Beyond the Call Centre: Exploring Tech Trends in Outsourcing Customer Service

Technology plays a major role in the ways businesses across various industries communicate with customers. So, it is no surprise that it is just as important when it comes to developing a comprehensive customer service strategy. Providing the best experience to your customers means having the right technology and software in place to support your advisors, maintain all records, and even use the data readily available to your business to better your strategies.

Here, we will explore some of the top customer service technology trends of 2024, their benefits, and the challenges you might face.

3 key technology trends for customer service in 2024

Technology, and its uses, are constantly adapting. So, being able to better use the technology readily available to you, or even adopt new software, is a must for the smooth running of your customer service within competitive markets.

Customer service providers such as us focus on technology as a means of supporting our advisors, ensuring they have what they need, when they need it. Technology is meant to automate the easy work and make the hard work easier, improving our advisors’ time, efficiency, and productivity, so that our customers get the best experience.

AI and automation

Artificial intelligence is a technology trend that is taking over many sectors, not excluding customer service. Many will have experienced chatbots using AI to enhance the customer experience. These methods have been implemented to make queries, refund requests, and updating account details, to name just a few, easier. These automated self-service solutions allow customers to access support and information quickly and 24/7.

In the finance sector, these can be particularly useful for allowing customers to self-manage their debts. Not only does this increase customer education around debt and finances, but it can also be a sensitive, non-invasive way for customers to manage their bad credit and repayments without the need to speak to human advisors. Instead, you can establish an appropriate escalation hierarchy with easy access to human advisors when and if the customer needs further assistance.

Omnichannel support

One big technology trend that continues to adapt for the benefit of customers is omnichannel support. Customers want to communicate with businesses in various ways now, from social media to inbound calls, so being able to respond appropriately each time with the added knowledge and history on the account easily to hand is vital for supporting advisors and providing better resolutions for customers.

By having the account history on hand, advisors will be better able to understand current and previous frustrations and offer a solution that works for the customer – improving customer satisfaction and reducing call volumes through one-call resolutions.

Seamless correspondence is vital for the customer journey. Integrated communication platforms, like CRM systems and helpdesk software, merge these interactions into a single interface, enhancing efficiency and response times. Consistent branding and messaging across all channels build trust and recognition, ensuring the company’s voice and tone remain uniform.

One client benefited from our omnichannel solutions as we saved them £413,000 in spend through CI initiatives, as well as achieving 90%+ KPI delivery across all channels.

See more benefits of our omnichannel approach here.

Data-analytics and insights

Data analytics is another step in technology that is helping customer service teams better their processes. By allowing companies to utilise and analyse their data, data insights can be used to support data-driven decision making, as well as better understand your customers, and support and train advisors.

By harnessing big data, you can improve the efficiency, responsiveness, and customer-centric approach of your customer service teams. Data can not only provide real-time insight into the success of your inbound and outbound calls, sales approaches, and debt collection but it can also be used to create stronger strategies, including scripting strategies, to better engage with your customers.

In the finance sector, data analytics in customer service can significantly enhance client interactions and service quality. By analysing customer data, financial institutions can gain insights into individual client behaviours, preferences, and needs, enabling personalised service and tailored financial advice—which can even support proactive debt collection strategies. You can even use your readily available data for predictive analytics, such as determining customers’ loan eligibility or investment opportunities.

Benefits of tech trends for customer service

Following technology trends can be necessary for a business, especially when it comes to providing the best customer experience possible. Failing to adapt to these changes can often mean your business suffers within a competitive market, where reputation and customer experience mean everything.

Some benefits of implementing technology into your customer service strategies include:

Improve efficiency

Efficiency is important for customer service as it can determine the rate of callbacks, call volumes, and the number of calls required for a resolution. When it comes to matters such as finance, your customers will want to know that their problem or query is solved within the first call, so your advisors need to be as efficient and prepared as possible to manage this expectation.

Technology can improve efficiency by automating the easy work and making the more difficult tasks a bit easier. From providing all account information across multiple channels, your advisors will have all the context they need to support your customers, while technology such as AI can be used to reduce confusion and help interpret customer frustrations. In whatever way you use technology, it has been developed to assist advisors and reduce inefficiencies across the business.

Here at Kura, we’ve helped multiple clients improve their inefficiencies by providing strategies and software solutions for their customer service. We have 30 years of experience at the cutting edge of technology and have assisted 20,000 advisors around the world with our software solutions.

Improve customer experience

Providing a great customer experience is a must. In a sector such as finance, where customer experience is vital, you must ensure you’re trusting your customers with the right people who have the right tools for the job. Technology has been shown to improve the customer experience by offering multiple methods for the customers’ benefit and supporting advisors in their roles.

By adopting a digital-first approach for one of our clients, we have improved their customer experience. After implementing our strategies, they received a five-year high customer service score of +85. Not only does technology allow your customers to self-serve, but it also gives advisors the resources needed for exceptional-quality assistance.

See more about this case study here.

Scalability

Technology and software allow you to scale your business. From automating repetitive tasks to give your advisors more time to spend with your customers to data-driven insights providing opportunities for growth, there are plenty of ways you can use technology to your advantage. Customer service centres such as ours have perfected the balance of the human touch and technology integration to help our clients grow their businesses while supporting their customers with excellent experiences.

Great experience, such as the one our clients have received, provides the resources, support, and cost-cutting necessary to grow your business. One client saw a £3.3 million growth in revenue from cross-selling as part of our great customer service. By supporting our advisors in the right way, we provide companies with the support they need to expand and grow their business. With plenty of services, from debt collection to software solutions, all backed by technology, we’ve been helping businesses grow across the UK for decades.

See our full list of customer service solutions here.