On paper, each of those solutions offered a compelling promise.
• Faster answers.
• Better support.
• Improved productivity.
• Better retention.
Better yet, each came with a business case and projected ROI that was far easier to present to senior leadership than a proposal focused on training, coaching, knowledge management, and / or process improvement.
THE REPEATING CONTACT CENTER SCRIPT
As I listened to that contact center leader, I found myself thinking: I ' ve seen this movie before. When it comes to technology, the contact center industry is like“ Groundhog Day,” where actor Bill Murray wakes up each morning to find out that day is exactly like the day before, and no matter what he did, that day turns out to be the same( until he broke that loop). Over the years, our industry has fallen in love with one " next big thing " after another.
• DTMF IVR
• Speech-enabled IVR
• CRM
• Omnichannel customer service
• Cloud contact centers
• Chatbots
• And now, AI
The technologies are different. But the pattern is remarkably similar. And as the FIGURE shows, it becomes an endless loop. The newest solution captures our attention because it offers something
LEADERSHIP
every leader wants: hope. Hope that a persistent problem can finally be solved. Hope that improvement can come faster than the hard work of operational change.
The challenge is that technology rarely eliminates the need for strong hiring, effective training, quality coaching, trusted knowledge, and sound processes. More often, it amplifies the strengths and weaknesses already present in the operation.
The very things that improve the operation today are often the same things that determine whether a new technology succeeds tomorrow. As also shown in the Figure, which I will discuss later, they form the foundation of success.
The circular design illustrates how contact centers move from one technology wave to the next, while the foundations of success remain constant: people, process, and knowledge.
THE CUSTOMER ALWAYS GETS A VOTE
There is another reason these technology cycles feel so familiar. Every implementation plan is built on assumptions about customer behavior. And customers have a long history of surprising us.
Which is why the current AI conversation feels less like a revolution and more like“ Groundhog Day.”
One of the most consistent lessons from decades of contact center technology implementations is that customers rarely use new tools exactly as designers expect. That has happened with almost every major contact center technology wave.
• With IVR, customers learned to pound " 0 " repeatedly to escape the system.
• With speech-enabled IVR, customers learned which phrases would get them to an agent faster.
FIGURE
Source: ResponseLearning
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