Contact Center Pipeline April 2025 | Page 33

But there is more. With AI, agents can quickly access customer history, previous interactions, and other helpful information, enabling much more personalized experiences.

SECURITY AND COMPLIANCE

With most technological advancements come their downsides. In this case, as contact centers become more digitalized and dispersed, they become prime targets for cyberattacks.

With the combination of more people working remotely and AI advancements, keeping the security and privacy of customer information a top priority is paramount.

With 75 % of U. S. business leaders concerned about data management in the use of AI, these types of concerns are at the forefront in fields like contact centers, where agents handle sensitive customer information across various regions and regulations.

Remote support technologies have evolved significantly in the past five years to address these concerns and challenges. They now take a comprehensive and layered approach to security. From identity management to multiple authentication protocols, these tools now ensure both agent and customer identities before any support session begins.

Monitoring and threat detection must happen preemptively and in real-time. Especially in distributed environments.

Remote connectivity tools that take a layered security approach prioritize constantly analyzing behavior patterns to identify potential risks before they become reality. For contact centers, this type of approach enables greater operational flexibility as agents can engage in safe remote operations.

BEST PRACTICES

With an increase in remote, including hybrid contact centers, there are a handful of key practices to successfully manage them.

First, comprehensive training is key. Businesses must provide ongoing education for their employees about AI-powered tools. Not only how to use them, but more importantly, how to use them safely.

Rather than implementing AI tools“ just because,” organizations should consider where these tools might actually provide the most value. Examples include routine task automation, documentation, knowledge sharing, and predictive analytics.

Through their training, agents will learn that they will remain at the heart of operations. Boundaries between AI-powered tasks and those requiring human judgement are critical.

Secondly, security is a critical factor in hybrid or remote contact centers. Organizations should:

• Implement robust multi-factor authentication.

• Make consistent security updates and install patches.

• Establish clear protocols for dealing with sensitive data.

And – maybe most importantly – implement consistent and ongoing security training for agents to ensure they are up to date on the latest best practices in mitigating vulnerabilities. As these measures get woven into daily operations, they will become second nature to agents.

Lastly, for any workplace operating in a hybrid or remote environment, maintaining team cohesion is critical. But it requires both structure and effort. This can look like scheduling regular virtual team meetings that include team building activities.

For contact centers, where knowledge sharing is critical for successful operations, opportunities for casual interactions and relationship building help remote agents feel more connected to their colleagues. They also help cope with job stress and tamper burnout by letting them know that they are not alone: by enabling them to share their experiences, ask questions, and receive insights.

REMOTE SUPPORT

THE HUMAN ELEMENT IN A TECH-DRIVEN ENVIRONMENT

Even with these technological advancements and increased physical distance, humans will remain at the center of contact center operations.

For customers, they are a crucial element. It’ s a matter of finding a way to incorporate AI-powered tools and remote technology solutions to empower humans, rather than replace them. They can help free agents to focus on building customer relationships – something that AI will never be able to do – and solve complex problems that require emotional intelligence and creative thinking.

LOOKING AHEAD

So much has evolved since spring 2020, when most Americans took home their work computers and began to work remotely. What started as reactive and emergency efforts, has evolved into proactive remote support efforts, using AI to predict and prevent issues before they even get a chance to impact customers.

Like with most industries, the pandemic has left a lasting mark on contact centers. They have become more aware of both their criticality to customers and their vulnerability to disruption when disasters strike. At the same time, centers will continue to be shaped by remote work, AI, remote support technologies, and whatever innovations lay on the horizon.

Contact centers that embrace both this reality and these changes, while keeping security and agent empowerment at the core, will come out on top.

Georg Beyschlag is the President of TeamViewer for the Americas region. He is based in Clearwater, Florida, and his responsibilities encompass all goto-market activities in the region, including direct sales as well as developing an ecosystem of strong alliances such as channel partners, distributors, and resellers.

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