for employees is the #1 determining factor when purchasing and implementing contact center technology (ICMI)
6. A whopping 65% of survey respondents simply want contact center solutions to be easy to use (CCW)
7. 53% of consumers say they must repeat their reason for calling to multiple agents (Invoca)
8. Sales and service agents waste 516 million hours each year using bad software (Freshworks)
Contact center channels will become more integrated
Contact center platforms, portals, ticketing solutions, IVR solutions—no matter what you use to respond to customer requests—don’t expect agents to be efficient with 38 tabs open at once. The right knowledge needs to be surfaced in the environment agents use (like your CRM or CCaaS solution), as well as self-service support channel customers are flocking to.
Your contact center employees need an integrated agent experience to maximize productivity—not just the right channels integrated, but a knowledge source that integrates with these support channels.
Modern contact centers need a modern knowledge management solution
Knowledge powers all contact center channels (the channels agents use AND the ones customers prefer), and will be a key focus for contact center managers in the near future. The contact center tech stack is evolving as more products hit the market, but expect knowledge will have a huge impact on the success of any contact center wishing to leverage AI and automate work.
Don’t Just Store Knowledge—Automate Knowledge Work
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