There are over 2 billion smartphones in use right now. And in developed countries, penetration is approaching 100%. Mobile phones have changed consumer behaviour more than any technology in recent memory, perhaps since the invention of the car.
This change has profound implications for the interactions between companies and their customers. According to a recent study, 77% of those ages 18 to 24 use mobile devices at least once per month for customer support.
Many companies are struggling with how to correctly adapt their customer services playbook. Too often, this playbook changes at a pace too slow to keep up with the shift in consumer behaviour we’re seeing today. Getting mobile customer service right is an enormous topic, but let’s take a bird’s eye to break it down into more manageable pieces. Continue reading
If you’re involved in the customer service industry, by now you’ve heard a ton about Amazon’s amazing new Mayday service. You have probably heard about the similar “SOS” service now offered by Salesforce. You may have also experienced some of the mobile apps that have true integration with the call center (like 
As we recover from Black Friday and gear up for the holidays, retailers are left thinking about the shopping experience and its impact on sales. For shoppers, the experience is all too familiar: hoards of people flocking to malls, packed parking lots, and inevitably long checkout lines. But the shopping experience today doesn’t have to be so frantic. Consumers have the buying power to streamline this process – and possibly eliminate it altogether – and it sits in the palm of their hands. 
Today’s video talks about connecting a call center to a company’s website and mobile app through call-backs and visual IVR.
The contact center industry has been using the term “multi-channel” for over a decade to describe the transition from communicating by phone only, to communicating by email, chat and social media. In fact, it was this shift that got the “call center” renamed to the “contact center”.
Last week we published a 
Companies in the financial sector place extremely high demands on their call center. The complicated and sensitive nature of the calls handled requires an agent who is highly trained and experienced. This, in turn, leads to a high cost-per-call. At the same time, customer relationships are long-lasting so sacrificing caller satisfaction in the short-term is not an option.
Last week, Fonolo hosted a Google Hangout to discuss multi-channel customer service. This fabulous panel of industry experts was eager to share their expertise and thoughts on how call centers can cope in this digital era of multi-modal communications.
