Being a Communications Provider means being a part of one of the most dynamic, quickly evolving and competitive industry sectors in the UK, if not the world.

To succeed, it is imperative that you consistently deliver a fantastic experience to your customers. Otherwise, given the massive choices open to them, they will not hesitate to go elsewhere. Churn rates in this sector are very high. Last year, 47 per cent of UK adults switched to another service provider.

Delivering great customer service, but doing it cost-effectively, can be considered a key over-arching objective of any Communications Provider. Investing (wisely) in customer experience is an absolute necessity in order to gain competitive advantage.

There might well be a number of different ways in which ‘great customer service’ could be defined, but as a Communications Provider, these are just some of the big issues you may face:
 
 
ABILITY TO MANAGING PEAKS AND TROUGHS IN DEMAND

According to one survey, around sixty per cent of people find it difficult to get through to contact centres. Many contact centres struggle to handle calls effectively during peak times. Yet having too many agents available in periods of low demand is a major cost headache for service providers.

The dynamic nature of the communications industry means that new services being launched all the time will result in frequent surges in customer calls.

Solutions include: Allowing customers to help themselves via self-service applications or requesting call backs. 


ABILITY TO RESOLVE CUSTOMERS’ PROBLEMS QUICKLY AND EFFECTIVELY

Does your contact centre approach incorporate a first contact resolution strategy? Repeat calls are expensive and resource draining. Although getting it right first time might involve a slightly longer call, the total cost to the business will be less. To increase the propensity of achieving first call resolution, agents need empowerment. They need access to tools and information to make the right decisions or involve the right ‘experts’.

Solutions include: Enabling agents to share information and activities with appropriate colleagues.

 
ABILITY TO UTILISE AGENTS EFFICIENTLY

For service providers with contact centres, call centre agents are, by far, the biggest cost consideration. Recruiting and training them is extremely expensive. In addition, increasing numbers of staff are obliged to be skilled in multi-channel call handling in order to meet the needs of customers.

Solutions include: Providing flexible working solutions for agents including home-shoring.

 
ABILITY TO MEASURE COST OF SERVICE

Only ten per cent of organisations are able to measure how much it costs to service customers. BT Wholesale’s NGCC incorporates all the tools you need to obtain the information you require to measure the effectiveness of your contact centre operations.

Solutions include: Advanced analytics and management tools 

 
MORE INFORMATION

From the links on the right hand side links on this page, you will find audio-enabled presentations and documents that explore these issues in more detail, discuss the changing face of the call centre and talk about what kind of customer experience consumers really want. 

Find out more about how our Next Generation Contact Centre solution could help your business to face these challenges CLICK HERE