While looking back at the evolution of communication technology in modern times, who could have thought we would come so far from sending smoke signals and carrier pigeons to sending and receiving calls, texts, emails etc. in the blink of an eye over long distances. But here we are, taking pride in what we have achieved and what is yet to be.

Almost all the sectors around the globe have benefitted from the advancements in modern communication technology, one such sector is the call center industry which, I believe, has gained the most be it hands-free phones or cloud-based call centers or business intelligence analytics and seeing its current progress one thing is certain, it isn’t going to slow down.

Though the evolution of this industry hasn’t been a smooth one. Not that long ago, the primary task of call center agents was receiving calls and handling only the basic issues while the complex ones were transferred to the manager. But that was then, the call centers of today use multiple channels to handle more complex issues than ever before.

And the result? More and more businesses nowadays are leveraging multi-channel call centers to offer various support services to its clients in order to meet the ever-growing expectations of customers from the same organization.

What is a Multi-Channel Call Center?

A multi-channel call or contact center is basically the merging of multiple communication channels into a single, centrally managed platform. These multi-channel services include,

a) Call Center services

b) Email support services

c) Video chat support services

d) Social media customer support services

e) Chat support services

These services also serve the need of the hour because today customer dependent businesses working with any one customer service channel will miserably fail to ensure customer satisfaction, hence a multi-channel contact center.

Benefits of Incorporating Multi-Channel Call Centers:

Over the recent years, we have seen more and more businesses incorporating multi-channel contact centers in order to provide better support services to their customers. But what are these key benefits these businesses are getting, let’s have a look.

Instant Support

The current technologies of today have made our customers impatient and in need of instant gratification. Offering instant support through live chat, providing answers on social media, faster replies to emails etc. is the only way businesses can curb these gratifications before arising or, in other words, nipping the issues in the bud.

Deep Customer Analytics

Multi-channel call centers help in better customer analytics by offering a single point access to all the customer-related information which also includes a knowledge repository of past behaviors and the deep analysis of how these questions were answered. These analytics help businesses tweak their sales tactics based on customer demands.

Multi-Tasking Operations

Multi-channel call centers make it much easier for individual agents to multi-task and move swiftly across different channels because of the presence of a single version of customer data located in a single application. As a result, a single agent can easily navigate through any channel to resolve customer queries and helps reduce the burden on voice agents.

Omnipresence

Another great way a multi-channel call center can help you is by being present across all the available channels to offer support to the customers and collecting all the information stored at one location. So, if your customer switches in live chat and moves on to FAQ, to social media sites and at last to a voice call, your agent will still have a single record of that customer with all the necessary data required for any future reference.

Upsell and Cross-Sell

With the availability of all the customer related information at agent’s fingertips, he will be better able to understand their sentiments and suggest associated products and services that might interest the customers. These suggestions are different as they are based on facts contrary to the ones made by traditional call center agents based entirely on hunches.

Improving Corporate Image

Multi-channel call centers that are available on all the channels frequented by the customers contribute greatly in establishing the brand image for the organization by showing genuine interest in what the customers have to say along with proactively answering customers comments and being aware of any change in customer sentiments.

End Thoughts:

Day by day the competition is getting tougher. Apart from promoting their interests in mass media, companies must work hard on their customer relationship too. And for this to happen, the companies must allow their buyers, the freedom to choose their mode of communication, be it social networks, fax, email, SMS or anything else they deem fit. This is the only way the customers can enjoy their experience with the company.