By
Amber Krueger
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Date Published: July 28, 2025 - Last Updated July 28, 2025
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For those who have worked in a contact center for any length of time, you know daily whirlwind – managing call volumes, overseeing staff and handling unexpected challenges. It’s all too easy for long-term goals to take a backseat to immediate fires. But if the future isn’t prioritized, the day-to-day will never improve.
Don’t let urgent demands derail strategic progress. Commit to building time — at least annually — with your leadership team to plan, assign ownership and drive meaningful change. Here’s how:
1. Conduct a SWOT Analysis
Take a snapshot of your contact center’s current state by assessing key areas: people, technology, procedures and performance metrics.
• Strengths: What is working well?
• Weaknesses: What is holding you back?
• Opportunities: Where can you expand, increase profitability, or gain a competitive edge?
• Threats: What external challenges or competitors pose risks to your success?
2. Hold a Dream Session
Innovation thrives when we break free from the way things have always been done. Empower your leadership team to think boldly:
• If we had a blank slate, what would our contact center look like?
• How would we structure it?
• What technology, resources and service offerings would we invest in?
3. Develop a Strategic Plan
Once the SWOT analysis and dream sessions are complete, turn insights into action by setting concrete goals aligned with broader business objectives. Meet regularly to track progress.
For each goal:
• Define the objective. Example: Implement a new channel (chat, email, etc.).
• Describe its impact. Example: Enable customer communication through chat for greater accessibility.
• Outline actionable steps. Example: Secure a chat vendor, build and test the workflow, develop and deploy training and launch.
• Assign ownership. Accountability drives execution — document responsibilities clearly.
Remember: Leadership isn’t about maintaining the status quo. It’s about shaping the future.