Taking the Pressure Off Agents with Smarter Tech: The Future of Contact Centres
Contact centre agents are the foot soldiers of our brands. The best agents are receptive, resilient, and committed to protecting your interests. But don’t be fooled, they can only take so much.
As customer expectations continue to rise, so do the demands placed on contact centre agents. Despite their dedication, they are often inundated with a constant stream of inquiries, complaints, and requests, with the threat of becoming overwhelmed.
One study asked hundreds of contact agents to take a self-assessment. It was found that well over half (59%) of contact agents were at risk of burnout, with 28% classified as being “at severe risk”.
So, how can we lighten the load on agents and support them as they continue to fight our corner? An approach that is winning is one that utilises the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation to share the work of human agents. In this article, we’ll explain how it works.
The burden of repetitive tasks
Most people have jobs which involve repetitive tasks. Every day, many contact centre agents face activities which can zap their time and energy. The good news is that many of these tasks can be automated.
Data entry is otherwise known as inputting the same types of information repeatedly. For agents, this could include updating contact details, logging call summaries, or recording the outcomes of customer interactions. While necessary for maintaining accurate records, these tasks are time-consuming and prone to human error, especially when performed repeatedly throughout a long shift.
Other notorious time consumers are call routing (the manual transfer of calls), handling simple enquiries, such as questions about business hours, account balances, and order statuses, and providing basic troubleshooting steps. These queries are often straightforward to answer but can take up a large portion of an agent’s workload.
Some tasks are important to the contact centre process and important to customers, but they don’t necessarily require the skills and empathy of a human agent.
What leads agents to burnout? It’s often the repetitive tasks that leave them feeling a little like a ‘robot’. So the time has come to leave these tasks in the hands of AI and automation technologies – i.e. – the real robots.
How AI and automation make a difference
AI is taking over mundane tasks and proving capable of accomplishing them well. For instance, automation can take care of routine customer record updating, saving agents from manual data entry. Not only that, but AI systems can listen to calls or analyse chat logs in real-time, then automatically extract relevant information and update CRM records accordingly.
When it comes to common customer queries, chatbots and virtual assistants fit the bill. These are powered by natural language processing and can handle a wide range of standard inquiries, from billing procedures to account balances. Appointment scheduling is also suited to automation that manages calendars, understands availability, and books appointments without human intervention.
And remember, AI doesn’t need any time off. It ticks over 24/7 to reduce the burden on agents.
Allowing agents to shine
So what do contact centre agents do with all this free time bestowed on them by AI and automation? The answer is, do what they do best. Become problem solvers, creators, and empathisers – three things at which AI isn’t always superior.
With routine inquiries handled by AI, agents can dedicate more time and mental energy to the more complex things. They are no longer merely cogs in a contact centre machine. They are dynamic thinkers and solution providers. The result? Greater job satisfaction for the agents and an improved customer experience.
Smarter tech in action
Let’s take the example of an insurance premium finance provider who says they chose Cirrus’s contact centre solutions to “transform our frontline staff into customer service heroes”.
By taking the burden away from agents with the help of AI and automation, the insurance provider was able to reduce reliance on manual processes, lower the number of redirections occurring within their system, and align resources to customer demand, improving efficiency.
Another interesting aspect of the insurance provider case study is the ability AI gives them to design the customer journey around what the customer wants; adapting the system and adding features based on customer feedback.
A leading recruitment agency likened this flexibility to tuning a high-powered car with fewer limits: “Cirrus has a technical background enabling us to provide the same kind of performance as a 200 agent Contact Centre, with far less staff. All those standard things you would expect from technology, like efficiency, empowering people to do more and cost, is all standard, however, with Cirrus you can tune it further. If you consider a stock racing car, it can only be tuned so far. With Cirrus you can tune all the way up to an F1 car.”
And once you have started to make gains with the right contact centre solutions, the sky is the limit. You can fine-tune processes to take more and more out of the hands of agents; an excellent cost-saving exercise.
Embracing the future of contact centres
Assess your current operations and identify areas where repetitive tasks are consuming a significant amount of your agents’ time. Armed with these identified potential areas for improvement, explore the AI and automation tools available on the market. Look for solutions that genuinely save time and prioritise the user experience for both agents and customers.
Equip yourself with the knowledge to make informed decisions and enhance your contact centre’s customer experience strategy. Whether you’re focusing on AI, self-service, or improving agent support, this guide provides actionable insights to guide your next steps.
We hope this article has highlighted that incorporating AI and automation into contact centre operations means giving your agents the tools to succeed. If you are a contact centre manager who has yet to embrace these technologies, now is the time to consider how they could benefit your team and your customers.
Ready to improve agent wellbeing in your contact centre? Discover how Cirrus’ solutions can help you create a healthier, more productive work environment for your team.
Cirrus is a leading provider of contact centre as-a-service (CCaaS) solutions, delivering innovative and scalable technology to help businesses enhance customer experiences. Founded in 2013, Cirrus integrates communications across voice, video, email, messaging, and social media, offering a comprehensive and flexible solution for contact centres. With a strong focus on partner and customer success, Cirrus has built a reputation for excellence and remains dedicated to driving innovation in the contact centre industry.
For additional information on Cirrus view their Company Profile
