The contact center is where a company's customer service technology should come together, creating a well-oiled, data-driven machine that solves customer issues quickly. But companies can't expect to provide that high level of service without the right contact center technology architecture and processes in place. Making a contact center technology assessment can be a major challenge. Furthermore, the inability to break down silos and gain a 360-degree view of the customer often hampers service offerings.

So, where should customer service departments start? Here, experts and users offer best practices on contact center technology trends for companies looking to upgrade their existing technology or rethink their strategies to build a modern contact center:

Consolidate systems

For contact centers that pull customer data from many different silos, slashing the number of contact center applications that agents need to access can "transform" the customer experience, said Bob Furniss, customer care practice director at consulting firm Bluewolf. Cutting it down to one system isn't a realistic goal, Furniss said, but going from six to two, for example, can make a big difference. In this way, agents can get a unified desktop that prevents them from switching between applications and slowing things down.

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