The future of the contact center: A forecast

2020 was a tough year for contact centers, but it has forced many to modernize rapidly. This trend is making contact centers more efficient and effective at helping customers.


New contact center objectives

The contact center faces particularly significant pressure to perform efficiently and effectively. This analyst report from CCW covers what brands are planning to do, to help you benchmark against it. Which transformations spurred by the pandemic are here to stay? Which will fade away? See where contact center leaders plan to invest their time and resources in the coming year.

New standards for customer care in the wake of COVID-19

In 2020, the shift from the term “call center” to the term “contact center” has accelerated. This is because brands are transitioning to digital-first customer service especially quickly as employees have begun working remotely. Few if any brands will revert back to legacy customer care workflows, systems, and solutions, even when it’s safe for employees to return to the office. But what will the contact center of the future look like?

New work from home best practices

Many companies will have agents working from home for the foreseeable future. As some brands permanently incorporate work-from-home policies, their standards for performance must change. New work-from-home models have the potential to be a source of value and growth — not merely a defense against loss and disruption. This analyst report uncovers the top barriers to achieving these lofty objectives.

A new direction for digital

Fighting to handle surging customer volume amid shrinking resources, companies placed significantly more emphasis on digital in 2020. They started to turn digital channels from false promises into legitimate customer engagement options, beginning to turn omnichannel experience into a reality.

But what happens when the marketplace normalizes? What happens when companies can support customers in their traditional phone channels? Will they give customers a reason to keep using, and keep trusting, their digital platforms?

A new standard for automation and AI

Automation, in addition to AI and ML, has proven invaluable for brands in 2020. Much like remote work and digital engagement, automation’s role in the contact center of the future cannot merely be one of “stop gap” or “last resort.” It needs to help a company achieve a caliber of results that would otherwise be impossible. It needs to meet clear standards for performance. This report covers not just why brands are planning to implement automation and AI into their contact center workflows, but also how.

To get all these statistics and helpful insights, download the analyst report today.

Read the report