In a world where one-third of customers will abandon a beloved brand after a single negative experience,[i] every touchpoint matters. So, what matters most? According to 80% of US consumers, speed, convenience, and friendly, helpful service are top priorities.[ii] And those priorities depend upon automated call center operations.
Yet even as brands seek to delight customers across touchpoints, call centers still need to monitor queues, right-size staffing, and meet service-level expectations. So, before you begin building enticing new experiences, streamlining and perfecting the backend processes should be priority number one.
In this article, I want to explore how streamlined and automated call center operations can free up your organization to focus on elevating the customer experience (CX).
The high stakes of low-value activities
The reality is that backend call center operations are an expectation of doing business–not a differentiator. Short wait times and quick resolutions elicit little customer feedback. It’s not until a customer waits longer than expected or comes across an unhelpful agent that a customer takes notice.
So, what comprises high-stakes, low-value activities? Here are a few examples:
- Monitoring queues and sites for issues that could lead to higher wait times.
- Manually identifying the root cause of an issue and then working with operations teams to resolve it.
- Taking data from multiple sites or systems and manually combining and reviewing it to make staffing and forecasting decisions.
When done well, these necessary backend activities are invisible to the agent and the customer alike. But, when not done well, these activities erode the customer experience. While vital, ultimately, these activities don’t drive value in the customer experience.
Finding more time to elevate the customer experience through automated call center operations
When you spend your time keeping the lights on, it can be hard to find time to delight customers with upgraded experiences. As such, it is important to implement ways to streamline and automate high-impact, low-value processes so that they require as little human effort as possible.
Automated call center operations can help your organization off-load must-do work and devote more time implementing the things that will accelerate business and customer loyalty. However, high-value activities depend on streamlining low-value activities. To that end, I’ve listed some examples below.
| This high-value activity depends on… | optimizing this low-value activity |
| Implementing tools, workflows, training, and processes that empower agents to delight customers at every interaction. | Monitoring queues and sites for issues that could lead to higher wait times. |
| A/B testing different customer support flows to see which channels (or a combination thereof) resolve which types of customer issues most efficiently and effectively and using this information to make sure the customer gets to the right place. | Manually identifying the root cause of a routing issue and then working with operations teams to resolve it. |
| Implementing asynchronous communication to avoid having to completely restart the customer interaction every time there’s a distraction. | Effectively monitoring 100% of your incoming channels to ensure customers get where they need to be to have their issue resolved. |
| Building out more effective, quality programs to ensure all agents get the coaching and support they need to delight customers. | Taking data from multiple sites and/or systems and manually combining and reviewing it to make staffing/forecasting decisions. |
Buttoning up the low-value activities through automation and managed services liberates your teams to focus on high-value, high-impact activities. As a result, such activities can truly differentiate the parts of your operation that your customer interacts with.
Contact EveryIT for a no-cost assessment
EveryIT takes a data-driven approach to managed services. We use advanced automation technologies to make your globally distributed contact center operate more effectively and efficiently. Furthermore, our EveryIT Intelligent Operations Platform (BIOPs) leverages decades of experience in analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. BIOPs eliminates manual processes and interventions, increases efficiency, and helps you scale more effectively.
To explore ways to improve the customer experience, reach out to us for a no-cost assessment.
[i] PWC (2018) “Experience is everything,” available at: https://www.pwc.com/us/en/zz-test/assets/pwc-consumer-intelligence-series-customer-experience.pdf (accessed April 13, 2022).
[ii] PWC (2018) “Experience is everything,” available at: https://www.pwc.com/us/en/zz-test/assets/pwc-consumer-intelligence-series-customer-experience.pdf (accessed April 13, 2022).
