Happy 15th Anniversary to Contact Center Pipeline Magazine
This year marks the 15th anniversary of Contact Center Pipeline (CCP), a major milestone for the magazine that has been a proven resource for industry news and movers and shakers since its inception. Verint® was the first advertiser to sign on with the magazine in 2009, so we wanted to look back and celebrate the progress we’ve all made together in a journey filled with growth, innovation, and great change—all driven by a passion for customer engagement.
Evolution in Customer Interaction: From Transactional to Transformational
Over the past 15 years, we’ve witnessed a complete shift in the way brands engage with consumers. Around the time CCP came online, the iPhone and smartphones were becoming more mainstream and completely changing the way we receive and share information, and interact with friends, family, and organizations of all kinds.
These powerful, pocket-sized devices brought the world closer while instantly delivering knowledge and information, forever transforming consumer behavior. This major innovation created new channels where the customer journey now lives, along with elevated expectations of brands to provide an exceptional customer experience (CX) time after time.
Changing the Channel on Customer Engagement
Also back in 2009, the social media landscape was dominated by Facebook and the rise of Twitter (now X) as these platforms were used to connect with friends, and where “scrolling” became the new way consumers managed their daily lives.
Today, social media channels are not just bridging our social connections, but bridging our connection to brands by providing new customer engagement channels dedicated to customer engagement, support, and feedback.
The smartphone also led to the commercialization of software, making a whole new world of applications and capabilities available to consumers. Apps and app stores changed the face of retail and the ways that we interact with brands, again bringing the world closer and making products and services more accessible. A trip to the store or a call to the contact center to resolve an issue was now right there in the palm of your hand.
Building Lasting Relationships: Beyond Transactions
Over the past 15 years, brands have focused on building relationships that go beyond mere transactions. Remember when an 800 number and a website were the only direct lines to customer support? Today, organizations can no longer get by with one or two channels and products and services that are “just good enough.” They now must focus on creating personalized CX to drive loyalty and happy customers. To achieve this, brands are leveraging artificial intelligence to capture and analyze customer preferences. With better understanding of customer intent driven by voice of the customer feedback, brands can predict customer need and incorporate CX automation strategies to craft customer experiences that fulfill customer needs while providing moments of delight.
These are just a few of the myriad innovations to recognize and reflect on as we celebrate 15 years of customer engagement excellence with Contact Center Pipeline! Congratulations and here’s to many more!
Verint® (NASDAQ: VRNT) helps the world’s most iconic brands continuously elevate the customer experience (CX) and reduce operating costs. More than 10,000 organizations in 175 countries – including over 85 of the Fortune 100 companies – rely on Verint’s open customer engagement platform to harness the power of data and AI to maximize CX automation. Verint, The Customer Engagement Company®, is proud to be Certified™ by Great Place To Work®. Learn more at Verint.com.
