C-level research event asks executives: how smart is your contact centre?

Smartphones, smart devices and smart systems are increasingly being utilised to drive customer interaction with greater customer intelligence. It's no small wonder then that customers are demanding that contact centres know everything about them, and that, put simply, they become 'smarter'.

C-level executives will explore this, and other topics, trends and forecasts at the Knowledge Executive C-Level BPS&O Event, at the exclusive Emoyeni Conference Centre & Estate, in Parktown, Johannesburg, on 4 and 5 September.

Keynote speaker for the event, Peter Ryan, Lead Analyst of Ovum, says the contact centre landscape in 2013 is fast moving and complex, with pressure to keep up with consumers' non-voice preferences. The mobile communication revolution is driving preferences for SMS, Web chat and social media support, but only about two out of 5 companies are using social media to interact with their consumer base.

His words were echoed by the 2013 Knowledge Executive Business & Market Insights Research Report, which says: "Technological advancement is driving the contact centre towards being more than simply a voice call centre, with interaction taking place through multiple channels. Customers have a growing preference for non-voice and self-service channels - a trend that seems to be driving the multi-platform strategies incorporating SMS, Web chat, digital and social media, in addition to conventional voice channels."

"These single converged access mediums will allow for voice, video and data, as well as solutions such as unified communications, instant messaging, mobility and social media presence. Other applications expected to be vital are voice recognition software, virtual agent, and distributed contact centres using technologies that enable agents to work from anywhere they have access to the network or Internet."

However, despite the above, contact centres still remain somewhat siloed in their approach. Legacy systems and layers of complexity make it difficult to streamline the process for a seamless customer experience, lowering the IQ of each transaction and frustrating the customer.

Brendan van Staaden, CEO of Inter-Active Technologies, says real-time analytics of multimedia interactions will invariably challenge the traditional "after the fact" reporting within contact centres. "Information harvested from interactions as they occur across e-mail, voice, chat, Web, self-service or fax will be driven to supervisors or other 'power users' for instant intervention. This will set the pace in meeting the new customer demand for instant service, and it will change the contact centre landscape as we know it today."

For more information, visit www.myknowledgeinfo.com. Although the event will be spanning two days, delegates interested in technology particularly need to diarise 4 September, when roundtable research discussions on top technology trends will take place.