Digital technology is ubiquitous, and consumers use it constantly—to work, play, communicate, and shop. It’s only natural that these same customers anticipate digital channel options in contact centers. To win customers’ loyalty, businesses must interact with them in the digital world they already inhabit, allowing them to engage with the brand on their terms. This entails adopting a digital-first mentality and approach in the contact center.
Significantly, digital has far-reaching consequences for how companies provide services today and how much more change is on the horizon. Those that “win” customer service will have to reinvent it fundamentally—and digital will play a vital role in this.
This article will explain ways to transform the contact center with digital technologies.
What is a digital contact center?
A digital contact center is a cloud-based contact center that uses a cutting-edge digital contact center strategy to become more predictive rather than reactive, thereby dramatically improving the customer experience (CX).
These technologies span from present functionality (live chat, SMS, social media, and chatbots) to omnichannel solutions and new customer interaction tools like artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things (IoT), and natural language processing (NLP).
Ways to Digitally Transform the Contact Center
You can feel the effects of digital transformation not just within the contact center but also on customer loyalty and the whole brand experience. However, each organization’s path to digital transformation will be unique. Here are some essential variables to consider.
1. AI and Machine Learning
Perhaps no other technology is as vital to digital transformation as artificial intelligence. Machine learning is commonly utilized in call centers to automate procedures and route interactions. However, the capacity of machine learning technologies to deliver real-time insights for decision-making that can improve CX, is less generally applied.
- Machine learning models that have been well-trained and optimized can provide a wealth of intelligence on consumer behavior, habits, and identification that can be utilized to make informed judgments about authentication, personalization, and call routing.
- Chatbots, analytics, and workflow optimization rely on AI to make the IT environment more efficient and scalable.
- Machine learning, natural language, ASR, RPA, and deep learning are all critical for customer identification and authentication, voice and intent recognition, and managing consumer interactions in an omnichannel setting.
2. Voice Biometrics
Voice biometrics based on Deep Neural Networks are an essential component of a unified, multichannel, and customer-focused contact center.
A passive, smooth, and frictionless speech biometric platform can identify and authenticate clients over the phone and on mobile apps, chatbots, and IoT devices. Moreover, voice biometrics can help protect contact centers from hostile actors using spoofing, deep fakes, or replay attacks. These interactions also have the potential to replace time-consuming, manual operations.
3. Superior CX Through Multi-factor Authentication
The backbones of the contact center are identity verification and consumer authentication. Authentication methods and policies become even more critical in protecting conversations and transactions during digital transformation.
Using a single authentication factor (KBA, OTP) is less secure and more prone to errors. However, using numerous synergistic elements (ANI, voice, behavior, device, risk) can boost your trust in the authentication process while giving customers more ways to identify themselves across many channels.
Moreover, better authentication that eliminates KBAs and faster calls handling times can contribute to higher customer satisfaction and Net Promoter Scores (NPS).
4. Self-Service
The lynchpin of contact center digital transformation is increased consumer self-service through different channels. Better self-service with increased security improves customer satisfaction and contributes to cost savings and better call center capacity management.
Following Covid, the number of client encounters (by phone or digital) has increased. Due to limited agent capacity (headcount, hours, and efficiency), the strain on agents has increased, resulting in lengthier lineups and wait times. Giving customers more self-service options helps relieve agent workload and reduce wait times.
Besides, IVR (Interactive Voice Response) is a critical component of contact centers and an underappreciated feature of digital transformation. More calls in the IVR through improved authentication and risk monitoring can enhance call center efficiency and lower expenses.
5. Personalization
The capacity to provide customers with a more personalized call experience is closely related to improved authentication and self-service. This personalization can take the shape of an introductory welcome that recognizes the caller’s identity or even a personalized menu of services based on previous behavior patterns.
You can employ tools such as ANI validation and spoof detection to assess the danger of incoming calls. Low-risk calls, in particular, can be provided with a less intrusive authentication experience, such as fewer KBAs or OTPs. This would result in a more satisfying authenticating experience for a large number of calls.
You can also tailor callers’ authentication experiences based on their risk and enrollment characteristics. This might provide zero KBAs for highly trusted callers with enrolled profiles and low-risk signals, as well as more stringent authentication processes for higher-risk calls.
Bottomline
Digital transformations provide a revolutionary opportunity for all firms to improve their business practices. And it bears repeating: the contact center has the most significant potential for a dramatic transformation. Customers expect more from their engagements and interactions with brands due to their many empowering experiences with their cell phones. Organizations that fail to provide a better service experience risk losing some to competitors. There is no good reason to put off the inevitable with the availability of purpose-built customer support platforms and cloud-based Contact Center-as-a-Service products that digitally transform the contact center more straightforwardly than ever. There is a way. All you need is determination.
