22 Sweet Stats and Facts Looking at the Future of Call Centers

Call Center Week (CCW) just released an interesting market study, titled The Future of the Call Center, to help the industry prepare for the year ahead. Between October and November of 2022, they surveyed different call and contact center professionals from a variety of industries and company sizes to get their input on their 2023 challenges and goals. Respondents came from positions like:

• Customer experience director
• Customer service operations manager
• Vice president of operations
• Vice president of consumer experience
• Head of customer excellence
• and more…
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The result of this survey was a 68-page report packed with interesting information to help call and contact centers deliver even better customer experiences in the year ahead. But since it’s a busy time of year for everyone, we took the liberty of summarizing all the juicy data highlights here. We’re saying goodbye to a successful 2022 with these 22 forward-looking call center statistics from Call Center Week’s latest market study. 

Call Centers Wants to Lead Digital Transformation by Example

1 “65% of contact centers say they have a growing responsibility to lead digital engagement.”

Digital Self-Service & Agent-Led Engagement Likely to Increase 

2 “A whopping 92% of companies expect digital self-service engagement to increase in 2023” 

3 “86% say the same of agent-led digital engagement like live chat and messaging.” 

4 “By comparison, only 39% anticipate an increase in phone communication.”

Addressing Most Customer Pain Points is a Top Priority

5 “The majority of brands – 63%, to be specific – are focusing on reducing wait times.” 

6 “Just over 48% will focus on reducing repetitive questions and frequent transfers.”

7-8 “On the other hand, a mere 22% plan to address limited support hours and only 15% will increase the availability of live agents.”

Limited Customer Data is Preventing Personalization

9 “Insofar as only 15% of customers feel their typical brand experiences are personalized, the emphasis on personalization is logical and timely.” 

10 “Efforts to personalize will, of course, benefit from investments into data analysis and unification.”

11 “Limited customer intelligence is the #1 culprit behind impersonal experiences.”

More Data, Knowledge, Analysis & Personalization Next Year

12 “Sixty-five percent (65%) of companies are setting the goal of meaningfully improving knowledge in the coming year.” 

13-14 “Other top priorities include elevating customer data collection and analysis (55%) and increasing personalization (52%).”

15-17 “Other growing responsibilities concern capturing valuable customer data (57%), driving more sales (53%), and driving more loyalty and customer lifetime value (53%).”

Remote Work Will Increase in Call Centers

18 “62% of contact centers plan to offer more remote work opportunities in 2023.”

19 “58% will meaningfully commit to more customized learning opportunities.”

20-21 “Other comparatively popular flexibility focuses concern the opportunity to span functions (39%) and the opportunity to work non-traditional shifts (37%).”

Tech to Help Call Centers Weather Resourcing Challenges

22 “Resourcing will continue to be a core theme in 2023 and technology can help employers address these challenges.”

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We’re wishing everyone happy holidays, and remember to be kind to all of the much-appreciated and essential call center employees you may interact with this season!

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Image Credits

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Feature Image: Unsplash/Zero Take

Images 1-3: Chart screenshots taken December 2022 via CCW.