With the labor shortage, a workforce in transition, and the dynamic (but disruptive) impact of AI, managing a contact center in 2024 can be a real workout. Why not take a break from the heavy lifting for a moment, and check out Fonolo’s annual State of the Contact Center report?
This e-book is one of our most anticipated documents of the year, featuring insights from industry experts about the topics that matter most in today’s contact center. What’s inside?
Security Matters
Security is on everyone’s mind in 2024, as it should be. With the enormous volume of sensitive data flowing through contact centers every day, developing a security plan for your operation is essential. This means hiring trained staff, testing your vulnerabilities, and creating and maintaining a robust strategy that meets your needs. Make sure you let your customers know about your efforts. Talk about them in your consumer-facing marketing because customers care about security. A lot. They need to know that you do, too.
Shep Hyken, CS & CX Expert, Keynote Speaker:
“We asked more than 1000 consumers: ‘Do you think companies do enough to safeguard customer data?’ Almost seven out of 10 said: ‘No.’ Even if companies are doing a good job, the perception is that they aren’t.”
State of the Workforce
In an era where very high customer service expectations collide with labor shortages, contact center leaders need to do more with less. It’s a tough job and managers are feeling the squeeze. Agents feel it too. Investing in tools that support both employee satisfaction and team productivity – like Fonolo Call-Backs – pays extra dividends in this environment.
Shai Berger, CEO & Founder, Fonolo:
“The dominant force impacting the call center labor pool right now continues to be the strong U.S. economy, which is creating a high employment situation, driving up wages and making it harder to hire for call center positions, especially entry-level ones. It’s a normal part of the business cycle, but companies need to be ready.”
Artificial Intelligence is a Work in Progress
According to CMSwire, 81% of contact center executives are investing in agent-enabling AI tools for their business. This is great news as these agent-facing tools are some of the first AI-enabled software solutions to show terrific promise for contact center applications. But when it comes to customer-facing tech, our experts agree that AI-enabled tools are not yet delivering on their promises.
Thomas Laird, CEO, Expivia Interaction Marketing Group:
“Many might disagree, but there just aren’t that many AI tools in customer experience that are worth the cost, are fully-tested, and offer a significant improvement over existing self-service systems. Some modest tools that could be considered for their affordability are automatic summarization, automated Q &A systems and some aspects of agent assist.”
The State of the Contact Center 2024
Learn what industry experts and CX influencers say about the innovations and challenges impacting today’s contact center.