2021 Virtual Contact Center Product Category Social Ethnography Takeaways
Q4 2021 Takeaways
New takeaways seen in Q4 2021 that were not identified in Q4 2020 were as follows:
Q4 2021 Takeaway: There is a marketplace need for VCC solutions that more effectively address the
journey of a call
- Users conveyed that the ability to quickly track or visualize the entire journey of a given call is missing; though the data is there, it requires difficulty to put it all together.
Q4 2021 Takeaway: New VCC technology additions are appreciated as long as they meet expectations
- Users conveyed that there has been a gap as to what has been touted to them by the VCC partner and the actual benefits of such new technology upon using it.
Q4 2021 Takeaway: Customization is valued by VCC users
- Users expressed that they weren’t happy with their inability to customize the amount of communication received on new orders.
- Users appreciated that the IVR is very customizable so that:
- Users can create exactly what is needed for each team that utilizes the system.
- User can build out the IVR based on user up-time and performance.
Q4 2021 Takeaway: There is a need for more effective ongoing training and VCC product knowledge
transfer
- Though users conveyed the preference for self-explanatory functionalities, they conveyed there aren’t enough tutorials on YouTube to learn more about the functionality of the product.
- Users also expressed that the demonstrations need improvements. Additionally, users stated that those providing them need to understand their business, their technical proficiency and their challenges. “We have seen too many demos targeting the middle ground that did us no good and did not answer our questions.”
Takeaways that continued from Q4 2020 were as follows:
Q4 2021 Takeaway: As with Q4 2020, in Q4 2021, users conveyed the need for quick Integration upon
launch of a VCC solution as being essential for success
- Users conveyed they had to navigate some tricky situations moving from a previous provider with the VCC partner having to create workarounds to keep continuity of support during the switchover.
- Users conveyed that the learning curve was a bit steep for the IVR and that it takes some time to learn.
Q4 2021 Takeaway: As with Q4 2020, in Q4 2021, users conveyed that processes were needed to be
added or built upon by VCC partners to ensure their clients optimize collaboration, engagement and,
ultimately, productivity
- Users conveyed concerns and appreciation about the VCC partner’s web portal including:
- That it was unproductive to see the dashboard of calls and sometimes be unable to download a call for some reason or another.
- That the support portal was inadequate with service requests taking too much time to resolve when needed.
- The built-in feedback feature for users was limited and could use more options when reporting issues.
- There was convenience in the web portal’s capability to search recent calls, download calls, and search numbers in the system for tracking.
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Users conveyed that VCC partners were unable to work offline when needed based on poor internet connections resulting in calls not getting connected. Thus, there was concern that VCC solutions were not suitable in slow internet regions for calls dependent on voice over IP.
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User appreciated their VCC’s integration manager helping users level up as an administrator of the platform.
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Users appreciated how the customizability of IVR flows drove transfer percentage way down almost instantly.
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Users conveyed how their deficiency in understanding and being comfortable with the platform and how VCC partners needed to support them such as with what reporting is required to optimize platform utilization.
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Users expressed appreciation for the VCC partner having a large breadth of applications that could be utilized and integrated by support centers, sales teams and any time interacting with customers over the long-term, especially if such applications were considered superior to those used in the past.
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Users expressed that their customer support was waning and lackluster and not as responsive as in the past.
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Users conveyed concerns that it takes longer than expected for enhancement requests to be implemented such as the need for an admin functions mobile ap for field agents.
Q4 2021 Takeaway: As with Q4 2020, in Q4 2021, users conveyed that some VCC UI/UX features are
considered more impactful than others
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Users conveyed a need for more advanced reporting capabilities including:
- Third party module for reporting was considered too "self service" in nature. Thus, having more built-in reports would be more helpful than using third party tools. Additionally, though there are custom dashboards and reports that agents can build and use, it was conveyed that there’s a need for dedicated resource to address this.
- Report building was considered somewhat complicated with some relevant features missing such as to validate if the call was hung up by the agent or the caller and support not being available to present the best solution for this challenge.
- Users conveyed that incident descriptions for large incidents were too vague and that there were situations where users could not tell if the problem observed was part of a larger system issue--due to inadequate descriptions--or something only the users were experiencing.
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The security of communication recordings was conveyed.
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The need to maintain efficiency even in heavy traffic environments and bolster a high-performing workforce.
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The need for improvements in multilingual support, virtual customer assistance, and customer support.
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The appreciation for the overall design including:
- Making voice mail messages clear and, if on a call and another call comes in, showing profile information from that client that can be looked up before calling back.
- Intuitive design and features, allowing users of all technological sophistication to easily understand and utilize the VCC product.
- An easy system that anyone can operate and that customers can tell the difference and quality acquired with a VCC solution.
- Design flexibility enabling such things as setting up simple voice, email or chat applications, working with them, evolving the idea and then making alterations as needed by in-house administrators.
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The appreciation that productivity can be monitored every day or month and, if necessary, to have access to prior month work flow to make an overall department more productive.
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Users expressed concern that occasionally the app will lag and mark availability as "on a call" and subsequently not allow a user to take notes on a call. Though it was also conveyed that this issue arose every couple of weeks and a relatively small lift on the user’s send, it hindered the user’s productivity and created frustration in requiring the user to go in and reset the tool.
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Users expressed appreciation for voicemail "drops" which allow sales representatives to contact 20% more clients each day.
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Users conveyed a need for more consistent functionality. For example, users expressed concern that there was inconsistency day-to-day when attempting to log calls and not have issues. As a result, users stated they had to quit the app and re-log in.
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Users conveyed appreciation for having all calls in an organized place as well as allowing users to notate calls immediately after taking one.
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Users appreciated a voicemail feature where one can resolve a call quickly by immediately clicking resolve button to call person back without having to navigate somewhere else. Also, they liked the ability to transfer calls with ease to other users in the organization whereby you can see availability of other reps, who has seats in the tool, and do warm/blind transfers.
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Users appreciated the user-friendliness and simplicity of dialing phone numbers with accompanying country codes.
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Users appreciated overall call connectivity to be is noise-free and of very good strength.
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Users expressed that the click-to-dial is the most convenient piece, logging notes on calls that link to Salesforce.
Q4 2021 Takeaway: As with Q4 2020, in Q4 2021, users continued to convey the need for remote
VCC capabilities regardless of Covid.
- Users conveyed they were seeking affordable and reliable solutions to address the need to become a remote workforce that also integrates with other solutions.
- Users conveyed the need to create a call center to solve customer questions to be set up in a way that agents could work from home.
- Users expressed how having mobile give agents built-in disaster recovery options.