One of the great benefits of using Fonolo is that you can fix the “data pass-through” problem. You may not have heard this phrase before, but you have surely experienced it. Whenever you are asked for information by the IVR and then asked for the same information again by the agent, the culprit is broken data pass-through. More info on this in Jason’s post “Fonolo fixes the dreaded…”
Why is still happening?
You’ve probably thought to yourself “surely, we have the technology to make this work! What’s going on here?” Call center commentator Greg Levin writes:
What’s universally aggravating to callers is – after providing the IVR with their name, account number… having to repeat the very same information to the agent to whom their call is transferred… To avoid [this] .. leading contact centers incorporate CTI (computer telephony integration) technology into their IVR system [which] … deliver that information directly to the desktop of the agent handling the call. With today’s technologies, it’s really quite simple (though, granted, not always cheap), and the impact on the customer experience is immense.
Ultimately, a technology problem
So, this thing called CTI should solve the problem. So what’s the hold-up?
Although CTI has been around for a long time, it is often broken in modern call centers because of the multi-site problem. In short, most companies with significant call volume use multiple call centers (their own, or outsourced). Since call centers all run on proprietary technology and there are no standards to exchange data, data pass-through doesn’t work. Read more here: “The ubiquity of multi-site call centers”.
Trend Alert! Contact Center Industry Predictions for 2023
This report offers perspective on where the contact center industry stands today, plus our trend predictions for 2023.