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Ditch human interactions at your peril

Admire Moyo
By Admire Moyo, ITWeb's news editor.
Dubai, 08 Dec 2016
Human interaction is still important and remains critical in the contact centre, says Avaya.
Human interaction is still important and remains critical in the contact centre, says Avaya.

Although the world has entered the new age of communications, human interactions are still a critical aspect of customer engagement.

So said Ronald Rubens, VP for Europe North at Avaya, and Fred Giron, research VP at Forrester, who spoke during the Avaya Engage conference in Dubai.

According to Rubens, the new age of communications encompasses multiple channels, including machine-to-machine, machine-to artificial intelligence (AI), human-to-AI, as well as interactions between human beings.

"Human interaction is still important, and it remains critical in the contact centre," said Rubens. Nonetheless, he noted contact centres are going through a digital transition phase as they move away from pure voice services. This transition is mainly being driven by social software, he pointed out.

This has led the amount of content that users are generating to increase rapidly, he said, noting machines are also adding to the increasing volume of content.

Besides content, he said, both people and machines can now also initiate a process and monitor workflows.

In another presentation, Forrester's Giron said in a recent study, the market research firm found 79% of respondents want personal contact to remain part of customer service.

"Customers that have good customer experience on the phone behave more favourably towards brands online," he pointed out. "Digital channels also require the personal touch."

Describing how companies succeed in customer satisfaction, he said: "Listen to your customers - place the voice of the customer at the heart of everything you do."

He also urged organisations to improve their digital services but not at the expense of traditional engagement channels.

The other trick is to empower staff to provide exceptional service and give them tools to succeed, Giron said, pointing out businesses must also evaluate the customer experience to better understand customer satisfaction.

"Align your organisation to optimise customer engagement and understand transparency is key to building trust," he concluded.

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