Next generation contact centers may be the key competitive differentiator for businesses in Singapore, according to a research commissioned by Avaya. The report, Avaya Contact Centre Consumer Index Score Report Singapore 2007, undertaken by research firm callcenter.net... |
Next generation contact centers may be the key competitive differentiator for businesses in Singapore, according to a research commissioned by Avaya.
The report, Avaya Contact Centre Consumer Index Score Report Singapore 2007, undertaken by research firm callcenter.net, showed that while over 80 percent of consumers surveyed preferred to speak directly to a customer service representative (CSR), they retained a low expectation of the service quality from contact centers. Key reasons for low marks are attributed to long waits and lack of knowledge or giving wrong information by the CSR.
When compared to other countries like China and India more than 40 percent of Singapore consumers surveyed indicated a significant dislike for contact center interaction and registered the lowest service level expectation of the three countries. However, Singapore also saw a higher percentage of first preference to telephone and speak directly with a CSR.
As one of the main communications channels for many companies, the customer experience with the CSR can have a direct impact on the company’s revenue as well as reputation. In fact, over one third of respondents stated that the most important thing for them is to have their call answered fast or issue resolved quickly. The resulting feedback showed that just having the human element, the CSR in this case, is insufficient.
To offer better response and improve positive experiences, businesses need to extend the capabilities of the CSR and one of the ways to break out from the competition is through next generation contact centers.
“The contact centers of the future will be IP-based,” said Eric Tan, Country Director, Avaya Singapore.
“Together with Session Initiated Protocol (SIP), the contact centre can now have a more complete profile of the customer, together with applications to connect with experts for efficient issue resolution. This capability allows enterprise knowledge workers to become on-demand experts whose availability can be determined in real time and then easily located and contacted.”
In addition, the research has revealed that the customers’ contact centre experiences can be diverse and addressing the Satisfaction Index means offering a range of business communications technologies as there are generation-differences in using technologies.
For example, the older generations have a higher propensity to contact the company via the telephone, while the Generation Y –those between 16-30 years of age-- prefer self-service technology. However, the research also showed that their tendency for contacting agents arises when the transactional complexity increases. In fact, this group also has a high expectation of service from contact centers. As this group represents future customers, the need to upgrade existing contact center technology cannot be ignored.
“This group has stated a high preference to have video streaming/conference in their interaction and the best way to deliver this capability is on the IP platform,” added Tan.
In a nutshell, the research has indicated that a positive experience from the contact centre interaction has a direct correlation to the loyalty index and an increased propensity for customers recommending services/products from the company to others; a likelihood of additional purchases; as well as using the contact centre again for their next interaction.
The bottom line then, is that the contact centre can afford companies a competitive edge today and for the future. |
