NACC 2020

Our Annual Survey of Customer Service Professionals

Thank you for helping us out by participating in our annual survey. The NACC is a 501(c)(6) not-for-profit organization. We don't have the resources that the for-profit organizations have, so we truly appreciate you taking a few minutes and completing this survey for us. Results will be shared in the NACC newsletter and in sessions at various customer conferences in 2020, which you will hopefully be attending. Your participation adds a great deal of value to the results we'll be sharing.

We ask for no individual identifying information on the survey so you can rest assurred that no one will contact you as a result of your participation. Responses can't be matched with respondents so please be brutally honest with us and your answers! Thank you again.

Question Title

* 1. How would you characterize agent turnover in your contact center?

Not a problem. We're fine with our agent turnover rate.

I think we're about average for our industry

It's manageable, but it could be better

It's something we're actively trying to address and improve

It's a major problem, at the top of our list for 2020

Question Title

* 2. What do you estimate your annual agent turnover rate to be?

10 percent or less

11 - 25 percent

26 - 40 percent

41 - 60 percent

61 - 75 percent

76 - 100 percent

More than 100 percent

Question Title

* 3. Compared to the past few years, would you say your agent turnover rate in 2020 has:

Increased

Decreased

Stayed the Same

Question Title

* 4. For 2020, do you intend to hire agents for your contact center?

Yes, but only to replace those agents who leave due to attrition

Yes, we intend to add agent headcount to our contact center

No, we're planning to reduce agent headcount

Question Title

* 5. Do you currently have at-home agents; i.e., customer service representatives who work from their home, employed by your contact center?

Yes

No (Skip to Question 8)

Question Title

* 6. Approximately what percentage of your agent population is represented by your at-home agents?

Less than 10%

11% - 25%

26% - 50%

51% - 75%

76% - 99%

100%

Question Title

* 7. Do you expect the percentage of at-home agents in your contact center to change in 2020?

We expect the percentage to increase

We expect the percentage to decrease

No change expected

Question Title

* 8. Does your 2020 employee engagement strategy include making changes in your contact center to accomodate the preferences of new generation workers; specifically, Millennial and Gen Z workers?

Yes, we're actively making changes to accommodate these workers

We haven't made any changes yet, but we expect to in 2020

No, we expect them to adapt to our existing work culture

Question Title

* 9. How would you rank Employee Engagement relative to your overall operational strategy for 2020?

It's an integral part

It's somewhat important, but not critical

We haven't addressed it yet, but we'll probably add it to the strategic mix in 2020

We haven't given it much thought and probably won't

Question Title

* 10. In today's "Gig economy," contract workers can work highly variable schedules as long as they meet the needs of the business, and gig workers are likely to become a reality in the contact center just as they have for Uber, for example. Would you consider using gig (on-demand) agents to supplement traditional agents in your contact center?

We're already using on-demand gig agents

We'd consider bringing in on-demand gig agents in 2020 (Skip to Question 12)

We've given gig economy agents some thought but it probably won't happen here in 2020 (Skip to Question 12)

We have no interest in working with on-demand gig agents (Skip to Question 12)

Question Title

* 11. What percentage of your agents are working as gig, or on-demand, agents?

Less than 10%

11% - 20%

21% - 35%

36% - 50%

51% - 75%

76% - 99%

100%

Question Title

* 12. Which of the following best describes your attitude/intentions toward the following contact center technologies in 2020?

