Call Center Trends NOT Happening #1: Eye Contact (Why Not?)

Trends, trends, trends. How about advances not happening that should? Here’s my first example – your thoughts?

First, a confession. I have Trends Fatigue. Industry news, blog posts, ads… added up they seem like a blur of blah blah about trends in omni-channel this and SaaS that.

There must be a dozen new “aaS” acronyms invented every week. Just yesterday, for example, I saw “ORaaS”. It stands for Outsourced Recruiting as a Service. And, you guessed it, each “aaS” is connected with breaking news of an industry trend.

So I’m introducing a new series: Call Center Trends Not Happening. Because with all the ink about trends in contact centers and customer care, I got to thinking: what isn’t happening that really should? So I’m going to write about trends we should be seeing in call center outsourcing, and ask you if you agree with my thinking. If so, enlighten me as to what the holdup is?

Wanted: video chat

My first example is video chat. According to a Forbes article by Dan Schawbal, the 80 million millennials in America represent 200 billion in annual buying power. And of these, 87% use two to three devices at least once on a daily basis.

Why should companies care if up-and-comers use a bunch of devices, you ask? I’ll answer with another question: Have you ever tried to text chat on a smartwatch or other wearable tech? It is nearly impossible. What about video chatting on the same device? It’s pretty cool.

So why aren’t more contact centers, in-house and outsourced, offering video chat? It’s a way to engage a hot demographic using technologies they already carry around in their pockets.

Bottom line: we could be making eye contact and we’re not.

Chat was the buzzword 5-7 years ago, then chat became widely adopted. More recently, video calling has been a buzzword. But no contact center I know of offers video calls.

Reality check

Do you agree this should take off? What are the obstacles — hidden costs… technology obstacles… perceptions that have to change? Please comment.

About this series

With all the ink about trends in contact centers and customer care, I got to thinking: what isn’t happening that really should? This series, Call Center Trends Not Happening, is where I post examples. I’m hoping to learn: should this really be a trend (reality check)? What is the holdup?

In this series

• Call Center Trends Not Happening #3: AI and AR in Agent Training
• Call Center Trends NOT Happening #2: Mobile-Friendly Multi-Channel 
• Call Center Trends NOT Happening #1: Eye Contact (Why Not?)

About Ryan Romero

 Ryan Romero is Executive Vice President of Global Sales at Callzilla, an outsourced contact center that ICMI and Customer Magazine rank among the best. He consults with executives in a variety of industries and roles to help determine fit between Callzilla’s proprietary methods, and organizations’ need to improve customer service, sales, and engagement. Before Callzilla, he led several companies in the contact center and BPO space to mergers and adquisition.