Predictive Dialers Are Transforming Customer Support in Call Centers

The exponential advancement of customer relationship management (CRM) and call center technology over the past 15 years has led to a revolution of sorts.

As systems become more and more integrated, customer support representatives can assimilate information from past support sessions to provide an unparalleled customer service experience. One piece of this system is predictive dialing technology, which has evolved in functionality over the past decade. Read on for more information.

The past

Twenty years ago, if your employee needed to call a list of customers who recently received a product or service from your company, it took up most of their time. That employee might spend as much as 45 minutes of every hour dialing, listening to the phone ring, listening to your customer’s greeting, and finally leaving a message before recording the call disposition in some manner.

This meant that you needed several employees to manage high-volume lists. And those employees would spend an inordinate amount of time sitting idle or inoperative, a costly proposition for any employer.

Additionally, many companies struggled to end their dependence on paper. Prior to the widespread adoption of cloud-based file storage, many files were just sitting in a cabinet somewhere. Finding and later returning a customer file took a substantial chunk of time and energy, prompting some companies to hire file clerks designated to just this single task.

The present

Today’s customer support solutions are expanding at the intersection of rapid-fire developments in computing technology, AI and speech recognition improvements, and fine-tuning of advanced algorithms that boost efficiency.

This means customer service representatives are not only able to use predictive dialing to eliminate the downtime involved in waiting for an outbound call to connect, but they have access to contextual information when assisting customers.

Records, customer histories, and past communications (by email, text, phone, or in-person) can all be recorded within the digital software platform, so that nobody will ever have to rummage for a file in the basement again. AI and speech recognition are rapidly improving to the point that customers find it hard to differentiate between a digital system and a live caller.

This means it takes fewer employees to manage a greater number of customers. And the ability to automate the more mundane or repetitive tasks with predictive dialing features enables your employees to devote their time to more complex or urgent matters.

Furthermore, global implementation of cloud-based virtual call center technology means your company is no longer subject to geographic restrictions on your labor pool. They can present 24/7 service options to your customers if you choose. With all these changes and more, the modern customer service center is almost unrecognizable compared to those of decades gone by.

The future

As tech firms continue to refine the accuracy of speech recognition and algorithms to predict customer needs, more and more commonplace aspects of customer service can be automated. Text messages, emails, mail, and phone calls for things like appointment reminders or service follow-ups no longer pose significant time and staffing constraints on your budget.

This also reduces the possibility of burnout for your employees, which means enhanced job satisfaction and more time for sales and marketing activities. With more and more companies turning to virtual call centers and AI to handle these activities, businesses from sole proprietorships to Fortune 500 companies can lower their administrative burden. This way, they can focus on providing their customers with a top-notch experience or product right from the start.