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The pitch for intelligence
in the contact center
By
Martin
Vilaboy
N
early six out of
10 businesses re-
cently surveyed by
Aberdeen Group
say they use at least eight channels
of communications when interacting
with customers who are looking to make
a purchase. A separate study from Adobe
Digital Index likewise found that 79 per-
cent of people admit to switching devices
during a single online interaction.
It’s largely why the term “call center”
no longer adequately describes today’s
customer contact center, and it speaks to
the complexity today’s omni-channel busi-
nesses face in terms of customer commu-
nications and interactions, from marketing
to sales to support.
“The contact center is the nerve center
of the business,” writes Omer Minkara, Ab-
erdeen Group research director. “Much like
how the human brain functions, it collects
and interprets numerous signals.” While
the human brain collects signals through
five sense, “the contact center collects data
through channels of customer interaction.”
Of course, how a company uses that
structured and unstructured data can be
the difference between strategic success
and failure, as Aberdeen research suggests
those that have grasped the notion of intelli-
gent contact centers are reaping enterprise-
wide rewards. Indeed, the research firm
identified numerous key performance
indicators where performance of intelligent
Omni-
Channeling
10
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