overview

The customer support landscape has undergone a significant evolution in recent years, fostering new and innovative approaches to customer engagement and work practices. This evolution has been driven by advances in technology, increased focus on customer experience, and a desire to stay ahead of the curve in an increasingly competitive market.

The future of customer support is one of continued innovation and growth. As businesses seek to provide ever-better experiences for their customers, they will need to be nimble and adapt to new technologies, approaches, and ways of working. With the right balance of traditional and modern approaches, businesses can ensure they continue to meet the needs of their customers, now and in the future in-demand admin skills to have in 2024.

Good customer support personnel are more valued than ever, as the quality of customer service is recognised as having a lasting impact on business. Moreover, as more customer interactions move online, the importance of human engagement is actually increasing.

In particular, rather than dealing with routine requests, customer contact personnel tend to be contacted by customers to deal with problem issues and complex transactions. This requires both superior knowledge of products and services and excellent empathy and communication skills to deal with customers who may be frustrated or stressed. People with customer engagement experience within industries like health care, banking, retail, and the government will be in especially high demand.

key facts.

  • where people work

    • Onsite/office and at home.

  • education and qualifications

    • No specific requirements though good numeracy and communication skills are useful. 

  • impact of new technologies

    • Homeworking requires greater use of collaborative tools.

    As more business moves online, call centre personnel to devote more time to complex transactions and problem-solving that can’t be dealt with through self-service channels. In light of this, organisations need to think about how escalations work in real-time.

    While working from a call centre, customer service agents can physically see their team leader and engage, but from home, they are at risk of struggling to find a superior when a call needs to be escalated or transferred.

  • virtual training

    • There has been a lack of sophistication in how new customer service agents are onboarded virtually, which is something companies need to address quickly in this new age of digital customer support.

what admin skills do you need this 2024?

  • software skills

    Microsoft Office

    • Writing and proofreading text in Word, composing presentations in PowerPoint, verifying data in Excel, Outlook.

    SAP Software

    • SAP stands for System Applications Products. It's a popular Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software used by many businesses globally. SAP allows organisations to run key processes such as sales, accounting, HR and finance on an integrated internal system, allowing information to flow from one programme to another smoothly.
    • Most businesses have at least some contact with SAP, making it a useful skill to have, especially for those in administrative roles that might touch on several different departments.

  • data entry and testing

    • Administrative support staff are often a second set of eyes for the team or leaders they support.
    • You're the last line of defence for catching errors, so excellent proofreading and writing ability are key. 

  • email correspondence

    • The average professional spends about 30% of their day answering emails.
    • That number is even higher for administrative support staff who often manage email correspondence for others or the organisation they work for, in addition to their own. 

  • invoice and expense processing

    Over the past few years, we've been seeing a trend toward administrative roles that have more accounting responsibilities.

    • Expertise with accounting functions such as invoice and expense processing will help you stand out in roles that blend typical admin functions with more accounting-focused duties.

in-demand skills & qualifications.

  • training and qualifications

    The NZ Diploma in Information Technology Technical Support delivers fundamentals across a range of core areas including:

    • business information systems
    • computer hardware
    • networking and security
    • system support and troubleshooting
    • programming
    • web and database technologies
    • and systems analysis.

  • skills

    Given the type of work basic IT and customer service are useful. See the Government’s Careers website for further information.

in-demand skills & qualifications.

  • training and qualifications

    • You can work as an assistant without formal qualifications.
    • However, a Vocational Education and Training (VET) course in business administration, secretarial and clerical studies, accounting or another related field may be useful.

  • skills

    • Given the type of work, skills such as communications, basic IT and customer service are useful. See the Government’s Careers website for information on apprenticeships and courses.

in-demand skills & qualifications.

  • training and qualifications

    You can work as a data entry operator without formal qualifications. Some on the job training may be provided. Some workers have Vocational Education and Training (VET) qualifications in areas such as business management, accounting, information technology or secretarial and clerical studies.

  • skills

    Given the type of work, skills such as basic IT is useful. See the Government’s Careers website for information on apprenticeships and courses.

in-demand skills & qualifications.

  • training and qualifications

    You can work in HR support without formal qualifications. But if you want to work in senior and business advice roles, professional courses and certification like a diploma or degree in human resource management can be helpful.

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in-demand skills & qualifications.

  • skills

  • training and qualifications

    • You can work as a customer services officer without formal qualifications. However, a Vocational Education and Training (VET) course in business administration, marketing or another related field may be useful.

in-demand skills & qualifications.

  • tasks and duties

    • Contact centre operators assist customers with specific enquiries and arrange for the delivery of goods or services.
    • Their work is carried out almost exclusively by telephone or online.

  • skills

    • Contact centres are often the face of the company, so an ability to understand customer needs and provide good service in response are what an employer looks for in an operator.

  • training and qualifications

    • You can work as a contact centre operator without formal qualifications. However, a New Zealand Certificate in Contact Centres (Level 3 or 4) may be useful.

  • career switch

    It’s well known that the call centre now serves as an internal recruitment pool full of great talent that knows the products and has a customer focus. From roles in marketing, accounting, sales etc. clocking up some time in the call centre is a great launching pad for your career.

    You learn how to deal with difficult customers, turn a negative into a positive, build resilience and sell or upsell a product, which is all useful and transferable skills.