Contact Center Trends in South Africa for 2023

African countries are growing rapidly in different segments. South Africa is one of the African regions that have shown exponential growth in industries like oil and gas, banking, agriculture, telecom, infrastructure, and more. Along with investment and operations, customer care is one of the aspects that South African businesses need to care about. Setting up the best contact center with the right tools, infrastructure, and team is the demand of the time. As the new year has started, knowing major contact center trends 2023 can help in making more returns from the contact centers in South Africa.

There are several influential factors that have impacted contact center trends. According to one of the reports shared by Harvard, COVID 19 has increased the number of call volumes by up to 50%, which shows the importance of defining the right strategy to handle this increased call volume.

There are multiple trends in this industry and we are sharing the major ones in South Africa that will dominate different industries in 2023.

• AI technology

Artificial Intelligence has been one of the contact center technology trends for many years. During and after the pandemic, it has shown rapid growth in adoption in South Africa and several other countries. From voice analytics to chatbots, there are so many mature applications built by artificial intelligence innovators. One of the reasons AI based applications are gaining popularity is the speed and quality it achieves by adding automation in operations and management. Thus, when you look for contact center automation trends, artificial intelligence dominates the industry there, too. AI and its application will be one of the major contact center trends to look for in 2023. Businesses based in South Africa are more likely to focus on this trend and even likely to adopt the same.

• Cloud technology

When we talk about customer care and support, we cannot ignore major contact center technology trends. Cloud is one of the major technologies in this industry that will take South Africa based businesses by storm. Cloud call center software, in fact, has already started making a huge impact in the market of South Africa with its scalability, flexibility, and similar characteristics.

• Remote work support

Since the COVID 19 pandemic hit the world, businesses have been facing increasing demand for remote work models. In fact, the businesses that had started working from home are still working from home. Customer care businesses are one of those businesses that have adopted remote working models. Thus, it is one of the major contact center trends 2023.

In addition to that, in South Africa, there are several businesses based on investment and funding. Investors from the USA, the UK, and similar countries fund businesses here to run and grow. Investors often have their own teams that work in collaboration with businesses in South Africa. Moreover, there are companies that hire international agents to offer exceptional customer care services. Therefore, focusing on contact center technology trends that can help in enhancing customer care standards and agent satisfaction is necessary.

• Automation

The contact center industry faces a huge workload in more than half of the cases in South Africa. Thus, it becomes necessary to add automation in customer care and other jobs to handle the increased workload more efficiently and swimmingly. In several cases, contact center automation trends define how one can improve customer satisfaction by adding automation features. These automation trends are not limited to customer self serving options or customer care jobs. One can also add automation in supervision, routine operations, etc. It helps in increasing overall performance along with the quality of service and quality of calls. This is going to be a huge market shift as there are already many businesses interested in this one of the major contact center trends in South Africa this year.

• Personalization

As competition grows, businesses need to go above and beyond to meet customer expectations. Receiving special treatment, while giving business to any brand, is one of the fundamental needs of any customer, in any country. As the South African market is making rapid changes and growth in several industry verticals, opportunities are spiking up. This is also increasing competition among businesses, which has increased the demand for personalized customer service delivery by contact centers and customer care centers. This is the reason, it is necessary to invest in contact center technology trends that can improve personalization in customer care and other touch-points that customers go through.

• Omnichannel communication

Similar to other countries, in South Africa as well, omnichannel communication has become a major trend. Customers and businesses use different modes of communication and this is going to be one of the major contact center trends 2023. Each customer might not use all communication channels, but they use multiple communication channels. This increases the demand for the top customer care channels to be integrated into a single communication tool so agents can use it with ease and improve customer satisfaction. Using this trend can also helps in increasing personalization and improving customer satisfaction. Thus, it is one of the top contact center trends in South Africa that will dominate the year 2023.

• Data Analytics

Data is mine in all businesses. Investors love data and often make their bids and bets depending on the data and reliability of the data. Customer care, sales, collection, and similar business operations are handled via contact centers. Thus, contact centers often have data. If leveraged correctly, contact center automation trends can help in mining, managing, and organizing data in well formatted and graspable reports. Technology companies have been working in this industry for many years and have built amazing capabilities in this direction. Data analytics is one of the contact center trends in South Africa that contact centers are already willing to integrate and leverage. This trend is dominating because not only helps in impressing investors, but also aids in improving customer care strategies and other business operations by understanding historical data.

Conclusion

In recent history, South African businesses have seen various changes in different aspects. From the pandemic to increasing investment opportunities, there are so many driving factors that have been uplifting the economy of South Africa. Along with growth opportunities, businesses in South Africa also face various challenges and this makes it necessary to set up the best contact centers. The contact center trends can directly contribute to touch several business aspects and enhance the growth model of business in South Africa.

We have identified and presented the top 7 contact center trends 2023, which can help you leverage the market scenarios in South Africa. Whether you are an investor or a business in this country, knowing these trends can help you lead this year as per your business goals and vision.

We also offer technology tools such as the best omnichannel contact center solution, DialShree that can help you level up your contact center game. We have covered all major contact center automation trends and technology trends in this software to benefit businesses in South Africa and even other African countries.

You can connect with our team to learn about our contact center industry related offerings, including, but not limited to software, consultation, and more. You may get started with a discussion of our software for the contact center. Contact us to book a demo NOW!