Web self-serve doesn’t reduce call center loads

Customers’ ability to serve themselves across multiple channels has not reduced the workload of customer service reps in call centers, says a new study by the Incoming Calls Management Institute.

Even though 48% of the 268 call centers, including those operated by retailers, offer web-based self-service, 57% of those call centers report increases in agent workloads. Another 38% of respondents say they will implement web-based self-service within a year.

In addition to the web self-service, another third of the respondents said their organization is planning to implement call center/Internet-enabling technologies in the next 12 months, including e-mail response management, unified reporting and multi-media queuing.

The report says that respondents believe the two biggest challenges facing organizations in developing an Internet-enabled call center are budget, cited by 56%, and the difficulties of integrating technology with existing systems, cited by 46%.

The survey covered 12 industries, including financial services, healthcare, computer/Internet services, retail/catalog, insurance, manufacturing, telecommunications, professional services, government/non-profit, travel, utilities and service bureaus. Participants included directors, managers and supervisors from small, medium and large call centers.