When was the first time you heard the phrase ‘digital transformation? The idea of building your business model around digital is nothing new. But as consumer expectations, commercial realities, and the competitive landscape continue to change, few could ever say their digital transformation was complete.
The truth is that digital transformation is a process – a journey that your contact centre takes over time. Making this process successful means embedding agility into everything you do, not just adapting to change now, but being ready to adapt to how customer expectations will evolve in the future.
Digitally delivering customer expectations
Today’s customers come with high expectations around service. With so many businesses now mature in their digital transformation, customers are accustomed to smart, seamless experiences driven by impactful technology.
According to PwC, 32% of customers will walk away after one bad experience. But this doesn’t necessarily mean an unhelpful agent or failure to deliver great service. With heightened expectations, a simple inconvenience could be enough to destroy a customer relationship forever.
Key customer expectations include:
- A connected journey across every channel
- Experiences that feel personal
- Knowledgeable and helpful agents
- Fast, easy resolution to problems and questions
In the case of omnichannel journeys, a digital solution is essential. But digital transformation actually plays a key role in all four of these focus areas, not just bringing you to new channels, but establishing self-service to accelerate resolution and empowering agents with the right information at the right time.
As a result, transformation is a growing priority for contact centres everywhere. According to the researchers at Metrigy, 45% of businesses have already completed their CX transformation, while 32% plan to begin in 2022.
Where to start your digital CX transformation
If digital transformation is a journey, where should that journey begin? There’s no need to wait for a complex multi-year project to finish before you start to see results.
By focusing on quick wins first, you can start to build an effective business case for more widespread change.
1. Unify your digital channels
The vast majority of contact centres are already multichannel in a sense. Maybe you’re already fielding customer service requests on social media as well as voice. But a true omnichannel experience need to be seamless, effortless, and pervasive across every possible channel.
A platform like NICE CXone gives you instant support for 30 digital channels, without the need to replace your existing voice platform. But what really matters is how well these channels are integrated with each other, creating a cohesive journey and rich personalisation, even as customers move from one channel to another.
2. Launch smart self-service
Chatbots are a powerful way to give customers a digital touchpoint, without the need to wait in a long phone queue. At the same time, chatbots unlock new efficiency for your contact centre, reducing contact centre volumes and allowing agents to focus on the more complex questions.
In the first instance, building chatbots to mirror your IVR is a quick way to get up-and-running. This is usually possible with a simple rule-based bot. However, AI-powered bots get smarter with use and can be fantastic sources of insights on what your customers are really asking about.
Using digital to drive your transformation
The future of contact centres isn’t just a change to digital business models. It’s a transformation that’s powered by the insights that digital can deliver.
By starting your journey now, you can begin to understand what customers expect and demand across every channel and every kind of interaction. So you can constantly evolve the way you work – and create ever-improving experiences that genuinely respond to what your customers care about.