Numbers and data are precise, clear, and objective. In contact centres, they help measure efficiency and gather feedback. But when we want to go deeper, they are not enough. Every customer interaction hides a story – about an undelivered product, a broken promise, or an unpaid invoice.
A good story cannot exist without emotions; only then can it truly change people’s lives or shape the company’s future. This is why organisations are seeking tools that can evaluate not just customer feedback but the entire customer interaction.
Imagine a typical contact centre scenario: the customer calls, the agent resolves their issue, and the call ends. When the automated survey follows up, the system asks whether the issue was resolved. The answer is often YES, BUT… Everything that comes after the “but” is crucial for improving services, products, and ultimately customer experience. If we fail to ask for these valuable details, they never reach us.
Today’s systems can go far beyond simple statistics. They can capture subjective aspects of a conversation, such as:
Analytics should not just look outward toward customers but inward toward the team as well. Call monitoring systems can evaluate contact centre agents based on checklists or whether they completed the defined steps. Was there a greeting, an offer, and a resolution? But as a company, you also need to know whether there was motivation or empathy in the call. Did the agent express emotions? Did they proactively cross-sell or up-sell? You can go even further and analyse the business, product, and resources. The good news is that today’s systems can do all of this. The bad news is that very few organisations actually ask for it.
When evaluating performance, companies usually rely on “quality management” tools. But they could get a much clearer picture with analytics focused on the business itself. The reason this doesn’t happen is quite prosaic: when clients define their requirements, they don’t even know that they could ask for such features. And if it’s not part of the request, vendors simply don’t deliver it.
A good integrator can change the game. Even during the system implementation phase, it is possible to add advanced tools and connect data so that it’s no longer about isolated events but about seeing the bigger picture. Integration platforms such as Webex Connect or Enterprise Service Bus can seamlessly link CRM, warehouse systems, and the contact centre. All the relevant data is then brought together in one place. The result is cost savings and happier customers who stay with you. And retaining customers is always cheaper than winning them back.
Integration does not have to be complex – it can be minimalist. Our internal research shows that more than half of companies still use non-integrated systems. They do not connect their communication channels, so they have no idea if a customer who is calling has also sent an email or visited a branch. The same goes for resource linkage. The first step is simple: define which data should flow into the contact centre.
Well-designed integration opens the door to next-level reporting. In-depth analysis of client interactions and agent monitoring, combined with integrated data, brings reporting to a whole new level. Our existing knowledge suddenly appears in an entirely new context.
Good integration platforms come with built-in reporting functions and pre-defined filters. Unfortunately, every client tracks different data points. As a result, ready-made reports are often of limited use. Clients therefore want – and need – data in its raw form. The challenge comes when a report contains not just numbers and data but also evaluation and a description of the “human dimension” of customer interactions. Finding the right correlations can be a real challenge. What’s more, many organisations still struggle to accept that when a report doesn’t make sense, the data is not the problem – the interpretation is.
As with customer analytics and integration, a good system integrator can help. They explain what the data reveals, where it comes from, and how it is processed. This enables companies to speak the same language as their data. Integration turns data into a better source for reporting, a more powerful tool for improving contact centre operations, and ultimately the foundation for better customer stories.
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