Contact centers are subjected to constant change: clients are forever updating, modifying and changing scripts, adding new projects, and introducing new sources of data that must be accessed to make an interaction be successful.
And while it might seem the IT team would be victimized by such continuous fluctuation, its the agent who may suffer the worst. Without a unified, or consolidated desktop, agents are clicking through multiple screens, copying and pasting data from one place to another, and otherwise engaging in effective tasks when they need to be focused on customer service and quality.
The consolidated desktop is one that, within a single interface, data from different sources (and even in completely different physical locations) can be assembled for easier access by the agent. Contact centers of all sizes are beginning to move towards this vision.
I was interviewed by The Evolving Contact Center podcast about this very subject. Check it out and let me know what you think.