Executive Summary If loyal customers are the lifeblood of a successful marketing program, call centers are the heartbeat. It is within the call center that happy customers become loyal advocates or disenchanted. All too often, however, call centers are viewed by marketing professionals as an afterthought instead of a key to customer loyalty, customer satisfaction and as a lead generation. Modern marketers must move from seeing Customer Care as a secondary supporting function to one of primary importance to marketing programs and lead generation, along with other digital marketing and sales activities. This How-To Guide challenges marketers to view the call center as a potential source of revenue and lead generation as well as the hub of Customer Care. This report discusses the misperceptions around call centers and shows modern marketers how to transform their call center (cost center) into a Modern Contact Center (profit center) by recognizing its strategy in lead generation and customer experience. This brief 11-page How-To Guide is designed to provide practical advice for building a Modern Contact Center and outlines the following: Executive Summary Opportunities & Challenges of the Call Center Creating a Modern Contact Center Contact Center Application Selection Criteria Action Plan Bottom Line Demand Metric's How-To Guides are designed to provide practical, on-the-job training and education and provide context for using our premium tools & templates. If there is a topic that you would like to see covered, please contact us at info@demandmetric.com (link sends e-mail) to make a content request.

1. How-To Guide
© 2015 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Transforming from Call Center to Contact Center:
Utilizing Intelligent Information Flow to Create a Lead and
Revenue Generating Contact Center
April 2015
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
If loyal customers are the lifeblood of a successful marketing program,
call centers are the heartbeat. It is within the call center that happy
customers become loyal advocates or disenchanted.
All too often, however, call centers are viewed by marketing
professionals as an afterthought instead of a key to customer loyalty,
customer satisfaction and as a lead generation.
Modern marketers must move from seeing Customer Care as a
secondary supporting function to one of primary importance to
marketing programs and lead generation, along with other digital
marketing and sales activities.
This How-To Guide challenges marketers to view the call center as a
potential source of revenue and lead generation as well as the hub of
Customer Care. This report discusses the misperceptions around call
centers and shows modern marketers how to transform their call center
(cost center) into a Modern Contact Center (profit center) by
recognizing its strategy in lead generation and customer experience.

2. How-To Guide
© 2015 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGES OF THE CALL CENTER
Call Center Challenges
The traditional call center faces many challenges in the current business
environment. These include:
 Increasing complexity, rate of change and regulatory
compliance issues, especially in Healthcare and Financial
Services, which can diminish customer service agent performance.
 Call center information resides in many systems where the
volume of information is high and the velocity of change is
rapid. It can be difficult for employees to find the right
information in a timely manner.
 Numerous IT systems that complicate business processes,
which agents need to be able to perform in order to serve
customers well.
 Training requirements that make initial agent on-boarding as
well as cross-training and multi-skilling increasingly difficult,
time-consuming and expensive.
 Financial and downtime cost of agent replacement when lack
of training or skill make job replacement necessary.
 Focus on increasing customer satisfaction at all levels of the
organization, especially within Customer Care, but often without
increased staff or resources.
 Increased contact velocity and volume. This trend also
amplifies information erosion and accelerates the spread of
misinformation across multiple channels.
The Modern Contact Center
Forward-thinking organizations see the need for a tight alignment
among Marketing, Sales and Customer Care departments. To
demonstrate the need for this change, they are repositioning the
call center as the primary contact for customer interaction.
This is more than a cosmetic name change. The Modern Contact Center
shows a fundamental shift in strategic thinking and implementation. It
impacts staffing, resources, organizational alignment and the
deployment of new technology. Demand Metric’s Customer

