Attracting new customers is good for business, but retaining customers is even better. It costs one-fifth as much to retain a customer as it does to obtain a new one. In most organizations, 80 percent of profits are generated by 20 percent of their customers — the ones who are most loyal.

We live in an age of remarkable advances in healthcare technology, including such breakthroughs as genetic sequencing, 3-D-printed prosthetics, robotic-assisted surgery and AI-powered imaging systems. However, research shows that outdated and inefficient communication technologies create persistent challenges in the industry.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is now a key enabler of contact center efforts to cut costs, improve efficiency and enhance the customer experience. Virtual agents, speech-to-text, intelligent routing, advanced error detection, automated data entry and real-time data analysis are among the many functions enabled by AI. As a result, the AI-powered contact center is becoming “a necessity for companies that want to deliver stellar customer experience and gain competitive advantage,” according to Robin Gareiss, CEO and Principal Analyst at the Metrigy research firm.

The contact center traditionally has been undervalued by business leaders, limiting investments in contact center technology. In light of today’s customer demands, however, organizations need to rethink their contact centers in order to enhance the customer experience.

In times of economic uncertainty, business decisions get tougher and spending is scrutinized. But many organizations agree that it makes good sense to invest in customer experience (CX) technologies.

According to Metrigy’s Customer Experience Transformation 2022-23 report, more than half of companies plan to increase their CX spending by 2023, with an average increase of 17.3 percent.

Today’s consumers are no longer satisfied with receiving the right product at the right price at the right time. When they have a question or a problem, they expect the question answered or problem resolved quickly, with clarity, through the communications channel of their choosing.

The virtual contact center is here to stay. The transition to remote operations has been so successful that 77 percent of customer service organizations surveyed recently by Deloitte are either adopting or accelerating their work-from-home programs — and 80 percent plan to close their physical contact centers entirely.

Few organizations with contact centers were adequately prepared to make the abrupt transition to a fully remote operation with at-home agents in response to COVID-19. According to a Gartner study conducted just a few months before the pandemic upheaval, nearly 90 percent of global organizations relied on-premises contact centers — either at their own site or outsourced to another company.

At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations scrambled to implement temporary adjustments to their contact center and customer service operations. As we head into Year 2 of the pandemic, it is clear that many of those changes will become permanent.

When asked why he robbed banks, the notorious thief Willie Sutton reportedly replied: “That’s where the money is.” Cybercriminals have a similarly simple motivation for targeting contact center operations — they have the best data.

Contact centers capture, store and process huge amounts of sensitive customer data such as Social Security numbers, payment card data, account numbers and purchase histories.