In theory, digital channels are supposed to make customer interactions easier. But when data doesn’t persist across those channels in real time, the burden falls squarely on call center agents. Instead of jumping straight into problem-solving, they spend valuable time piecing together a puzzle, trying to figure out what the customer has already done before picking up the phone.
The Real-World Experience
Think about the last time you tried to resolve an issue online or complete a purchase through an app. Maybe it worked and you were satisfied. But what if it didn’t?
If you ended up calling for support, was the agent aware you’d already tried to fix things digitally? Could they pick up right where you left off? Or did you have to start over, explaining everything from scratch? That’s a frustrating experience for any customer — and it puts the agent at a disadvantage from the first hello.
Why This Keeps Happening
We’re in a multi-channel world. Customers move between stores, websites, mobile apps, and contact centers. But companies often can’t keep up with that movement.
A customer might wait in a store without being helped. They might browse online to seek an answer to a problem. Or they might add something to their cart and abandon it when checkout fails. When they call for help, the agent often doesn’t see any of that. No context. No continuity. Just a fresh call and a frustrated customer.
The 9:15 p.m. Friction Point
Imagine this: It’s late, and you’re online trying to complete a purchase. A message pops up: “Please call us or visit a store to complete your order.” But the stores are closed. So, you call.
The IVR reminds you that “most transactions can be completed online,” then tells you there’s an eight-minute wait. After twelve minutes, you reach an enthusiastic agent. But she has no record of what you just did online. No visibility into your cart. You’re starting from zero.
Agents Deserve Better
This lack of real-time data access creates double jeopardy. Customers are already frustrated that the digital channel didn’t work. Then they’re forced to repeat themselves, which escalates the frustration.
For agents, it means less time solving problems and more time retracing steps. For customers, it means more friction and less trust. Neither side wins.
Proactive Progress, but Still Gaps
To be fair, companies have made progress with proactive triggers: outage alerts, billing notifications, and delivery updates are good examples of reducing friction before a customer picks up the phone. Many also capture website and app interactions and write them into databases, though often with a lag.
But the gap remains: most organizations still haven’t mastered feeding all that interaction data into the agent’s desktop in real time. That’s the missing link between digital channels and human conversations.
The Bottom Line
It’s not easy to build systems that write customer activity into databases fast enough for agents to see it in real time. But until that gap closes, we’re relying on agent persistence rather than data persistence.
And as customer expectations rise, “pick up where I left off” isn’t a nice-to-have anymore. It’s the baseline.
In my next blog, I’ll explore why consistency across these interactions is just as critical as persistence — and how the two together can make or break the customer journey.