Data scientists are increasingly sought after, with companies paying a premium to attract individuals with analytical, statistical, and technical skills to use a range of technology to improve overall Customer Experience.
As important as these individuals are, there is another overlooked group that has the potential to deliver some of the work done by data scientists. Indeed, it can be argued that this group of individuals are uniquely placed and qualified to blend insights and information in a way that can enhance the customer journey and experience. With data analytics now more advanced than ever, are contact centre managers set to become the new data scientists?
Mapping the customer journey through analytics
Organisations are increasingly seeking to become more customer-centric and in-step with the needs and expectations of end users. To become customer-centric you need to know your customers. To know your customers, you need to understand how they engage and interact with your brand, products, and services across multiple channels.
That has typically involved customer journey mapping, however there is another approach that can be used to rapidly perfect and refine Customer Experience. Utilising big data, advanced analytics, natural language processing, and functional expertise, journey analytics leverages millions of data points across customers, channels, and touch points to bring the customer journey into sharp focus.
Crucially, it draws on a critical set of data points and insights that are priceless – actual customer interactions as well as solicited and unsolicited feedback in which customers, in their own words, talk about their experiences, likes, and dislikes.
Incorporating the contact centre into journey analytics
Customer service agents spend their entire working day on the phone and online with customers. This invariably gives them a unique insight into customer issues and behaviours, however it does not allow them to see the whole picture. By contrast, contact centre managers have the ability to take a broader perspective, based on their knowledge of the business, corporate goals, and objectives to take these insights and utilise journey analytics to understand how certain actions and approaches in the customer support function can directly impact on outcomes.
With multiple sources of customer feedback data – from digital and physical interactions, voice transcripts, CRM data, loyalty programmes, and purchase behaviour to name but a few – it is easy to understand how difficult it can be to rise above the information to get a clearer view.
With new data analytics capabilities appearing in customer contact platforms, it is now possible for contact centre managers to undertake sophisticated analytics based on this type of information, to deliver a much more tailored and focused service. More importantly, these new capabilities allow contact centre managers to take a view across multiple sources and appreciate the magnitude and breadth of issues regardless of the channel or touchpoint.
This unsiloed perspective can shed new light on Customer Experience in a relatively easy manner and allow managers to adjust and amend the service that customers receive, based on accurate, reliable data, and insights.
Discovering the data scientists in the shadows
In today’s customer-centric, data-driven world, experience is fast becoming the key differentiator that will mark out brands and determine loyalty. Contact centres are already on the front-line of this battle so it makes sense to build on this by empowering contact centre managers.
Their knowledge and experience, coupled with the advanced capabilities available in modern contact centre analytics platforms, provide a means for organisations to better anticipate and facilitate a more rounded and engaging Customer Experience.
Journey analytics, when used correctly, can help organisations uncover customer emotions and friction points; drive a more collaborative approach throughout the organisation; and ultimately deliver an effective change management tool. Contact centres are at the forefront of this new approach.
Data scientists have a part to play but contact centres are set to become the lynchpin in helping organisations understand and drive new levels of Customer Experience. If you look closely within the contact centre, you will see there are data scientists lurking in the shadows waiting to be unleashed.