Anyone reading the newspapers in Australia may be concerned about the economy in the short to medium term.
The press constantly reminds us that overseas orders for Australian resources have fallen, the exchange rate against the US$ has dropped (is that a bad thing), interest rates are dropping indicating Reserve Bank concern, and unemployment has risen slightly.
Interestingly, in our experience, contact centres are investing in new technology which indicates quite an optimistic outlook.
So what does this all mean? If there is a downturn, companies will need to do more with less – that goes without saying. Further, the companies that remain successful will be the ones that differentiate themselves on customer service, and customer expectations are increasing all the time.
How is your contact centre performing? Is it running like a Formula 1 car or a 10-year old family sedan? We take our cars to the mechanic to be serviced, we visit the dentist to have our teeth checked, and we visit the doctor to have our health checked – but when was the last time you took the temperature of your contact centre?
What can you do now to set your contact centre apart from your competitors – and what can you do to ensure you are better placed than your competitors if there is an economic downturn? The best place to start is by getting an independent expert to have a look at all aspects of your contact centre and document a strategy or roadmap that will take you from today to your vision for the future.
A comprehensive health check of your contact centre should include the type, age and functionality of your technology as well as how it is used; the design of your call flows and IVR trees; metrics and reporting; staff recruitment and onboarding; training and staff development; workflows and processes; documentation; organisation structure and job roles; internal and external communication; soft skills as well as the overall customer experience.
The output should be a detailed report of findings as well as prioritised recommendations for improvement. An exercise such as this can take be completed in a very short time and provides a valuable plan to assist with strategic planning and budgeting.
Please contact us at spels@ccaction.com.au or via our web site if you would like more information.