Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond

Introduction Since the start of the decade, customer experience (CX) Meanwhile, they’re facing an inflection point where EX and employee experience (EX) have done a collective 180°. has become just as critical as CX. With almost half of Organizations with a cloud-first, digital-first mindset have workers saying that they’ll quit if their employer doesn’t quickly leaped ahead, but adaptation and innovation are permanently offer the flexibility to work remotely, contact swift and ongoing. centers are being reimagined for the next generation of work and workers. This is especially true when it comes to the contact center. For example, leaders are now thinking about how to best These considerations and others have led to our use artificial intelligence and machine learning to increase curation of seven predictions for the contact center. their global competitiveness and how they’ll deliver service With predictions for 2023 through 2030, read on to see and engagement as part of the customer experience in what industry analysts and subject matter experts say the metaverse. should be top of mind when thinking about the future of customer service and engagement. Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 2

By 2023, employee experience will overtake customer experience, at least temporarily, as the leading “experience” focus and investment. Janice Rapp, VP, Product Marketing, Contact Center, 8x8 Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 3

As events such as the Great Resignation and Great As a result, companies that have the right communication Reprioritization continue to impact employee recruitment, and collaboration tools, training, and leadership to retention, and engagement, contact center leaders, like support work from anywhere will be in a better position to leaders in so many other industries, will need to turn their attract and retain the type of talent they need to deliver attention to employee experience (EX) over customer differentiated customer experiences. If organizations can’t experience (CX), at least temporarily. offer work from anywhere as an option, then they’ll not only lose out on the ability to recruit from the widest and Though more and more return-to-office plans will best talent pool possible, but they’ll also miss out on the actually start to materialize, contact center leaders will next generation of talent. To some extent, competitors need to address the fact that many employees will refuse who offer this flexibility will win by default. to accept anything but remote or flexible work. Out of 1,000 workers polled in a recent Morning Consult survey, 39% said they’d consider quitting if their employers didn’t give them the flexibility to work from home. 49% That increased to 49% when it came to millennial and Gen Z workers surveyed. Almost half of millennial and Gen Z workers say they’ll quit if an organization doesn’t give them flexibility to work remote. Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 4

With the ability to hire the best and the best-fit agents, If we learned anything from the events that disrupted work the challenge becomes how to keep them happy and at the start of this decade, it’s that a patchwork, band-aid productive. A recent survey shows that 40% blame approach to communications and collaboration doesn’t burnout as the reason why they quit jobs within a year work for long. So today, and into the future, employee of starting. Without modern cloud communications and experience needs to be fully optimized, backed by resilient engagement tools, agents will become frustrated. They’ll and secure communications and intuitive, fully integrated, feel isolated. And even though they don’t want to return to easy-to-use applications. in-office work, they’ll miss the connection with their peers, the ongoing feedback, and live coaching. Organizations From there, it’s up to managers to leverage advanced will need to invest in the tools that engage employees quality and analytics tools to monitor performance and and promote a culture of connectedness, teamwork, and provide positive, fact-based, and highly personalized performance recognition. training and engagement that makes agents feel empowered and, most of all, valued and connected. of employees blame burnout Equal or greater investment in employees will become as the reason they quit their the hallmark of leading CX-focused companies. jobs within a year of starting. 40% Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 5

By 2023, one-quarter of organizations will look to UCaaS and CCaaS technology to collaborate in the enterprise and with customers more effectively. Keith Dawson, VP, Research Director, Ventana Research Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 6