3. How-To Guide
© 2015 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Engagement Maturity Model highlights that world-class organizations,
“fully align marketing, sales and customer care with cross-functional
responsibility for sales and revenue.” Furthermore, the Maturity Model
identifies that World-Class organizations also, “utilize comprehensive,
end-to-end system integration of all customer engagement related
platforms with tight integration to CRM systems, marketing
automation software and ERP systems.”
Demand Metric defines the Modern Contact Center as the staff,
strategies and technologies that create a Customer Care
Communications Hub within the organization, where customer
service is viewed, staffed and resourced as a critical part of the
customer sales journey, not limited to after-sale support.
The Modern Contact Center is intelligent, forward-thinking and
central to customer activity. It is a true communications hub where
knowledge, information and solutions flow between the customer
and the company.
The Modern Contact Center has five key characteristics that set it apart
from the legacy call center:
 Intelligent Information Flow. In the Modern Contact Center,
information overload is replaced by an intelligent information
flow where the information presented to the agent is right-sized
for the immediate need and in the right context for the multi-
channel environment. According to Demand Metric’s recent
study, the Enterprise Digital Marketing Benchmark Report, “The
B2B enterprise is very likely to use multiple digital marketing
strategies, with over three-fourths using three or more
strategies.” Clearly, the digital marketing environment has
become extremely multi-faceted, which the Modern Contact
Center can help to integrate further.
Additionally, customers’ needs are met through the
intelligent application of data effectively mined in real-time.
With the intelligent information flow, agents don’t need to search
for information from every database and training on effective
information access replaces rote memorization of facts that often
change frequently, making their memorization problematic.
 Context Aware. Traditional call centers struggle with many
information-related challenges, including too much information,
irrelevant and out-of date-information and constantly changing

4. How-To Guide
© 2015 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
regulations, practices and procedures. Yet, traditional call center
agents are expected to quickly (within milliseconds) find the right
information for the customer. Context aware functionality
enables higher levels of performance because it filters
information by key criteria (employee role, type of inquiry,
customer history, etc.) to address specific issues with
relevant information in real-time. Relevant information is
offered based on corporate process and compliance rules and
guidelines. Context aware functionality also supports the
intelligent information flow by enabling rapid information
retrieval, understanding and training (while filtering out non-
relevant ‘noise’).
 Multi-channel. Information in the Modern Contact Center flows
freely between the customer and the company regardless of touch
point or device, offering greater message consistency. Customer
information is shared by all internal points of contact, including
Marketing and Sales and Operations. This omni-directional
information flow increases the quality and speed of customer
service activity and sets the stage for the Modern Contact
Center’s role in lead generation.
 Increasingly Cloud-based. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
applications provide users with cost, flexibility and scalability
benefits. Updates to cloud-based software are ongoing. The days
of multiple software versions and “dot” releases are numbered.
Cloud applications are future-proof. In addition, hosting customer
information in the cloud instead of, or in addition to, on premise
increases availability and disaster recovery.
Contact Center agents always have access to the most
relevant information no matter where they are located. This
eliminates the need to constantly update manuals and other
materials as things change, while easing the burden of supporting
the increasing number of home-based agents. Cloud-based
Contact Centers support the range of mobile devices that most
customers use today, making the experience with the Contact
Center transparent to the customer and increasing engagement.
 Virtually Supported. Organizations are increasingly leveraging
the power of the cloud to outsource or decentralize key business
processes. A result of this is the proportion of agents now
working from home is growing. The power of the cloud to

5. How-To Guide
© 2015 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
eliminate geographic constraints is a boon to Business
Process Outsourcers (BPO) and their clients.
Role in Lead Generation
The Contact Center has a critical role in demand generation, as well as
lead nurturing and post-sale opportunities (renewals and upsell and
cross-sell opportunities). This role is driven by several key needs:
 Creating loyal satisfied customers who will provide direct
referrals and social influence in favor of the company or brand
due to exceptional customer service.
 Providing the customer care view in the company’s holistic
picture of customer experience, which can be used to determine
better performing offers and calls-to-action for Marketing.
 Offering suggestions for product/service improvements that
drive the customer, product or brand into new market niches.
The Modern Contact Center should be recognized as an “in-
house” focus group.
 Supporting the entire customer journey, especially the post-
sale experience.
The Contact Center can be an influential component of the lead
generation process and the overall buyer’s journey. In Demand Metric’s
recent study, the Sales Experience Quality Benchmark Report, “70% of
the time, it takes months or years to restore the relationship after a bad
sales meeting.” Furthermore, the study found that, “In about half the
cases, the vendor is eliminated from current and future opportunities as
a result of a bad sales meeting.” If Contact Center teams are trained and
equipped at the front end of this meeting process, their existence will
benefit the overall buyer’s journey and lead nurturing process to avoid
these common pitfalls. When the Modern Contact Center is fully
equipped at the front end, they can help ensure a consistent message is
delivered to customers throughout their journey and capture prospect
information to be shared with Sales and Marketing.
Benefits to the Modern Contact Center
The Modern Contact Center offers several key benefits for the Modern
Marketing Organization. These include:
 Reduced time agents spend in information discovery to
increase the speed of response to customer inquiries.

