When economic headwinds arise and the future feels uncertain, most brands’ first instinct is to rein in spending – and the contact center becomes a prime target. Seen too often as a cost center, the contact center might seem like the easiest place to cut spending.
But customer experience (CX) suffers when handle times grow and resolution rates drop. Is it worth cutting costs in the contact center if it’s going to damage your brand reputation and frustrate customers and associates alike, leading to increased churn?
It’s a tricky balance CX organizations must strike, especially when:
- Costs are rising, impacted by inflation and new economic variables
- Achieving great service quality with tighter budgets has never been harder
- Internal teams are stretched too thin, with limited bandwidth
- Supply chain issues and workforce gaps strain CX delivery
To navigate this challenging economy, companies need to adapt quickly, improve efficiency, reduce costs, and maintain strong customer experiences. The right tools and people can help.
Eliminate guesswork with AI-powered insights
Few things are more costly – when it comes to time and resources – than uncertainty. Eliminate guesswork by knowing exactly how your customers are feeling and how your associates are performing, with AI-powered insights.
TTEC Insights uses conversational intelligence to listen to and analyze 100% of interactions. This award-winning solution gives a comprehensive, data-backed picture of customer sentiment and identifies trends and patterns. With these insights, brands can identify in real-time what’s working and what’s not during interactions.
Traditional quality assurance tools capture less than 3% of customer interactions, so if you’re still relying on those, chances are you’re missing out on valuable insights. The better you understand your customers, the better you’re able to meet their needs quickly and improve satisfaction and loyalty. The contact center is a treasure trove of data; make the most of it.
AI-powered insights don’t just benefit customers; they improve experiences for your associates, too. TTEC Perform gives associates and team leads access to real-time performance data, so they can instantly see how and where they can improve. The result? More efficient associate coaching that’s guided by insights, not trial and error.
Take a fresh look at offshoring
If you’ve got an outdated view of offshoring, it’s time to reconsider. Today’s outsourced CX markets are very different than the traditional call center of the past.
Offshore centers in the Philippines and India – along with emerging regions like South Africa, Rwanda, and Egypt – let companies tap into a highly skilled workforce while uncovering cost savings of up to 60% or more. With an educated labor pool and AI-powered tools, these sites offer the same quality CX as onshore centers, at a substantially lower cost.
TTEC Clarity, for instance, provides real-time accent softening and noise cancellation so customers and associates can communicate easily, regardless of where in the world they are located. The language barrier can also be broken with real-time voice translation from award-winning TTEC ADDI.
And TTEC Let Me Know, an AI-powered knowledgebase solution, ensures associates anywhere across the globe have quick and easy access to the information they need when they need it.
AI tools are breaking down communication and efficiency barriers, expanding the CX world in the process.
Empower customers through self-service
Depending how this economy is impacting your industry, you may be seeing an influx of inquiries to your contact center. Deflect the more simple, straightforward ones to chatbots, virtual IVRs, and other self-service tools.
Customers are increasingly comfortable interacting with AI agents and bots (as long as they can easily resolve issues) and self-service lets them find the answers they need on their own time. Delegating simple tasks to automation frees up associates to focus on the more nuanced interactions that require a human touch.
The right automation lets companies drive costs down while improving CX. At TTEC, we’ve helped companies cut cost-per-contact by 50% and reach near-perfect CSAT.
Turn change into a CX advantage
Navigating an uncertain economy can be daunting, especially when customer satisfaction and loyalty are on the line and financial pressures are mounting.
Tap into expert guidance to make the most of the unpredictability. Working with a proven CX partner is an easy and cost-effective way to quickly gain access to the global workforce, cutting-edge AI tools, and proven best practices you need to thrive – in any economy.
