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The availability of new, advanced communications is having a dramatic effect on how people communicate with each other and with companies they do business with or want to do business with. It is driving a shift in how we communicate in our daily lives and at work. Cheap, high-speed broadband to the home now means that rather than talk on a land line or cell phone, people often use instant messaging (IM), telephone calls over the internet (Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP) and even videoconferencing. Naturally this trend is extending to the workplace, where first e-mail supplanted written communication and now these other channels are beginning to replace telephone calls. The so-called electronic, virtual office is here.  Suppliers of advanced telecommunications technology now are heralding another big breakthrough: “presence,” the ability to see who is currently available on what channels of communication – the phone network, a cell phone, IM or logged onto a VoIP service.

For companies that operate contact centers, all this means that some fundamental premises of customer relationship management (CRM) are becoming more achievable. In the past, companies opened the door to alternate communications channels with customers in an effort to cut costs by reducing the number of direct conversations with agents. Companies now need to support whichever channels customers have come to expect; if they do not, customers simply will not deal with them – they will go instead to alternate suppliers that provide the channels they expect.  When they do “call,” there is no longer any technical reason why they cannot be linked with the best person “present” to deal with their particular issue, regardless of whether the “agent” is in the contact center, at a line of business, working at home or even traveling. Nor is there a good reason why that agent cannot be provided with all the context of the customer’s previous interactions and other information needed to resolve the issue. However, even though the technology is available, Ventana Research wonders how many companies are ready for the cultural and process changes required to make this promise a reality. For those that are willing, a significant competitive advantage could be waiting.