The rise of hosted contact center software possibly raises concerns among call center operators that such affordable solutions could see a shift from outsourcing to insourced customer support operations. Cloud contact centers, however, are 27% cheaper and have 37% less downtime compared to in-house solutions. This is just one reason to not feel apprehensive about customers going away. In fact, now is the time to upgrade to the best omnichannel contact center software and offer customers services far superior to what they would be able in-house to their customers.
- Competence counts
It is easy for companies to think they can establish in-house contact center and run it with call center software. In reality, it takes special skill sets on the part of agents to deliver satisfactory customer experiences. This is what call center agents are trained for and what call centers do so, even if a few do go away, the majority will stay with you when you guarantee 24×7 exemplary customer experiences. Research shows that 59% of customers have high customer support expectations.
- Infrastructure
There is more to customer service call center than just the use of omnichannel contact center software:
- You have trained people with experience and expertise in handling customer issues.
- You have more than adequate number of personnel to tackle any volume of traffic.
- You have requisite space and communication facilities.
- You can guarantee results and deliver finely tuned reports
Businesses that seek to establish their own in-house customer support will find many issues facing them such as trained personnel, turnover of personnel and quality of services.
- Cost
It would be fallacious to assume that in-house operations are cheaper. On the contrary; it proves expensive if you factor in cost of premises, electricity, hardware, software, maintenance, salaries and outcomes. If trained personnel leave then their customer service suffers and that is one thing businesses cannot afford.
- 24×7 phone support
57% people prefer live chat, 51% prefer accessing knowledge bases and 61% customers prefer phone support. Your business customers are not in a position to provide 24×7 support whereas you, as a call center operator, can keep phone lines open.
In addition, trained agents are adept at juggling various channels and staying on top. If it is social media at one moment, email the next and phone the next day there is continuity.
People still prefer to talk with live agents, not bots and you have an edge here, especially when you have capable, trained people with soft skills and job-specific skills.
- Businesses do not want additional burden
Customer service is a specialized area. Smart business owners know when to employ experts. In-house customer service would be a burden and this is one reason why the big and better companies always choose to outsource customer support. For them, it would be an additional burden to handle it and waste efforts they could employ to further their business.
- Continuity
Call center operators assure continuity of services. If a business enterprise should set up in-house operations and employees leave then they have to hire and train employees and then familiarize them with records. Continuity matters. 72% of customers expect to talk with the same agent with whom they previously interacted.
- Happy experience
Call center agents are trained to handle all types of personalities ranging from extremely irate to suspicious to the doubting ones and win them over. This leads to happy interactions and a positive experience for customers. 68% customers surveyed said that pleasant interaction made them feel happy and the fact that the agent could resolve their issues was a key factor for 62% of customers. There is consistency in quality of services that businesses desire and appreciate so have no fears about call centers going out of business. In fact Global Industry Analyst survey shows that call center marketplace could be worth $ 200 billion and reach $ 407 billion by 2022.
- Customer is king
One would think that with population explosion and global reach of business it does not matter if you lose a few customers. This is not so. Today, a disgruntled customer can voice dissatisfaction on social media. It is picked up and has a domino effect. No business can afford it. As a call center operator using the best omnichannel contact center software and people to handle it you know how to satisfy and retain customers.
- Sales campaigns
Only those who have tried outbound sales campaign and experienced poor outcomes know the impact on their business. Sales campaigns are vital to keep leads flowing. Your professional team can do it and deliver leads, which is what customers want.
Texas alone has 600 call centers. Established call centers may not experience dramatic growth given the current situation but they are not likely to go out of business if they boost operations with advanced artificial intelligence powered omnichannel contact center software and the right people for the job.
