During the Slowdown It’s Wise to Build Up Customer Service
With the economic speedometer stuck somewhere between slowdown and recession, businesses are concerned about a replay of the dot-com bust in 2001. This time, history will take a different path. According to analysts, technology spending for 2008 is expected to grow at a rate of 4%. It’s official: we are living in the New Economy where IT investment drives productivity both in the contact center and across the enterprise.
Between 1995 and 2000, IT investments (including software, computers and communications) charged ahead at an astonishing growth rate of almost 25% per year. Spending peaked at over $460 billion in 2000, then precipitously dropped off during the 2001 recession.
Since then, IT investments returned to a growth path, finally overtaking pre-dot com levels in 2006.
Was the investment worth it? It was. The IT productivity paradox was long a source of debate, which was famously settled only recently. In the information economy, the rule is simple: innovation drives growth.
These days, businesses get the relationship between IT and growth. But during a slowdown, the case for building up IT may have to be defended. This point is nicely presented in an article in Harvard Business Online. Specifically, the authors argue that companies should maintain investments in customer service and support because demand generation is even more critical when the business environment worsens.
Technologies and applications for the contact center that we have been writing about—home agent, IVVR, Web 2.0—can be ways to not only get your business through the current financial strain but also accelerate growth when the economy gets back on track.
Posted by Andy Green at 14:10 on May 06, 2008