6. How-To Guide
© 2015 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
 Better personalized interactions via Contact Center activity
integration with CRM and Marketing Automation profiles to
customize emails, offers and calls-to-action.
 Better multi-channel access through the integration of social,
email, mobile, live chat and call records to determine customer
behavior for lead generation.
 Increased behavioral analytics when Contact Center data is
included in the marketing metrics mix.
 Preservation and constant capture of institutional knowledge
in Customer Care, Marketing and back-office functions.
 Creation of an Information Hub, that allows interconnected
departments to benefit from Contact Center information.
Given these advantages, it is time to rethink the call center’s role in the
organization; and, particularly, its role in supporting marketing efforts
to drive new leads and revenue.
CREATING A MODERN CONTACT CENTER
Successfully transforming the call center to a Contact Center that better
supports marketing programs and lead generation requires a series of
well-orchestrated steps. Follows these four best practice steps to begin
this transformation:
 Step 1 – Evaluate Your Call Center Operations: The first step
in creating a Modern Contact Center is to evaluate the current
role your call center has in your marketing and business strategy
efforts. These questions are central to that evaluation:
 What role does the Contact Center play in your Sales,
Marketing, Product Management and Operations today?
 What impact is Contact Center data having on strategic
business, product and marketing decisions today?
 How well coordinated is the information flow internally
across Marketing, Sales and Customer Care, the back office
and/or the Contact Center?

7. How-To Guide
© 2015 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
 Do all departments have access to the right information at
the right time? If not, why not?
 Is that information timely and accurate?
 How well are customer activity records (CRM, Marketing
Automation and Customer Service) integrated?
 Is the Contact Center staff trained and prepared for all
multi-channel interactions like social, mobile and video?
 Is there a process for identification and handoff of potential
revenue opportunities from the Contact Center to
Marketing and Sales?
 Step 2 – Change Your Point of View: The second step in call
center transformation is changing the perception within the
organization. It’s much more than a rebranding or a name change
from call center to Contact Center.
Rather, it’s a new perspective: thinking of the Contact Center
as a central Communications Hub for Customer Success. For
this to occur, it requires an “outside in” perspective, which
involves taking the perspective of the customer and their journey,
not the perspective of the organization and its products, systems
and processes. For this reason, we recommend strategically
positioning the Contact Center as part of the Customer Success
organization (with cross-functional responsibility), which
highlights its role in the customer journey, the development of
customer relationships and loyalty & advocacy as well as
demonstrates its ability to increase customer lifetime value.
 Step 3 – Create a Strategy for Alignment: Alignment among
Marketing, Sales, Customer Care, the back office and the Contact
Center is a critical best practice for success. Alignment must
occur on strategy, process, systems, guidance information and the
information flow. Organizationally, a cross-functional team with
an executive sponsor and champion must be designated.
Intelligent information flow is particularly important in the
multi-channel environment. The added velocity, volume and
complexity of multi-channel communication, especially
social media, increases the risk of misinformation spreading
in ways it otherwise would not. Be sure to develop an efficient

8. How-To Guide
© 2015 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
and consistent process for information access and delivery as well
as provide proper training for customer service agents tasked
with addressing customer issues in a multi-channel environment.
 Step 4 – Choose the Right Systems, Platform & Applications:
A fourth best practice in call center transformation is choosing
the platforms and tools that can support the foundation of a
communication and customer success hub. Use the selection
criteria listed below to evaluate potential platform vendors.
CONTACT CENTER APPLICATION SELECTION CRITERIA
The Contact Center applications your organization selects will help
determine the quality of your customer care user experience. While the
Modern Contact Center touches on and extends to all information-
related systems, this guide focuses on business process guidance
and information access systems and platforms that improve
customer service performance.
Evaluate potential solutions according to the following criteria:
1. Intelligent Information Flow. Does the solution support the
intelligent information flow? If so, the solution should be right-
sized. This means that the solution should be able provide the
right information at the moment an agent needs it, and should be
able to present that information in the right context for the
multi-channel environment.
2. Speed of Information Access and Retrieval. With the
intelligent information flow, speed of information access and
retrieval is dramatically improved with a guided learning system
that takes the agent through the process by recommending the
next action or task. This type of ‘guidance system’ gets agents up
to speed faster with less training and support, and eliminates
unproductive search by providing the most current and relevant
information from the repository in real-time.
3. Context Aware. The knowledge base should recognize agent
profiles and information needs, and respond with relevant
information filtered by details such as role, screen activity,
experience and expertise. This means every agent is presented
with the best information for their current task.
4. Ease of Use. The Contact Center platform should offer advanced
global search and intuitive ‘wizards’ for information retrieval that

