1. Accelerating Digital Transformation

At the foundation of digital transformation for contact centers are the blending of human and self-service automated engagements to provide a continuous omnichannel CX. The key to driving this transformation is better understanding the omnichannel customer journey, empowering agents with a unified agent desktop, and seamlessly adding digital channels to provide customer choice – without creating CX and data silos.

Understanding the Customer Journey
The entire customer journey is more important than any single touchpoint or experience. Customers now have an unprecedented number of ways to engage with contact centers, from traditional channels to an ever-growing array of digital modes.

Companies seeking to keep pace with industry leaders must embark on omnichannel transformation and view touchpoints not in isolation but as part of a seamless customer journey. And since customer journeys aren’t linear and straightforward but a series of handoffs between traditional and digital channels that can vary significantly by customer type, an effective omnichannel transformation strategy requires an all-encompassing view of the customer journey.

Without a holistic view of the customer experience, contact centers are inefficient. A comprehensive view of the customer is impossible without connecting the dots between touchpoints.

The bottom line—quality customer care is highly dependent on digital performance.

A Unified Agent Desktop

For omnichannel transformation to succeed, agents need a unified desktop for all channels, systems, and customer touchpoints across the enterprise, including voice and digital channels. This desktop should be fully loaded with consistent productivity and collaboration tools and knowledge management, making it easy for agents to access the information and resources they need to achieve successful resolutions.

When data across all customer interactions empower agents, you’re setting the stage to proactively capture data through every part of the journey, allowing agents to provide personalized experiences during every interaction. This empowerment can help drive massive improvements in critical metrics like First Contact Resolution (FCR), Average Handle Time (AHT), and more.

With a unified desktop, your customers will experience an effortless journey with seamless escalations on any channel they choose. They will receive personalized and meaningful care, and they won’t have to repeat themselves, removing big friction points.

Enabling Digital Channels and Customer Choice

Successful digital transformation for contact centers translates into servicing customers on digital channels, allowing them to choose how they interact. Omnichannel flexibility is increasingly essential for the digital-first consumer, whether email, chat, messaging, video, co-browse, conversational AI, and more.

Importantly, contact centers need to be able to do this in a way that doesn’t create customer experience or data silos but rather works seamlessly across all touchpoints. Proper omnichannel solutions that leverage existing infrastructure can help contact centers achieve this – without the need to rip and replace current technology.

2. Investment protection by Leveraging Existing Legacy Infrastructure

As mentioned previously, digital transformation doesn’t mean you need to “rip and replace.” There are ways to accelerate transformation while leveraging legacy contact center systems, data, business applications, and CRMs used across the enterprise.

When you make the right technology decisions for your contact center, you will be rewarded with the ability to continue leveraging those investments in the future through changes in business needs, climates, and customer demands. These decisions should be fuelled by considerations like:

• Augmenting existing technology and infrastructure while also enabling accelerated innovation by leveraging emerging technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and robotic process automation (RPA)
• Integration capabilities to CRMs like Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics, and business applications like workforce management and quality management
• Data and reporting functionality to help remove silos across departments, aid in IT efficiency and streamline workflows for agents, supervisors, and every customer support advisor within your organization

3. Flexible and Cost-Effective Solutions for Innovation Now and in the Future

Companies that make suitable investments now could build an enduring advantage in the future as customer demands continue to change. That includes a cost-effective solution that has the flexibility to scale and grow your solution as your unique business needs change with the ability to add and remove channels easily.

But with the emergence of ever-evolving CX technologies like AI, ML, and RPA, how can you balance the need for digital transformation with cost-effectiveness?

You can modernize and transform your contact center cost-effectively with an omnichannel solution that enhances the systems you already have in place. Improvements can be made today with plenty of opportunities to scale in the future.

How can you make it happen? Provide an enhanced omnichannel solution – that’s where Upstream Works enhanced omnichannel contact center solutions can help.