Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies (ISSN: 2220-6140) Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 79-91, April 2019 79 Enhanced Customer Interactions through Customer-Centric Technology within a Call Centre Devina Oodith University of KwaZulu-Natal (Westville Campus), Durban, South Africa oodithd@ukzn.ac.za Abstract: Customer call centres have become a critical form of service delivery for many organisations hence technological innovations serve as a critical point of contact between the organisation and its customers and can assist in raising the stakes in businesses in terms of customer service delivery (Burgess & Connell, 2004). According to the 2017 Global Customer Experience Benchmarking Report technology has been the number one enabler to positively enhance customer service experience in the last 5 years (Business Tech, 2017). Customers have become so empowered that they expect to have flexibility to contact a business however they choose; either via a telephone, email or Facebook. The key to ensuring satisfaction though is system’s efficiency and ease of use. This study was undertaken in EThekwini (Durban), South Africa and was directed within a Public Sector service environment comprising of four major call centres employing a total of 240 call centre agents. Using simple random sampling, 220 customers were drawn from all consumers subscribing to e-billing in EThekwini (Durban). Data for the customer sample was collected using a precoded, self-developed questionnaire whose psychometric properties were statistically determined. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results specify that in terms of customers’ perceptions of the influence of technology, on call centre effectiveness the majority of the customers found it challenging to use the technology and to understand the self-help options that were provided to them by the call centre. There were problems encountered with logging in customer queries and complaints and most customers were dissatisfied with their overall customer experience. Based on the results of the study recommendations have been made to manage the interactions between the customers and call centre’s more proficiently and powerfully. Keywords: Systems efficiency, ease of use, clarity and understanding of technology. 1. Introduction In the absence of the traditional servicescape and while waiting on the phone for their call to be answered, customers only have access to their audio senses (Whiting & Donthu, 2006). During this time most of the customers are likely to experience anger and frustration coupled with boredom as they are compelled to deal with inadequate menu options, delays in waiting for agents, coping with aggravating music while waiting, fragmented human contact by numerous call centre agents; usually asking for basic information to be repeated; which often leads to failed calls, and results in repeat journeys through this tedious cycle due to failed service encounters (Beirre et al., 2004, p100). The objectives and importance of this paper is to assess the effectiveness of customer interactions within the call centre through customer-centric technology. In particular it explores the extent to which the systems that are available to assist customers are efficient in handling queries and complaints (systems efficiency); whether these systems are simple to use and understand by the customers that have to interface and navigate through them (ease of use) and attempts to address whether the instructions and menu options presented to customers are clear and concise (clarity and understanding). The telephone call centres are becoming increasingly popular in the service sector. Thus low- cost telecommunications and computer software have been implemented across the finance, banking, insurance and customer support sectors and towards customer call centres as the primary mode of service delivery (Ellis & Taylor, 2006). More recently there have been increases in internet only financial service providers in a bid to benefit from lower costs that have been incurred than from the traditional pressures of the call centre with the additional overheads across the firm; and the heightened dependency on call centre agents (Dixon, 2002; Piercy & Rich, 2008). Systems Efficiency: Information systems and information technology (IS/IT) has been recognised as a core competitive and strategic competency for many organisations (Bendoly et al., 2009; Cheng et al., 2011). Even though IS/IT plays a pivotal role within the organisation the actual effectiveness of its utilisation is important to deliberate upon. Many service managers today are employing several strategies which focus on delivering brought to you by CORE View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk provided by AMH International (E-Journals)