As digitalization and omnichannel phenomena evolve, the convergence of contact center and big data analytics provides a significant competitive advantage to all organizations.

The contact center is the hub of all companies and a never-ending source of data being generated on a daily basis, that if properly analyzed and managed can yield relevant insights and guarantee a higher ROI.

Contact center analytics refers to the collection, measurement and reporting of performance metrics within a contact center. The output from this process is not merely limited to observing traditional KPIs, but it represents an extremely deep snapshot of contact center and agent performance.

It allows contact center executives to gain an accurate understanding of whether agents' activities are in compliance with company policies, as well as carefully categorize the customer by the expressions used, which in turn can help to identify the level of satisfaction and the customer's issue being addressed.

All of this information is useful to several departments, starting from the sales area to create tailor-made promotions and opportunities for upselling and cross-selling as well as to the marketing department for an evaluation of campaigns and for capturing customer needs in order to get a glimpse of new trends.

Speech Analytics: here’s the big picture

The traditional contact center KPIs (average duration of a phone call, percentage of calls handled in a specific amount of time, the amount of repeated calls, and first call resolution) give an understanding of all the sales made in a specific time period, but not the way in which they occurred and what the path taken to sell was. In order to reach certain levels of detail, you need speech analytics tools.

Capturing exactly what is being said by both the customer and the operator on each call is critical, and so are silences and overlaps between the two parties. This information is precious when it comes to understanding whether there have been service access issues or, even simpler, whether the agent has been unable to respond. However, these insights allow for targeted interventions to support and improve the work of contact center agents.

Speech analytics rhymes with voice of the customer

Companies that are able to capture, mine, analyze and utilize contact center voice data are able to more easily understand why their customers are calling. As a result, they are able to develop valuable insights to provide a better experience for both customers and employees, as well as measure customer satisfaction at every single interaction, as they get to know their needs, preferences and expectations with the aim of providing them with increasingly personalized service that results in lower churn rates.