Though contact centers sport a cheerful vibe, agent turnover is reported to be the number one challenge in contact centers1 across industries. Drilling down on this problem reveals that agents face a number of pain points while working at contact centers that are causing them to leave. Why should this worry you?

For all the many, many tools and services your business might be using day-to-day, there’s a good chance your most important business metrics are stored in a humble database. First developed in the late 1970s, SQL databases remain the de facto medium for logging and storing important business information, from sign-ups to stock levels - important business information that would be useful to display on a TV dashboard if only there was an easy way to do so...

Customer support isn’t what it once used to be. Today, customers would rather troubleshoot their problems by reading solution articles, than by writing an elaborate email about it, or waiting to speak to a support agent over the phone. With the increased dependence on self-service over traditional channels of communication, it has become necessary for companies to implement a customer portal where they can collate all the information the end-user requires.

There are countless ways how hackers can reach employees through the often chosen standard communication channels using phishing, CEO spoofing, malware and ransomware. It’s important to understand that one affected employee easily leads to the entire organization being at risk. Using a company-wide secure collaboration platform is the simplest, most effective way to eliminate all of these threats.

In the world of customer service, there’s nothing more stressful than a rising ticket backlog and overworked, stressed out agents. If your agents are inundated with emails, calls, and inquiries––something needs to change. If your agents are constantly switching between channels and unable to communicate and collaborate in real time, there are serious consequences—think low CSAT, low ASAT, and a general lack of support efficiency.

No matter how skilled and experienced your customer support team, none of your agents can resolve every customer issue by themselves. For some tickets, they might need assistance from a developer. For others, they might need information from your warehouse or suppliers. And in some cases, they might just want to speed up the process by asking another agent who’s handled a similar issue for advice.

Making collaboration efficient and most importantly mobile isn’t always an easy task for small businesses. With the European GDPR regulation customer contact is now regulated, having a large impact on businesses in the maintenance, repair, service or construction industry. These businesses need to comply to the same regulations as Europe’s largest companies.

When today’s consumers run into issues or have questions, they expect solutions fast. Though tools like live chat have drastically decreased the time it takes to find a resolution, most channels still require you to wait for a support agent. But online self-service portals have changed that.

We released Zulip Server 2.0.2 today. This is a bug fix release, containing a dozen cherry-picked changes since Zulip 2.0.1.