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Bad Technology Equals Poor Customer Service |
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 UK cell centre managers have spoken: technology is a real issue and it is holding back good customer service levels - which is hurting the bottom line. It has recently been reported.
A major study of 50 UK call centres, responsible for more than 20,000 agents across both business and consumer sectors, has found that call centre managers believe that their centres are giving a second class service because of poor use of technology and they are calling for management to help them better manage the CRM technology they have before they start piling new solutions on top of them.
The study undertaken on behalf of Jaceda also finds that less than 30 per cent of UK call centres integrate CRM data and, on average, four separate applications are used in most call centres during a single call. This, complain call centre managers across the land, is leading to UK call centres delivering a second class service.
The managers quizzed also reveal that managing current technology opposed to the introduction of new technologies has become the biggest single issue faced by call centre managers in the UK.
The majority of UK call centres have yet to link information from CRM systems to their agent's screens, with less than a third of some of the UK's largest call centre operators having integrated CRM data into the call centre environment.
The survey goes on to highlight the issue of poor and ineffective technology faced by call centre managers. Technology, more than productivity, training or staff retention was the key issue the industry faced.
The Call Centre Management Association (CCMA) feels it's an issue that's becoming increasingly important given the rise in call centre commerce. "The screens and applications call centre agents have to wrestle their way through when dealing with customers is the central problem that currently impacts effectiveness and efficiency," says Ann-Marie Stagg, vice-chair of the UK based CCMA and telesales director for Brakes Group.
"It's the big problem facing call centre managers," adds senior industry analyst Mike Thompson. "Integrating information across the web, from departmental client/server systems, third parties and then matching it to business processes is incredibly complex and expensive. As a result projects get put on hold and the situation only gets worse, Jacada has identified probably the biggest weakness in the current set-up of call centres."
"Well managed call centres capable of keeping up with business demands seem to be in the minority right now. If the industry wants to adopt innovation or stave off the threat of offshoring the issue of integration needs to be acted on." concludes Young.
ComputerTel realises the importance and effectiveness of integration and subsequently attempts to integrate it's products with as many other systems as possible. The voice recording portfolio integrates with most telephone switches and CRM packages to provide comprehensive synergy with all technology within the call centre. The Qe2 agent evaluation package also works with any voice recording system. It is currently being developed to amalgamate with leading CRM packages, to provide the only required source of technology to manage and enhance the call centre environment. Please contact us for further details.
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