The Real-Time Revolution in the Contact Centre – Richard Stevenson, CEO, Red Box Recorders
There aren’t many businesses that don’t appreciate the value of the conversations they have with their customers though contact centres.
They aren’t only the lifeblood of any organisation fuelling transactions and growth but also offer invaluable insight into what clients want and how they communicate.
We are already aware of the importance of recording and reviewing these communications to ensure a consistent consumer experience. However, we believe the real-time convergence and sharing of these comms across entire businesses will see a fundamental shift in the way we look at this crucial data and what customers will expect in return.
Mobile devices, both connected and physically worn, will record all voice communication businesses have with their customers within ten years, whether that be telecoms, mobile or face to face. These different channels will then be seamlessly converged into one simple and easy to access record. Banks including First Direct, HSBC, Barclays and Santander have all announced that they will facilitate customers’ transactions through voice authorisation. These innovationsrepresent only the first step in what is possible when you unleash the power of voice letting customers do what they want, quickly, securely and in a way that helps improve service.
With this range of different voice communications captured, transcribed and converged withemails, text and IM conversations, we are getting close to a real-time golden record of the customer. The value of this for any organisation is something quite profound. Often contact centre conversations aren’t even transcribed so customers can be telling you important data that is simply lost. In six months’ time,they might speak to you again and have to repeat this information. The result is customer frustration and a feeling that their communications aren’t important to your business.
Better data capture will also be fuelled by the increasing role that chatbots can play in customer service,with the ability to analyse the data collected with much more sophisticated AI,again in real-time. It’s conceivable that within just five years most companies won’t even have websites. Why would you need one when you can communicate through a chatbot that has a personalised rather than template approach. Bots will allow the use of multiple templates and responses can be tailored to learn quickly through the tone and tempo or an interaction whether a person would prefer a bullet pointed response or something more verbose.
Key to the efficacy of these systems will not only be to what degree companies can rely on the recording systems in place but also the security of the storage once it has been captured. Organisations need to be able to assure their customers that their data is safe and that their procedures comply with regulations such as GDPR. Once trust is broken it is very hard to regain, so it’s incumbent on companies to place as much emphasis on the safekeeping of this data as its capture.
So, while it might be operative training that is the first motivation when thinking about the recording and storage of communications, we urgeall contact centres to think about how they can use the data they capture to evolve how they serve their customers. This data is invaluable and the opportunity unlimited.
Additional Information
Richard Stevenson is CEO at Red Box Recorders
For additional information on Red Box Recorders visit their Website