Editor’s note: the following is an excerpt from the The rationale for an integrated UCaaS/CCaaS platform Ventana Research report “Why Unifying UCaaS and starts with what makes the cloud useful in the first place: CCaaS Makes Sense.” ease of deployment and maintenance. When a single communication platform is used across the organization, Ventana Research asserts that by 2023, one-quarter of administrators manage just a single directory and can organizations will look to UCaaS and CCaaS technology mix and match functions based on any given user’s role, to collaborate in the enterprise and with customers more which can change. A single global directory and real-time effectively. Around the same time, it will become apparent presence make it easy to create ad-hoc teams to solve that the two platforms are really different flavors of the specific problems or to find a particular person with the same basic toolkit, and organizations will begin to push needed expertise and hand it off with context. Unifying the for simpler, combined products. platforms allows greater flexibility for the workforce and encourages collaboration across and within teams. This type of collaboration and rapid identification of experts enables faster issue resolution. “The rationale for an integrated UCaaS/CCaaS platform starts with what makes the cloud useful in the first place: ease of deployment and maintenance.” Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 7

Integrated communications also supply a common There are also benefits from synchronizing user interfaces, platform for reporting, analysis and integrations to like reducing the amount of training users need and the business applications. All interactions that occur can be disruption of having to switch among applications. We see reported and analyzed. The important quality control that, for example, in the way UCaaS/CCaaS combinations functions like recording, coaching and evaluation can are starting to leverage integrations into systems like be applied across departments and teams, providing Microsoft Teams, so that both contact center agents a clearer picture of whether the entire organization is and business users have access to presence status, video working collectively to provide good customer experiences. calling, team chatting, and other basic functions. The idea that the two sets of employees should have separate Some of the most important technology advances are communications platforms is absurd when you consider coming at the platform level of the tech stack, where the cost, time, and IT resources required to bridge the artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) and gap. We also see the positive impact of a micro front-end workflow automation can be spread across multiple approach to interface design, resulting in a configurable applications and use cases like intelligent self-service agent desktop. and agent assistance. This means that in a combined UCaaS/CCaaS system, those advances can be deployed to more users with different functions. Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 8

“The idea that the two sets of There are other reasons to consider unification: having employees should have separate a single vendor for a security/privacy framework, for communications platforms is example, or being able to expand a platform globally absurd when you consider the (and beyond a basic PSTN platform). In years to come, we expect the boundaries between UCaaS and CCaaS cost, time, and IT resources platforms to blur and eventually make way for a common, required to bridge the gap.” prepackaged set of applications unified into a single underlying base layer. That combination will handle high volume voice and data alongside internal collaboration, video, and digital communications. Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 9

By 2025, proactive customer engagement interactions will outnumber reactive customer engagement interactions. Jessica Smith, Senior Manager, Product Marketing, Contact Center, 8x8 Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 10

Proactively communicating with customers is certainly not Future proactive engagement cannot simply be blanket a new thought. Rethinking proactive engagement, and communications to your entire customer base. This has how this has the potential to decrease reactive customer already proven somewhat ineffective, and in many cases, service and appeal to changing customer demands, is a unappreciated by customers. notion increasingly on the rise. In its Strategic Roadmap for Customer Service and Digital channel preferences are driving Support, Gartner recently found that moving to proactive opportunities for proactive outreach engagement will be the number one priority of customer service leaders as they rethink the business model around Proactive engagement has a major role to play in customer assistant modes. With this being the case, providing optimal experiences for today’s digital organizations need to consider having a dynamic, highly consumers and their increasingly high expectations. With personalized approach when building a strategy around consumer preferences towards digital channels on the rise, this kind of outreach. Without taking an intelligent, unique the thought of proactively engaging on their channel of approach to this kind of outreach, it will be difficult to choice seems obvious. However, this needs to be done with move the needle on decreasing any kind of inbound or greater intention, leveraging emerging toolsets that will reactive inquiries. make this kind of outreach highly appealing to consumers. Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 11

AI and automation will be essential to highly effective proactive engagement AI and automation are making it possible for organizations In its Market Guide for Digital Customer Service and to craft stronger outreach initiatives that can scale Support Technologies, Gartner validates much of this to a level of service that’s often not possible due to thinking in that they predict by 2023, 30% of customer prioritization of inbound inquiries or staffing and cost service organizations will deliver proactive customer constraints. Just as organizations will increase their digital service using artificial intelligence, process orchestration, footprint, the use of AI, machine learning, and automation and continuous intelligence. will influence, and make possible, the creation of rich proactive engagement paradigms. Gartner predicts that by 2023, 30% of customer service organizations will deliver 30% proactive customer service using artificial intelligence, process orchestration, and continuous intelligence. Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 12

