It’s Time to Eliminate the Contact Center Silo

While we regularly discuss the power of the contact centre, it’s important to remember this CX landscape doesn’t exist in a vacuum.

Companies used to traditionally separate their contact centre environment from the rest of the business. However, this frequently led to various issues, including an inconsistent brand message and image.

Contact centres aren’t just environments dedicated to making sales calls and serving customers when purchasing or service issues occur.

These environments represent the crucial bridge between brands and their consumers. The contact centre is where relationships are built with loyal clients and customers are transformed into brand advocates.

The contact centre is where relationships are built with loyal clients, and customers are transformed into brand advocates. The only way to ensure you’re sending the right message with your contact centre; is to ensure it’s fully integrated into the rest of your business.

What is a Contact Centre Silo?

Silos have been a severe problem for companies for some time now. Companies were divided into different departments (marketing, sales, IT, etc.), each with an essential role to play in the growth and success of the business.

While each team has its distinct focus, there’s often significant overlap between the information they access and use.

For instance, your sales team needs to know what marketing materials your customers respond to, in order to follow up and have meaningful discussions.. Your service team needs timely access to full details about your product and how it works to fix common problems, and so on.

Unfortunately, it’s easy for silos to form between different groups in your workforce when you’re not careful.

When they occur, the flow of information and understanding in your workplace becomes stunted, often creating various overlapping and contrasting viewpoints. When the contact centre is disconnected from the rest of the workplace due to silos, agents can’t get a complete understanding of:

• The various stages of the customer or client journey
• Preferences of the target audience and which channels they use
• The kind of language your customers expect to hear

Overcoming The Dangers of Contact Centre Silos

While siloed mentalities have long been a concern for the contact centre, the issue has grown increasingly significant in recent years.

The pandemic and the rise of remote and hybrid working have led to a wide range of newly distributed teams. These teams can create an “out of sight, out of mind” approach to the flow of knowledge, making silos even worse.

With teams separated by location or job description, companies must ensure they still have access to the same information, tools, and resources.

Silo mentalities are an epidemic in all kinds of organizations, leading to inconsistent experiences for your target audience, a disjointed view of the customer journey, and a less-than-perfect brand image.

Fortunately, there are ways to eliminate the stress of the silo in the modern contact centre. Increasingly flexible tools and technologies like CCaaS solutions and software in the cloud can allow businesses to build all-in-one technology environments for their workforce, ensuring they have access to the same tools wherever they are.

Other solutions capable of eliminating the silo issue include:

• Wallboards and Dashboards: Offering instant access to real-time and historical information. wallboards and dashboards keep all team members, including those in the contact centre, informed with the same crucial data.
• Transparent Communication: Transparent communication from leadership, including newsletters, broadcasts, and announcements about important information, help to keep your teams on the same page. With transparent communication, business leaders can keep the workforce focused on shared goals and targets.
• Improved Collaboration: Collaborative tools built into the workplace technology gives your team members a more convenient way to interact with staff from other parts of the workforce. Giving your employees a way to conveniently interact with each other in both business and social settings helps break down walls between teams.

Start Breaking Down Contact Centre Silos

The contact centre has long had a negative reputation for being a “cost centre” in the business landscape. However, as companies become increasingly focused on the importance of customer experience for business growth, the contact centre has more value than ever.

Ensuring your contact centre professionals are a crucial part of the wider business and supporting them with the proper selection of tools is vital.

Don’t leave your contact centre out in the cold. Eliminate the silos and start discovering the benefits the appropriate guidance, support, and technology can bring to your business operations.

Author: Guest Author