Contact Center Technology Trends 2024

As we gear up for 2024, enterprises across the board are revisiting the ups and downs of their business and the industry at large. The contact center trends too, changed completely driven by the pandemic. 2020-21 saw most contact centers make a shift to cloud contact center software. And if one is to go by indications, contact center trends for 2024, signal a whole new wave coming. New technologies are flooding the market with an intent to help the call center and contact center industry address its myriad challenges.

The industry is looking forward to a new year full of personalized solutions, advanced contact center technology, and conversational AI. So, what contact center technology trends can one expect in 2024. Let’s find out!

Contact Center Technology Trends in 2024

• Omnichannel Support

Today, the age group of customers is diversified and people across age groups are active on various communication channels such as emails, calls, messaging, chat, and so on. They reach out to companies through all these channels and do not like to repeat themselves when switching channels. Moving past the contact center technology trends, they will have to cater to this demand for omnichannel service.

• AI technology

Call centers will continue to harness the benefits of artificial intelligence to streamline their internal processes. AI-enhanced contact center technology goes beyond making the work of agents easy and streamlined. AI technology will get a solid grip making it to the list in call center technology trends, as both agent and customer experience driver, through augmented accuracy and optimizing efficiency and speed.

• Analytics

With call centers and contact centers becoming the face of most companies, the call volumes they handle are huge. They can no longer rely on floor managers’ skills to track agent performance and customer satisfaction. Demand for contact center technology that can churn out real-time performance reports, analyze various parameters, and enable companies to implement change with ease in real-time will continue to rise. As a game-changer, analytics also occupies a pivotal position in call center trends 2024. 

• Video chat 

As the world is becoming more and more digitized, adding an element of human touch to interactions is now more important than ever. Video chat assistance is the next big thing. Customers these days are demanding chat options or interaction via a video platform with an agent to resolve more complex issues. Though such requests are rare, enterprises can expect a rise in demand for such requests in the future. Keeping up with the contact centers technology trends of today, you must invest in technologies that support such capabilities.

• Cloud technology 

The pandemic accelerated the remote working momentum. Businesses realized the many benefits of remote work in terms of cost-saving, increased productivity, flexibility to hire a resource based in different cities, and more. Cloud-based contact center software with various advanced built-in features made the transition of the on-premises workforce to remote seamless. The agility, flexibility, diversity, and cost savings (no office infrastructure cost, telephone hardware cost, installation, in-house IT support team cost) cloud technology brought to the business made it quite popular. In the future, one will see more companies adopting cloud technology.

• Remote/Hybrid work support 

With online consumerism on the rise, 2023 saw customers demand quick resolution to their queries, high-quality customer assistance, and seamless ways to connect remotely. The trend does not seem to fade in 2024, with a new variant of the virus staring in our faces. By 2024, contact centers will have to invest in technologies like VoIP systems, SMS service, chats, and so on. In short, technologies that support remote customer service.

• Chatbots

2022-23, witnessed chatbots as the preferred mode to communicate before making any purchase online. One could see this trend both on e-commerce sites and social media pages. With online shopping anticipated to grow in 2024, chatbot customer service is here to stay. 2024 will be all about evolving the technology to make it better and more human-like.

• Data privacy

Millennials, Gen Z are all ‘digital natives’. With so much of their information out there in the digital space, they are becoming more and more concerned about their data privacy. The last decade saw some big scandals on the data breaches. As the new age customer becomes more conscious and aware about “data privacy”  call centers need to ensure that they keep consumer data confidential and secure. Investing in training employees about the importance of data privacy, and updating technology to ensure data security will be important in 2024.

• Social media

Social media is one platform where a business gets to interact with its customers in real-time. Investing in technology where your team can access what people are discussing about your business will be important in the future. Building a positive online image is important in today’s digital world. Investing in contact center technologies that enable agents to timely respond to customer queries and provide prompt resolution of issues raised on social media handles will be a focus for businesses and contact center technology trends for 2024. The platform also presents enterprises with an opportunity where they can proactively resolve issues even before they arise by educating consumers on the finer nuances of their product and services and setting expectations right.

• Self-service

The new-gen customer is tech-savvy and independent. Most of them are comfortable and rather enjoy getting information about a product/service/company using the tools available on the website, customer portals such as control panel, and knowledge bases. Technological capabilities such as IVR, chat, and messaging apps to get general information such as order status, tracking ID, refund status, etc. is something customers prefer as it means no long call hold and waiting times. Contact centers have also come to realize that integrating such features help them curb call volumes to a large extent, at the same time customers feel engaged. 

• Digital Training Tools

A well-trained contact center team is essential for delivering a stellar customer experience. However, with a shift to remote and hybrid work culture, full-day classroom training sessions are no more an option. Companies are now looking at short training module formats and leveraging technology to deliver the same. On-demand training videos, self-paced training modules, gamification, AI-driven training simulations are on the rise and the trend seems to get only bigger and better in 2024.

The way forward

As industries across the globe take baby steps towards normalcy, the future still seems to be uncertain. There have been many learnings on the way and the contact center industry has evolved for good beyond what any of us could imagine. In the future technologies such as ‘business continuity’ and ‘customer experience’ will be the prime focus of contact centers. These contact center technology trends for 2024, are likely to gain more prominence in the coming months. 

To understand, if these can be ingrained in your contact center solution too, get in touch with us.