Contact and Call Centres - Are they Delivering
The answer to that most likely depends upon who you are asking. Some companies would be quick to insist that their company's contact and call centres support their customer service requirements quite well. Customers on the other hand have expressed a different viewpoint on whether contact and call centres are helping or hindering their enquiries. A growing number are saying that they are not in fact receiving the quality of service that they expect from UK businesses.
European consumers are not alone in the belief that the delivery of services in many UK contact and call centres is substandard. Studies conducted by leading researchers in the business industry have uncovered several areas in the contact centre industry that potentially downgrade the quality of service that companies provide to customers which causes a whole raft of serious issues.
Automated menu choices are intended to allow a customer to quickly and easily navigate to the correct department for the handling of their specific enquiry. Although theoretically this should help, it doesn't always work so well when put into practice. The recorded voices for menu choices are sometimes hard to understand and people are often unsure of which menu choice is the most appropriate for their question or complaint. Some people prefer to speak with a human and not a machine, and are angered by an automated answering service. It's got to a point where the issues that customers have experienced with contact and call centre are now being discussed in an open environment with a view to improving overall levels of customer satisfaction.
Manned contact and call centres are not without their own issues affecting the quality of service that customers receive. A lack of trained and knowledgeable employees who are unable to deviate from a list of scripted answers is a recipe for poor customer service and increased complaints. It also undermines the goal of many companies to provide excellent customer service in the most efficient manner.
Unfortunately, because of the nature of the work, call centres are notorious for having high employee turnover rates, causing headaches for customers and company managers. Because of this, the evolving nature of contact centres and the transition of new employees to fill vacancies, levels of customers service are reduced which can have an overall negative impact. As you might expect, productivity of employees is also a major issue and many managers are confronted with tackling this to ensure the quality of customer service delivered to its customers.
Consumers and industry insiders will tell you that there is room for improvement in the contact and call centre industry. If your company operates a call centre or is considering one, make sure you have taken steps to ensure the highest quality of service to customers. You may find that rather than improving the way you do business you are in fact damaging your reputation and profitability.
