Without computer telephony integration (CTI), your call centre agents simply don\u2019t know enough about your clients to be truly productive.<\/p>\n
In the era of \u2018big data\u2019, customers expect that the brands they deal with will know them, and they expect personalised experiences.<\/p>\n
\u201cMore than ever, companies and call centres need to give better service, and to do this, they need to know who their customers are,\u201d Jed Hewson, 1Stream<\/strong><\/a> director.<\/p>\n Too often, contact centre agents waste valuable time trying to identify the customer, deal with a slow system, and search for previous tickets to gain context for the call.<\/p>\n Instead, Hewson presents a scenario in which a call centre agent answers the call by saying, \u201cHello Mr. Jones, are you calling about your new printer?\u201d<\/p>\n This is only possible if the call centre agents have all the necessary information available, including the customer\u2019s details, calling history, recent purchases and previous tickets.<\/p>\n \u201cEssentially, it is about providing a 360-degree view of your customer, and to do this, you need the back-end CRM and ticketing systems to talk to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n This significantly reduces handle time as agents don\u2019t have to dig through multiple databases and business tools to find the caller\u2019s information.<\/p>\n Integration also boosts agent productivity and effectiveness by allowing them to make and receive calls within your CRM or ticketing system without having to waste time punching a number into a telephone.<\/p>\n \u201cYour agents make up 70% of the cost of the contact centre, so you need them to be efficient and productive \u2013 and you also need to be able to measure their performance,\u201d Hewson adds.<\/p>\n Integration allows for real-time ticket routing so that managers can gain a comprehensive understanding of the performance of their team and make data-driven decisions accordingly.<\/p>\n Armed with this data, managers can cultivate a more effective workforce of call centre agents, which can result in higher customer satisfaction ratings.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the end, it\u2019s about looking after your customer, and to do this, you need to understand who they are and get an idea of their call and purchase history,\u201d Hewson says.<\/p>\n \u201cThis makes for a different customer experience because the agents know who the caller is and care enough to keep track of previous tickets.<\/p>\n With integration, your employees will thank you for making their job easier, and in turn, your customers will be thanking you for offering a pleasant, results-driven experience.\u201d<\/p>\n