The 2020 ISG Provider Lens™ Contact Center – Customer Experience Services report for the
“The transition to remote work is requiring big adjustments for agents and supervisors alike,” said
While dealing with this unexpected disruption, the
These trends are emerging against the backdrop of dramatic, global changes in consumer behavior triggered by COVID-19. Call volumes have soared in some industries, such as travel and insurance, and fallen in others, such as retail. In some cases, call wait times have increased exponentially and bandwidth issues in the home environment have led to disconnections and customer frustration.
These issues have led consumers of all ages to turn toward digital channels such as social media and asynchronous messaging, with some software vendors reporting a 300 percent increase in the use of these channels versus traditional voice. Though triggered by the pandemic, these changes are likely to be irreversible, the report says. Faced with this rapid shift, companies have accelerated their adoption of omnichannel strategies to provide the best, most personalized customer experience in a bid to retain brand loyalty.
The pandemic has also heightened interest in cloud contact centers, which have become a priority even for legacy-heavy companies. Providers that have already adopted cloud platforms were able to quickly shift to work-from-home with minimal disruptions, the report says. Cloud data center solutions embedded with technologies such as analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning can make it easier to provide more personalized, omnichannel experiences. Companies that use technology to deliver a better customer experience will be able to differentiate themselves in this space, ISG says.
The move toward remote work has increased the use of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) arrangements, which in turn has raised new security concerns. Companies are adopting several new technologies to strengthen work-from-home security, including facial recognition, voice biometrics, screen monitoring and robust use of VPNs, ISG says. AI is expected to play a growing role in enhancing remote security.
In addition, the pandemic has led to a sharp spike in the use of automation, which is becoming a necessity, according to the report. When agents were being shifted to the new remote work model, many companies turned to AI or chatbots to handle basic queries, and this gave them a great advantage. Most call centers now are looking to scale up their automation capabilities, ISG says.
The 2020 ISG Provider Lens™ Contact Center – Customer Experience Services report for the
The report names nine providers as leaders:
A customized version of the report is available from Hexaware.
The 2020 ISG Provider Lens™ Contact Center – Customer Experience Services report for the
About ISG Provider Lens™ Research
The ISG Provider Lens™ Quadrant research series is the only service provider evaluation of its kind to combine empirical, data-driven research and market analysis with the real-world experience and observations of ISG's global advisory team. Enterprises will find a wealth of detailed data and market analysis to help guide their selection of appropriate sourcing partners, while ISG advisors use the reports to validate their own market knowledge and make recommendations to ISG's enterprise clients. The research currently covers providers offering their services globally, across
A companion research series, the ISG Provider Lens Archetype reports, offers a first-of-its-kind evaluation of providers from the perspective of specific buyer types.
Starting this year, each ISG Provider Lens™ study will include a Global Summary to help enterprise subscribers better understand provider capabilities across all geographic markets covered by that study. All ISG Provider Lens™ reports also will now include an Enterprise Context feature to help executives quickly identify key insights related to their roles and responsibilities.
About ISG
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Source:Will Thoretz Information Services Group, Inc. +1 203 517 3119 Will.Thoretz@isg-one.comJim Baptiste Matter Communications for ISG +1 978 518 4527 jbaptiste@matternow.com
2020 GlobeNewswire, Inc., source