In the customer-facing world, there are few things more important than the right contact centre solution. More than any other technology in your workplace, it’s the contact centre that will convince your customers that your business is helpful, trustworthy and supportive.
Unfortunately, it’s becoming a lot harder to impress the modern consumer with excellent service alone. 54% of customers say that they have higher expectations for businesses today than they did only a year ago. Additionally, when customers were asked what impacts the feelings of trust that they have for a company, customer service was ranked at number one.
The Changing Demands of Customer Service and the Public Sector
While all businesses are under incredible pressure to deliver the best possible experiences to their target audience, the public sector may be facing more of a challenge than most. Public sector companies are the businesses that clients look towards to keep their world running seamlessly and safely. Alongside higher expectations, public sector companies are also facing challenges like a growing population, reduced budgets and excess strain on infrastructure.
What’s more, despite all the challenges that today’s public sector groups face, many of them are still reliant on old-fashioned legacy infrastructure that just can’t keep up with modern demands. Disparate and complex methods of communication in the private sphere are making it increasingly difficult for public bodies to cover themselves, particularly when their digital toolbox is growing piece by piece, rather than in a unified and cohesive way.
Local authorities and other crucial public services groups need to keep their costs as low as possible, while also focusing on increasing business efficiency. The easiest option? Moving to a cloud-based customer contact centre.
It’s Time to Take the Leap to Cloud
70% of customers say they’ve already made the choice to support a company that delivers excellent customer service. For public sector groups to earn their customer’s support, they’ll need to consider the flexibility and scalability offered by the cloud. With cloud solutions, public sector organisations can avoid the headaches and stress that are caused when customers need to be sent around different advisors in complex circles. Instead, businesses can use automatic routing to send the customer to the right person first time around.
At the same time, with a connected cloud environment, there are no silos of information holding back public sector operatives. The cloud can unify the communications channels in the workplace to ensure that customers always get the support and guidance they need where they are. Alongside calls, businesses can tap into other forms of communication including instant messaging, video calling and more.
It’s not only end users of public sector services that feel the benefits of cloud-based communications solutions. The people actually in the business are also empowered by the benefits of cloud capability. With easier back-end collaboration, better access to information and improved tools, these groups can enjoy an enhanced working environment. There are even opportunities for some public sector groups to provide support to team members that want to work remotely too.
Besides the efficiency and productivity benefits, cloud-based contact centre solutions offer a much cheaper alternative to legacy systems thanks to the in-depth integration of voice with other communication solutions like instant messaging and video in one package. Cloud gives public sector organisations the agility and efficiency to improve their externally-facing service provision, especially when it comes to issues of customer service, while also satisfying the requirements imposed on them by local authorities. Bank-level security, coupled with 99.999% uptime and GDPR compliance, allows organisations to operate their systems safely and effectively without compromising their quality of service.
Originally published Feb 11, 2020, updated Jan 16, 2023