SMS will likely lead the charge of proactive outreach given Agents need to be empowered to take part in our mobile preferences. Therefore, we also predict that proactive communications by 2025, more than 50% of all brands will use SMS as a In addition to AI and automation playing a major role in proactive customer support and engagement channel, structuring proactive outreach, the agent will also have a amplifying the competitive focus around brand trust. key role in the transition to more proactive engagement. Increasingly, customer-centric agent desktops will give agents context of the customer journey across channels, enabling even more personalized and right-time proactive 50% outreach to increase customer satisfaction. As the agent has deep insights into previous customer interactions, of all brands will use SMS as a proactive context across channels, and historical sentiment, this can customer support and engagement be applied to individualized outreach initiatives. This type channel, amplifying the competitive of right-time proactive engagement could lead to strong focus around brand trust. upsell and cross-sell opportunities while certainly having a positive impact on customer retention and satisfaction. Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 13

By 2025, 25% of retail employees will double as contact center agents as e-commerce and digital customer engagement eclipse face-to-face interactions. Janice Rapp, VP, Product Marketing, Contact Center, 8x8 Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 14

We have all witnessed the shape-shifting of customer service. ■ Buy online with curbside pickup. ■ Contact-free delivery. ■ More apps, more chatbots, and less human interaction. $7.4T And as a result, more customer friction and frustration as Global retail sales are set to most of us—especially older generations—are forced to reach $7.4 trillion by 2025. interact in new ways, replacing in-person conversations with digital self-service. At the same time, digital natives (Millennials) and digital immigrants (Gen Z) expect frictionless and personalized experiences because great brands have already taught them that it’s possible. Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 15

Retail e-commerce sales worldwide from 2014 to 2025 (in billion U.S. dollars) According to Statista, 2021 retail e-commerce sales amounted $7.4B to approximately 4.9 trillion U.S. dollars worldwide. This figure is forecast to grow by 50 percent over the next four years, reaching $6.8B about 7.4 trillion dollars by 2025. $6.2B $5.5B $4.9B $4.3B $3B $3.4B $2.4B $1.6B $1.9B $1.3B 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 16

It’s not conjecture to state that as e-commerce continues and the enormous pressure that employers are facing to increase, the retail footprint will continue its associated in attracting and retaining talent, including contact decline. As a result, retailers will need to make constant center agents. Lastly, by sharing ownership of the adjustments to support the rapid evolution of their customer experience with a broader base of employees, industry. In 2021, there were seminal case studies and organizations can solve issues faster, offer wider channel articles written about brick-and-mortar retail store availability and support, and deliver more consistent employees being set up to respond to customer inquiries customer experiences. and interactions via voice and digital channels. It’s an interesting, visionary approach, and I believe we will see Longer-term, we need to consider further advances more of this customer engagement model in the coming in AI, including predictive and proactive outbound years because it solves for a number of issues. communications (as we highlighted in the previous prediction), the Internet of Things (IoT), and robotics, First, it addresses the pandemic-driven rise in digital- to name a few. Shared ownership of the customer will first consumers and the corresponding decline in retail cross every stage of the buyer journey, and experiences foot traffic, while at the same time balancing the cost/ will be fueled by an organization-wide commitment to benefit equation. Secondly, it addresses the staffing issues fulfilling a customer’s unique requirements at each stage associated with events such as The Great Resignation of that journey. Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 17

