What short and long-term effects will the corona pandemic have on our social, academic and business lives? It has already shown how much it affects the quality of our daily life. Social distancing turned out to be commonplace. Dealing with our stress became a new task for everyone.
The whole year was marked by the sudden change in our everyday life all over the world. This situations was common to all nations and required many changes for most of the companies that had lost touch with customers. Most customers pay attention to the precautions and look for retailers with visible security measures like improved cleaning and physical barriers. Consumers plan to resume some of their off-home activities soon and shopping comes first. We all learn to navigate differently through our daily life, we plan and prepare for possible news and changes. Companies try to follow and respect all measures, therefore offer better services that are suitable for all cases.
Companies with good financial health and the ability to give customers what they want will thrive. But for smaller companies that are already struggling with falling sales, rising costs and intense competition, all that remains is to fight and do hard work. The digital transformation of the business has gotten faster, with more automation and artificial intelligence to approve loans, profile customers, control inventory and improve delivery.
There was an immediate spike in sales following the lockdown, and stores lowered prices to move inventory. Workers also had a hard time getting used to the home office and had to combine their personal and business lives. There are many jobs where home office is not possible. People were forced to find additional jobs, work additional hours, and still couldn’t support their families. Most people will find strategies that work for them and the difficult feelings associated with the outbreak will pass. Some people, especially those with pre-existing mental health problems, may need additional support.
The aim of the systems is to answer as many queries as possible with virtual agents before calls are forwarded to people. This reduces the load on the call center and the waiting times for users. The technological advances of the last few years have made it possible to receive telephone inquiries anywhere and anytime and to offer services. As a result, many call centers are already virtual. The operators often use cloud-based infrastructures and special software solutions instead of a physical call center. The employees are then not tied to one location and fixed working hours, but work flexibly in the home office.
One of the biggest concerns when working with virtual teams is the question of how to ensure the same high quality of service in the virtual workplace as in the classic call center. This is not a problem: With the help of suitable technologies, customer service employees can professionally answer and process complex calls anywhere.
At the same time, the caller has the feeling that the focus is solely on him and his problem and the employee is not distracted by events in the background.