The customer service graveyard

Customer service technology has changed dramatically since the dawn of call centres in the 1960s. Despite a rapid evolution of technology, not all methods of customer service have become completely obsolete. Business automation expert, Parker Software has collated a selection of outdated customer service methods into an infographic, to explore the history and potential future of technology in customer service.

The infographic is available to download on the Parker Software website – https://www.whoson.com/infographics/customer-service-graveyard/

Even as recently as the dawn of the new millennium, technologies such as video calling and SMS text messaging were hailed as the ‘next big thing’ in the contact centre industry. While there have been many successful implementations of these technologies, they are not as widespread as technologists and futurists would’ve had us believe in the noughties.

Since the early noughties, there have been countless new developments in automated services, yet there’s still no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution for the contact centre industry. In the latest infographic, Parker Software examines the highs and lows of these new inventions and how contact centre technology has evolved since the beginnings of customer service management.

“An inscribed clay tablet, kept in the British Museum, is widely believed to be the world’s first recorded customer service complaint,” explained Steven Parker, CEO at Parker Software. “Inscribed are the frustrations of a disgruntled customer, demanding a refund for the delivery of the wrong grade of copper. While there is no record of how the complaint was resolved, we can almost be certain it was a long shot away from the customer service methods businesses use today.

“There have been countless new developments in the contact centre industry. However, history has shown that fully automated customer service is not always the best solution. Looking to the future, we’re likely to see a greater focus on bridging these technologies with human agents and new innovations, to create a more intelligent ‘engine’ of conversation between the agent and the customer.”