	Already Own	Own But Will Upgrade/Replace in 2020	Will Evaluate for Purchase	Has Been Funded for Purchase	No Interest
Workforce Management Software	Workforce Management Software Already Own	Workforce Management Software Own But Will Upgrade/Replace in 2020	Workforce Management Software Will Evaluate for Purchase	Workforce Management Software Has Been Funded for Purchase	Workforce Management Software No Interest
Performance Management	Performance Management Already Own	Performance Management Own But Will Upgrade/Replace in 2020	Performance Management Will Evaluate for Purchase	Performance Management Has Been Funded for Purchase	Performance Management No Interest
Speech Analytics	Speech Analytics Already Own	Speech Analytics Own But Will Upgrade/Replace in 2020	Speech Analytics Will Evaluate for Purchase	Speech Analytics Has Been Funded for Purchase	Speech Analytics No Interest
Desktop Analytics	Desktop Analytics Already Own	Desktop Analytics Own But Will Upgrade/Replace in 2020	Desktop Analytics Will Evaluate for Purchase	Desktop Analytics Has Been Funded for Purchase	Desktop Analytics No Interest
Quality Monitoring/Management	Quality Monitoring/Management Already Own	Quality Monitoring/Management Own But Will Upgrade/Replace in 2020	Quality Monitoring/Management Will Evaluate for Purchase	Quality Monitoring/Management Has Been Funded for Purchase	Quality Monitoring/Management No Interest
Call Logging	Call Logging Already Own	Call Logging Own But Will Upgrade/Replace in 2020	Call Logging Will Evaluate for Purchase	Call Logging Has Been Funded for Purchase	Call Logging No Interest
E-Learning Software	E-Learning Software Already Own	E-Learning Software Own But Will Upgrade/Replace in 2020	E-Learning Software Will Evaluate for Purchase	E-Learning Software Has Been Funded for Purchase	E-Learning Software No Interest
Agent Desktop Software/CTI	Agent Desktop Software/CTI Already Own	Agent Desktop Software/CTI Own But Will Upgrade/Replace in 2020	Agent Desktop Software/CTI Will Evaluate for Purchase	Agent Desktop Software/CTI Has Been Funded for Purchase	Agent Desktop Software/CTI No Interest
Interactive Voice Response (IVR)	Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Already Own	Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Own But Will Upgrade/Replace in 2020	Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Will Evaluate for Purchase	Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Has Been Funded for Purchase	Interactive Voice Response (IVR) No Interest
Recruitment/Selection/Hiring Software	Recruitment/Selection/Hiring Software Already Own	Recruitment/Selection/Hiring Software Own But Will Upgrade/Replace in 2020	Recruitment/Selection/Hiring Software Will Evaluate for Purchase	Recruitment/Selection/Hiring Software Has Been Funded for Purchase	Recruitment/Selection/Hiring Software No Interest
Identity Authentication (Biometrics)	Identity Authentication (Biometrics) Already Own	Identity Authentication (Biometrics) Own But Will Upgrade/Replace in 2020	Identity Authentication (Biometrics) Will Evaluate for Purchase	Identity Authentication (Biometrics) Has Been Funded for Purchase	Identity Authentication (Biometrics) No Interest
Coaching	Coaching Already Own	Coaching Own But Will Upgrade/Replace in 2020	Coaching Will Evaluate for Purchase	Coaching Has Been Funded for Purchase	Coaching No Interest
Customer Survey Software	Customer Survey Software Already Own	Customer Survey Software Own But Will Upgrade/Replace in 2020	Customer Survey Software Will Evaluate for Purchase	Customer Survey Software Has Been Funded for Purchase	Customer Survey Software No Interest
Web Chat	Web Chat Already Own	Web Chat Own But Will Upgrade/Replace in 2020	Web Chat Will Evaluate for Purchase	Web Chat Has Been Funded for Purchase	Web Chat No Interest
Web Self-Service	Web Self-Service Already Own	Web Self-Service Own But Will Upgrade/Replace in 2020	Web Self-Service Will Evaluate for Purchase	Web Self-Service Has Been Funded for Purchase	Web Self-Service No Interest
Customer Community Software	Customer Community Software Already Own	Customer Community Software Own But Will Upgrade/Replace in 2020	Customer Community Software Will Evaluate for Purchase	Customer Community Software Has Been Funded for Purchase	Customer Community Software No Interest
Knowledge Management	Knowledge Management Already Own	Knowledge Management Own But Will Upgrade/Replace in 2020	Knowledge Management Will Evaluate for Purchase	Knowledge Management Has Been Funded for Purchase	Knowledge Management No Interest

Question Title

* 13. Which of the following best describes our attitude/intentions toward the following emerging solutions?

	Already Own	Own it, but getting rid of it	It's on our 2020 radar for evaluation	It's funded for 2020 purchase	Maybe in 2021 or beyond	I doubt we'll ever adopt this solution
Gamification	Gamification Already Own	Gamification Own it, but getting rid of it	Gamification It's on our 2020 radar for evaluation	Gamification It's funded for 2020 purchase	Gamification Maybe in 2021 or beyond	Gamification I doubt we'll ever adopt this solution
Omnichannel	Omnichannel Already Own	Omnichannel Own it, but getting rid of it	Omnichannel It's on our 2020 radar for evaluation	Omnichannel It's funded for 2020 purchase	Omnichannel Maybe in 2021 or beyond	Omnichannel I doubt we'll ever adopt this solution

Question Title

* 14. Is your contact center call routing in the cloud?

Yes

Question Title

* 15. Are any of your core applications, such as IVR, WFO, CTI, etc. in the cloud?

Yes, one or more of these apps is in the cloud

No, but we're moving one or more of these apps to the cloud in 2020

No, but we'll likely move one or more to the cloud in the next 3 years

No, we're committed to our premises solutions

Question Title

* 16. When acquiring technology soluions for your contact center, do you prefer:

Dealing with one vendor, one brand name

Taking a "best of breed" approach

Question Title

* 17. Which kinds of interactions do you forecast and schedule for? Check all that apply.

Phone

E-Mail

Web Chat

Social Media

Texting/SMS

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 18. In your company, does the contact center and the back office report to the same internal organization?

Yes

Question Title

* 19. Do you use workforce management or similar software applications to plan, forecast, schedule and manage employee performance and requests in departments outside the call center? (Back office, for example)

Yes

Question Title

* 20. How is your quality monitoring/management program structured?

