Transforming the reactive contact centre

Being the frontline voice of an organisation means that contact centres have to be ready to adapt at pace when things change in the wider business. Operating in this constantly reactive state is challenging with leaders and agents feeling perpetually on the backfoot.

When changes need to be implemented immediately, there usually has to be interim, clunky workarounds while waiting for systems to be updated. This has a knock-on impact of increasing average handling times and confusing agents which leads to a poor customer experience.

Working in this reactive state inevitably leads to stress, a perception that the contact centre is inefficient, employee dissatisfaction and ultimately higher turnover of agents and leaders.

Contact centres need greater control over the pace and implementation of changes to avoid negatively impacting call results and to reduce stress for agents and line managers.

In this article, we explore how this can be achieved.

The challenges facing reactive contact centres

Uncontrollable changes at unreasonable timescales

Contact centres often receive change requests from other business areas with very little notice meaning there’s insufficient time to adapt their systems and call handling processes. This lack of control often leads to operational chaos with agents and leaders confused about what they’re supposed to be doing and when.

Impact on customer service

When contact centres have to implement unexpected and last-minute changes, their ability to deliver exceptional customer experiences is compromised. Customers experience increased handling times, a rise in incorrect information being relayed and inconsistent service quality.

Low morale and engagement levels

Working in a constantly reactive environment takes a toll on employee morale. Agents and managers feel undervalued, unprepared and overburdened. This way of working is unsustainable which means more employees feel burned out, stressed and disengaged.

Decline in productivity and efficiency

Making changes at pace when underprepared means agents spend more time dealing with unexpected issues and less time focusing on the customer. Leaders’ time is taken up with trying to answer agent queries, analysing call volume impact and liaising with other business areas to get up to speed with changes. 

Employee turnover

Employees will vote with their feet and leave if the reactive environment isn’t transformed. Talented employees are more likely to leave for more stable work environments, leading to a loss of expertise. This has a resulting impact of increased recruitment, onboarding and training costs.

The empowered contact centre

Imagine a contact centre where:

• Leaders have the data they need to make informed decisions
• Agents can confidently handle calls even when processes change
• System updates are easy to deploy
• Training is streamlined
• Issues can be flagged and resolved quickly

That’s what can be achieved when a reactive contact centre is transformed. Let’s dive into more detail about the empowered contact centre environment.

You have the right data to make the right decisions

Having access to real-time, insightful and accurate data is crucial for making informed decisions and anticipating potential issues during times of change. Empowered contact centres have robust data analytics and reporting tools that give them the valuable insights they need for performance metrics, customer sentiment and to spot any bottlenecks.

With powerful data, empowered contact centres can analyse call volumes, customer queries and agent performance to identify trends and patterns. They can use this information to anticipate potential issues before they escalate. Data can improve proactive planning and resource allocation to support any incoming changes that are likely to drain agent availability.

Process changes are easy to deploy

With the right platform, deploying process changes in an empowered contact centre is easy. Updates can be made instantly without waiting for days, weeks, or even months for an IT team to implement them.

Agents can relax into each call, confident that they have the right information at the fingertips even when changes are still being rolled out. The ease and speed of implementing changes reduces inaccuracies and maintains efficiency, leading to a better experience for agents and customers.

A more engaging learning experience

Agents don’t need to spend excessive training time learning complicated, new processes because the platform guides them through each process in real-time so they only have to learn how to use the guidance software.

When processes change, updates are made directly and immediately in the platform, meaning agents are guided automatically through new procedures without the need to go back into the learning environment. Agents can spend more of their learning time on soft skills and career development activities. Employees feel valued as they have more time dedicated to their professional growth leading to higher motivation, loyalty and engagement.

Improved issue resolution

In an empowered contact centre, any issues that come up as a result of process changes can be quickly identified through powerful insights.

Using data, meaningful feedback can be given to the wider business, detailing how changes are impacting operations and customers. This real-time visibility can flag adjustments that need to be made, minimising disruptions and maintaining service levels.

How to transform into an empowered contact centre

The right combination of training and technology is how agents feel fully informed and confident in their interactions, even through challenging change and the contact centre moves from reactive to empowered.

Even when change needs to be implemented at pace, real-time agent guidance software uses AI to analyse the customer’s intent and direct the agent through the appropriate workflow. This gives them the right resources and enables them to focus their full attention on the customer.

This software helps agents get familiar with new processes and product information quickly so they can successfully troubleshoot complex issues and help customers without memorising the entire company knowledge base. 

Similarly, AI-powered conversation intelligence software can inform managers’ and contact centre leaders’ understanding of what’s happening in customer conversations as a result of implemented change.

Deploying Awaken’s contact centre platform drives faster, more efficient change and means empowered contact centres can also:

1. Listen to their customer conversations at scale.
2. Understand what’s happening in these conversations and which factors the contact centre and agents can control.
3. Act on the opportunities for improvements they find in these conversations.

Empowered contact centres listen

Awaken’s AI-powered software makes it possible for contact centres to listen to 100% of their customer conversations. They can decrease the time they spend on manual QA checking that new processes have been implemented correctly and focus on supporting their agents.

Empowered contact centres understand

Through times of change, leaders must be able to access the data they need to understand how everything is landing. That’s why Awaken provides powerful insights both during and after the interaction. Agents understand the customer’s intent and the best ways to assist them in line with the new, implemented changes. Post-interaction, leaders understand what went well, what could be improved on and how to best support their agents and customers moving forward.

Empowered contact centres act

Once leaders listen to conversations at scale and understand the challenges customers and agents face as a result of change, swift action can be taken.

Trends in contact centre conversations can reveal where new processes are breaking down or new bottlenecks are emerging. AI-powered software from Awaken enables leaders to look at both the volume and rate of specific process issues to prioritise fixes and provide insightful feedback to the wider business.

Do more with Awaken

At Awaken Intelligence we’re pioneers of innovative and flexible software to help you see the complete picture for your contact centre.

Get in touch to arrange a free demo and experience our intelligent guidance and analytics solutions for yourself so you can start your transformation to an empowered contact centre.