You are watching a crunch football match and your TV conks all of a sudden. It’s midnight and so catching up with the match in your friend’s house is just not possible. The only option available is to fall off to sleep and catch up with the score next day morning. Your disappointment could well have been avoided, had your television sensed the anomaly and sent a notification to the manufacturer to set things right before the crash. And if you thought such possibilities exists in the realm of dreams, you are mistaken. With the advent of Internet of Things (IoT), such unpredictable hellish experiences are set to become a matter of the past. IoT empowers your gadget to sense a problem before it arises, and send a notification to the designated contact center to initiate a self-diagnosis process and avert the impending crisis.
IoT brings a number of benefits to the call center and we have tried to uncover a few in this blog.
Better Data Acquisition
Internet of Things (IoT) can provide volumes of insights to contact centers about issues that may hamper a gadgets performance. Using these insights, contact centers can better prepare themselves to handle issues before they arise and proactively service customers. What’s more they can also use these insights to accurately align their marketing strategies with customer behavior and reap in significant enhancements in their sales figures.
Proactive Solutions
IoT has enabled the creation of smart objects that can directly communicate with the manufacturer and notify issues before they actually arise. This means contact centers no longer have to follow the norms of providing reactive troubleshooting services. Instead, they need to assess the constant stream of data to get insights into possible issues. In short, analyzing the immense volume of data generated by smart devices and coming up with a solution before the problem even arises would be the main goal of call centers in the very near future.
Self-Service Solutions
Internet has made self-service a possibility and IoT is taking this a step further. It has made self-service a lot more predictable and easier. Once IoT takes over completely, it will eliminate the need to make general inquiry calls. This would lead to a fall in customer complaints and queries. When this happens, agents will have more time to resolve complex issues.
Multi-channel Expansion
In the age of technology, customers are using a variety of channels to contact an organization and this is pushing contact centers to their limits. They are being forced to ramp up their workforce in order to have an omni-channel presence. However, once IoT becomes common place, they will have one more thing to worry about as the existing channels might not be sufficient. They need to come up with a new channel to enable smart objects to contact call centers directly. Also they will have to set up clear directives on how to best integrate this new channel with the existing ones, so that agents can communicate with both the customers as well as the smart objects at the same time.
Streamlined Customer Experience
IoT can take the quality of care provided to customers to the next level. It can greatly reduce the need for customers to contact call centers and wait in long queues to get their queries reported and issues resolved. Also, call centers can leverage the data gathered from smart devices to improve their offerings, as well as better equip their agents to handle any issues—making customer service less clumsy and more streamlined.
At a time when customers expect more from call centers, IoT can help contact centers meet the expectations with great ease. Contact centers, indeed are poised for a big change.
