When it comes to contact centers, U.S. companies are more technology-conscious compared to their counterparts in the U.K., according to a survey.
The report did not focus specifically on contrasting U.S. call center performance against other countries, but Mark Smith, executive vice president at Portrait Software, says it uncovered significant insight into the role of the call center within these organizations and their strategies for the future. To this end, several key differences between U.S. and U.K. call centers came to light.
For one, the emphasis on service and brand-building is stronger among U.K. respondents than those in the U.S., but present in both markets. While 31% of U.K. respondents feel that the call center is a critical tool for brand-building, only 16% of U.S. respondents feel this is the case. The most popular choice among U.S. respondents was “Troubleshooting hub.”
Also, U.S. respondents were more enthusiastic about their automated tools than U.K. respondents; 49% of U.S. call centers rated themselves highly in using automated tools to help front line staff manage high-need or low-profit customers, as opposed to 35% of U.K respondents.
What’s more, 47% of U.S. respondents gave high ratings for “using automated tools to help frontline staff make tailored decisions for each customer,” as opposed to 28% of U.K. respondents.
And with regard to priorities and trends, U.K. respondents have a wider range of priorities for the next 12 months, and are much more likely to prioritize improving the connection between brand and service. Fifty-eight percent of the U.K. survey participants prioritize aligning customer interaction with overall brand strategy, compared to 31% of U.S. respondents.