A Customer Experience Magazine (CXM) feature: Contact centres at a crossroads
The contact centre has been the bedrock of customer experience strategy (and source of customer frustration) for the last 35 years. But will the advent of AI change all of that? What is the evolution of the contact centre now set to look like?
We’re pleased to share insights on the topic from Sat Sanghera, the CEO of IPI.
How do you currently view the state of contact centres (especially in post-pandemic relevance) in recent years?
The pandemic forced contact centres to adapt rapidly to remote work arrangements, challenging traditional notions of supervision and team dynamics. Seemingly overnight, contact centre teams went from having hundreds of agents in one building, with supervisors walking the floor and giving feedback in the moment, to everyone having to work separately from home. Whilst this shift initially posed operational challenges, it also spurred innovation, leading to the adoption of new technologies and work-from-home strategies.
However, the transition to remote work also exposed vulnerabilities, particularly in terms of security and maintaining a cohesive organisational culture. The absence of face-to-face interaction highlighted the importance of fostering connections and collaboration among remote teams, particularly as the sector looks to counter the high rates of attrition it is prone to.
Today, the contact centre industry is at a real turning point. There is a lot more thought being channelled into investing in agent well-being, and an understanding that by investing in the employee experience within the contact centre, brands can enhance the overall customer service. From a technological standpoint, the readiness of enablement technology has also eased this process.
Key to future success will be bringing each of these things – the people and the technology – together.
Read the full interview at CXM to learn more on the future of AI in contact centres, what it means for agents, how to deliver exceptional experiences with data and other technologies, and what the evolution of contact centres will look like over the next 5 years.
Sat joined IPI in an advisory capacity for business growth in 2019, before moving to the role of CEO in December 2020, bringing over 20 years of multinational tech leadership experience to the role.
Prior to joining IPI, Sat co-founded European Contact Centre solutions and services organisation, DatapointEurope, which was sold in 2017. Previously, Sat has held global sales leadership and product development roles, has held a number of board advisory roles at leading technology organisations, and has worked as a technology M&A advisor.
As CEO at IPI, Sat follows five key guiding principles: people, clients, propositions, fiscal and operational brilliance. IPI is shaped around these principles, enabling its people to create intelligent and innovative Contact Centre solutions that deliver exceptional experiences to its clients and customers.
