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Pletcher agrees with Bjelovuk's assessment that the overzealous adoption of technology can be a pitfall for utility call centers. "Call centers are getting caught in a technology trap," he says. "They become enamored with a piece of technology and have to have it. They look only at the [return on investment] and don't notice that the technology doesn't mesh."

According to Pletcher, there has to be a balance between people, process and technology. Applying technological best practices at the expense of the other two elements can be hazardous to the call center.

Even the most technologically advanced best practice is of no use if the call center can't implement and support it 100 percent. In Leaders magazine, for example, Ingram talks about a study on CTI.

"Everybody's jumping on the CTI bandwagon in call centers," she tells the interviewer. "The study discovered, however, that about 70 percent of CTI implementations were disappointing to the companies…."