Genesys (News - Alert) Communications Laboratories, an Alcatel-Lucent company, recently commissioned a study among U.S. companies to determine the status of those industries that claim to be leading the way in terms of customer service offerings and those that are in reality, lagging behind.

While most companies tout that they put significant emphasis on quality customer service and maintaining customer loyalty, there is often a significant gap between what a companies claims is happening and what the customer perceives is the actual state of service.

In its study, Genesys determined that communication and financial services companies are leading the way in terms of using customer service as a strategic differentiator. This leadership is due to their sophisticated and proactive approach to the type and depth of contact center technologies that have been implemented.

To fully identify strengths and weaknesses in contact centers, the study polled 385 contact center managers from communication, financial services, insurance, government, utilities and healthcare organizations. Genesys was also able to effectively determine what business practices and technologies were being deployed or planned for improving the customer experience.

"Consumers often have intuition about which industries offer the best customer service experience, and which ones use more dynamic customer service technologies," said Paul Segre (News - Alert), CEO, Genesys, in a company statement. "This research gives us insight into where each vertical segment is in the adoption continuum."

Among those contact centers examined, the most common occurrence was that those not currently using an IP-based contact center expect to implement one in the next two to three years. IP installations are being pursued by 66 percent of financial services companies, 45 percent of communications companies, 58 percent of utilities and 83 percent of healthcare organizations.

 

The results of this study also determined that government organizations have a more clearly defined measurement for contact center performance. This is agreed upon by both contact center managers and executive management. While this gives a strong appearance of innovation, in reality, these organizations still lag behind other industries.

The financial services industry is moving towards an IP-based contact center as more than half of those not already using one intend to execute implementation in the next two to three years.

The study also determined that insurance companies are the highest users of touchtone IVR as 92 percent of those surveyed use the technology. SMS/text messaging and Web chat is significantly higher in the communication industry.

At the same time, only 23 percent of healthcare contact centers are likely to attempt up- or cross-selling as they often view such practices as not appropriate of because it would involve time-consuming training requirements.

The industry in which the contact center is operating appears to have an impact on its technology integration and its approach to operations. Consumers do not have all the same expectations across the board irrespective of the industry, except that they still expect to receive quality service. It is up to the contact centers themselves to determine how best to deliver it.