How should sales, marketing, IT and customer service collaborate to deliver a better customer service experience? What are the trends that will dominate the contact center industry by 2017? Are you aware of the trends that are shaping customer service in 2016? What are the top 10 challenges the contact center industry is facing today, and how can you fix them? How can the ROI of customer experience be maximized? Find answers to all these questions and many more on this week’s Contact Center Perspectives. We are sure you will have a great time going through them!

3 Keys for Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service Collaboration(www.destinationcrm.com) 

Customers today have more access to information about the product they want to buy than ever before. They have a whole lot of options to research everything about a product, such as its capabilities, price, options, etc. This availability of information combined with research helps the customer to make a very informed decision.

This situation is demanding that the sales department work in tandem with marketing, customer service, and IT teams to create a competitive advantage, based on sales and customer information and analytics.

In this article, the author has explained how to align each of the departments to create an excellent customer service experience:

• Using Content as a Cross-Departmental Bridge.
• Collecting Customer Data to Drive Predictive Intelligence into Sales.

3 Keys for Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service Collaboration https://t.co/HF8YLnFfiA via @CRM

— Shep Hyken (@Hyken) June 14, 2016

Five Contact Center Trends That Will Dominate the Market by 2017(www.nearshoreamericas.com)

The correct use of social media platforms, omnichannel, cloud-based contact centers, and introducing virtual agents are going to be some of the biggest trends in the contact center business, and will dominate the contact center industry by 2017.

Contact center leaders will be required to conduct precise planning and exercise foresight to integrate these emerging trends, while the benefits will be significant for customers.

Read this interesting article to learn more about the five biggest contact center trends:

1. Omnichannel
2. Cloud-based Contact Centers
3. Virtual Agents
4. Social Media
5. Self-service

5 Contact Center Trends That Will Dominate the Market by 2017 – Nearshore Americas: 5 Contact Center Trends T… https://t.co/iUmgmJvQT5

— Contact|Call Center (@contactcenter) June 14, 2016

4 Tech Trends Shaping Customer Service in 2016 and Beyond(www.business2community.com)

Every business should have an urgency to understand the customer query and find answers quickly to discover a solution. However, with recent trends in the contact center industry, organizations must find innovative ways to manage the customer experience and customer satisfaction.

Find out in this article how customer service trends such as mobile connectivity, self-service portals, improved human interactions, and refined virtual agents are interconnected and important for any company’s long-term success.

4 Tech Trends Shaping Customer Service in 2016 and Beyond by @TechBlocks https://t.co/3bWNaqG55W via @B2Community

— Richard J Snow (@rjsnowvr) June 13, 2016

The Contact Centre Manifesto(www.callcentrehelper.com)

What are the top 10 challenges the contact center industry is facing today, and how can they be fixed?

The members of the Call Centre Management Association (CCMA) came together to discuss what the specific changes and initiatives are that contact center leaders can take to help drive the industry towards a brighter future.

Some of the points discussed in this article are:

• How to understand why customers are contacting you
• How to involve agents in strategy
• How to identify the most common customer issues and fix them
• How to drive the voice of the customer into the wider business for real change
• How to train team leaders

The Contact Centre Manifesto https://t.co/oK9nnlkZUU via @callcentrehelp

— Carolyn Blunt (@CarolynBlunt) June 16, 2016

CIO workshop: ROI of customer experience(www.zdnet.com)

Determining the meaning and quantifying the value or ROI are the two issues associated with customer experience. A recent study was conducted to show the business value of customer experience. The results from the study show that methodical investments in customer experience help to maximize ROI.

Some of the key findings from the study include:

• US $3 return on investment expected for every $1 invested in customer experience
• Almost six in ten (58%) have seen increased customer satisfaction over the last 12 months
• Close to four in ten (37%) have seen improved sales cycles

https://twitter.com/TCELab/status/742704203836076033

We hope you enjoyed this week’s Contact Center Perspectives. Be sure to respond in the comments, tweet us @VOZIQ or follow us on LinkedIn.