Web Chat Is Fastest-Growing Contact Centers Technologies

New research published by ContactBabel, the contact center industry analysts, reveals that web chat (or instant messaging) is one of the fastest-growing technologies used by US contact centers. Forty-three percent of this year’s survey respondents offer web chat as a customer service channel, compared to only 15% five years ago, with volumes of web chat increasing by 125% over the same time. Furthermore, 18% of respondents state they intend to implement web chat over the next twelve months, the highest of any of the thirteen contact center technologies surveyed in the report.

“While web chat has been around for many years, we are seeing a definite increase in the use of this channel, which has huge potential,” stated Steve Morrell, the report’s author. “The real-time nature of web chat means it is akin to a voice conversation in immediacy, giving it an advantage over email. Multiple concurrent web chat sessions can be run, cutting cost per interaction, which means there are sound commercial reasons for businesses to support this channel.

The US Contact Center Decision-Makers’ Guide looked at all areas of performance, investment, technology, HR, and strategy. It is available at www.contactbabel.com.

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