Smartphones are taking business into uncharted territory. And the contact centers supporting mobile workers and their smartphones are stepping into a void where few have ventured.
A recent Gartner report found, "Worldwide mobile phone sales totalled 269.1 million units in the first quarter of 2009. Smartphone sales surpassed 36.4 million units, a 12.7 percent increase from the same period last year." The prevalence of smartphones brings both benefits and challenges to contact centers.
Contact centers will have to anticipate and prepare for the continued proliferation of smartphones, including:
- Agents need to be trained in the latest device capabilities for tier one tech support;
- Corporate contact center owners will need to adjust to increased volume and complexity as smartphones integrate with other existing technology and new applications;
- Customized smartphone applications enable management teams to receive better updates on how contact centers are performing – including first call resolution and average time to answer;
- Smartphones can be used to notify technical staff of: equipment failures; when call volume exceeds thresholds and if overflow calls should be routed to managers or others – including at-home agents.
- Once enterprises begin implementing a strategic and managed mobility solution, workers will become more productive, the cost of smartphone solutions will decrease and the enterprise system will be more efficient. Effective management programs will contribute to the smartphone explosion – creating more opportunities for contact centers.
While basic requirements for improving productivity call for access to e-mail, calendar, and collaboration tools, forward thinking companies are providing applications that enable workers to conduct business on the go, such as taking orders or underwriting a loan. With the innovative use of the mobile devices, companies are reaping the benefits beyond worker productivity gains, including higher revenues, improved customer service and reduced costs.
A Strategic Approach to Mobility
Companies can no longer afford to take a tactical approach to enterprise mobility. Businesses need to look strategically at how mobility can support the enterprise and how it can be integrated to optimize processes. This means evaluating user needs, device and application requirements, service plans, usage policies, mobile application development, vendor management, customer care strategies and more.
Without a strategy and policies in place, it can be costly and difficult to secure and manage these mobile devices to satisfy corporate requirements and reap the benefits mobility offers.
Mobility Creates Challenges
Deploying smart phones can deliver measurable business benefits, but also present a number of hurdles and challenges.
- Security
With workforces using mobile devices to access sensitive data such as customer data, credit card data, medical records, mobile devices can represent a vulnerable entry point for threats. - Scalability
IT departments become overwhelmed as growth climbs steeply and technology changes rapidly. Increased support, security and administrative requirements require significant resource commitments that take away from other IT priorities. - Complexity
New mobile technologies continue to be released at a rapid pace, making it difficult for organizations to keep up – especially when there are multiple device types and platforms spread throughout the enterprise, making it difficult to select which platforms to support as part of an enterprise mobility strategy. - The Burden of Support
Customer care can be a significant expense when it comes to supporting mobile users. Given the complexity and rapid technology changes of mobile devices, it can be extremely challenging to deliver a seamless experience for all enterprise users.
The Solution
A managed mobility service provider that has partnerships with device makers and network providers removes the complexity of set-up, management and support of an enterprise’s mobile environment. Ideally, the managed service would offer consulting and services around the optimal mobile strategy, deployment, device and user support, security, expense management, optimization, and advanced applications.
Enterprises need an end-to-end solution that supports the entire lifecycle for corporate mobility – from rollout to ongoing management and support to recycling. Enterprises need one source for complete purchasing, deployment, inventory, data security, help desk, technical support and redeployment solutions for smart phones. This approach can result in:
- Lower Costs – Reducing overall communication expenses between 15 to 25 percent.
- Increased Productivity – Through secure, immediate access to corporate systems, productivity can be increased by 10 to 20 percent, allowing for seamless collaboration by mobile employees.
- Reduced IT Workload and Resources – Internal mobility resources needed for administration, support, deployment and other activities can be greatly reduced.
- Improved Data Security – Encryption and advanced data security measures that protect sensitive data will be handled by the same mobility enterprise provider.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chris Tranquill is the managing director of ACS’ Communications and Consumer Goods line of business. With more than 34,000 agents in 142 customer care centers around the world, ACS employees handle in excess of one million customer interactions every day in 20 different languages. Learn more about ACS at http://www.acs-inc.com.
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June 30, 1:00 Eastern: Are you Hiring the Best Candidates for Every Job Level within your Contact Center? Presented by Previsor. Hiring effectively for each role and each level within your contact center is critical for your success. Join us for this engaging discussion where you will hear how leading contact centers use online assessment programs to drive impact to their bottom line.
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