Contact Center Pipeline’s Advisory Board shares timely insights to take into the new year.

The New Year’s message has as its core, promises of better things ahead. And yes, that did happen to some extent in 2022.

The worst of the COVID-19 pandemic appears hopefully behind us. The economy—and spending and consequent demand for service for items and services that need contact centers for—has bounced back. And customers have made it known loud and clear that they expect an excellent customer experience (CX).

Consumers’ acceptance of eCommerce and employees’ (including agents’) preference for work-from-home (WFH) firmed up in 2022, creating the “hybrid economy” of both in-person and remote modes.

The positives and promises have, however, been constrained by the negatives of inflation, conflict, and a worsening ecological and political climate.

The ghastly Russian invasion of Ukraine has helped drive up prices while reintroducing, through sabre-rattling, the Cold War specter of nuclear annihilation.

Meanwhile unhampered climate change continues to wreak havoc on lives, communities, and supporting infrastructure through wildfires and wild weather. Unfortunately, domestic political instability threatens policy and action paralysis to these and other crises and critical issues, like crime.

One cannot turn back the clock to 2019. Employers that tried to force employees back into offices quickly found that out, adding more gas to the Great Resignation that is accelerating as Baby Boomers retire, individuals seek out better jobs, and employers, and as population growth slows.

To provide advice and guidance for contact centers, we reached out to our Advisory Board to find out what contact center trends do they foresee in 2023? Are they the same, changed, or new as compared to 2022?

Our advisory board is:

Mike Aoki, President, Reflective Keynotes

Jon Arnold, Principal, J Arnold Associates

Elaine Avery, Head of Customer Care, Atlantic Union Bank

Sangeeta Bhatnagar, SB Global Human Capital Solutions, GTACC Chair

Dick Bucci, Founder & Chief Analyst, Pelorus Associates

Tiffany LaReau, Certified Workforce Manager, Human Numbers

Kathleen Peterson, Chief Vision Officer, PowerHouse Consulting

Dan Wallis, VP Shared Services Contact Center, VNS Health

To read their insights - https://blog.contactcenterpipeline.com/