Even in a virtual world, visionary retailers will embrace Where and how those employees are presented and every opportunity to think about what customers need, supported will be the issue. Composed experiences, before they need it. Instead of becoming less human, permissions, and access will be needed to address the leaders in every category will have access to data to guide customer journey, which will be forever changing. An consumers throughout their journey. Voice interactions open, extensible, and tightly integrated approach to may not be with a live human, but voice interactions (and communications and collaboration will be foundational. authentication) will feel nothing but natural. And if a voice With the introduction of customer data platforms (or interaction escalates beyond the voicebot, a live agent/ looking ahead, global customer data/account profiles), brand/company advisor/expert will take over and have customer journeys will be visible to every employee across instant access and understanding of the context. the organization. And the right communications will be key to the future of secure, hyper-individualized, proactive, and dynamic customer engagement. “By sharing ownership of the customer experience with a broader base of employees, organizations can solve issues faster, offer wider channel availability and support, and deliver more consistent customer experiences.” Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 18

By 2025, 25% of agents will be gig-economy workers, as events such as the Great Resignation and Great Reprioritization continue to change the face of the contact center. Patrick Russell, Director, Product Management, WFM, 8x8 Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 19

As workforce shortages continue, the improved flexibility management between customers and workers. Additionally, provided by remote and fractional employment coupled machines will provide workers with emotion detection with modern schedule and location flexibility, will see and response guidance to heighten workers’ emotional delays in retirement or even retirees boomerang back intelligence in real-time. into the workforce to help solve some of the shortage. Gig-economy workers will also become commonplace in The technology interfaces for this workforce will continue to the contact center. be refined and simplified and will require little to no training time. Virtual assistance will also provide real-time guidance, Increasingly, front-line digital workers will work in conjunction ensuring that all parts of customer requests and information with advanced technology. Whereas the technology will inputs are accurate, and acting as an “auto-correct” for all handle much of the effort through self-service interaction actions taken and responses given. channels, bots will also provide oversight of information By 2027, the “alternative workforce” of freelancers, gig workers, and crowd workers is expected to become the majority of the US workforce, according to Edelman Intelligence. Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 20

With the volume of jobs increasingly moving from face- To meet the full labor requirements using a more fractional to-face to virtual interactions, those requiring human workforce will require a higher number of workers, working involvement will increasingly be comprised of complicated fewer hours per week, on average. Recruiting, training, scenarios or highly emotional situations that still require coaching, scheduling, and quality management will all go a human touch. The continued advancement of self- through a transformation including a greater degree of service capabilities that can handle a higher percentage automation and verifiable worker performance data. of digital interactions means that human effort will only be needed for escalation when the bots fail to handle a All of these advancements will ultimately reduce effort customer’s needs. Voice interaction bots will continue to and increase the speed at which customers will reach capture a significant portion of triage or tier-one level voice resolutions. Meanwhile, workers will have tremendous interactions and administer post-interaction surveys, but control over their time and when they decide to work, and when someone needs answers to a more complex question for what companies or projects. or issue, human-to-human voice interactions will remain a common and preferred communication channel. Customers will realize better experiences, workers will enjoy greater flexibility and greater control over their income, and businesses will operate with smaller workforces working hand in hand with intelligent software that provides robotic and intelligent automation. Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 21

By 2025, VR will be used in at least 65% of contact centers as brands enter the metaverse and customers look to engage with or as avatars in virtual spaces. Jessica Smith, Senior Manager, Product Marketing, Contact Center, 8x8 Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 22

It would be almost impossible to have a prediction piece which both parties choose an avatar to then meet in a that didn’t acknowledge the impact that the metaverse virtual setting—the virtual setting of course being up to will have on businesses moving forward. What will this your design entirely. In fact, the setting may be one that impact have on contact centers in particular? It will greatly changes depending on the nature of the interaction, the change the way businesses engage with customers and customer’s preferences, their tenure as a loyal customer, build experiences or environments that deliver intelligent, the workings of the business, or just an overall appealing immersive personalization. aesthetic. The possibilities of metaverse meetups will be limitless. Interacting in the metaverse We’ve already seen examples of this with Microsoft’s Picture this: your customers are interacting with your unveiling of Mesh for Microsoft Teams. While Mesh is brand online only to find themselves needing assistance. primarily focused on employee-to-employee interactions, Perhaps they begin chatting with a bot that leads to an the future will likely mean extending these experiences to escalation potential or the need to communicate with include customer interactions, providing a new sense of a live agent. Your customer then has the option to have liberation for both your customers and your employees. a more interactive session with a live agent—one in Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 23

