Contact centres are struggling to cope with the increased number of channels, a report has indicated.

Three-quarters of contact centre managers interviewed for the poll said agents were expected to use up to five different software applications to handle customer enquiries – a number which is on the rise.

The survey of 90 contact centre managers was carried out by technology provider Corizon across the UK.

“Each channel increases the complexity of an agent’s desktop exponentially,” argues Emma Chablo, Corizon marketing director.

“As a result of the demand for new contact channels, desktop environments are littered with dozens of different screens with agents scrambling between them to find the right answer.

“This is hampering customer service operations, making it difficult for many contact centres to achieve the quality of service customers want.”