Here goes an interesting fact about smartphones, out of the total population of the world which is roughly 7 billion, 3.7 billion own mobile phones. The fact seems much more intriguing when you realise that only 3.4 billion own toothbrushes.
Smartphone, which is basically a handheld personal computer that comes with a mobile operating system, works nothing less than life blood for today’s generation. An average user touches his smartphone over 2600 times a day which for a heavy user, goes up to 5400.
Amazing! With such heavy usage, smartphones are bound to touch each and every aspect of human lives from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep. Apart from this, there is simply no field left that has not been revolutionized by this new age technology.
Call center services which are used for receiving or transmitting requests via telephone, are no exception. Below are few points to help us understand how smartphones have changed the way call centers work worldwide.
Gone are the days customers have to use bulky phone directories for contact info and search for landline phones to avail customer care services. With smartphones, people can directly find the solution to their query on their own via internet, or if not, can search for call center details and contact them without wasting any time.
Calling customer care for spoofing or fraud purposes has been going on for ages since calls via public booth can never be tracked back to reveal the caller’s identity.
With the coming of smartphones, things have improved drastically, thanks to its Automatic Number Identification which can uniquely identify any individual, thus forestalling such swindlers.
To be frank, Customers aren’t much thrilled about talking to customer service agents as it can and most times it is a pretty boring stuff, more so, they cannot use the guidance provided by call center reps in real time if the need arises.
With smartphones, along with talking to the agents, customers can use their mobiles for other purposes or simply to verify online about the solution the agents are providing in real time.
Another benefit for smartphone is its ability to provide multiple channels to its customers for communication purposes, be it calling, text/SMS or online chatting.
It is more of a two-way process which allows both agents and customers to share information, photos, videos etc to each other for better understanding and solution of the problems.
Video chatting is another one of the revolutionary service facilitated by the advancement of smartphone technology. Video calling provides a humanly touch to the otherwise disappointing experience of interacting with a robot-like voice while talking to call center agents.
It further leads to a strong brand-consumer relationship by providing a more personal experience for its customers.
Conclusion
Smartphones are the evolution of basic landline phones just as call centers are the evolution of earlier telemarketing services, and both are nothing less than a necessity of today. Combining both have transformed drastically the experience of communication for both companies and its consumers.
