'If you have a complaint, all you want to do is talk to someone," says Mark Boulding, senior analyst at Quocirca, a research company. It's a view shared by nearly everyone who picks up a phone to call customer services. All too often, the reality is automated queuing, long delays and call centre staff who might as well be working for another company when it comes to knowing or caring about you.

But in the wake of thousands of jobs going overseas, the call centre industry is in the process of morphing into a "contact centre" industry. With what insiders call the multimedia contact centre, it plans to offer more ways of reaching customers, and to reduce costs by making call centre agents more productive. However, it is held back by legacy systems that make it difficult to move forward quickly.

The promise is of fewer contact centre agents dealing with more enquiries because callers are able to use email and instant messaging to get help, as well as talking on the phone. It is also a recognition of the fact that call centres have to become information hubs, providing information however the customer wants it.

Betdaq, the online betting service, says its business depends on such an approach. It has 40,000 customers globally, and has installed a system from Talisma that handles voice, email, instant chat, and self service via the web. It filters email to detect the language of the sender, then routes it to the appropriate call agent to ensure response within 15 minutes. It also aims for a 30-second response to instant chat requests. Betdaq says the service is particularly important in retaining customers in the Far East, who do not want the cost of making long-distance phone calls.

Meanwhile, e-government initiatives that emphasise public access options have helped stimulate a multimedia approach in local government. Cardiff County Council's Mitel call centre serves 317,000 residents and is manned by 45 agents handling around 2,000 calls, web chats and emails per day. Two email addresses are available - one English, one Welsh - and emails get an instant response before being put in a queue for an agent to handle.

The challenge is linking the new call centre to legacy IT systems. The council has begun giving agents direct access into eight of the 98 legacy applications in-house. For example, agents can schedule pick-up of heavy items, and look up schedules for lamppost repairs to give to callers.

Rachel Power, an analyst at researchers Canalys, says customers are driving the need for multimedia support. "The interface with your customers is critical, and we are getting to the point where email response has to be provided, so some sort of integrated response is needed. The problem for many companies is proving that there is a return on investment."

For some, it's more a question of reducing costs by using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) to create virtual call centres. "The scope has changed enormously with voice and data convergence," says Gary Pruden, chief technology officer at integrators European Technology Consultants. "Now you can easily create a flexible workforce across different sites. That is making firms look closely at traditional location costs."

P&O Ferries is a beneficiary of this virtual approach. It uses Avaya's IP-based Definity system to link contact centres in Dover, Calais and Rotterdam so that calls are routed depending on demand. This also allows calls to be routed according to language and information required. With its 450 agents sharing the same database, the company is confident of providing a service that appears relatively local, while also giving agents the resources to "upsell" where possible through new multimedia terminals that give them access to more ticketing information.

But as the no-frills airlines have proved, part of the battle is about taking a cafeteria approach to customers. Pruden says there is a trend toward pushing customers to automated options. "Self-service options such as websites are better now, and customers understand that they are likely to be directed to such services for low-level requests and to be dealt with personally where it is more complex or where there is an opportunity for the agent to upsell." He agrees we may be seeing the emergence of a two-tier industry, with basic call centre services done overseas and more skilled services in the UK.

The need to hire and train more skilled agents is therefore a growing concern. "It's about empowering agents with the right information and how you develop and motivate them," says John van der Linde, director of convergent applications at Avaya.

But despite all the talk of multimedia, research group Gartner estimates that such call centres only account for 8% of those installed. According to Stephanie Wilson, from call centre operator Convergys, much depends on the profile of callers. "We run a tech support programme in Newcastle that has a high degree of take-up for both email and web chat as they are popular with tech-savvy, early adopter customers. But contrast that with another programme in credit card financial services, where take-up of alternative channels has been much lower: those customers still want to talk to an agent over the phone. So, although multimedia is a growing trend, I think the bigger trend is around knowledge management and trying to harness what you know about a customer to serve them better."

While many in the industry believe the real focus is on more closely monitoring agents, and that email is more of a hassle than a help, Nicola Millard, an expert in call centre technology at BT's research wing BT Exact, believes new technology is an essential part of new services. She predicts greater use of voice technology to "listen" for key words in speech and automatically display relevant information to agents. It could even detect emotions in customer's voices, so that irate callers are directed to more empathetic agents where necessary.

"There will be less talk of call centre sweatshops, and a growth in call centre agents who are more knowledgeable and have ample supplies of reassurance," says Millard.

Well, we can dream.