2016 has been a very exciting year for the call centre industry with new technologies changing the way we work. With Brexit and the digital era bringing so many new opportunities here is comment from leading industry analyst Peter Ryan and 5 trends that GRS believe will dominate in 2017.

•Location and languages spoken will become less important

Where your outsourcer or contact centre is based will become less important as a new business model around automation changes established concepts of nearshoring and offshoring.

•CEE Region will provide huge opportunity for UK companies

Post Brexit is providing additional opportunities for outsourcing to Central and Eastern Europe as UK companies look for additional skills. A.T.Kearney Global Services Index 2016 found Romania and Poland increasing as top outsourcing destinations based on financial attractiveness, people skills and availability and business environment.

•Data security will become top priority

Contact centres and outsourcers will have a strong focus on preventing security breaches and data theft and ensuring safe and easy to use payment options.

•Self Serve will grow with apps, chatbots and mobile

By 2020 Gartner predicts customers will manage 85% of the relationship without any human interaction. The rise of mobile, apps and chatbots will revolutionise how organisations communicate with customers. Companies need to be clever to capture customers browsing the web on their mobile phones.

•Digital will take over from traditional voice

Millennials prefer digital interaction. Call centres will need to leverage more channels such as email, livechat and social media to service broader customer bases. 2016 Global Contact Centre report contact centres expect to be managing 9 different channels within the next 12 months.

Peter Ryan, Principal at Ryan Strategic Advisory, also commented; “There is no question that the current contact centre and BPO marketplace is evolving at a very rapid rate. Whether it is new technologies, alternative points of delivery or taking on the growing multitude of channels needed to communicate with today’s mobile consumer, enterprises need reliability and quality in their CRM deployments.

This has proven to be a boon for Central and Eastern Europe. The region has been one of the longest serving offshore delivery points in the world; it has also evolved into new, dynamic delivery locations such as Romania where there exists both the language talent, technical skills and the infrastructure to provide the best levels of service to end-users across the continent. Going forward, with the ongoing political and economic uncertainty facing much of Western Europe, it is certain that forward-looking executives will be placing Central and Eastern Europe front of mind as a front-line delivery alternative.”

Notes to editor;

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