9. How-To Guide
© 2015 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
do not require detailed training and education of Contact Center
staff. Independence from or minimal reliance on internal IT
support is highly desirable.
5. Ease of Content Maintenance. While it is critical that your
agents find the guidance system manageable, it is just as
important that your process owners and subject matter experts
also find it easy to use in creating, maintaining and publishing the
guidance information itself. In today’s fast-paced Contact Center
environment, ease and speed of information creation and
publication of updates holds the key to ensuring the agility that is
associated with always being able to meet customer needs and
compliance obligations.
6. Embrace the Cloud. Cloud-based Contact Center systems ensure
that information is relevant, timely and accurate. This reduces
key information worker challenges related to information
complexity, compliance requirements and policy or data change
management. Other key benefits of embracing the Cloud include:
 Faster, flexible deployment that shortens time to value.
 Scalability to expand or contract based on demand.
 Extensibility and ease of integration with complementary
applications and systems to leverage existing investments
without the involvement of internal IT resources.
 Fewer and lower costs of administration and ownership,
reducing CAPEX and increasing bottom-line revenue.
 Future-proofing. Customers always use the current
‘version’ of software because it is constantly maintained by
the cloud software vendor.
7. Omni-channel routing capabilities. The information flow
should be accessible throughout the multi-channel environment.
Both the external and internal information flow should be
planned and supported to maximize agent efficiencies.
8. CRM, ERP and BPM system integration should be supported.
9. Social Media, live chat and mobile integrations to support
customer journey and lead generation should be supported.

10. How-To Guide
© 2015 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
10.Reporting and analytics should be tracked and tied to SLAs and
agent performance metrics.
ACTION PLAN
1. Evaluate your call center/Contact Center, using the questions
in the Creating a Modern Contact Center section of this guide to
determine your current level of success.
2. Assess needs across the organization to set your Contact
Center performance goals and to identify the strengths to be
enhanced and the gaps to be filled. When doing so, consider the
following performance metrics of your call center:
 Average customer call, wait and hold times.
 ‘First agent resolution’ statistics as a measure of your
agents’ competency, cross-skilling and multi-skilling.
 Process error and regulatory compliance breach rates.
 Staff knowledge and speed of access to relevant content
and information.
 Training and on-boarding of new hires.
 Staff morale and confidence as well as staff turnover.
 Change management capability of your systems and staff.
 Data accessibility for staff and customers across all
channels and devices.
 Overall Contact Center performance and improvement.
If your call center is underperforming in any of these areas,
new processes, systems and tools may be needed.
3. Use the Contact Center Application Selection Criteria section of
this guide to evaluate potential vendor partners.

11. How-To Guide
© 2015 Demand Metric Research Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
4. Choose solutions that will best enable your Contact Center
team to increase agent performance and provide new lead
generation opportunities for Sales and Marketing.
BOTTOM LINE
Call centers and Customer Care teams are some of the most critical
customer-facing teams within a company. They are where the customer
turns first to get questions answered and issues resolved. These
operations can have the highest impact on customer engagement and
experience with a company or brand. Yet, they are often under-staffed,
under-resourced and challenged with constant change and complexity.
It is time to rethink the call center.
Demand Metric recommends that organizations evaluate the
performance of their call center and Customer Care teams as the
key drivers of customer experience, engagement and satisfaction as
well as the potential drivers of company revenue. Use the contents of
this guide and the accompanying action plan to transform your call
center into a true Modern Contact Center, and from a cost center to a
marketing-focused lead and revenue generator.