The very real dilemma facing many contact centres is the role they play in their organisation, this view is more often than not influenced by being branded as a cost centre. So what role should the contact centre play and how does it emerge to have an indispensable role in the organisation?
Over the last year and I have had the privilege to speak to many leaders who have shared their goals and challenges, but it’s the more recent conversations that have got me thinking about how tough a gig it is to lead a contact centre. It’s one challenge in particular, that they are seen as a cost centre, just another cog in the finance wheel of the organisation.
I think we need to agree that a contact centre is not a cost centre – contact centre may sound a bit like cost centre but it’s a finance term that should stay in the textbooks. They are places where value is created when customer needs are met, a place where the people who are the future of your organisation often begin their career and more fundamentally it’s a place where people can do very meaningful work that should enrich their lives and progress the purpose of the organisation. At least that’s what it is to me.
So I’m asking myself, why this needs to change?
I think it’s pretty straight forward. In my experience contact centres end up running so lean in order to save money that occupancy is so high that people burn out leading to absence and attrition. Even worse, they stay and are unhappy, cant do their best work and the human potential they bring is wasted. Of course, there is a very real impact to customers. Broken processes go unresolved and their voice is not heard because it’s more pressing to get to the next call.
One place I think we can start easily is by changing the conversation we have about what we do in contact centres, only then can we change the way they are 'seen'. I think it starts with leadership, not just leadership within contact centres but leadership across the industry, we all need to play a part. Encouraging and nurturing leaders so they can make sense of the noise and build valuable connections within their organisation and industry, will start to amplify their voice.
If we work hard to change the conversation from cost to value then we’ll create contact centres that are indispensable not just a necessity or as Seth Godin puts it, being the Linchpin. Linchpin contact centres won’t just be ‘cost centres’ because they will lead, inspire and unleash value across their organisation through the insights they share about their customers and the people that work there. Linchpin contact centres and their people will create, invent and advocate for customers who will have experiences without equal.
Want to become a Linchpin? www.theagilecontactcentre.com.au or 1300 524 457