Contact centres finally becoming profit centres too

Stronger integration of customer data, online customer service and company brand values seen as critical for turning large business to consumer call centres into revenue generators

Large B2C organisations are shifting the focus of their call centres to become revenue generators rather than simply answering customer queries or executing transaction requests, according to research findings unveiled by Portrait Software.

Conducted by Loudhouse Research, the independent study surveyed strategic decision-makers at UK and US in-house call centers and found that 69% of large B2C organisations view their call centres as business-critical revenue generators.

To meet this growing demand for call centres to deliver revenues, 60% of respondents cited the need for better integration of inter-departmental customer data as a key focus for the next 12 months. In particular, the need to integrate call centre data with online customer service was seen as a primary focus for the next 12 months, with 54% of decision makers citing this as a key challenge for the year ahead.

With more and more consumers opting out of outbound marketing (mail, email and telephone), organisations are looking to maximise all inbound customer interactions. Call centre staff are increasingly expected to pursue new real-time cross sell and up sell opportunities however 86% of respondents stated that call centre staff need a broader range of skills to deliver these revenues.

A further 85% of respondents claimed that call centre interactions with customers are drivers for conveying their organisation’s brand values, making the role of call centre staff even more critical in developing profitable relationships with customers.

“Organisations are realising that traditional, outbound marketing, particularly via the telephone, offers diminishing returns for the business,” says Luke McKeever, CEO, Portrait Software. “As such, the future of the customer relationship resides in sustained, informed and tailored customer service and the call center is a critical factor in this process.

Whilst customers may not expect to be sold to, they expect to be understood and for their needs to be met at all times. For progressive organisations this represents an opportunity to build loyalty and revenues at all levels of customer engagement.  Looking ahead, as markets continue to become more competitive, it will be those organisations that use intelligent, company-wide data to fully understand the needs of their customers and to make relevant and timely offers, that will ultimately succeed.”