There’s always room for improvement
Revenue in the contact centre industry reached £3.2 billion in 2024 after a compound annual growth rate of 5.1% over the past 5 years. Things are looking good, but at the same time, it’s getting harder for contact centres to keep up with customer expectations.
Due to constantly changing customer expectations, the way to manage customer experience (CX) is always evolving. Contact centre leaders are always looking for new ways to meet those changing preferences. At the same time, they need to keep a close eye on their budgets and keep providing agents with the right tools to maintain efficiency.
Technological change is ready to sweep through the sector and create whole new ways for businesses to interact with their customers. Investing in the right areas is guaranteed to give customers the experience they rightly deserve.
Thanks to Contact Babel’s 2025 edition of The UK Contact Centre Decision-Makers’ Guide, proudly sponsored by Gamma, we can help identify those top 5 investment areas. It’s always insightful to see what contact centre leaders have planned for the foreseeable future.
5. Web self-service (picked in 38% of top 5 investment priorities)
At 41%, customer satisfaction is consistently seen as the most important metric behind a contact centre’s performance. It’s key to note that first-contact resolution (FCR) is one of the main drivers of customer satisfaction. In fact, 49% of contact centre leaders place FCR in their top 3 most important metrics to track.
Web self-service has steadily grown in popularity since 2018, mainly due to chatbots and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI). 84% of customers tend to visit a website first when looking for answers; if that self-service experience doesn’t provide an immediate and accurate answer, they’ll call or go elsewhere.
Web chat accounts for 7.1% of inbound interactions, making it the 3rd most popular channel choice for today’s consumers. With the mean cost of web chat standing at £3.38, compared to £6.25 for a call or £4.87 for an email, it’s a far more cost-effective option. Operational expenditures can be cut as automating common inquiries reduces the need for a large support team, with remaining agents able to focus on more complex issues.
36% of leaders reported that less than 10% of all callers tried to solve their issue initially through self-service before calling. Escalating to a live call is still part of a customer’s mindset, meaning that these agents must stay mobile to deal with these more serious issues.
Consistency is also important. FAQs are the most popular form of self-service at 75%, and a well-maintained knowledge base means customers can access accurate, standardised information with ease. 30% of callers would prefer to use self-service for service inquiries, affirming that need to keep online knowledge bases updated.
Contact centres report that 5% of web chats take less than minute to resolve, yet 28% last for over 10 minutes. Perhaps web chats are becoming more complex, or agents are just stretched too thin?
17% of contact centre leaders say that over 50% of web chats require another channel for final resolution. That initial investment in self-service must focus on seamless, streamlined interactions. Web chat is also extremely useful for dealing with low urgency enquiries, such as delivery updates, that allow agents to gain time back and deal with more critical, complex customer issues.
Either way, web self-service, particularly web chat, will rise in popularity. There’ll be an estimated 69% increase in web chat for inbound in the next 12 months.
4. Performance and quality management (picked in 43% of top 5 investment priorities)
On average, 71% of contact centres use a management information system. They act as the ‘eyes and ears’ of a contact centre, providing analysis into how efficient and effective operations are. But, at the same time, 18% are looking at replacing or upgrading their current set up.
It might be slight, but there’s an indication that contact centres will look to improve how they track their key performance indicators (KPIs).
Contact centre performance can be split between customer and internal metrics. The former focuses on first-contact resolution and customer satisfaction ratings, while the latter concerns cost per call and agent productivity. For 41% of contact centres, that satisfaction rating, otherwise known as net promoter score (NPS), is the most important one to track.
Then there’s quality management, which combines quality assurance (QA) and quality monitoring (QM). This covers overall agent performance, analysing each interaction to find areas of improvement. 60% of contact centre leaders highlight how effective QA is in evaluating agent performance and any further training requirements.
But there are challenges. 90% of respondents report that there’s insufficient time to analyse and use data, with 45% calling it a major problem. 28% report that agents using a QA solution lack the right skills, and a further 35% lack the time or resources to coach and train them.
Investment in performance and quality management will focus on three main areas:
- Better data management and reporting capabilities
- Add and improve multichannel capabilities to provide consistency
- Make it easier for supervisors and trainers to access systems
Those valuable insights can not only influence strategic decision-making and long-term improvements, but also increase customer retention through consistent, high-quality interactions.
