What are the predictions for contact center in 2022? The complex situation that the world had to face due to the pandemic tested many companies, which had to deal with situations for which they were not prepared. Contact centers were not out of it and they also had to reinvent themselves: more complex calls, remote work, dealing with outdated policies and trying even harder so that customer satisfaction was not impaired.
Despite the difficulty, the contact center sector has remained afloat during COVID-19. Today, with 2022 just around the corner and analyzing all this 2021, we can “guess” or predict what will be the trend in contact centers and call centers and how companies should work so that the customer experience remains optimal. Do you want to know more? Keep reading!
1. Omnichannel: the new rule
We are immersed in a digital transformation that is progressing by leaps and bounds. More and more, customers are turning into contact channels that go beyond the call: email, chat, text messages or, as we will see a few lines below, social media. An omnichannel contact center software is the perfect solution to manage all your customer service channels.
2. Social media is gaining power
In this omnichannel context, good customer service on social media is essential to reach the generations that are part of the group of “digital natives” and who cannot conceive of the world without Twitter, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger or Telegram. In 2022, social networks will gain even more strength as Social Customer Service, allowing:
- Shorter interaction time
- More natural conversation
- Attention to several clients simultaneously
- Security of your agents, being more productive when interacting
- Faster commercial communications
3. Cloud Contact center
An action as simple as going from a traditional contact center software to one in the cloud can help your company make a difference. A contact center software with a cloud platform allows your agents to interact with customers quickly, easily and effectively. We just have to keep in mind the way of working during the pandemic: contact centers had to adapt and restructure their way of working to adapt to the new environment of working from home. A process that, without a doubt, was easier thanks to this communication in the cloud.
In 2022 it will also continue to be key in call center or contact center management for reasons such as cost reduction, greater ease and flexibility to hire agents from any point on the map or another very important point: the security and data protection that the cloud offers.
4. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has come to stay
Already in 2018 we explained how the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies spread more and more. The year 2021 has helped us to confirm what we had already foreseen for a few years: it seems that Artificial Intelligence has come to stay.
The pandemic forced a change or a significant transformation in the brand-customer relationship, becoming a 100% digital service. In this way, companies had to renew, soak up technological innovations and digitalize in order to meet the enormous volume of user requests during COVID-19. It was here when companies, with little room for maneuver, relied on two technologies that are now essential: the cloud (the cloud) and Artificial Intelligence.
An Artificial Intelligence that does not come to replace human work but to complement it to offer the best contact center customer experience: live chat with the use of chatbots or automated calls are solutions that, without a doubt, must be integrated into a omnichannel contact center software.
5. IVR stays
The IVR or Interactive Voice Response was one of the first automation trends in contact centers and the first touch point that your clients have with you. A fundamental service as it is the first showcase of a company and the one that, therefore, must be cared for and renewed when it is necessary to do so.
IVR will also be very important in 2022 if we consider this data:
- One in three companies adopted IVR for the first time during COVID-19 to address responses
- 42% of companies that already used IVR previously have increased their use
Request a demo of EVOLUTION, our contact center software
After seen these five predictions, it is clear that the competition in the sector is expected to be tough, so the challenge for contact centers will be to continue with this digital transformation (with the use of AI or a much more developed IVR), adopt the communication in the cloud and, of course, having an omnichannel software whose tools facilitate the work of agents and benefit the customer experience.
Is your company ready for the future to come? Discover everything that our EVOLUTION contact center software can offer you in 2022!
