Customers want more

It's not just about fielding phone calls anymore. Today, customers want multiple ways of interacting with organisations and insist on conducting business anytime, anywhere, using any form of communication they desire - whether it be call, e-mail, chat, or fax.

While exceptional customer service is the primary goal of all contact centres, whether this goal is reached is dependent on effectively utilising and managing multiple forms of communication between the agent and the customer.

Can the current infrastructure support the implementation of a multi-channel, multi-function solution that addresses not only Web self-service and e-mail routing, but other channels and functions?

Different customers have different communication needs and so too does the organisation they communicate with. Determining what channel is most appropriate in any given situation is paramount.

For example, there is a latency built into e-mail by the very nature of the system on which they rely (store and forward). Of course, most e-mail arrives within seconds at the destination - yet, in some cases, it could take minutes or even hours (or even not be delivered) because of internal problems.

Customers sending e-mail to post a stock trade, for instance, or to make a change to a flight departing within a few hours may not get what they need if their e-mail arrives late.

There are four aspects of key interactions to consider:

Optimising customer service across all channels of interaction is a necessity for every customer-centric organisation.

Dave Paulding is regional sales director for UK, Middle East and Africa at Interactive Intelligence.

* Information: Does it require multiple screens of data, or can it be conveyed in one or two short sentences? Information-rich interactions may require bigger and more complex interfaces.

* Latency: How time-sensitive is the information in this interaction? Does it require real-time (or near real -time) processing? Can it be processed and returned later? Real-time interactions will have problems with latency-inherent channels (such as e-mail).

* Complexity: How complex is the interaction? Does it require lengthy explanations and visual aids from the customer? Is it a simple question that can be answered in an existing knowledge base? The complexity will determine the potential for automation, the level of agents necessary and the interface required to interact.

* Cost: What is the expected cost for traditional interactions across all channels? Does it make economic sense to use one specific channel over another? If there is no cost justification for a specific channel, it becomes more difficult to obtain sign-off or approval.

Optimising customer service across all channels of interaction is a necessity for every customer-centric organisation. Each time a customer contacts a company, the business must manage that interaction quickly and accurately based on the most recent and accurate information available.

As the contact centre has evolved from a cost centre to a profit centre, it is imperative that they are able to use data from any source and route it appropriately to the correct agent, in order to offer a personalised service to the customer. With the seamless integration of telephony communications and data within enterprise applications, companies can ensure this happens in either customer self-service situations or with agent-assisted services.

An international survey done by ICMI on multi-channel contact centres indicates that although all the centres surveyed handle traditional phone calls, 86% also handle customer e-mail, 16% support Web chat, 11% support Web callback transactions, and 4% handle VOIP-based Web calls.

Half of the centres that supported chat also use Web collaboration applications such as co-browsing, page-pushing, and form-sharing during chat sessions with customers. 40% of centres handling Web calls do so during Web call transactions. Only 30% of centres handling Web callback transactions use collaboration tools during those transactions.

The survey also found that 62% of call centre agents that handle chat, make use of more than one chat session at a time. 63% of these agents report having two to three sessions active simultaneously, though a few reported handling as many as 10 chat sessions simultaneously.

When considering the rapid adoption and advancement of e-mail, chat and other Web-based modes of customer access, the term “multi-channel contact centre” may soon be redundant. When it comes to customer contact, it's all about being accessible and giving customers choices.