Ten Customer Service Technology Trends for 2012

Well there you go -- in case you were wondering, Sabio, a contact center and unified communications systems integrator, has identified what it sees as the Top 10 key technology trends in customer service for 2012.

Place your contact center at the heart of your corporate social networking. You should be monitoring relevant social media channels, using them as self-service knowledge bases and engaging customers in real time on key networks such as Facebook and Twitter (News - Alert).

Your website needs to be optimized for mobile/smartphone access. Sabio notes that 46 percent of U.K. smartphone customers used their device to access the Internet over the last three months.

Consistent customer interactions across multiple channels. In 2012 consumers will expect their interactions to be handled consistently regardless of the channel they’re using, whether it’s mobile, a social interaction, traditional voice, webchat, e-mail or other emerging channels.

Have you got an App for that? Customers are now familiar with using apps as a service channel. These dedicated apps are increasingly giving customers a fast-track route into customer service centers, bypassing lengthy IVR processes and offering rapid escalation to webchat and voice interactions.

Tracking key service metrics through customer feedback. 2012 looks set to be the year when major organizations really start to embrace the link between offering a high quality customer experience, loyalty and longer-term financial success.

Capturing the true Voice of the Customer. Speech analytics technology has now reached a level of maturity and affordability where you can quickly determine exactly why customers are calling and highlight those calls that really shouldn’t be happening in the first place.

Helping your agents to make more of a difference. Deploying multi-channel agent desktops empowers agents, helps to deliver better quality of service to customers, and can unlock operational savings.

Video to become a mainstream customer service channel in 2012. The massive popularity of online video sites such as YouTube (News - Alert) is driving the use of video content to support customer service operations.

Applying Cloud technology where it can deliver the best value. 2012 will see an increased emphasis on organizations identifying which customer service tools can benefit most from being implemented as cloud services.

Delivering real added value through Virtual Assistants. These avatar-style animated digital characters support customer service operations by interacting with web visitors.

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