And similar to that, we’re right here and it’s the top of one other 12 months! The leaves have fallen, I’ve pulled out my coziest sweaters, and my canine has resumed her day by day request for a morning snooze by the hearth (sure, actually).
I assumed we might use 2024’s closing column as a chance to mirror on some fascinating themes and provide a touch of sagely recommendation for the 12 months forward. So, what am I excited about as we shut out the 12 months?
Voice Nonetheless Issues (and Nonetheless Will in 2025)
I’ve been working within the contact middle principally my entire profession. I’m fairly positive that from the second little 20-something Christina made her first chilly name to a customer support exec, to this very second as you learn these phrases, individuals have been forecasting the demise of the voice channel.
These individuals have been unsuitable then, they’re unsuitable now, and so they’ll be unsuitable subsequent 12 months, too.
Voice is a crucial channel for customer support, and I don’t see that altering within the subsequent a number of years. A few of my purchasers deal with tens of hundreds of thousands of calls a 12 months—these aren’t going anyplace quick.
However what is shifting quick is the standard of voice synthetic intelligence options. For those who’ve learn this column earlier than, you would possibly’ve heard me agonize over how onerous it’s to get voice AI proper. From shaky audio and transcription high quality to awkward robotic voices and every part in between, voice use instances are simply onerous. However distributors are recognizing the big alternative on this area (howdy, tens of hundreds of thousands of calls!) and are making main investments.
Count on to see extra AI distributors investing right here in 2025. And should you’re nonetheless rockin’ the entire “press one for billing” scenario, it’s most likely time so that you can make investments, too.
(Hey, can one in every of you ship this to my hydro firm? Thanks!)
Saving Prices Is Nonetheless a Main Precedence (and It’s Simpler Than You Assume)
Stunning most likely nobody, price financial savings remains to be a significant precedence for many contact middle consumers as we speak. We already talked about these tens of hundreds of thousands of calls—they’re costly, I get it. However one thing that has actually been itching at my mind currently is that plenty of you might be leaving some very critical cash on the desk.
When purchasers ask what use instances they need to prioritize for price financial savings (usually in search of “fast wins”) there are two that come instantly to thoughts:
Put up-call summarization. I’m most likely not telling you something you haven’t heard earlier than, however I’ll say it 100 extra instances: For those who’re not already utilizing AI to transcribe and summarize your calls to scale back effort on your brokers, you actually should. Many brokers spend one to a few minutes on after-call work (ACW). Automating this with genAI represents massive cash whenever you’re staring down a number of million calls a 12 months. And that doesn’t rely the aspect advantages of your brokers being extra current along with your prospects on the decision now that they’re not scrambling to take notes.
And for these of you who say, “Oh, Christina, we don’t have ACW”: Do your brokers take notes? If sure, that simply means you could have what I name “during-call work,” and your brokers are spending a ton of time multitasking throughout the decision to get these notes down. Similar goes should you cap your ACW at lower than a minute. You’ll doubtless see larger advantages than you count on by deploying AI summaries.
Predictive routing. I can hear it now, the refrain of “Predictive routing? Actually? 2015 needs its column again!” Hey—hate on it should you like, however I’m critical. For those who’ve obtained excessive volumes within the contact middle and also you’re not but leveraging clever routing, you’re leaving cash on the desk full cease. I simply heard from a well being insurer that has saved 50 seconds of common dealing with time per name simply by deploying predictive routing. Not too shabby.
I do know that a lot of you could have massive AI or innovation objectives for 2025. However the way in which I see it, in case your contact middle platform gives this functionality, flip it the heck on and get that cash. And don’t cease there! I’ve stated it earlier than and I’ll say it once more: It’s a mistake to see effectivity positive factors as the top objective. They’re a useful resource.
All proper, people. I’ll shut out the 12 months with the identical nicely needs as final 12 months: Could your queues be brief, your suggestions glowing, and your eggnog cravings manageable.
Pleased holidays and I’ll see you once more in 2025!
Christina McAllister is senior analyst, Forrester Analysis, overlaying customer support and get in touch with middle expertise, technique, and operations.
