No one can deny how profitable an endeavor starting a call center can be. But like any business in a highly competitive industry, it’s crucial to stay on top of all the ongoing developments and trends in the sector and understand consumer expectations to reach them better. To that end, here are some tips that should allow your contact center to stay competitive, relevant, and stand out from the crowd.
1. Remain compliant with TCPA
In every industry, there are rules and regulations businesses need to follow to operate. For call centers, it’s TCPA compliance. This act essentially restricts telemarketing specific calls, facsimiles, and messages. It also imposes restrictions regarding auto-dialing systems and pre-recorded or artificial voice messages to keep consumers from spam calls and abuse.
As a contact center business, you need to keep abreast of the Telephone Consumers Protection Act guidelines, or you could potentially end up paying fines or expensive lawsuits. It may sound like a lot of work to regularly check updates on the TCPA, but it will minimize—if not mitigate—the risks of non-compliance.
2. Consider AI-powered tools
If you still haven’t implemented any AI-powered tools into your operations, you should consider upgrading to them. After all, artificial intelligence and automation can vastly improve the efficiency of your processes, streamlining workflows so that it runs smoothly. Specific solutions might even interact with and address consumer concerns without having to get an agent on the line.
There are various AI tools that are used by many call centers today. Here are some of them:
- AI agents
- Email automation and chatbots
- Interactive message response
- Automatic and smart routing
- Alerts and notifications
Keep in mind that while these tools can improve your operation’s efficiency, they can never replace human agents. Instead, they’re meant to support them and take care of tasks that would otherwise be too tedious or mundane to leave to agents.
3. Maintain quality assurance
For any contact center, it's a rule of thumb to maintain quality assurance. This refers to the practice of regularly assessing the performance of the business regarding the services it provides and looking for areas that may require improvement. Some tips on maintaining and improving the QA of your call center are through the following:
- Training agents regularly
- Reviewing call recordings during evaluations
- Conducting seminars and workshops
- Collecting and analyzing data for actionable insights
- Equipping agents with all the tools they need
4. Adopt remote or hybrid working practices
The global COVID-19 pandemic has forced many businesses to adopt WFH practices, leading to the realization of the advantages of this approach. For this reason, it makes sense to adopt remote or hybrid working models, too, as it will enable you to maintain a much higher and more consistent level of productivity.
Conclusion
The contact center industry is highly competitive. If you fail to keep up, you won't be able to take advantage of the profit potential of this business. So be sure to follow all of the abovementioned tips because they will allow you to remain as competitive as possible.
