Businesses in Asia Pacific are facing increased pressure to integrate the Web and the Contact Centre, but few have yet to fully leverage multiple channels.
According to a study by Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories-- an Alcatel-Lucent company-- while the majority of contact centre managers understand the need to better engage with customers on the Web, contact centres in the Asia Pacific region have made only moderate progress, with only one in four respondents supporting live help on the Web.
The report, titled “Managing Web Interactions in the Contact Centre” examines how contact centre managers are addressing the growing consumer demand and business impact of web-based communication channels, such as agent Web-chat, click-to-call, click-for-call back, and email.
Genesys conducted online and phone-based surveys of 236 contact centre managers across the Asia Pacific region, including Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.
Key findings of the report include:
• 82 percent of organisations surveyed offer some level of Web self-service, including viewing account information (47 percent); making online payments (44 percent); and making purchases or orders online (29 percent).
• Only 27 percent of companies surveyed offer live help or assistance to customers browsing their Web sites.
• More than 60 percent of organisations using proactive Web chat say it has increased sales revenue, and almost 50 percent note a drop in web abandonment rates.
• 70 percent of respondents who do not currently offer live help on their Web sites have no firm plans to implement any form of Web-chat, click-to-call or click-to-call-back.
"… the results clearly indicate that the contact centre industry in Asia Pacfic is not taking full advantage of integrating the Web with contact centres… We believe Web sites are an untapped opportunity for enaging with your customers, and companies that fail to integrate the Web with contact centres and agents will miss out on opportunities to drive increased revenue and customer loyalty over the long term,” said Michael McBrien, senior vice president, Asia Pacific, Genesys.
The study also found that organisational structure was not the only integration challenge businesses face today when bringing the Web and contact centre together. In fact, only 31 percent of respondents indicated that, if a customer moves from web self-service to calling the contact centre, the receiving agent would be provided with information on the customer’s self-service session.
The complete copy of Genesys Contact Centre Realties, Volume 9: Managing Web Interactions in the Contact Centre, can be found at http://www.genesyslab.com/resources/reports/CCRealitiesVol9 |
