Rostrvm Solutions’ latest survey of UK contact centres has found that staff productivity is being hampered by having to battle with too many desktop applications. The research has also uncovered revealing facts about where and how Social Media is being used to interact with customers.

60% of contact centres surveyed use 3 or more desktop applications to complete a call yet, the larger the number of applications needed, the greater the workload for the agent.

Ken Reid of Rostrvm Solutions said, “It doesn’t take a mathematician to recognise that the longer it takes to process a call, the higher the operational costs will be, whilst productivity will be lower. Desktop technology addresses this problem by rationalising disparate and messy desktop environments, making them quick and easy to use. It overlays existing business investments, making them streamlined, so staff can do a good job.”

The findings also showed that whilst there is customer demand for it, few (17% of participating contact centres) use any social media. All still contacted customers on the telephone and 90% used email.

Results highlighted that larger contact centres (over 50 agents) are more likely to communicate via multimedia channels and they are mainly being used in ‘Customer Service’ centres rather than for proactive sales activity.

The most common web interaction with customers is via web chat (including instant messaging) with 22% of respondents confirming that this facility is used. 12% of respondent contact centres are managing Twitter interactions.

Respondents said that, whilst there is demand from customers to deliver advanced and multimedia services, poor and difficult-to-use technology is preventing them from trying them.

Another important finding was that, although the Back Office is now handling much more and has become increasingly complex, it doesn’t get monitored so much as the call centre. 40% of respondents did not have any criteria or metrics to measure back office performance, yet back office staff are having to cope with using multiple applications and complicated data streams.

Ken Reid adds, “The inefficiencies we have observed in the contact centre created by multiple applications and complex data handling are mirrored and even amplified in the back office! It therefore makes sound business sense that both should be monitored properly.”

Rostrvm can help with the technology – it can be user-friendly, cost-effective and add real value to your business.

Rostrvm’s report is available at http://www.rostrvm.com/category/contact-management-research/