Contact centers play a critical role in amplifying retention and rendering stellar CX at scale. However, they are still perceived as cost centers despite their rapid growth and potential. And why is that? Outmoded technology coupled with poor execution leads to unpleasant experiences for individuals on both ends of a query.
Following the pandemic, organizations are reevaluating their strategies and advancing toward unmatched customer experience while also elevating agent experience. However, orchestrating engaging and seamless experiences is easier said than done.
It begins with equipping agents with the right cognitive tools that directly answer customer queries, reduce user effort, and guarantee a superlative experience. But before we talk about how they set your agents up for success, let’s discuss why support aficionados are down in the weeds, which ultimately leads to poor service experiences.
Top 5 Roadblocks Bogging Umpteen Agents Down
We all know how CX is the new battlefield where agents, like soldiers, fight for victory. But they can only unlock peak performance when they’re aware of the challenges bogging them down. So, without further ado, let’s dive deep into the challenges that throttle agent experience.
1. Disrupted & Disjointed Access to Information
For agents to deliver quick, cohesive, and stellar customer experiences, they must be empowered with all the information they’ll ever need. However, most of it is scattered across disparate sources. So, in an attempt to search for relevant or case resolving information, your agents toggle between different consoles and get pulled into the murky waters of the vast information jungle. This swiveling inadvertently delays the resolution process and mars CSAT.
2. Inconsistent KB Creation
Finding resolutions to user tickets is only half the battle won, the other half is documenting them. But since contact center agents are already juggling between multiple tasks and tickets, creating or updating knowledge bases becomes an ordeal. Even if they manage to squeeze in time for working on knowledge articles, it is often done in retrospect, resulting in incomplete, incorrect, and inconsistent KB articles.
3. Siloed Customer Journey Insights
Organizations are sitting on a volcano of data, thanks to customers who leave a trail of information each time they engage with a company. This data is a cue to build a unified view of their interests, preferences, etc. However, 47% of marketers say some part of their customer data is siloed and difficult to access. Fragmented customer profiles can cripple an agent’s effort to provide a seamless support experience. To illustrate, agents can reiterate solutions that the users have already tried or present the wrong solution.
4. Inefficient Case Triaging
Although a backroom concept, case triaging and assignment can make your service desk ship sink or swim. Wondering how? Let’s say you submitted a ticket only to wait hours, days (or even weeks!) for it to get resolved. Now, chances are the biggest reason for this delayed resolution is a poor case triaging process. What’s worse is that the longer it takes to resolve an issue, the more frustrating the experience is for customers. Contact centers still assign incoming tickets manually or via round-robin systems where tickets are either cherry-picked or randomly assigned to agents. As a result, tricky tickets are often put on the back burner, ultimately taking a toll on customer experience and satisfaction.
5. Employing Rule-Based Bots
Low priority and mundane tickets should be intercepted by self-service options, like chatbots, to save your agents’ valuable time. However, if the bots fail to function as a standalone entity and only have limited conversations with customers, it can lead to unresolved queries. Consequently, the onus to resolve common or L1 queries also falls on the agent, leaving them high and dry while being submerged under the burgeoning caseload.
Want to Witness how Cognitive Tech Provides a Tailwind to Forward-Thinking Contact Centers?
Outmoded technology solutions aren’t conducive to good customer service. Delivering an unmatched CX begins with equipping agents with the right cognitive tools that directly answer user questions, reduce their efforts, and guarantee a stellar experience for both the agents and customers.
If you’d like to know more about the role of cognitive technology in building support agents of the future, then join Vishal Sharma, CTO, SearchUnify, for a live session at CCW Digital. He sheds light on the evolving role of a service agent & how the right tech is powering the next generation of contact centers.