FEATURE BY TIFFANY PEELER IS YOUR SERVICE DEPARTMENT EVOLVING Five ways your service BDC should evolve in 2022 S ervice BDCs were born years ago to simply get the phones answered. Instead of profit centers, they often became glorified switchboards. Today, dealers can access a range of tools from chatbots to digital voice assistants (DVAs) to answer ringing phones and handle routine tasks. A dealership that evolves past the switchboard model and leverages these tools can develop a BDC that proactively DEVELOPS business and generates revenue - instead of simply reacting to inbound calls. How can your service BDC get this process started? FIVE WAYS YOUR SERVICE BDC CAN EVOLVE IN 2022: 1. Equip BDC agents to handle customer escalations and service recoveries. Too often, agents feel helpless when customers are angry or the agents are not allowed to answer service questions. Agents in these situations can fall back to the switchboard model reaction and send those calls to the service drive. 38