2020 has set the stage for tremendous growth in the adoption of cloud contact centers for the years to come. In the changing times, contact centers are transitioning to a cloud contact center model that is agile, highly scalable & flexible, and cost-effective. The recent cloud contact center trends state that businesses can achieve more in less by investing in cloud contact center software.
With the changing trends and aggressive move to cloud infrastructures, Forrester Research indicates that the global public cloud infrastructure market will reach US$120 at an annual growth rate of 35%, as the cloud continues to take center stage in the recovery from the pandemic.
Now that the cloud contact centers have started to substitute on-premise contact centers, here’s a list of cloud contact center trends that the brands should watch out for in 2021.
1. Increased Adoption of Omnichannel Cloud-based Contact Centers
The omnichannel contact center is not new for the industry but this becomes a differentiating factor for the businesses converting their brands into experience hubs. With an omnichannel cloud-based contact center, brands can deliver a unified customer interaction experience across multiple platforms.
A fully integrated omnichannel offering is the future of cloud contact centers that will help the businesses surpass customer’s ever-evolving expectations. With a pool of channels like email, voice, video chat, social media, in-app chat, etc., your brand will be able to deliver differentiated customer experiences in 2021.
For instance, more and more businesses are turning to Google’s Business Messages to convert prospects faster using Google Search & Maps, while shortening the customer journey.
2. Adoption of Cloud-based Video Contact Center
With an increase in the demand for a face to face interaction during the pandemic, it has led businesses to rethink their customer engagement strategy. Video contact center software solves customer problems faster and helps drive customer trust with humanlike interactions.
A video contact center software is win-win for businesses as it enables them to:
- Reduce cost by replacing physical meetings with video interactions
- Increase first call resolution (FCR) and NPS
- Increase efficiency with quality monitoring & analytics
- Win customers trust by humanizing the contact center
3. Bot is the New Normal
The new normal is interacting with the customers when and where they want to be served, demanding from the businesses to become proactive and provide customer support 24*7. Today, with months into the pandemic, the inbound call volume and the wait time is continuously increasing, and it requires the brands to rethink their customer engagement strategy.
The introduction of voice bot and chatbot, at large, is one of the most embraced cloud contact center trends that the businesses are leveraging to resolve customer queries without human intervention, thus, increasing first contact resolution.
A smooth deflection from bot to agent ensures that the customers are not left hanging in the loop and are provided with the information they need. For instance, if a customer has a simpler query like checking the delivery status of their product, a chatbot or voice bot can efficiently respond to the query while the agents will focus on more complex queries.
4. Rise of Remote Contact Center Workforce
What was once a luxury only a few could afford has now become the new normal. Thanks to COVID-19 that the businesses are anticipating the need for hiring a remote workforce. Cloud contact center software has made it possible for businesses to think of hiring a remote workforce across the globe without having to invest in any physical infrastructure.
Hiring a diverse workforce has manifold benefits such as providing a native experience to the customers, hiring agents from a large talent pool, hiring seasonal employees to cater to the ongoing needs of the business without having to put in the capital for infrastructural readiness.
5. More Focus on Savings
Uncertainty is one of the key lessons that 2020 has taught every business and professional. In the coming year, we expect more focus on solutions with a focus on saving and efficiency. Now that most of the businesses are planning to go remote, one of the emerging trends that we have seen is the cost reduction in contact center operations. iMarque, a Chennai based BPO, reduced its cost of operations by 15% using Ameyo’s remote contact center solution.
Additionally, with cloud contact center software, you can now keep track of agents’ activities, campaign performance, first contact resolution rate, CSAT rate, etc. with a holistic remote monitoring dashboard. Now identify reasons for low productivity using 15+ parameters such as low internet bandwidth and unsupportive device to analyze the efficiency of each agent.
For instance, if a set of agents are finding difficulty in interacting with customers due to poor internet connection, the supervisor can route all the calls to other agents in real-time, ensuring that the customer experience is not compromised.