Top Technology Trends That Will Shape Customer Support in 2022

As the pandemic recedes, some organizations are advancing digital initiatives at a previously unheard-of rate. With the shift to digital business moving so quickly, businesses now face a challenging future and must decide which industries to forward and which to drop by 2022.

Do not worry; we have your back. This blog post will help you focus more on CX in your long-term plans and marketing approach. As 2021 approaches, let’s get straight into the customer service trends that will make your life simpler in 2022 and beyond.

Nine trends that will help you future-proof your company Customer Support

1. Fully embrace digitalization

Over the past year, digitization has increased dramatically. The requirement for a digital-first strategy became even more apparent due to this abrupt and widespread change. Organizations had to invest in and adopt the newest technologies to speed up digitization. For instance, using cloud-based systems facilitates cooperation, and using AI, or ML-based solutions ensures more convenient, tailored, and intuitive digital customer experiences. Additionally, businesses are embracing cognitive technology because of its advantages in cost reduction, which also helps to increase agent productivity and customer satisfaction.

2. Consolidate Security Rules

The workforce in organizations is geographically dispersed. Additionally, as more workers than ever before work remotely, businesses are turning to sophisticated preventative measures to guard against data breaches and cyberattacks. To begin with, utilizing a virtual private network (VPN) makes it challenging for interceptors to snoop on your traffic. Your location is hidden using a VPN, and conversations from the remote employees’ devices are encrypted. Businesses currently use two-factor authentication, but using machine learning and AI models to develop robust cybersecurity policies can add an extra layer of security to their business processes. By doing this, businesses may reduce detection times, anticipate attacks, and take preemptive action when one occurs.

3. Give cross-departmental cooperation a priority.

Workflows must incorporate cross-department collaboration, which is the key to providing an excellent customer experience. Since ad-hoc desk visits are no longer possible due to remote working, agents are left helpless and need help figuring out where to turn for assistance. This hurts CX and the productivity of the contact center. However, intelligent programs like Agent Helper make a tonne of information available, like the most popular SMEs, similar articles, and real-time data into customer journeys.

Optimizing cross-departmental collaboration also makes intelligent swarming possible, which is another benefit. As is customary, swarming encourages the idea of a customer support person handling an incoming ticket from beginning to end without the need for escalation. Instead of elevating the issue to a higher level, the agent might attempt to provide a resolution with the assistance of SMEs. To speed up collaboration, contact center managers are also working on getting the word “escalation” out of their vocabulary and adopting intelligent swarming as the standard.

4. Be Mobile first 

Mobile is the way of the future, and it already appears here. More than 187 million mobile shoppers will be in the US by 2024. To reach new customers with untapped potential, many businesses are concentrating on creating a user-friendly condensed version for websites and customer care operations. A non-negotiable for creating omnichannel customer assistance is smartphone optimization. Therefore, adopting a mobile-first strategy sounds like a crucial company plan for 2022.

5. Promote proactive and immediate customer support

Customers demand a prompt resolution when they run into a problem. In actuality, 42% of consumers anticipate a social media reaction within an hour, while 32% anticipate one within 30 minutes. Top businesses are resorting to proactive assistance via self-service channels to gain an advantage over their rivals by foreseeing client problems or troubles and offering rapid and forceful answers. This practice will spread more widely in the future. Therefore, companies must invest in cutting-edge technology like intelligent chatbots, which are not only always on but also use ML, MLU, and auto-intent training to work out any bugs.

6. Encourage the use of clouds

Until recently, the old solutions used on-premises storage, communication, and collaboration technologies. However, as the nature of workplace models altered due to remote work, businesses shifted to cloud migration.

Cloud collaboration technologies enable many users to access, review, and update a document in real-time, encouraging on-the-go productivity while facilitating collaboration among decentralized personnel. They are reducing the geographic barrier as a result.

It’s a calculated approach to cut expenses, decrease risks, and simplify database scalability. As a result, the usage of cloud computing is accelerating quickly. Spending on public clouds might reach $500 billion by 2023. It is perfect for remote workers and businesses wanting to fend against security concerns.

7. Increase the Level of Self-Service

In the early phases of the epidemic, contact centers received 300% more calls than usual, according to Gep.com. Unquestionably, the epidemic highlighted the importance of implementing AI-powered self-service channels. Additionally, it is now simpler than ever to give individualized and pertinent results thanks to AI, which is at the center of the self-help craze. To divert cases and rescue agents from the growing caseload, organizations are investing in virtual assistants, intelligent IVRs, and intelligent KM systems that automate generating and optimizing knowledge bases. This allows the agents to focus on high-priority activities.

8. Invest in asynchronous learning and self-service for agents.

Organizations have begun digitizing all aspects of their business, from hiring and training to retraining and upskilling, resulting from hybrid working patterns. However, the increasing commercial and technical improvements are widening the skill gaps in the workforce. Therefore, businesses are now attempting to upskill and train their agents using gamified learning and microlearning. These employee training techniques use dynamic interfaces and individualized recommendations to create a learning experience that genuinely engages workers while addressing current training difficulties.

9. Offer reliable analytics

Anyone can access a never-ending stream of valuable data with real-time analytics and make wise decisions. First call resolution (FCR), turnaround time (TAT), and average handle time are crucial KPIs that firms can use to gauge the efficiency of their employees (AHT).

You must now arm your agents with all the information they will ever require if you want them to perform better. By utilizing real-time analytics, you can give them a single view of the customer experience across touchpoints, including specific details on pages seen, searches run, clicks made, etc., enabling them to react fast and increase CSAT.