Contact Center Trends: Omnichannel Customer Service
Customer needs and expectations are continually evolving, and interaction levels are rising. According to Salesforce research, customers are turning to an average of nine different channels to communicate with companies. In the words of Kenneth Tuchman, CEO of TTEC Holdings, “Today’s hyper-connected customers require effortless experiences.” Omnichannel is expected, should be seamless across channels, and should provide a cohesive and personalized customer experience.
The value of the contact center is growing as perception shifts from traditional cost center to “experience hub” to drive business growth, according to Deloitte Digital’s 2021 Global Contact Center Survey. “We’ve learned that contact centers have become vital to customer experience in ways that we hadn’t seen before and will play a critical role in a strong service strategy,” commented Andy Haas, Managing Director, Deloitte Consulting LLP, and Service Transformation Leader at Deloitte Digital.
It is not enough to be omnichannel, prompting companies to reimagine their mix of service channels. When executed right, omnichannel service capabilities should be complemented with “right-channeling,” observed Deloitte, which means optimizing channels to seamlessly connect customer journeys, thereby improving both the customer experience and business efficiency. According to the survey findings, about 60% of organizations reported progress on connecting their service channels, and 11% can now transition customers across channels and experiences seamlessly.
In TTEC Holdings FQ1 2022 earnings call, CEO Kenneth Tuchman credits the company’s “holistic customer experience as a service platform … to deliver effortless experiences that today’s hyper-connected customers require.” As TTEC clients increasingly take advantage of the full breadth of our omnichannel, CRM, automation, and analytics solutions, we’re seeing engagements increase in scale, scope, strategic impact, and economic value for our clients, their customers, and TTEC,” Tuchman said.
“We’re focused on transforming everything CX for our clients and their customers. We are deepening our client relationships and relentlessly innovating with new solutions,” said Christopher Caldwell, CEO, Concentrix Corporation, in the company’s FQ2 2022 earnings call. “Having developed a customer-journey-driven approach to optimize the holistic customer experience, our combined Concentrix and Catalyst teams have been instrumental in deepening the relationships and adding significant value in ways that we would not have been able to support before.”
“In an increasingly competitive virtual environment, the ability to personalize every interaction with empathy and context is what separates brands that are trusted and loved from those that are avoided or abandoned,” Tuchman added.
Looking for a more in-depth analysis of the contact center industry? In our comprehensive 17-page report, The Mid-Game Pivot: Contact Center Industry Adjusts Rapidly to Market Forces, we break down the demand environment in the space along with an analysis of contact center M&A activity and representative transactions.
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