7 Contact Center Technology (Re)Solutions for 2021

Making the right moves early is where huge progress can be earned.

If you resolved to optimize for remote work solutions before or in Q1 of 2020, my guess is you were relieved to be ahead of the curve (and still probably wish you had adopted them sooner). So, your best 2021 resolution? Don’t wait until it’s too late.

Here are the seven most important solutions you should resolve to consider in 2021:

DaaS for Security and Compliance

How it helps:

The pandemic has forced even highly-regulated industries to go remote, from healthcare to government to financial services. So scaling the performance of Desktop-as-a-Service (DaaS) solutions has been a huge sea change since mid-2020.

In a nutshell, virtual desktop infrastructures, or DaaS applications, have grown more sophisticated.

Here are some recent improvements:

• Deeper security protocols.
• Shift from VPN to browser-based authentications.
• Distributed access behind corporate firewalls and intranet.

Why it works:

Historically, IT and DaaS providers have been able to stand up systems quickly and affordably for organizations, but security often loomed as a long-term gap.

Now, with huge investment from providers to transform their offerings into truly robust digital workspaces, these gaps are disappearing.

Remote work solutions are now the marquee product category — and will continue to receive a lion’s share of security development.

Discover How DaaS Does Security

PCI Compliance to Cash In and Reduce Error

How it helps:

The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) has long been the official compliance protocol for secure payment processing and customer data storage.

But with $39 billion in sales online, and a 36% increase in eCommerce activity, it makes sense that solutions are being optimized to deal with record-breaking order volume and fulfillment.

Why it works:

Compliance works better when the margin for human error is low. PCI-compliant solutions automate and optimize not only the processes needed to accept online transactions but also the activities that safeguard you from future security incidents.

Here’s what top PCI solutions can offer:

• Removing the agent entirely from scope through omni-channel payment solutions
• Sophisticated encryption and key management protocols to restrict access to customer data.
• PCI-DSS compliant redaction and network security features

Accepting Payments? Make Sure You’re Covered?

Noise Canceling for Better Call Center Experiences

How it helps:

In spite of many advantages, working exclusively from home presents many challenges too. Not least of which is the reality of unexpected or uncontrollable noise.

Barking dogs. Kids playing. Random sirens.

Agents can’t avoid these disruptions when they’re busy offering exceptional service to your customers. So help them out with noise-canceling solutions.

Why it works:

Any sudden or unexpected disruption creates anxiety for your agents and frustration for your customers. But, with sophisticated noise canceling solutions, there’s no reason outside noise should dampen customer engagements.

Here’s how noise-canceling helps:

• Eliminates background noise for both parties, with no hardware required.
• Up and running in minutes.
• Compatible with any headset; integrates with most systems.

Want to Eliminate Noise for Your Agents? It’s Easy!

Voice Analytics for Call-to-Call Success

How it helps:

Voice analysis has become one of the biggest data opportunities across all industries. Powered by Artificial Intelligence, voice analytics started as a way to assess call-by-call effectiveness, helping call center leaders pinpoint focus areas or coaching opportunities.

In 2021,  voice solutions will feature more robust predictive analytics, such as sentiment analysis and emotional reporting.

Probably the most glossed over fact is that 100% voice analytics is now reasonable enough for centers of just about any size.  This opens up the data transcriptions to now be mined for customer insights.  This data is worth more to most CX experts and executives than the survey data that is often asking the wrong questions.

Why it works:

Being able to use data intelligence to understand the real-time, emotional response of your customers allows you to be nimble and responsive.

Instead of trying to win a customer back after a dissatisfying customer service experience, voice analysis can help you steer every engagement toward success BEFORE it goes south.

Learn More About Voice Analytics

Omnichannel Access at Home

How it helps:

Despite market pressure to move their teams remote, integrate all call center tools, and access applications from the cloud (a true omnichannel approach), many call centers are still trusting premise-based solutions for success.

An on-premise VOIP system, for example, siloes agents from valuable customer data they could capture all at once with an omnichannel solution, offering agents a 360-degree view of every customer.

Why it works:

Consider this scenario, where a customer calls for an update on tracking their recent order. Here’s how an omnichannel solution helps your agents:

• Lowers redundancy: When agents can view all customer information at once, they don’t have to waste time re-capturing information, such as name, email address, order date.
• Empowers agents: With more information at their fingertips, agents can communicate more effectively with customers instead of being stuck to an inflexible call-script.
• Increase speed-to-resolution: With seamless access across all customer channels, agents can quickly achieve resolution without handing it off to another department or causing long delays.

Remote Agents Love LMS

How it helps:

One of the bigger challenges emerging, first in 2020 and now into 2021, has been the rapid onboarding of new agents to meet rising consumer demands. Not only is more business being funneled throughout call center agents, but the pandemic has limited face-to-face training environments, putting huge reliance on LMS systems to train productive agents.

Luckily, LMS systems are well-suited to deliver rewarding training experiences, no matter where your agents reside.

Why it works:

LMS systems are designed to plug-and-play within any enterprise’s training program. Their recent proliferation has been great news for organizations that would otherwise be unable to meet new agent demand without a process for distributed agent training.

Here’s why:

• Flexible: LMS training platforms are personalized to each organization, and can be built, adapted, and improved concurrent with ongoing training. Better still, agents can train on-demand, during off-peak hours, to minimize disruptions during normal service hours.
• Affordable: The logistics of coordinating facilities, instruction, travel, and all other considerations, are simply much more costly in-person. An LMS training environment lowers your cost ceiling significantly.
• Adaptive: LMS systems are tailored to evolve with consumer demands, such as solution integrations or adding cutting-edge features. An LMS is a better long-term investment than optimizing training programs ad hoc, especially if you value training that reflects the current best practices.

At-Home Agent Monitoring Solutions

How it helps:

Call center leaders have been challenged to improve customer experience while simultaneously having less access to the people directly impacting those goals. In order to elevate customer engagement, at-home agent monitoring has emerged.

Through Workforce Optimization (WFO) and camera recording platforms, call center leaders now have a window into what works, what doesn’t, and a path toward better customer experiences.

Why it works:

Every Kafka and Orwell cliche notwithstanding, agents are one of the biggest beneficiaries of at-home monitoring when done well—with the ability to track and review agent performance transparently and with the intent to improve their performance.  These technologies should not only improve your agents but also your coaches and team leaders by tracking their performance improvements for their team members.

Agent activities can be recorded and scored, making it easier to:

• Track top-performers for rewards.
• Highlight best practices in training.
• Add incentives and gamification to boost morale.

No Call Center Problem is Too Tough. We Can Help!

The fully-remote work shift has created countless obstacles for call center leaders with unique challenges to consider. If you have a specific problem you’d like to solve, and didn’t see a solution that could help, we’d like to hear from you.

With decades of experience connecting organizations to cloud solutions that drive ROI, we’re confident there’s a solution that’s right for you.

Contact us for a no-risk, no-fee consultation — and we’ll get to work finding you the best solution fit.