How do Contact Centre operational leaders use real-time agent guidance to make your teams more effective, more efficient and more empowered to do an awesome job for customers?
Having a structured knowledge base and tools to help support team real time with prompts, nudges and guidance can help turn customer experience around and help improve agent experience supporting them to feel more confident and competent and deal with the trickiest of customer conversations across multiple channels. This month’s The Contact centre Network event tackles these topics and more, read on to see what was discussed.
AI and agent assist technologies are helping to transform the operational landscape for contact centre teams. These tools are designed to support agents by reducing cognitive overload and improving overall efficiency, leading to better customer experiences and streamlined operations. The recent webinar from the Contact Centre Network, featuring experts Jimmy Hosang CEO and Founder of Mojo-CX who specialises in Conversational Analytics and has been working within the Contact centre Space for over 14 years. And we also welcomed, for the first time Nerys Corfield, Director at Injection Consulting ltd a seasoned and experienced Contact Centre Consultant and Technology specialist. Together we delved into the critical role of agent assist technologies and how they can be effectively implemented.
Let’s explore what Agent Assist actually is?
Nerys Corfield helped breakdown and explain how Agent Assist is appearing in contact centres that she is working with and shared 5 main uses cases for Agent Assist referring to them as the key Pillars of Agent Assist:
- Real-Time Knowledge – Real-time knowledge support using the customers dialogue intelligently to secure and provide the advisor with the right assets at the right time.
- Real-Time Quality Support – Using Scorecards and Quality indicators to help agents better identify vulnerability or complaints or script adherence and guidance
- Next Best Action – Using prompts and nudges to support the agent and present them with the next best product or service to offer as part of a cross sell or upsell journey
- Auto-Summarisation – Helping operations drive some efficiency with after call work so notes are not so onerous and there’s a commonality and consistency with how notes are transcribed.
- Real-Time Interaction Guidance – This can help signpost agents to the speed and tone of how they speak, slowing them down or speeding up based on the flow of the conversation.
Nerys also shared how she is also seeing more advancements in how Agent Assist can help with language barriers or language translations services with Real-time translation and Accent Neutralisation which may be a little more controversial but can be useful if you have an international or multi lingual and multi cultural contact centre.
What are some of the key problems that the modern contact centre agent has to deal with, and what might be driving the need for tools like agent assist?
Jimmy Hosang, CEO of Mojo CX, highlighted the increasing complexity in contact centres pointing out that the proliferation of multiple systems—such as CRM, knowledge management platforms, and reporting tools—has resulted in significant cognitive overload for agents. This complexity of this technological landscape makes it challenging for agents to perform their tasks efficiently and maintain high-quality interactions with customers.
Nerys Corfield, echoed this sentiment, emphasising the need for real-time knowledge support noting that agents often struggle with accessing up-to-date information, leading to frustration and inefficiency. The traditional reliance on static knowledge bases, which are often difficult to navigate, exacerbates this problem.
How do contact centre leaders decide what to buy and how to deploy agent assist tools in their existing ecosystems?
Cognitive overload is often experienced by the decision-makers trying to navigate the numerous competing SaaS products that can support the Agent Assist capabilities. SaaS vendors can often try to protect their own space in the Agent Assist wheelhouse, leading to a complex landscape for procurement. To help operational leaders and decision makers see a way though this we have to stress the importance of understanding the specific problems that need solving and the benefits each tool offers.
In understanding this, Nerys emphasised that starting with a clear understanding of the pain points impacting the advisor and customer experience will help craft a solution that addresses the pain points of agents. Involving frontline users in the decision-making process will help ensure that the chosen solutions effectively address the identified challenges and create internal ambassadors for change. Nerys also highlighted the importance of defining clear goals and working back from there to select the appropriate tools.
Where can agent assist technology improve key performance metrics in the contact centre?
Real-time transcription and auto-summarisation can lead to significant improvements, and Jimmy noted that within his clients they see 5-10% reductions in average handling time (AHT). He also mentioned the benefits of auto QA in reducing operational costs and improving compliance. Additionally, he highlighted the importance of real-time vulnerability detection to support agents in identifying and managing vulnerable customers citing that the responsibility for this often falls on the agent where we should be leveraging technology to reduce the cognitive overload on the frontline teams.
Nerys added that real-time knowledge support is crucial for improving agent confidence and reducing AHT, in addition emphasising the role of auto QA in providing consistent quality support and ensuring compliance with regulations. Nerys also noted that these tools help create a more supportive environment for agents, which can improve retention and overall performance.
How does agent assist technology integrate with other systems, and what are the key considerations for successful integration?
Jimmy discussed the complexity of integrating agent assist tools with existing systems, explaining that many contact centres have multiple overlapping systems, which can create challenges for integration. Jimmy emphasised the importance of selecting tools that can work seamlessly with existing platforms and reduce the cognitive load on agents.
Nerys highlighted the need for a clear roadmap that outlines the desired state of technology and the steps required to achieve it. The importance of rationalising existing systems to avoid integrating redundant systems ensuring that new tools provide real value and requirements are gathered across all the operational teams, involving agents in the integration process to ensure that the tools are user-friendly and meet their needs.
How is the role of human agents likely to evolve as agent assist technologies become more advanced?
Jimmy predicted a shift towards desktop-less environments where agents rely on a single screen supported by AI to manage conversations and that manual tasks would be automated which allows agents to focus entirely on customer interactions with the by-product of this potentially meaning that we will see a reducing need for CCaaS and CRM licenses as AI takes over more functions.
Nerys emphasised that human agents will continue to play a crucial role, particularly in handling complex and emotionally charged interactions. She stressed the importance of providing agents with real-time support to manage these interactions effectively. Nerys predicted that AI would become a valuable tool for reducing cognitive overload and enabling agents to focus on providing excellent customer service.
What future trends for Agent Assist technology are we likely to see in the next two to three years?
Jimmy outlined some key trends that he feels will become more prominent in the evolution of Agent Assist technology specifically the rise of desktop applications for better control over workflows. The evolution of agent interaction with customer contact and processing customer requests, automation of keying tasks to reduce manual input errors and improve efficiency. Lastly Jimmy predicts the potential reduction in the number of CCaaS and CRM licenses being required as AI and automation become more integrated into contact centre operations.
Nerys, added to this aligning to Jimmy’s predictions and added that her hope is that AI would help businesses better understand and address inefficiencies. She emphasised the need for agents to feel supported in their roles, which would lead to improved customer experiences and reduced anxiety for agents.
Summary
The transformative potential of agent assist technologies in contact centres cannot be underestimated but developing a coherent and clear strategy for how this should and can be used in the Contact Centre will be pivotal to it’s success and the agent experience.
By reducing cognitive overload and automating routine tasks, these tools empower agents to deliver better customer experiences and operate more efficiently. As the industry continues to innovate, the adoption and integration of these technologies will be crucial for contact centres looking to stay competitive and meet the evolving needs of their customers.
Contact centre leaders must carefully consider their goals and challenges when implementing agent assist technologies. By focusing on the most impactful features and involving frontline agents in the decision-making process, organisations can ensure successful adoption and maximise the benefits of these advanced tools.
