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ProtoCall One survey shows contact centres face skills issues as channel mix changes

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PRESS RELEASE
14^th December 2009

ProtoCall One survey shows contact centres face skills issues as channel mix changes

82% agree voice will cease to be the dominant communications channel in UK contact centres within 3 years

Contact centres are rapidly moving towards a multi-channel future according to new research from leading contact centre integrator, ProtoCall One. Call levels are set to decline as 82% of those surveyed stated that voice will cease to be the dominant communications channel in UK contact centres within the next three years. Over a third of respondents (36%) had detected a change in their in-bound communications mix over the last year. All respondents reported that email, SMS/Text and web chat had increased within the last 12 months, while fax and letter volumes declined.

As the channel mix changes and other channels such as email and web chat take a bigger slice of the mix, 45% of survey respondents were finding it hard to recruit individuals who can operate across a range of channels: 43% struggled with finding candidates with appropriate IT and technical skills.

Email is causing particular issues:

• 75% of respondents had difficulties in finding people who have the skills to write clear and well constructed emails
• 63% had imposed agreed response time standards for responding to customer emails, but 50% struggled to meet their own standards
• 48% were using pre-set templates to respond to emails.

Agents are increasingly becoming specialists as they are required to build on their technical or product knowledge, or specialise in taking calls which require high levels of involvement and engagement as callers demand greater levels of expertise from agents. Rather than handling all incoming calls, 72% of respondents stated their agents were become more specialised in the calls they handled.

Customer handling skills are also high on the training agenda, as all respondents surveyed stated that they train their agents to ensure they understand and demonstrate the key elements of delivering a positive customer experience - answering calls quickly, being warm, friendly and engaging, and striving for first call problem resolution.

Faraz Khan, managing director, ProtoCall One, commented:
"The results of this survey show that contact centres are fast forwarding into a multi-channel future. The vast majority are now convinced that voice is set to lose its dominance. The next few years will see huge change for contact centres as new channels such as email and web chat take hold. Contact centre managers have the challenge of ensuring their systems can adapt, while also nurturing and recruiting the right skills to take advantage of the multi-channel future."

ProtoCall One surveyed members of its Genesys Workforce Management (GWFM) user group on 18th November 2009. The user group consists of senior contact centre operations managers and directors from leading global businesses based in the UK. This group represents a quarter of all GWFM users operating in the UK.



About ProtoCall One
ProtoCall One provides systems integration and consultancy for the contact centre world. It has its origins in the implementation of Genesys call centre solutions, but is now extending its portfolio into new areas including Business Intelligence (BI) and Workforce Optimisation (WFO). For more information please go to www.pc-1.co.uk

For ProtoCall One sales and marketing enquiries, please contact:
Sharon Batchelor, marketing manager, ProtoCall One
Tel: +44 (0) 800 881 8130. Email: sbatchelor@pc-1.co.uk

For ProtoCall One UK media enquiries, please contact:
Miles Clayton or Simon Bennett at Agility PR Limited
Tel: +44 (0) 1992 586190, Email: miles@agilitypr.co.uk


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