The customer experience is rapidly changing and evolving in virtually every industry. To keep up with the demand for customer service that allows customers to be served through several different platforms, Contact Center Automation is a must. While maintaining the personal touch when communicating with customers is crucial, there are a lot of processes in the background that can be improved by gradual, phased automation which will in turn make your operations run more efficiently. Let’s take a look at the contact center automation “trifecta”: how it benefits your agents, company, and customers:
Benefits to the Agent
Contact center agents know all too well the challenges of dealing with customers, taking detailed notes, completing follow-ups, as well as keeping track of individual cases. The average contact center agent may need to use multiple systems and applications which can be confusing and inefficient. When automated systems and tracking mechanisms are in place, agents have a much more streamlined process that allows them to focus more on the customer rather than having to navigate several different screens. With the help of contact center automation, agents can enjoy the following benefits:
- Increase in productivity and efficiency
- Able to focus less on mundane tasks and more on delivering an excellent customer experience
- Increase in accuracy of information being received and relayed
- Increase in employee and job satisfaction
- Reduced and more focused training time – when manual, time-consuming tasks are automated, agents can received more specialized training that focuses on the customer experience
Benefits to the Company
As you continue to grow and expand, automation is the key to simplifying and streamlining processes to create a smoother, less disruptive workflow. As a company, you can expect:
- Dynamic data management
- Increase in call volumes handled in comparatively lesser times
- Seamless connection and integration between different departments
- Cost-effective means to connect global teams
- Tracking and resolution mechanisms for individual customers
- Analytics, reporting, and statistics
- Automated feedback and survey features
- Automated call direction, redirection, and recording
- Secure, online data protection
- A wealth of online information to measure customer satisfaction, expectations, and whether you’re being effective in addressing both
- Most importantly, cost reduction where you can work with a smaller team in a more efficient manner.
While automation can at times be a costly affair to start with, there are alternative options in terms of payment plans and subscriptions that may be worthwhile to consider if you’re just starting out or on a tight budget. The profitability over the long run is decidedly worth it.
Benefits to the Customer
Automation benefits the end user as much as it does the company:
- Call waiting times improve
- Customers can deal with one individual instead of being shifted from one person to another
- Customers feel like the company is tracking their complaints and working towards a resolution
- Customers appreciate it when the company takes time to record previous interactions in an effort to boost service levels.
- Customers have different ways of reaching the call center, especially web-based, such as click-to-call functions on the website, apps or other touchpoints online
- Customers have access 24/7
- Customers are able to access self-help features, so they can resolve smaller issues themselves.
Contact center automation is a tool that has far-reaching benefits on multiple levels. Whether you use an IVR (Interactive Voice Response) or Chatbot platform, it can help drive the customer experience in a powerful way. It is important to remember, however, that automation should never replace a personalized interaction and it should be tested, tweaked, and modified on an ongoing basis for optimum customer satisfaction.
If you believe your contact center is not getting the full benefit of its current automation tools or if you believe your contact center can benefit from automation but don’t know where to start, I’d like to talk with you! Contact me directly to schedule some time where I can get to learn more about your needs.
