Devoted to Managers and those that seek to improve their management skills

A global survey performed by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) for AT&T (T) found that about three fourths of senior executives say that the most important benefit of network convergence is the improving collaboration between customers, suppliers and partners.

The majority of executives responding said that they are planning on bringing customer service quickly into an IP environment.

While at the present time only 8% of companies use an IP network for their contact centers, it is expected to reach to around 40% in the next two years.

The trend among companies to use a multichannel approach to customer service will be even larger as about 50% of the companies will be using video link to communicate with their customers.

Around 42 percent added that that they will use chat or messaging, and 39 percent said they will use mobile text.

Bill Archer, president of AT&T's operations for Europe, the Middle East and Africa said, "With all the advances of new IP-based technology allowing more innovative ways to connect with customers, there are also major challenges for the enterprise, this survey shows that while IP creates a scalable, robust, and global platform for integrated CRM technologies, a firm's customer service will still only be as good as the humans delivering it.
 
"Managers and staff alike will increasingly require multiple skills to make the IP-based contact center work to best effect. The demand for technical aptitude will increase, but strong interpersonal skills will remain important as ever -- for three-quarters or more of firms in the survey, voice and face-to-face communication will remain major channels of customer communication. Recruiting, training and retaining good customer service staff will naturally be crucial to success."

I'm glad they added the people part of the equation here, as technology will always be commoditized and people will be the difference in its applications. Some companies may have a short window where they adopt the technology first and thus have a short-term edge, but in the long run it is still the people and training that will make the difference. Don't you agree with that?