Customers interacting in the metaverse $800B As consumers begin to interact with businesses in the metaverse, expectations will yet again change. The bar will The global metaverse revenue be raised as constraints related to immersive experiences opportunity could equal lift, and consumer desires take new shape. $800 billion in 2024, according Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) will have a major role to Bloomberg Intelligence. to play in being able to deliver on customer preferences, which are necessary to understand, in order to optimize these new types of interactions. The collecting, analyzing, segmenting, and application of customer data will create an avenue to deliver extreme personalization for metaverse meetups. Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 24

Let’s look at a hypothetical home improvement buyer journey for the year 2030: Customer allows retailer access Retailer accesses profile and Customer is proactively 1 to their secure, global electronic 2associated intent data to 3invited to attend a purchasing account profile determine that customer fits the virtual remodeling expo, profile for “kitchen renovation” on-demand Customer opts-in to see a rendered Vendor X invites the customer Customer spends 6model of desired cabinets and 5to a virtual walkthrough/demo 4a disproportionate configuration, using uploaded of cabinet offerings, narrowing amount of time in the photos and specifications in on desired features virtual room exploring Vendor X’s cabinetry Customer service technician conducts If needed, customer visits store Customer can interact with 7 virtual walkthrough, confirms all 8to assess physical model. In-store 9in-store kiosk/robot to ask measurements via remote 3D rendering, kiosk/robot greets customer and questions, escalate to involve prepares quote and sends back to walks through highlights using additional subject matter customer via their global e-purchasing additional virtual reality guidance. experts and/or accept account. Customer can choose to accept e-purchase agreement. and submit e-purchase agreement or interact with an online advisor to clarify and revise. Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 25

The notion that these experiences will have a heightened A metaverse meetup changes the game and liberates level of personalization is almost the tip of the iceberg. It’s agents from how they or their physical surroundings the level of immersion that can be created and adjusted have to look to have a “face-to-face” meetup with that will change the future of buying across myriad your customers. Agents will be able to engage with products and services. that customer in a virtual setting, with an avatar of their choosing. Suddenly the burden of home offices, distractions, or having that camera-ready look fades away. Agents interacting in the metaverse Moving the interaction to virtual reality creates an optimal “A metaverse meetup changes situation for your agents working anywhere in the world the game and liberates agents who may not always be camera-ready. This is, of course, from how they or their physical a reality we’re faced with today in that not every home surroundings have to look to environment may be one in which you’d be pleased to have representing the face of your company. In many have a “face-to-face” meetup cases, contact centers have shied away from the use of with your customers.” video as a channel for precisely this reason. Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 26

The security implications and advantages CPaaS services have made it easy for businesses Meeting in the metaverse may also provide heightened today to allow customers and delivery drivers to easily security or an additional sense of privacy for both agents communicate without ever sharing personal contact and customers. information. The two parties can engage with the confidence and comfort of knowing their personal Avatars and virtual meetup spaces are essentially helping information is protected. Imagine just how much further to mask one’s identity and create a safe space to interact you can take this in a virtual setting. Personal or private with a stranger. Not only does this neutral setting help details beyond just standard contact information can eliminate some of the intimidation or uncomfortable be maintained in a virtual setting by masking certain nature in meeting with a stranger, but many customers will variables, attributes, or data between the agent and feel safer by meeting in such a way. Being able to provide customer through the security of the platform. this level of interaction, while also guaranteeing your Overall, as accessibility to the metaverse increases and agents’ and customers’ privacy will remain intact, is truly grows in popularity, this will change the way in which an ideal situation for your customers and the business. your organization interacts with your customers and creates extremely personalized, highly secure, immersive experiences. Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 27

