The productivity push – new ways to drive agent efficiency in contact centres

Contact centres have been an amazing launch pad for thousands of careers over the years. The people that start their careers in contact centre quickly learn fundamental business and life practices including responsiveness, resilience, service ethic, teamwork and revenue focus. These high-pressure hives of hyperactivity also cause stress, anxiety, and high levels of attrition where technology still resides on the back seat.

In recent times, the fundamental shift from volume driven metrics to experience focused outcomes has changed the way contact centre agents interact with customers. Of course, the focus remains on results, however the way to achieve them is significantly enhanced using the wealth of technology assets available to support both agents and organisations in achieving their customer, people and revenue goals.

We recently wrote a whitepaper with Ecosystm on the Top Mandates of Contact Centres in Australia in which we discuss the importance of customer experience and innovation as the driving force behind the recent increase in contact centre transformation activities.  While ringfenced under a banner of cautious optimism, contact centres identified the following five business priorities as being pivotal to transformation efforts:

Innovation of products / services

Revenue growth

Cost reduction

Compliance

Improving employee experience / retention

As organisations continue to explore new and innovative ways to deliver customer value, automation, AI and intelligent systems will be the focal point of transformation efforts to become leaner, better, faster, more agile and focused. Finding and leveraging the right technology stack to realise the corporate vision coupled with an agile and knowledgeable implementation partner will deliver the extraordinary outcomes contact centres need to stay ahead.

Knowing vs understanding the technology

So many platforms, so little time. Fortunately, technology is our area of expertise, so we’re here to share a few of the latest pieces of technology available to contact centres to drive agent satisfaction, achieve efficiency goals, enable engagement, and improve customer outcomes all at once:

VA’s / Virtual Assistants

Yes, we’re talking chatbots. With the right input and expertise, their ability to handle basic customer enquiries and direct self-service processes and quick links can negate the need for human intervention, freeing up agents to focus on high value activities. The metrics around reducing wait times and increasing efficiency are impressive with a recent report by Gartner citing that replacing human agents with AI chatbots could save the call centre industry up to $80bn in labour costs per year by 2026 and $240bn by 2031

Natural Language Processing (NLP)

By interpreting the context and the content of the interaction and leveraging the data assets and insights gathered throughout the interaction, processes are streamlined, and the time to connect customers with the right course of action is reduced significantly.

Sentiment Analysis

Using technology to understand how customers are feeling about the service experience or brand is a critical way to identify early issues and escalate for resolution. By examining voice data in real time, including tones and key words, organisations can fast track and prioritise interactions for immediate attention and timely resolution. This is a huge factor in preventing customer churn, improving Net Promoter Scores (NPS) and mitigating the likelihood of negative reviews.

Speech Recognition

From improved call routing to self service capability through to transcriptions and multi-lingual support, speech recognition technology is enabling global organisations to capture, review, audit, improve and respond to customer queries and ensure compliance and quality standards are adhered to.

Predictive Analytics

Imagine if you could look into the future, understand what a customer’s propensity to buy is and how to target them with their next opportunity?  The latest AI algorithms can analyse historical insights and match them with customer behaviour to predict future outcomes. This takes personalisation and experience to the next level.

Call Analytics and Quality Monitoring

We all talk about continuous improvement but, how many organisations have the insights to be able to intuitively determine where upskilling is needed, and provide real time feedback to drive efficiency, satisfaction and engagement through targeted learning and feedback programs?

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

Employing automation technologies is one of the fastest growing efficiency drivers in contact centres.  Whether you’re automating data entry, updating customer information, generating reports or automating follow up tasks and commitments, RPA reduces the need for human intervention in mundane and routine activities.

Expertise is the biggest driver of efficiency

Knowing where to prioritise your investment for the greatest return is the biggest efficiency driver we can offer.  We’re experts in technology, focused on helping organisations to prioritise needs with measurable impacts and which deliver extended value. Our experience of working with contact centre operations across Australia has seen us driving improved outcomes through CX technology with impact.

We’ve gathered a host of insights and information specific to the Australian contact centre industry, which, when matched with our expertise in CX, keeps you in pole position to accelerate and prioritise your CX programs with a knowledge bank of know-how to support you.