'Intelligent view' of customers is essential

Research commissioned by Jacada has revealed that more than a third of customers blame bad systems and procedures for poor customer service - not call-centre agents.

According to the study, which was carried out by Yougov, 38 per cent of UK consumers believe that agents are actually trying to be helpful, but seem to struggle with company policies, processes or technology.

Indeed, the survey also revealed that one in five respondents had recently been impressed with the efforts made by a customer service agent to help deal with a problem.

The research makes it clear that businesses' constant need to implement new technologies to streamline processes and reduce costs is actually contributing to the problems in the company's call centre, as this very technology can often hamper an agent's ability to offer a high-quality interaction with their customers.

This is especially the case when most of the new technology and changes to business processes have been designed (or evolved over time) with the company's needs in mind, not the customer's.

In order to deliver high-quality customer interaction, agents need to have an 'intelligent view' of the customer, which includes important information such as his/her specific needs, as well as up-to-date information about available products and services - all of which need to be appropriate to the call type and the call flow.

As a result, technology can sometimes actually hamper the CSR's ability to offer such a high-quality interaction with their customers, since CSRs are often faced with a chaotic maze of complex applications and tools installed on their desktop.

In fact, anecdotal evidence points to many CSRs having between 20 and 30 open applications on the desktop at any one time, which means that the attention on the customer and their issue is greatly reduced.

The survey also revealed that, despite the latest focus on self-service technology, most people (67 per cent) still prefer to speak to a real person if they have an urgent or serious problem.

As often the only touch point with customers, it is critical that companies invest in their phone-based customer service facilities, to ensure they meet customers' expectations, consistently.

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