By Andi Anugrah, Chairman of ICCA Indonesia
The development of telecommunications technology encourages the transformation of digital services. If we pay attention, the transition to digital contact center services is more likely to use self-service technology or the use of new media. We can sense that this transition is initiated by the service using the Interactive Voice Response or IVR engine. Self-service with IVR helps customers to solve various information and transaction needs independently.
Then the use of email and the internet became the next service medium. Although the presence of an internet contact center with VoIP at that time was less successful due to network limitations. When the development of cellular telecommunications networks dominates, the use of SMS as a service line becomes the solution and continues with service codes.
The development continued with the presence of live chat, social media and various other message-based media. This encourages written communication to become a more complete way of communicating services. Likewise, the presence of Artificial Intelligent technology has encouraged the use of chatbots applications. The ability of Artificial Intelligent applications that are able to recognize sound or images or writing causes this application to be able to provide various variations of self-service services to customers.
The presence of various mobile applications has supported self-service customer service. Customers simply select the menu available in the application and can perform various activities including getting information, making transactions, registering, changing status, or various other requests. With the convenience provided by the mobile application, it allows customers to solve various problems self-service.
With the increasing number of applications used, customers depend on the availability of these applications. On the other hand, the need for assistance is also increasing with various personal problems. When the customer does not get adequate service from the application, the choice is to contact the contact center. They can use chat or chatbots. They can also then use email or even they choose to use the phone.
The challenge faced with digitalization is the reduction in the number of workers used, because most of the services are already done by self-service. The next challenge is that digital presence causes customer expectations to be higher. Hope that with automation or digitization it is able to provide faster, more accurate service even with a larger service capacity. For this reason, contact centers that implement digitization actually need to implement new standard procedures that are able to accommodate changes in service patterns.
Sometimes these changes are not a concern, because they assume that the digitization of services will run automatically. This is the challenge of transitioning the service automation process. However, this change requires the workforce to be more creative and use digital technology effectively in reducing various routine jobs. The rest of the workforce’s abilities should place more emphasis on services that are relational, personal, and something that requires more complex feelings or thoughts.
Enjoy the era of digital transformation of contact center services. I hope to be a part of that change. (AA)