Integration concerns slowing digital transformation of customer contact centres

UK — A lack of coordination across departments, low availability of resources and concerns over technology integration are the key barriers to digital transformation of customer contact and service, according to new research. 

Woman in call centre wearing ear phone device for calling

The research, from communications and IT services provider KCOM and CCA, an authority on contact centres and customer service, was conducted among CCA members. It looked at the potential barriers preventing organisations from being more digitally enabled as well as the current status of digital technology adoption plans. 

It found that cooperation between departments was identified as being extremely significant or significant by 95% of respondents, while resources (people, technology and expertise) and budget allocation was seen as extremely significant or significant by 91%. 

Inflexibility of current processes and systems was identified as being an extremely significant or significant issue by 89% of respondents to the survey. 

Nearly half ( 45%) of respondents said that digital transformation is likely to require significant cost and effort due to the likely challenges associated with integrating existing systems and infrastructure. 

“Organisations that embrace digital technology have the opportunity to innovate and steer their customer service strategy for the future,” said Stephen Long, executive vice president at KCOM. “And typically contact centres are well placed to capitalise on this opportunity, which makes the fact that just a quarter of contact centres have a strategy for digital transformation surprising.

“Beyond the use of social media integration and virtual web assistants, there appear to be limited signs of ambition. For example, 35% of respondents had no plans to take advantage of cloud technology.”

The full report can be downloaded here

We hope you enjoyed this article.
Research Live is published by MRS.

The Market Research Society (MRS) exists to promote and protect the research sector, showcasing how research delivers impact for businesses and government.

Members of MRS enjoy many benefits including tailoured policy guidance, discounts on training and conferences, and access to member-only content.

For example, there's an archive of winning case studies from over a decade of MRS Awards.

Find out more about the benefits of joining MRS here.

0 Comments


Display name

Email

Join the discussion

Newsletter
Stay connected with the latest insights and trends...
Sign Up
Latest From MRS

Our latest training courses

Our new 2025 training programme is now launched as part of the development offered within the MRS Global Insight Academy

See all training

Specialist conferences

Our one-day conferences cover topics including CX and UX, Semiotics, B2B, Finance, AI and Leaders' Forums.

See all conferences

MRS reports on AI

MRS has published a three-part series on how generative AI is impacting the research sector, including synthetic respondents and challenges to adoption.

See the reports

Progress faster...
with MRS 
membership

Mentoring

CPD/recognition

Webinars

Codeline

Discounts