We thought it might prove useful to discuss some misconceptions existing in the market in the context of small contact centers.
Small contact centers
are small just because of their size.
This is not true.
Small contact centers face a unique set of business challenges. Their rewards
are measured differently too. They need to be managed with much fewer resources
than their larger counterparts. Their functional
operations are also quite different.
Having a smaller
workforce facilitates more training activities.
Large contact center solutions
often require comprehensive training. It is imparted to all agents in a
systematic manner. In contrast, smaller contact centers require most of their
agents to play multiple roles. This leaves them with very little time to get formal
training.
The SME contact
center workforce needs solutions that are intuitive, easy to administer, and
quick to implement. Big contact centers have specialized personnel while SME
contact centers have many generalists.
It’s easier to manage
problems in small contact centers.
The quality of
customer service expected of smaller contact centers is much the same as that
of larger ones. No direct correlation is possible between the number of agents and
the volume of problems.
In fact, the many
hats that an agent is required to don makes handling problematic issues even
more challenging.
You can remove
features from large technology solutions and sell them as small contact center
solutions.
Though this tactic is
commonly adopted, the end result hasn’t gone down too well with members of the
SME contact center industry. The products appear more as token efforts with
many gaps instead of being specialized ones.
Small contact centers
cannot offer customer service on par with large contact centers
Enterprise size is
irrelevant. Contact center organizations of the smallest size can largely impact
businesses of all sizes. What’s critically important is maintenance of customer
goodwill.
Challenges
faced by SME Contact Centers
According to the
manager of an SME contact center which services relatively large companies, the
biggest issues they face revolve around technology solutions. She said that
almost all the solutions available at present are very big, very cumbersome and
very high-priced. It’s not possible to scale them as required so options become
really limited. They do need similar resources, but smaller dimensions are
required.
She said they also
faced training issues related to new technologies and products. There weren’t
enough agents to handle calls and putting them through intensive training was
not possible. The team needed to depend largely on its own creative thinking
abilities.
In conclusion, you
can say that there’s definitely a market for specifically designed solutions
for SME contact centers. It’s time the market stepped up to fulfill this need.
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