By 2030, AI will drive the verticalization of customer experience and journey orchestration. Peter Milligan, Director, Product Marketing, Contact Center, 8x8 Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 28

“Don’t care how! I want it now!” No matter which version So, how are companies going to arm their agents with of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory you most enjoy, everything they need to help all their customers, even the Veruca Salt famously shouts these words at the end of demanding ones? There is lots of talk that if you inject her musical number that begins with a simple request. some artificial intelligence (AI) into your contact center, She wants one of Willy Wonka’s golden geese. Yes, it’s a everything will be great. This results in agents outfitted simple request, but it’s also a very specific one, and she with all the information and answers they need to help wants it now. your customers and customer satisfaction scores going up and to the right. Right? Well, maybe. Consumers today are not that over the top. Well, most of them aren’t, anyway. However, they have come to expect a certain level of speed and accuracy when it comes to their customer service experiences, and that makes sense. It is 84% extremely important for a company to know its customers. Today, 84% of customers say they are frustrated when an of customers say they are frustrated agent doesn’t have their information at hand. when an agent doesn’t have their information at hand. Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 29

AI, as well as machine learning (ML) and natural language a national tire store is going to be completely different processing (NLP), are powerful tools that are starting to than shopping for a new party dress at that high-end make an impact in the contact center—and this is a good department store. And it should be. However, one size thing. Well thought out and executed solutions based on does not fit all. As we know from today’s customers, these technologies promise to be a powerful combination. they want an experience that is unique to them. However, painting your contact center with a broad stroke of AI may not be the answer. AI needs to be applied in With AI, ML, and NLP combined, it can be. Customizing a specific way where companies like yours can see real each experience based on millions, or even billions, of past value, quickly. customer interactions across a variety of verticals, each customer will experience your brand in a way that is truly To gain that quick value, we predict that by 2030 (possibly unique to them. sooner), AI will drive verticalization in the contact center industry to pinpoint each customer’s needs in a certain As AI drives the verticalization of the customer experience sector and then effectively carry them on a personalized and journey orchestration, along with unique experiences journey with every brand. to align contact center resources to meet the specific needs of each customer, Veruca may get her golden Think about this for just a minute. The type of service goose yet. and experience you receive while shopping for tires at Contact Center Predictions for 2023 and Beyond 30

Taking the next step Regardless of your business, markets are becoming increasingly competitive, customers are becoming more demanding, and budgets are tighter than ever before. To compete in this demanding environment, 8x8 can help you deploy a complete, cloud-based, contact center solution to provide unbeatable customer experiences that differentiate you from the competition every day. The 8x8 Contact Center allows you to optimize operations and experiences through a comprehensive feature set, high availability, real-time dashboards, seamless integrations, and most importantly by empowering agents. Visit 8x8.com and talk to one of our experts now to learn more about 8x8’s complete contact center solution on the most secure and reliable platform.

About 8x8 8x8, Inc. (NYSE: EGHT) is transforming the future of business communications as a leading Software as-a-Service provider of 8x8 XCaaS™ (eXperience Communications as a Service™), an integrated contact center, voice communications, video, chat, and API solution built on one global cloud communications platform. 8x8 uniquely eliminates the silos between Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) and Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) to power the communications requirements of all employees globally as they work together to deliver differentiated customer experiences. For additional information, visit www.8x8.com, or follow 8x8 on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. © 8x8, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Unless otherwise specified, all trademarks identified by the ®, TM, or ® SM are registered trademarks, trademarks, or services marks respectively of 8x8, Inc. 8x8, 8x8 XCaaS™, eXperience Communications as a Service™, and 8x8 Global Reach™ are trademarks of 8x8, Inc.