By Kristen Jacobsen, Director of Marketing Communications, Calabrio

The evidence is undeniable. We are a mobile society, and the pace of our wireless ways is ever increasing with the rising use of devices such as tablet computers and smartphones. Take a look at cell phone use, for instance. A study by CTIA – The Wireless Association estimated that in 2010, about 96 percent of the U.S. population was using cell phones, an increase from 91 percent in 2009. The same study found that in 2010, wireless network data traffic from mobile device internet use also increased by 110 percent compared to 2009.

In addition to universal cell phone use, we see how the world of tablets is not just a passing fad but a technology innovation that is growing in consumer adoption and enterprise applications.  For example, a study released in April 2011 by analyst firm Techaisle, a global small and medium businesses (SMB) IT market research firm, found that about 8.8 million tablets are currently in use at SMBs.

Mobile devices’ ubiquity is blending our personal and professional lives together, allowing people to remain connected to colleagues, friends and family, no matter the time or location. The productivity benefits of mobile technology in the enterprise first took hold with executives checking work email via their mobile device, whether on business travel or at home on the living room couch.  Over the years, the same advantage of access to people and information has trickled down to employees at all levels of an organization, allowing them to work from anywhere. Today, we’re beginning to envision how mobility will find its place in the contact center environment.

Changing Landscape

As recently as a year ago, I’d bring up the subject of mobility in contact centers and be met with skepticism. After all, contact centers are stationary by definition, aren’t they? Not anymore. Growth of home agent workers has allowed us to imagine a center that is anything but “central” and with it, a glimpse at the advantages mobility has to offer, including flexibility, increased productivity, access to any information any time, and freedom, to name a few.

The discussion is on the table, as contact center managers begin to consider technologies that take advantage of every opportunity to increase productivity and efficiency, enhance job satisfaction and loyalty, and deliver top notch service to the customer. Many in the contact center industry are seeing the opportunity for mobile devices to help achieve this. The challenge, however, is deciding which mobile applications and devices are best suited for the job. To do this, we need to think not in terms of whole applications, but tasks and activities that lend themselves to mobility and true productivity. Here are some considerations.

A Better Balance

Like any employee in an organization, agents want to better balance their work and personal lives with more control over their work schedules. Empowering agents with the opportunity to access weekly schedules, request time-off and trade shifts with colleagues from a mobile device could be a significant means to improve job satisfaction. This type of flexibility is ever more important with a Generation Y workforce who is accustomed to having such accessibility and information from their smartphones.

The Mobile Manager

Contact center managers generally have a wealth of information on their desktops that is needed to keep the center humming. Unfortunately, this tends to keep them tethered to their desks, limiting their ability to make personal connections with their teams and renders them out-of-touch with real-time information during meetings and other time away. Using a mobile device, managers could access real-time analytics from anywhere in the center to keep their finger on the pulse of the contact center’s production. This way, they are able to stay connected any time and make critical adjustments if the situation calls for it.

Access to information in this form can also help managers improve agent coaching and training. Imagine, for example, if a manager could view specific call recordings or performance reports, carry those examples directly to an agent station on a tablet computer, and share instant feedback and coaching in-between calls. Using a tablet computer, supervisors have the power and flexibility to stay connected to information and their teams while increasing their level of interactivity with their agents, and take action to help coach struggling agents or instantly recognize those who are performing well.

Now’s the Time to Move

Mobility is primed to make an impact on the contact center and how it operates. With the right application and capabilities targeted to specific roles, the power of mobile devices can significantly improve the efficiency and effectiveness of a business’s contact center by increasing employee satisfaction, improving management effectiveness and upholding service quality by managing more actively.