Manual, random call reviews

Targeted listening using analytics (Skip to question 22)

We don't have a quality monitoring/management program (Skip to question 22)

Question Title

* 21. Are you planning to automate your quality monitoring/management program with analytics at some point?

Yes, in 2020

Probably in 2021 or later

No plans to automate our quality monitoring/management program

Question Title

* 22. Do you have automated workflows to handle escalations? For example, the same caller calls multiple times in a week and could be routed through a workflow to a tier 2 agent rather than just routed to an available agent.

Yes, we have automated workflows

Not yet, but we're planning to automate workflows in 2020

No, but I wouldn't rule it out for the future

No, we're not interrested in automating workflows

Question Title

* 23. Which of the following communications channels do you use in your contact center for customer communications? (Check all that apply)

Phone - Inbound

Phone - Outbound

E-Mail

Live Web Chat

Web Self-Service

Twitter

Facebook

Texting (SMS)

Customer Communities/Forums

Snail Mail

Video

Fax

Question Title

* 24. Generally speaking, would you say that in 2019 you received:

More calls than in the past few years

About the same volume of calls as in the past few years

Fewer calls than in the past few years

Question Title

* 25. Thinking about 2019, would you say your average handle time for voice-assisted calls:

Increased

Stayed about the same as the past few years

Decreased

Question Title

* 26. If your contact center is in North America, do you provide Spanish language call handling?

Yes

Not Applicable - not in North America

Question Title

* 27. What's the status of bots/virtual agents/digital agents in your contact center? (Bots are typically deployed as a means of automating routine tasks for agents and/or customers. Sometimes called Robotic Process Automation or RPA)

We have already deployed and are using bots in our contact center

We're definitely looking at deploying robotics in 2020 (Skip to Question 29)

We're looking out beyond 13+ months to consider bots (Skip to Question 29)

No interest in and no plans for using bots (Skip to Question 29)

Question Title

* 28. Have you decommissioned a bot in your contact center in the last 12 months?

Yes

NACC 2020

Our Annual Survey of Customer Service Professionals

Question Title

* 1. How would you characterize agent turnover in your contact center?

Question Title

* 2. What do you estimate your annual agent turnover rate to be?

Question Title

* 3. Compared to the past few years, would you say your agent turnover rate in 2020 has:

Question Title

* 4. For 2020, do you intend to hire agents for your contact center?

Question Title

* 5. Do you currently have at-home agents; i.e., customer service representatives who work from their home, employed by your contact center?

Question Title

* 6. Approximately what percentage of your agent population is represented by your at-home agents?

Question Title

* 7. Do you expect the percentage of at-home agents in your contact center to change in 2020?

Question Title

* 8. Does your 2020 employee engagement strategy include making changes in your contact center to accomodate the preferences of new generation workers; specifically, Millennial and Gen Z workers?

Question Title

* 9. How would you rank Employee Engagement relative to your overall operational strategy for 2020?

Question Title

Question Title

* 11. What percentage of your agents are working as gig, or on-demand, agents?

Question Title

* 12. Which of the following best describes your attitude/intentions toward the following contact center technologies in 2020?

Question Title

* 13. Which of the following best describes our attitude/intentions toward the following emerging solutions?

Question Title

* 14. Is your contact center call routing in the cloud?

Question Title

* 15. Are any of your core applications, such as IVR, WFO, CTI, etc. in the cloud?

Question Title

* 16. When acquiring technology soluions for your contact center, do you prefer:

Question Title

* 17. Which kinds of interactions do you forecast and schedule for? Check all that apply﻿.

Question Title

* 18. In your company, does the contact center and the back office report to the same internal organization?

Question Title

* 19. Do you use workforce management or similar software applications to plan, forecast, schedule and manage employee performance and requests in departments outside the call center? (Back office, for example)

Question Title

* 20. How is your quality monitoring/management program structured?

Question Title

* 21. Are you planning to automate your quality monitoring/management program with analytics at some point?

Question Title

* 22. Do you have automated workflows to handle escalations? For example, the same caller calls multiple times in a week and could be routed through a workflow to a tier 2 agent rather than just routed to an available agent.

Question Title

* 23. Which of the following communications channels do you use in your contact center for customer communications? (Check all that apply)

Question Title

* 24. Generally speaking, would you say that in 2019 you received:

Question Title

* 25. Thinking about 2019, would you say your average handle time for voice-assisted calls:

Question Title

* 26. If your contact center is in North America, do you provide Spanish language call handling?

Question Title

* 27. What's the status of bots/virtual agents/digital agents in your contact center? (Bots are typically deployed as a means of automating routine tasks for agents and/or customers. Sometimes called Robotic Process Automation or RPA)

Question Title

* 28. Have you decommissioned a bot in your contact center in the last 12 months?

* 17. Which kinds of interactions do you forecast and schedule for? Check all that apply.