Employing around 17 million people globally, contact centres are one of the many sectors that have been affected by recent economic shifts and now more than ever budget control is at the forefront of people’s minds as companies try to maintain efficiency and growth.
There are various options for both traditional in-house and As a Service models for handling the contact centre experience but there is also another solution which may prove the most cost-effective – the informal contact centre. With the growing popularity of informal contact centres, Service Providers are beginning to see the opportunity to grow in the space that caters for so many seats. As a somewhat novel solution, informal contact centres are now showing their worth when it comes to key business must-haves, bringing efficiencies in how they can get customers the assistance they need. But what exactly is an informal contact centre? What advantages do informal contact centres hold over traditional solutions and how can an informal contact centre be implemented?
Informal contact centres can take many shapes and forms, but the guiding principle which makes them so successful is the way in which they allow any type of customer-facing employee, not just call centre agents, to handle customers’ needs. Another pillar that supports this model is of course its namesake informal structure which can allow for smoother workflows and enable outside-the-box operating methods.
Usually on a smaller, less complex scale than a traditional contact centre, an informal contact centre is built around a complete customer experience. In essence, this approach means that every facet of a business can be customer facing. Imagine a call comes in and an agent needs to find a specific piece of sales information. In a traditional contact centre it may be a long or convoluted route to find that knowledge, or it may require ending the call and reaching out to the customer at a later date. Communication breaks down and the customer may even start looking elsewhere. With an informal contact centre that knowledge source is reachable instantaneously.
Informal contact centres not only eliminate huge swathes of cost but also allow direct access to knowledgeable experts across different segments of a business. They ensure that the call can always be answered and that customers are given the best journey possible. With the right tools and resources, all of a business’ contact centre needs can be handled in this informal fashion. Combining the informal model with robust chatting options, analytics and central reporting could be the way forward for many who are looking to excel in a period where stagnation is running rampant. Best of all, with an informal solution a contact centre can easily be deployed using hybrid or even fully remote models across multiple geographies.
At the heart of any effective contact centre there are a number of tools that ensure clear communications, collaboration and visibility.
And what’s better than having all of this software? Having all of this software in one place.
With the Dstny ecosystem it is possible to roll out a robust, powerful, fully brandable set of products that would complete any informal contact centre. As the Dstny suite is both modular and agnostic, Service Providers can pick and choose which pieces they need to either fully round off their solution, to build upon and create their own platform or rely upon out of the box.
Contact us today to discuss the informal contact centre and how its components can be used to build powerful solutions.