Technology Plays an Important Role in Building Effective, Economical Contact Centres in the Middle East

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, 20 June 2012: The rapidly evolving technological landscape in the Middle East has given rise to a new breed of consumer – one armed with easy access to information and myriad platforms on which to voice their opinion. As these customers grow ever more demanding, contact centres are being forced to swiftly evolve in order to accommodate their growing needs.

Rising operational costs are also forcing companies to re-assess the ways in which their contact centres operate, with many now looking to streamline their systems and processes in order to mitigate mounting expenses.

The challenge facing modern contact centres lies in balancing these two factors – creating a customer-centric service delivery model whilst at the same time minimising overheads. This delicate balancing act is at the root of the majority of emerging trends within the industry, and is driving a movement towards a more efficient and holistic type of contact centre.

A 360° Approach to Customer Service
Contact centres are quickly starting to realise that the legacy systems that have been in place for many years are no longer able to facilitate the level of service delivery required by today’s customer. New systems and processes are now being implemented with a view to empowering contact centre agents, and providing them with a more holistic overview of the customer.

Multi-channel systems, which allow agents to pull information from a variety of sources such as e-mail, fax and social media, are fast becoming must-haves within the contact centre environment. These systems help to paint a more holistic picture of the customer, with all previous incidents and queries easily traceable, thereby enabling agents to have a better grasp of any issue at hand.

Over and above this, these systems can result in significantly lowered costs, as managing a variety of systems and vendors – and ensuring integration across all of these – can end up being not only a labour-intensive exercise, but also a costly one.

Multi-point hardware systems are also being slowly phased out in favour of all-in-one software applications, which offer contact centres far greater levels of flexibility. The built-in reporting and monitoring capacity offered by such applications affords contact centres the option to decentralise their operations and significantly reduce utility costs by having agents working from home.

Increased local broadband connectivity is now making the home-based agent model a realistic alternative for South African contact centres, many of whom are electing to move in this direction so as to minimise expenditure and improve levels of agent satisfaction and retention.

Increased Integration
Companies aiming to achieve high levels of first call resolution are beginning to understand the necessity of a more integrated approach to customer service – one that doesn’t begin and end with the contact centre agent.

Unified communications solutions are helping organisations to gradually merge their front and back offices in order to create a more integrated, holistic customer service model.

Such solutions now enable contact centre agents to interact with relevant experts within the organisation, allowing them to pose real-time questions or even conference the expert into a call in order to provide further assistance.

By involving all employees in the customer service chain, queries can be resolved far more speedily, and the onus no longer falls entirely on the agent, who might not be appropriately qualified to deal with enquiries of a more specialist nature.

The Self-Help Model
With agents representing the contact centre’s most expensive operational cost, organisations are now looking for ways in which they can move workload into an automated environment without compromising service levels.

Voice and web self-service initiatives have already been widely implemented, allowing customers to access back-end systems either via vocal instruction or customised website interfaces.

Companies are also now starting to harness the power of online communities, establishing help forums that essentially enable users to assist each other. Systems like this have been made popular by the likes of Apple and many mobile phone companies, and often end up being the first port of call for web-savvy and social-media users looking for assistance.

Queries appearing on such customer self-service or social communities can be monitored from a central point, with contact centre agents able to step in and provide assistance when necessary. However, as these communities are largely self-sufficient, they can end up greatly reducing pressure placed on contact centre employees.

A New Era of Customer Service
The needs of the modern customer are slowly ushering in a new era for the contact centre, which is being forced to move away from traditional systems and processes in order to optimise service delivery.

Advancing technology has made this new, more integrated contact centre a realistic possibility, and is allowing organisations to adapt their service offerings to the needs of their customers, whilst at the same time reducing their operational costs.

About Interactive Intelligence
Interactive Intelligence Group Inc. (Nasdaq: ININ) is a global provider of contact center automation, unified communications, and business process automation software and services. The company’s unified IP business communications solutions, which can be deployed on-premise or via the cloud, are ideal for industries such as financial services, insurance, outsourcers, collections, and utilities. Interactive Intelligence was founded in 1994 and has more than 4,500 customers worldwide. The company is among Forbes Magazine’s 2011 Best Small Companies in America and Software Magazine’s 2011 Top 500 Global Software and Service Providers. It employs more than 1,000 people and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The company has offices throughout North America, Latin America, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific. Interactive Intelligence can be reached at +1 317.872.3000 or info@inin.com; on the Net: www.inin.com.

This release may contain certain forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially are described in the company's SEC filings.

Interactive Intelligence is the owner of the marks INTERACTIVE INTELLIGENCE, its associated LOGO and numerous other marks. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.

Product Information Contact:
Mr. Shaheen Haque
Turkey & Middle East Territory Manager
Interactive Intelligence Middle East
Dubai, UAE
Direct phone: +971(4) 4347217
Mobile: +971 (50) 4573186
Email: shaheen.haque@inin.com

Media Contact:
Colin Saldanha
PROCRE8
Villa 41, 81-d Street, Uptown Mirdif
P.O. Box 78835, Dubai
United Arab Emirates

This release was published on openPR.