The publisher surveyed 661 IT decision-makers around the globe to IT/Communications to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of COVID-19 and their plans to exceed CX expectations as the world recovers from the pandemic.
COVID-19 accelerated the move towards self-service, allowing many companies to invest in technology that deflects calls/live chat but still improves the customer experience (CX). Voice continues to lead, but self-service channels such as virtual agents and IVR will be heavily supported over the next year. restructure their organizations to take advantage of new resource pools and longer tenures.
COVID-19 forced organizations to reallocate resources quickly, revealing another aspect of contact center operations that needs attention. Employees had to be trained on new tasks quickly, and some companies did not have the solutions in place to do so.
In an industry accustomed to attrition, many companies realize the value of agent retention. They are investing in tools that allow younger generations, gig workers, “retirees,” along with those enlightened by the new COVID-driven work-at-home culture to attain the flexible schedules they want. Companies across regions recognized that agent performance improved when they moved to work from home. This study explores differences in countries with a large number of contact centers.
The countries covered include:
- United States
- Brazil
- Germany
- UK/Ireland
- India
- Philippines
- Australia/New Zealand
The primary goals of this research are to:
- Understand the impact of COVID-19 on contact centers
- Understand challenges organizations face today
- Monitor the status of digital transformation
- Assess the current and future use of contact center solutions
- Evaluate factors that drive investments in contact center solutions
- Gauge market and technology trends
- Appraise available IT budgets
- Discover opportunities in different regions
Channels Covered:
- Chat with live agents
- Email/web form
- IVR
- Mobile apps
- SMS
- Social media apps
- Social media messaging apps
- Video chat
- Video teller/kiosk
- Virtual agents
- Voice
Technologies Covered:
- Augmented reality
- Collaboration tools
- Conversational AI & virtual assistants/bots
- ELearning for agents
- Flexible APIs/CPaaS
- Gamification
- Performance management
- Proactive customer care
- Quality monitoring
This study is valuable for solution providers to better understand what each region seeks in delivering excellent CX, and end-user businesses to benchmark themselves against the competition and other industries.
Table of Contents
1. Research Objectives and Methodology
2. Key Findings
3. Technology Investments
- Interaction Channels
- Obstacles to Achieving Goals
- Technologies Used and Planned
- Agent Retention
4. Impact of COVID-19
- COVID-19 Impact on Contact Center Operations
- Impact of COVID-19 on Contact Center Investments
- Compliance and Network Security for Remoter Workers
5. Agents Seat Trends
- Change in the Number of Seats Due to COVID-19
- Agent Seat Trends Over the Next Year
- Remote Agent Performance
- Post-Pandemic Plans for Remote Agents
6. Interactions Trends
- Change in Number of Total Interactions Over the Past Year
- Percent of Interactions by Channel in 2020
- High Priority of Channels Due to COVID-19
- High Priority Technologies Due to COVID-19
- Change in Number of Interactions Handled by Virtual Agents
7. Customer Satisfaction
- Customer Satisfaction Measures
- Customer Satisfaction with Different Channels
8. Integration & Collaboration Trends
- Integration of UC&C and CC Solutions
- Collaboration with Other departments
9. Omnichannel
- Level of Integration of Contact Center Channels
10. Hosted/Cloud Solutions
- Use of Hosted/Cloud Contact Center Solution
- Contact Center Capabilities in the Cloud
11. Respondent Profile
- Job Position
- Operations Areas
- Supported Business Functions
- Selection/Purchase Decision Authority
- Number of Contact Center Agents
- Contact Center/Customer Care Operations Location
- List of Exhibits
- Legal Disclaimer
