Traditional call centers were both an asset and a liability to the organization as they fulfilled a need by operating as a point of contact for the customer, yet they also incurred significant cost without directly driving revenue. Over the years, the traditional telephone-based call center has morphed into the multichannel contact center, offering customers the ability to contact the center via phone, e-mail, Internet, SMS, chat, fax and even more.
With this increased use of these alternative channels, it is important for the contact center to understand how much of its traffic is flowing through these channels and how best to manage them for optimal performance.
According to Dimension Data, an IT solutions and services provider, the global contact center industry has seen an increase in the use of Interactive Voice Response (IVR) self-service channels with 60 percent of the world’s contact centers using the channel.
SMS/Text messaging has also experienced an increase in use by 8 percent according to last year’s level of 32 percent. These findings are part of Dimension Data’s tenth annual Contact Center Benchmarking Report. This report includes survey responses from 300 contact centers in 36 countries across five continents.
“Ten years ago, enterprises were focused on improving service and moving away from face-to-face interactions toward a phone experience,” said Grant Sainsbury, practice director, Customer Interactive Solutions, Dimension Data Americas, in a company statement.
“Today, the reality is that the choice of channel varies and is dependent on the type of transaction. High-value customers may be more than happy to use automated self-service channels to pay a bill or view their balance — they don’t need a live agent for every interaction.”
The increased use of self-service channels provides a significant benefit to businesses. In 1997, the first year of the Dimension Data survey, only 6 percent of calls resulted in…