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Created an account just to comment on this. I design, implement and support contact centers for a living (think Avaya, Cisco, etc..). For the past five years,

Created an account just to comment on this. I design, implement and support contact centers for a living (think Avaya, Cisco, etc..). For the past five years, we've been preparing ourselves through education and training for this omnichannel take over of voice. While other channels have taken some of the voice pie, it's not nearly as significant as those of us in this field thought it would. I've created chat bots, IVRs and everything in between for automation, and people absolutely hate it and simply want to talk to a human. Most customers push going to the website, but the problem is that a lot of people don't know how to navigate properly. To help this, a lot of customers implement co-browse into their chat solution, but that's only helped a little. We too are using Google's Dialogflow and I'll be looking to deploy my first one in a couple months - very promising compared to other solutions out there like Amazon Connects Lex Bot. Regardless, leaders and technology evangelists in this field still preach that by 2025, the overall percentage of the pie for voice will end up being about 15%. But they emphasize that those humans who make up the 15% will be the most important in the customer service/support space.

strin 6y ago
> Regardless, leaders and technology evangelists in this field still preach that by 2025, the overall percentage of the pie for voice will end up being about 15%. What data points is this prediction based on?
mysterydip 6y ago
Instead of blaming the customer for not being able to navigate properly, maybe the website should be built more intuitively?
- aahhahahaaa 6y ago
  Computer literacy is often vastly overrated, especially by people in tech. >In total, across the OECD countries, 26% of adults were unable to use a computer. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/computer-skill-levels/ https://www.nngroup.com/articles/computer-skill-levels/ I've worked for companies with large call centers, and anecdotally I don't have a single doubt about it. To close this gap computers need to be easier to use... these people aren't even at a skill level where they can reach the web.
  - cuddlybacon 6y ago
    Yeah. Computers have a pretty high skill floor and if you aren't using them enough to stay above that level, you will stop using them entirely and your skills will degrade to zero.
- gcbw3 6y ago
  Google is the new IBM. Saying to your boss that the VP of something is incompetent and made a crappy site will get you fired. Saying there's this new Tech at google coded by god himself will get you a new cost-center and a promotion. For the company, it will turn out as nice as it turned out to all those places renting mainframe contracts well into the 2000s.
- Nextgrid 6y ago
  Most non-tech companies' websites are absolutely awful. Either the login/authentication system is half-assed and you can't access your own account, or the documentation is not easy to find and there is no good search feature, or the website itself directs you to chat/phone once you finally find what you were looking for.
  - MattGaiser 6y ago
    I work for a government that develops a consumer facing system. The UI starts in a Word document. Then the comms people toss colours and words into it to the point that I as a developer don’t know what parts of the system do. Never once have norms of the web been considered in the design.

strin 6y ago

> Regardless, leaders and technology evangelists in this field still preach that by 2025, the overall percentage of the pie for voice will end up being about 15%. What data points is this prediction based on?

mysterydip 6y ago

Instead of blaming the customer for not being able to navigate properly, maybe the website should be built more intuitively?

aahhahahaaa 6y ago
Computer literacy is often vastly overrated, especially by people in tech. >In total, across the OECD countries, 26% of adults were unable to use a computer. https://www.nngroup.com/articles/computer-skill-levels/ https://www.nngroup.com/articles/computer-skill-levels/ I've worked for companies with large call centers, and anecdotally I don't have a single doubt about it. To close this gap computers need to be easier to use... these people aren't even at a skill level where they can reach the web.
- cuddlybacon 6y ago
  Yeah. Computers have a pretty high skill floor and if you aren't using them enough to stay above that level, you will stop using them entirely and your skills will degrade to zero.
gcbw3 6y ago
Google is the new IBM. Saying to your boss that the VP of something is incompetent and made a crappy site will get you fired. Saying there's this new Tech at google coded by god himself will get you a new cost-center and a promotion. For the company, it will turn out as nice as it turned out to all those places renting mainframe contracts well into the 2000s.
Nextgrid 6y ago
Most non-tech companies' websites are absolutely awful. Either the login/authentication system is half-assed and you can't access your own account, or the documentation is not easy to find and there is no good search feature, or the website itself directs you to chat/phone once you finally find what you were looking for.
- MattGaiser 6y ago
  I work for a government that develops a consumer facing system. The UI starts in a Word document. Then the comms people toss colours and words into it to the point that I as a developer don’t know what parts of the system do. Never once have norms of the web been considered in the design.