According to a report, revenue forecast is predicted to increase at a compound rate of 5% over the five years through 2023-24, and the average profit margin is expected to be 17.6%. Like many other parts of the world, although COVID-19 decreased business demands, it significantly raised health-related queries and transactions in the call center in the UK. Also, like other outsourcing businesses, UK-based call centers and contact centers are increasingly focusing on technology-based add-ons, such as automation. AI and speech-to-text, cloud technologies, etc.

Moreover, businesses that want to outsource customer support and other peripheral duties are inclined to opt for tech-enabled services. However, outsourcing providers in the UK face challenges, whether inbound or outbound call center services, for example, meeting customer expectations, demand for 24/7 services, diverse channels, etc. Here, we will explore the challenges affecting contact center performance and search for effective ways to battle them to power up your CX and overall contact center experience.

What Are the Challenges that Typically Call Centers in the UK Face?

UK-based call centers or contact centers must navigate several challenges in the contemporary business environment to offer optimum customer services. Here are some examples of the challenges that these contact centers face:

Fierce Competition

Competition is common in any business and any location. A call center in the UK is no exception. Many contact center solution providers in the UK are vying for business. Therefore, staying ahead of the competition requires excellent expertise, trained and committed teams, and tools to handle customer inquiries efficiently.

Insufficient Staffing

Call centers need large numbers of employees to operate, and they are always searching for staff with the right experience and expertise. However, in the competitive job market, finding and hiring talent with the right competency is difficult. Moreover, retaining them is harder as attrition is already high in call center in the UK, just like in other countries. Understaffing and poor-quality workers can seriously impact customer experience.

Therefore, effective sourcing methods like employee referral have been widely adopted in contact centers along with social media to traditional sources. Also, onboarding experience, recognition, and diverse cultural and cohesion programs can reduce attrition with traditional incentives, like more money and benefits.

High Costs of Training

Training contact center staff is essential, but training each batch of hired employees is costly. In a contact center, new hire needs to be trained, and as the process knowledge and client changes, agents and entire teams must level up their knowledge and skills. Additionally, attrition forces contact centers to retrain agents and other staff, increasing the training costs. Training solutions and technologies are one way to reduce costs without affecting the quality of the training. Streamlining training and reducing churn will also help reduce the training costs in any call center in the UK.

Legacy Systems and Outdated Software

Call center in the UK or anywhere heavily relies on technological solutions. However, technology evolves fast. Therefore, keeping up with the latest technologies is challenging for call centers or contact centers, and outdated technology can impact the quality of services and customer experience. Technology upgrades for service delivery and technological solutions for customers have become necessary for today’s inbound and outbound call center services.

The 24/7 AI services, developing omnichannel service capabilities, cloud-based operations, and comprehensive automation in contact center and client operations are critical for any contact center to successfully satisfy its client’s business needs and customers’ queries and issues.

Strict Adherence to Regulatory Compliance

A range of regulations and laws must be strictly by contact centers in any region they operate or offer their services. However, complying with GDPR, PCI DSS, and other changing regulations is a challenge, and only an experienced call center in the UK with appropriate tools and knowledge can ensure complete compliance as rules constantly change and evolve.

Meeting High Customer Expectations

Satisfying increasing customer expectations is a critical challenge. Call centers in the UK must satisfy customer inquiries faster and more efficiently while offering personalized experience. Also, chatbots ensure faster responses and continuous support for customers, advisors, and contact center staff. Also, an omnichannel presence with diverse AI and advanced technology-powered solutions improves customer experience and satisfaction.

Endnote

Though call centers in the UK face diverse challenges and obstacles, they can successfully navigate them by staying up to date with technologies, effectively training agents, focusing on customer experience, and offering consistent and high-quality service, whether inbound or outbound call center services, outsourcing partners in the UK must exploit new technologies and strategies to battle the difficulties of supporting new experience-driven customer-centric businesses in the swiftly changing business process management landscape.