I started working in the contact centre industry in 1998. It feels like a lifetime ago, and while many things have changed drastically in that time, there are also many things that have not.
Namely, the strategic value placed on the contact centre by its parent organisation (or lack thereof). In my 22-year career in this industry, the contact centre has been forever fighting to retain tiny budgets, losing in the battle for strategic investment, with metrics misinterpreted and operational complexity widely misunderstood.
There are always exceptions to every rule of course, and there are many organisations who appropriately recognise the contact centre as a critical asset rather than just a necessary evil. Kudos to those that do. A few organisations have pioneered initiatives and demonstrated true innovation in contact centre excellence. Despite this, there is still much work to be done to more broadly raise the contact centre into the spotlight. I believe that now is the perfect time to achieve this.
To understand why, let’s take a brief trip down memory lane and reflect on the evolution of the contact centre thus far:
The Internet Age
Following the establishment and growth of call centres as a core business capability in the late 80’s to early 90’s, the internet arrived.
Accessibility to personal computers and at-home internet increased and the expansion of online purchasing occurred. Businesses now had to service customers over the phone in place of their established retail face to face presence.
Email became a popular communication method, and call centres needed to keep up. Email and online enquiries needed to be offered alongside phone calls as a customer service channel.
From the 90’s through to the early 00’s, the role of the call centre had to evolve to include customer service rather than just sales, and the first step in channel diversification occurred, triggering the shift away from call centres to introduce the concept of ‘contact centres’.
We learned to multi-task and systemise to create great experience and efficiencies.
The Offshoring Boom
As the demand for and workload within contact centres continued to increase, businesses started seeking ways to do more with less. In the early-mid 00’s, the offshoring boom began.
India, the Philippines and South Africa all established themselves as key players in this market, and companies rapidly started shifting their contact centre teams to these locations at a fraction of the cost of their local presence.
Following this boom, widespread media and customer criticism prompted some businesses to reverse their offshoring decisions, and many others to develop and deploy more targeted (and successful) offshoring strategies.
By the end of the 00’s, the offshore contact centre became a mature market and a set fixture in the industry landscape.
This period gave rise to much negative media attention, with criticism of offshoring due to language barriers, concerns about information security, frustration with telemarketing practices or long hold times, and the framing of contact centres as ‘sweat shops’ all used as prevalent narratives.
We learned to adapt to new ways of working, to be more change resilient, and to be intensely cost-focused.
The Age of Disruption
As the world became increasingly digital & technically enabled, so the contact centre needed to follow suit. Throughout the mid 00’s and continuing today, technology disrupted and enhanced the conversations we had with our customers through our online presence and in the contact centre.
Customers became king, and their loyalty wavered. Customer experience became a bargaining chip used to retain or entice customers, and concepts like ‘channel of choice’ and ‘omni-channel service’ emerged as new standards.
This shift called for an unprecedented level of operational agility to keep meeting the ever-increasing bar of customer expectations and ever-increasing pace of business transformation.
The tug of war between investment and cost heightened - investment was needed to fund technology enhancements but profit was being driven down through customer churn and enhanced pricing pressure from emerging competitors.
Automation and self-service promised great cost savings by removing the need for manual, repetitive work, however the implementation of new channels, complicated by the increased complexity of enquiries supported by humans and the addition of resources needed to support and manage automation or self-service tools quickly absorbed any anticipated savings.
Increasing numbers of millennials entered the workforce, requiring a significantly different style of management, reward and recognition schemes, leadership and learning.
Through this evolution, the industry became more critical, more advanced, more adaptable, and suffered more cost pressures than ever before, all while trying to meet the increasing expectations of both customers and employees.
Media focus during this period has focused on the broader impacts of technology advancements and it’s impacts on business, only serving to seed the inaccurate idea that the contact centre function is replaceable with automation and artificial intelligence.
We learned to adapt in new ways, to listen to our customer more, and to help customers to help themselves.
We are still learning to innovate, to talk in terms of value rather than cost, and to keep up with the pace of change.
Learning from the Past
A reflection on this history highlights a couple of important observations:
The Offshoring Boom embedded a cost-conscious culture in the minds of business executives which has not yet been reversed.
The contact centre has been steadily growing in ownership of customer interactions over the last 30 years.
The speed, volume and significance of our industry’s evolution is exponentially increasing.
There is a general lack of awareness and understanding (outside the industry) of the value and expertise provided by the contact centre function.
The Next Evolution
Today we stand on the precipice of a new evolution. We have an opportunity to raise the contact centre into the spotlight and be recognised as the critical business function we are. We have an opportunity to remove the barriers and misconceptions created by yesterday’s thinking, and to gain respect and credibility – not just within our own organisations, but as a broader industry.
Contact centres are being thrust into the spotlight by political leaders across the globe. Retail presence is on hiatus and digitally enabled customer experience is a prominent focus. Businesses are being forced to rapidly evolve and expand their capability. Decisions are being made faster than ever before. New customer behaviours are being embedded. Some businesses won’t survive this evolution, and others will thrive.
This is where we shine.
We have connection and access to the customer, to a young, hungry and digital-ready workforce, to data, to operational rigour. We are accustomed to delivering results in high pressure environments. We are resilient and adaptable. We move quickly and lead strongly. We are performance and results focused. We are primed for success in times just like this.
So how can we step up and grab this opportunity?
Recognise and own your skills and capabilities. Now is not the time to be humble. Know your strengths and play to them.
Share your skills, knowledge and data with leaders, peers and colleagues. We know better than most how to best support our customers. Be generous with your time and insight.
Lead from the front. The skills you bring as a leader are of significant value to your organisation right now. Speak up and lead the way.
Identify your weak spots. We can’t all be naturally great at everything, but everything is a skill and can be learned. What skills do you need in your toolbox to better engage at a senior level?
Harness your creativity. Approach the current world with a ‘how can I’ mindset, and simply make it happen. The day is won by the person who gets it done, not who gets it perfect.
Ask for support. We are an industry full of people who love to be of service. We love to help and share ideas and solve problems. Reach out to your networks and groups and support each other – it’s usually easier to see solutions for someone else than it is for yourself, so embrace the power of this community.
Let’s take hold of this opportunity and use the collective experience and excellence within our industry to highlight the immense value we have to offer. Let’s reposition the contact centre as a core strategic function, get a seat at the table and step into the spotlight.
It’s time.
About the Author
Frances Quinn is an award-winning CEO & Founder, an experienced speaker, facilitator and mentor, and a passionate customer futurist.
Starting from humble beginnings - leaving school and home at 16 to make her way in the customer contact world, Frances forged a successful career path for herself, quickly climbing the corporate ladder and gathering a strong reputation for excellence along the way.
After 20 years in the corporate world, Frances set out on her next adventure as an entrepreneur and business owner, applying her versatile set of skills to building a successful high-growth consulting firm.
Frances' passion and expertise lies in creating customer loyalty, driving operational efficiency and excellence, and implementing successful and sticky change in organisations large and small. She has worked with large global brands and startups alike.