As 2024 comes to a close, CCW Digital took a look back at some of the trends we noticed across contact center operations and innovations.
1) Self-service still has room for improvement
Self-service remains a polarizing topic, with successful implementations leading to frictionless, efficient customer interactions and suboptimal implementations generating frustration. In June, we found that the top pain point for customers was difficulty getting in touch with a live person, followed by having to deal with automated platforms that aren’t helpful. Throughout the year, it became clear that a gap has widened between the powerful things self-service is capable of and the types of experiences customers actually want. Looking to 2025, we can expect the high-performing contact centers to test and analyze their self-service mechanisms within an omnichannel environment until customers make it clear self-service is their go-to channel.
2) AI for agents is here to stay
Leaders agree that agent assist is one of the most important tools for empowering agent satisfaction and performance. Agent assist has proven exceedingly useful in freeing up agent time and energy to offer the human touch that we know customers appreciate. While automation alone doesn’t always deliver improved customer experiences, automating information retrieval seamlessly fits into existing workflows. Agentic AI and other AI-to-AI communication tools are promising opportunities for agents to be more efficient in the way they spend their time without compromising the quality of customer experiences.
3) AHT has lost its luster
One of the former gold standards for service, average handle time (AHT) has been steadily deprioritized this year as more dynamic measures take center stage. In our November market study Future of the Contact Center, only 59% of contact center leaders predicted AHT will be more important in 2025. It is clear that the way of measuring customer experiences has changed, with time spent on the phone or on chat with agents representing only a fraction of their experiences. Customer satisfaction remains king, and we can expect to see more dynamic, qualitative metrics becoming decision drivers as more organizations adopt a truly omnichannel customer contact strategy.
4) Contact center leaders have more responsibilities than ever
We have covered many new, exciting platforms and technologies that have changed the landscape of customer experiences this year. It is important to be aware of how these tools can enhance or detract from customer experiences using information about both the customers and the hindrances every contact center has when it comes to implementing new technology. One major trend that has emerged in 2024 is the responsibility of contact center leaders to not only research and advise, but actually make decisions and select the tools that will be used.
5) Maintaining a dynamic agent force is critical
When it came to staffing and managing an agent work force, 2024 saw a myriad of challenges. After several years of murmurs that AI and automation would take agents’ jobs, numerous organizations underwent mass layoffs. At the same time, retention is a major challenge contact center leaders regularly face. In the past Voice of the Employee (VoE) programs were perceived as a “nice-to-have” or a benefit of a particularly thoughtful organization. This year has proved them necessary, as they provide invaluable information that can keep employees working, engaged, and motivated. As the agent role becomes more specialized and hard skills-driven, contact center leaders should expect to prioritize such programs.
Image by Kaique Rocha on Pexels.