Unified communications vendors are making promises about transforming the call center into a place where calls are resolved the first time, where customers are satisfied, and where costs go down and profits go up. However, the process is not very easy. Deploying unified communications in the call center, in a way that extends customer service into the broader enterprise, requires a transformation not just for the call center but for the business as a whole.
'There are fundamental changes that need to be made before unified communications becomes widespread and successful,' said Paul Stockford, chief analyst at Saddletree Research Inc. in Cave City, Ariz. 'There needs to be a change in attitude as to who's a customer service rep.'
The argument for unified communications in the call center generally focuses on the ability of call center agents to use VoIP, presence and calendaring tools to find subject-matter experts within the organization and route calls to them directly, thereby solving a customer's problem immediately and adequately.
Part of the challenge is cultural differences between departments. Forced to rein in costs and justify expenditures for years, call centers have become adept at measuring employee performance. Average handle time, first call resolution and call recording, and feedback mechanisms that allow customers to rate the interaction they just had, are clear metrics that provide a measure of how the customer service operation is performing. Other employees unfamiliar with call center metrics and technology may struggle to adapt. And the current unified communications vendors aren't likely to offer much help in that regard, according to Keith Dawson, senior analyst with San Antonio-based Frost & Sullivan.
'Most of those things don't originate in telephony or unified communications technology, they originate in agent workforce-based tools,' Dawson said. 'It's not a communication technology, it's a human resources set. In talking to call centers about unified communications, they need to know how that's going to improve their workforce, reduce call time, things like that. I don't think those issues have been addressed.'
When it comes to the technology, integrating unified communications with the call center presents a dilemma between the call center software provider and the infrastructure vendor. Currently, it is the infrastructure companies making the pitch for call centers and unified communications, but many foresee the applications vendors joining the game.
'I think we're going to see some reinvention of what call centers do -- by application vendors like the ERP, resource planning companies,' said Bern Elliott, vice president and distinguished analyst with Gartner. 'I think they're going to license and acquire to get the proper functionality. I would imagine you would see something like an SAP SME package powered by Avaya or powered by Genesys.'
The fact that the vendor landscape is still sorting itself out is no reason to delay investing, according to experts in the field. Companies are finding a competitive advantage now by using unified communications in conjunction with their call centers.