COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.,
Aug. 15, 2017 /PRNewswire/
-- Today the International Customer Management Institute
(ICMI) and Oracle released a new research report, Next
Generation Service: The Role of AI, IoT and Automation in Contact
Center Transformation. The report focuses on cutting-edge
technologies that are rapidly infiltrating today's contact centers
and how they are changing the customer experience in new and
positive ways. With evolving technologies come new expectations,
and this research report explores how organizations are adapting to
new advancements, including self-service options, artificial
intelligence, connected devices and more.
To download the research report, please visit:
icmi.com/Resources/Research
By analyzing survey data from over 300 contact center
professionals, the ICMI and Oracle teams uncovered trends that
point to the future of the Contact Center.
Use of AI and IoT Technologies Increases Customer Service
Experience
According to the research, within the next 6-12 months, 57
percent of organizations intend to support or offer IoT/connected
technologies, a 21 percent increase. In regards to AI, 41 percent
of respondents expect their contact centers' use of bots/AI to
increase in the next 12-18 months.
This change in perception is linked to the benefits of using new
technologies. Organizations offering IoT/connected technologies
reported a 50 percent increase in customer satisfaction, while 44
percent of organizations offering IoT/connected technologies
reported satisfaction remaining the same.
"The increased presence of connected devices and artificial
intelligence in the contact center is inevitable. Contact centers
are wise to look toward the future and make it a priority to adopt
new technologies that support these capabilities," said
Justin Robbins, group director,
content & community, ICMI. "The benefits of adopting these new
technologies will be realized from the executive office to the
frontline employee to the individual customer and will have a major
impact on the entire customer service experience."
Contact Centers Slow to Adopt AI and IoT Technologies
IoT and connected product data can enable an organization or
contact center to completely differentiate themselves in the
service experience. There is a major competitive advantage to
adopting these new technologies and more than half of the consumers
surveyed, 58 percent, own at least one connected device, while only
36 percent of contact centers currently support connected
technologies. This lack of adoption parallels other facets of
future technologies as 65 percent of contact centers remain
reluctant to utilize Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Leveraging Data Remains Top Challenge for Contact
Centers
As contact centers embrace advanced technologies they will have
to accurately leverage the information that they collect.
Currently, only about half of all contact centers surveyed are
leveraging the data from connected devices and 51 percent of
contact centers use data from connected sources to empower contact
center managers with real-time metrics, KPIs and customer data.
Furthermore, 47 percent of contact centers are unable to use
data from their connected sources to identify or resolve a detected
problem.
Other key findings include:
- Within the next year, the percentage of organizations
supporting IoT is expected to jump from 36 percent to 57
percent.
- Two-thirds (67%) of contact centers have had to train agents to
handle customer interactions differently because they now offer or
support IoT/connected technologies.
- Offering or supporting IoT/connected technologies increased
agent satisfaction in 40 percent of contact centers, while 53
percent report satisfaction remaining the same.
- Fifty-two percent of organizations consider service to be their
primary competitive differentiator; 31 percent considered it to be
their product, while just 17 percent considered it to be their
price.
To collect data for this report, ICMI and Oracle surveyed 354
contact center professionals from a variety of business sectors
including Communications, Financial, Healthcare, Legal and Retail.
Seventy-nine percent of the survey respondents were made up of
executives, directors and managers, with the remaining 21 percent
filled by supervisors, analysts and consultants.
For more information about ICMI, please visit: icmi.com
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About ICMI
The International Customer Management
Institute (ICMI) is the leading global provider of comprehensive
resources for customer management professionals -- from frontline
agents to executives -- who wish to improve customer experiences
and increase efficiencies at every level of the contact center.
Since 1985, ICMI has helped more than 50,000 organizations in 167
countries through training, events, consulting, and informational
resources. ICMI's experienced and dedicated team of industry
insiders, trainers, and consultants are committed to helping you
raise the strategic value of your contact center, optimize your
operations and improve your customer service. ICMI is organized by
UBM plc. UBM is the largest pure-play B2B Events organizer in the
world. Our 3,750+ people, based in more than 20 countries, serve
more than 50 different sectors. Our deep knowledge and passion for
these sectors allow us to create valuable experiences which enable
our customers to succeed. Please visit www.ubm.com for
the latest news and information about UBM.
About Oracle
The Oracle Cloud offers complete SaaS
application suites for ERP, HCM and CX, plus best-in-class database
Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a
Service (IaaS) from data centers throughout the Americas,
Europe and Asia. For more information about Oracle
(NYSE:ORCL), please visit us at oracle.com.
Trademarks
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of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of
their respective owners.
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SOURCE International Customer Management Institute (ICMI)