call-center-trends

Time is of the Essence: Keep customers waiting at your peril

By Ben Ringshall on February 20, 2020

Today’s consumer is busier than ever. Digital technology hasn’t just made instant communication possible, consumers have come to expect it.

This new but rapidly proliferating expectation of ‘always-on’ support — particularly from tech companies — has businesses scrambling to find ways to meet it.

Artificially intelligent automation could help provide this level of customer support, as long as it’s executed well.

If there’s one thing for sure, the companies that find a way to deliver quality support to their customers 24/7 will reap the benefits.

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The State of the Contact Center in 2020 | Peter Ryan Interview

By Ben Ringshall on February 11, 2020

A few weeks ago, our CEO, Shai Berger, sat down with Peter Ryan, Principal Analyst and Founder of Ryan Strategic Advisory, to discuss the state of the contact center going into the new decade, and how the industry is expected to develop in the coming years.

In it, we discuss:

Why voice is the most omnipresent channel and will remain so for years to come
If the utility of chatbots has been overstated and why they won’t replace humans
The real reason why companies are investing more in their contact centers
A major problem with ‘AI’ in the call center today, and how smart AI providers can position for success
The truth about call center outsourcing and why most people are wrong about it, and
Why clever companies are spending more developing human talent than technology.

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Contact Center Trends 2020: A New Age for the Contact Center

By Fonolo Team on December 17, 2019

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Change is the only constant trend.

Everything from the way we shop to how we listen to music has changed in the last two decades. This includes our experience as customers. Modern consumers are no longer willing to accept poor customer service. In fact, more than 80% of customers now say the experience a company provides is as important as its products.

It’s been a journey: The contact center evolved from the humble call center, as more channels of communication became commonplace. In order to keep up with the demands of modern consumers, the contact center is destined to evolve further, into the ‘Customer Experience Hub’ of the future.

As part of this, many businesses are already moving away from the view of call centers as ‘cost centers’ and towards one that views them as a centers of opportunity for businesses — one where the opportunities the center creates well outweigh the costs of running it.

With this ‘meta-trend’ to give us some context, here are three of our top trend predictions for the call center in 2020. Continue reading →

17 Surprising Stats About Call Centers

By Astrid Monge on January 29, 2019

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We have 17 gifts for you today, or rather, 17 intriguing facts about call centers!

You may know a few of these already, but trust us: It never hurts to revisit some of the pivotal advancements, trends, stats, and interesting facts that have made waves in the call center industry (both past and present). With the “era of the customer” in full swing; the increase in customer expectation for omnichannel communication; and the never-ending developments in communication methods through AI-powered self-service; it is easy to overlook the importance that the call center plays in the customer experience.

Although customers begin their service journey with self-service before contacting an agent, the reality is that once self-service fails (which it does when the support issue is too complex, or when the stakes are higher for the customer), customers will take to their phones to resolve their issues. So, there is a limit to self-service, which will always lead the customer back to the loving arms of the call center.

Without further ado, here are some surprising, fundamental, and/or entertaining stats about the call center, a customer service lifesaver that is here to stay:

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Top 16 Contact Center Tweeters to Follow

By Daniela Puzzo on July 12, 2017

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From bloggers, to analysts, to contact center publications, there are a lot of distinct voices discussing the latest best practices and trends in the call center space. With so many contact center influencers to follow, how do you pick the ones that will add the most value to your Twitter stream?

Fonolo is here to help. These 16 tweeters crank out quality content that is sure to provide insight into the contact center industry.

While we definitely didn’t have room to include all of our favourite folks and organizations, we figured this would be an optimal list to get you started. If you value the content from an individual or organization on Twitter, make a point to show appreciation by retweeting or “liking” their posts.

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[Video] 3 Takeaways from Our Google Hangout: Call Center Trends

By Daniela Puzzo on January 28, 2016

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Last week, Fonolo hosted yet another insightful Google Hangout, discussing the top 3 call center trends for 2016. This was our first ever hangout with just the Fonolo team. This fabulous panel shared their comments on where the contact center industry is heading this year. To save you some time, we’ve extracted video snippets showcasing highlights from the discussion.

Let’s take a quick look at the Fonolo panelist: Mav Mehta, Account Executive, Daniela Puzzo, Director of Marketing, Nicolina Savelli, Communications Manager, and Shai Berger, CEO and Co-Founder.

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[Slideshare] Predicting the Future of the Contact Center

By Daniela Puzzo on January 14, 2016

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Delivering a best-in-class customer experience is a top priority for many contact centers and service organizations. These businesses know that providing an optimal experience is a moving target, one that is always changing and transforming. For this reason, they keep a keen eye on trends that can help shape their strategy.

This year, there are prominent areas of the contact center that managers should focus on – you can find out the Top 9 Call Center Trends here or, better yet, join us as we discuss the top 3 that stand to be the most critical. Continue reading →

Whitepaper: Top 9 Call Center Trends for 2016

By Nicolina Savelli on January 12, 2016

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Looking for the lastest contact center trends in 2020?
You can find the 2020 contact center trends here.

Did you know the cost of poor customer service is over $41 billion per year? Clearly, that number is too big to ignore. More than ever, businesses are competing to deliver superior customer service experiences. In fact, Zendesk reported that 82% of customers stopped doing business with a company because of bad customer service.

The best way of deciding how to improve performance at the contact center is to step back and look at it from a 360-degree view. It’s a lot to consider, which is why this whitepaper will help highlight the most popular areas being forecasted this year.

These 9 call center trends will give contact center managers a solid understanding of how they can help shift operations into high gear.
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Live Discussion: Top 3 Contact Center Trends for 2016

By Daniela Puzzo on January 7, 2016

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Now is a great time to reflect upon how your call center has been performing, with an eye on making changes to enhance performance this year. Many trends will dominate the contact center industry, each one having a direct effect on consumer experience and employee productivity.

Not sure where to start and what will have the greatest impact?

According to Forrester, 95% of customers use more than one channel to communicate with companies! With that in mind, we cherry picked three critical trends that service leaders should fully understand this year. Continue reading →

5 Call Center Predictions for the Service Leaders of 2014

By Daniela Puzzo on January 23, 2014

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5 Call Center Predictions for the Service Leaders of 2014 Many trends will dominate the call center industry in 2014, directly affecting business processes and the customer experience. However, call center leaders need to be selective about which trends to take action on. The data can be overwhelming and deciding which predictions are relevant takes a great deal of thought. Continue reading →