3. Omnichannel (picked in 49% of top 5 investment priorities)
Think of customer interactions like a cube (don’t worry, we won’t make you calculate the volume). The base is made up of urgency and emotion, with complexity acting as the height. Each side is either a ‘low’ or ‘high’ instance, requiring a specific channel for each of these interactions.
Omnichannel is critical for any contact centre. Customers increasingly expect to move between channels seamlessly and not have to keep re-entering their information. However, a significant proportion of email (52%), web chat (49%), and social media (26%) interactions still require another channel to be fully resolved
It comes at a time when customer interactions are becoming more complex. 30% of contact centres lack a full view of the customer journey, and budgetary pressures remain a major challenge to omnichannel adoption. Legacy technology and siloed also add an extra complexity when it comes to omnichannel implementation.
A true omnichannel solution provides consistent service and knowledge across all channels, improving customer satisfaction and loyalty
Omnichannel integration is an ongoing process, constantly evolving due to technological advances and customer preferences. Structured analytics, automation, and real-time data insights all help to create a seamless customer journey.
2. CRM/Agent desktop software (picked in 52% of top 5 investment priorities)
Businesses that use a customer relationship management (CRM) platform are 86% more likely to achieve their goals than those who don’t.
33% of contact centres use a CRM system to deliver relevant customer information to an agent’s desktop
Contact centres need to create the consistent, personalised service customers want. 71% expect a personalised interaction every time they interact with a company; having a full end-to-end customer view across channels and applications means FCR is much more attainable.
Upgrading agent systems can also streamline the number of applications used. Currently, agents navigate between an average of 3.6 apps per call and 2.5 post-call. This has a sizeable impact on overall agent productivity, as agents spend more time doing administrative tasks rather than dealing with customer needs.
66% of contact centres use a cloud-based CRM or agent desktop system, with a further 29% planning to implement them in the next two years. For those relying on legacy technology, providing a seamless service can be incredibly challenging. Indeed, 48% of large contact centres feel restricted by legacy technology.
Investing in CRM and agent desktop software improves operational efficiency and creates better CX. These CRM platforms, however, can become even more efficient through greater automation and one piece of technology.
You’ve probably already guessed what it is…
1. AI (picked in 67% of top 5 investment priorities)
We don’t need to tell you that “AI is a big thing”, and it’s becoming an essential investment for contact centres. Its ability to process large datasets and improve automation means it’s no surprise that 67% of contact centres are prioritising AI investment in 2025.
But let’s address the elephant in the room first – will AI start replacing human agents? While rapid advancement in AI is a cause for concern, live agents are still vital in processing complex issues. 64% of inbound interactions are handled through a live agent on the phone, and ringing the call centre remains the most popular method to deal with a complex issue at 39%.
For 97% of contact centre leaders, AI will be used to support agents. 97% of customers either agree or strongly agree that, above all else, they just want their issues resolved ASAP. If there’s an opportunity to invest in AI, it should be taken.
On average, 55% of customers complain of issues with call audio quality. AI-powered voice isolation can remove background noise during both live call and recordings. That clearer audio quality can also improve post-call analytics and voice-to-text transcription, which makes tracking agent performance easier.
While the use of AI in contact centres is in its infancy, 33% of those that have deployed AI report an improvement in their self-service capabilities. 29% of those AI-driven contact centres have enriched their knowledge base, and a further 24% have seen AI help them better understand their customers. These improvements all translate to better CX, improved customer loyalty and higher revenue helping to secure more budget for future CX initiatives.
In 2015, only 5% web chats involved automation; by 2024, it had increased to 53%. While there hasn’t been a significant increase in fully automated interactions, it is likely down to most chatbots using static rules-based applications. Only through generative AI can these inquiries be moved to the next level, giving further impetus for contact centres to invest in AI.
We can spend a lot of time on how AI can integrate into a contact centre, including with CRM systems and agent desktop software. But the message is loud and clear – contact centres that leverage AI will be the ones that can achieve superior customer satisfaction and drive better outcomes.
There’s a reason it’s number one, after all.
2025 and beyond
Most contact centres believe that they have the power to change the processes holding them back from fulfilling their strategies. When directly asked “the contact centre doesn’t have the influence to change the areas causing the problems”, only 29% agreed with that statement.
Help is very much at hand for contact centre leaders to identify investment priorities and implement the right solutions to advance CX. Organisations like Gamma have the CCaaS solutions designed to improve CX, alongside the expertise on creating a successful long-term strategy.
With that kind of combination, contact centre leaders will have a clear roadmap for their investment priorities for 2025 and beyond.