Liz Osborn

It's all about the tools you have on hand to do the job well. It's the same with contact center agents. If they are given complicated screens with incomplete information and outdated technology, how can they be expected to provide an excellent customer experience?

Losing customers to the competition should be your greatest fear. The cost of attracting new customers is significantly greater than retaining your existing ones. In addition, depending on your business, word of mouth referrals will often account for a large percentage of new business growth. All the more reason to keep customers satisfied, loyal to your company, and advocates for your brand. Recent research from ICMI indicates that customer satisfaction (CSAT) is the most important agent metric to contact center leaders, agents, and customers alike, BUT...

Imagine the chaos during peak times for customer service: florists on Valentine’s Day, retailers during the holidays, tax planners around April 15th and the application period for online schooling. One of the biggest challenges contact centers face is being able to quickly address staffing surges and peaks in activities in a short amount of time. Today, cloud technology and at-home agents are helping mitigate some of that chaos... Read on to hear advice from Liz Osborn on addressing contact center surges:

Companies with a reputation for excellent customer service become the gold standard that everyone measures themselves against, for example, Amazon.com and Virgin America. Their excellent service and the low effort required for customers to get answers sets them apart from their competitors and builds raving fans out of their customer base. Yet the needs of contact center agents in any industry – the very people responsible for nurturing the customer experience – are often overlooked.

There is no doubt that we're in the midst of a sea change when it comes to consumer behavior. New technologies have completely transformed consumer expectations and buying behavior, making it more difficult for brands to acquire new customers and earn their loyalty. Contact centers are now under pressure to adapt to the rapidly changing technology landscape and consumer expectations. There are seven key trends that will impact contact centers as they evolve to meet these shifting expectations.

Contact centers are under pressure to adapt to the rapidly changing technology landscape and consumer expectations. There are seven key trends that will impact contact centers as they evolve to meet these shifting expectations. Read on to learn about trends #2 & #3:

Realizing the benefits of cloud is one thing, but getting your organization ready for it is another. Here are 4 tips to help you determine what to focus on when preparing your organization for the cloud: