Empowering Contact Center Success: Why Including Service Managers and Agents in Technology Decisions is Crucial for Customer Experience and Business Outcomes
The problem is this. It’s like going to your accounting department and telling them they will use the accounting software selected by your IT team. The users of the technology should be leading the way. This is typical of contact centers; this situation is all too common. The decision-makers responsible for selecting contact center technology are often not the same individuals who are delivering customer service through the technology. This can lead to a disconnect between the technology and the needs of the customers and service agents. To truly optimize the performance of a contact center, it is important to involve the service managers and agents in the decision-making process for technology selection. They are the ones who are closest to the customers and understand their needs, pain points, and preferences. They can provide valuable insights into the features and capabilities that would make their jobs easier and improve the customer experience. The modern progressive company combines this decision-making into a singular role. The person managing the contact center service should also be the decision maker on the technology enabling that service. They have valuable insights into the customer experience and can provide feedback on the features and capabilities that would improve their job performance. By including the users of the technology in the decision-making process, organizations can align the technology with the needs of both the customers and service agents, leading to better customer experiences, increased agent satisfaction, and improved business outcomes. When service agents are part of the selection process, they are more likely to understand how the technology works and how it can be used to improve the customer experience. This can lead to better adoption rates and more effective use of technology.
Furthermore, involving service managers and agents in technological decision-making can help organizations identify training and development gaps. It also helps to identify potential issues and roadblocks that may not have been apparent to higher-level decision-makers. Service managers and agents have unique insights into the day-to-day operations of the contact center, and they can provide valuable feedback on how technology can be used to improve workflows and enhance the customer experience.
When agents are involved in selecting the technology, they can identify areas where they need additional training or support to effectively use the technology. It can drive innovation and creativity within the contact center. Service agents who are involved in selecting the technology may identify new features or functionalities that can improve the customer experience or streamline their job duties. By encouraging this type of feedback and collaboration, organizations can foster a culture of innovation and continuous improvement within the contact center.
The challenge is that there is a robust choice in the technology space for this function. Unless you have experience using these technologies you do not know where they have their strengths and weakness. The best you can do is learn about them from sales presentations and ask colleagues who may have some experience.
The Imperative for Quality KnowleiCXeed’s Fully Managed Contact Center as a Service: Maximizing Performance through Technology and People Optimization
Technology plays a crucial role in modern contact centers, but the success of a contact center depends not just on the technology used, but also on how it is selected and implemented. Involving service managers and agents in the decision-making process can help ensure that the selected technology meets the organization’s and its customers’ needs.
We believe there is a need in the market to provide a fully managed contact center as a service solution. Most of the time this refers to the technology enabling contact centers. iCXeed uses it because the only way to truly maximize contact center performance as a service is with a partner that manages and optimizes both the people and the technology.
We build skills within our employees to help them lead and remain competitive in the job market with their digital CX skill set obtained at iCXeed. They learn how to leverage service insights as a window or lens to the world of opportunity to optimize omni-channel experiences or improve self-serve capabilities.
They do this because an upfront smooth customer journey makes for a customer in a more pleasant demeanor than a frustrated customer impatient with the lack of contextualization and personalization in their journey to reach a live human. A smoother customer journey is critical because frustrated customers can negatively impact the customer experience. Customers who experience a smooth journey are more likely to be satisfied with the service they receive and may even become repeat customers or brand advocates. On the other hand, frustrated customers are more likely to leave negative feedback, switch to a competitor, or abandon the service altogether.
When it comes to selecting and implementing contact center technology, there are several best practices that organizations can follow to ensure success. One key best practice is to take a user-centric approach, which involves considering the needs and preferences of both customers and agents when selecting and implementing technology. This can include involving agents and customers in the design and testing of new technology solutions, conducting user experience testing, and gathering feedback throughout the implementation process. Another best practice is to prioritize integration and interoperability between different technology solutions. This can help ensure that the technology used in the contact center is working together seamlessly and efficiently, reducing the risk of technical issues and improving the overall customer experience.
Redefining Contact Center Support: The Role of Messaging and Human Interaction in the Digital Age
Traditional contact centers think of voice first when customers prefer messaging. It offers convenient and asynchronous experiences. Meaning the customer can manage a service need while keeping on with the other tasks of their day. They respond when it is most convenient for them to do so.
The voice should be a secondary line of support, this does not mean that voice support should be abandoned altogether. Voice support can still be valuable when it is more convenient for the experience. I.e. technical troubleshooting, especially if there is a time constraint with the customer to get the technology working.
But this world of orchestrating omni-channel, optimizing digital workers, and identifying upstream improvements in customer journeys still requires human support. It is an ongoing need and who better to provide this service than those closest to the customer as they are dealing with these solutions. In today’s world of omni-channel support and digital workers, human support is still essential. While technology can handle many routine tasks, there are still situations where human interaction is necessary to deliver the best possible customer experience. By involving service managers and agents in the decision-making process for technology selection, organizations can ensure that they have the right technology and human support to meet their customers’ needs.
While chatbots, AI, and other digital tools can handle routine tasks, there are still situations where customers require the expertise and empathy of a human agent to provide the best possible support.
Involving service managers and agents in the decision-making process for technology selection is crucial to ensuring that businesses have the right balance of technology and human support. By doing so, organizations can understand which tasks are best handled by technology and which require human intervention. This can help optimize the customer experience by allowing customers to quickly and easily handle routine tasks while still having access to human support when needed.
One way that iCXeed approaches this challenge is by providing a fully managed contact center as a service solution that is optimized for the customer’s outcomes. This means that the pricing model is aligned with the customer’s needs and preferences, and the solution is optimized for their specific business requirements. By doing this, iCXeed can deliver a more personalized and effective service that meets the customer’s needs and helps them achieve their desired outcomes.
Processing these data points into actionable insights requires experience, but this is where iCXeed excels as a business process innovator. Our experts review customer intents with a cognitive lens toward proactivity, digitization, and/or automation. Where there are identified gaps, we use the opportunity to optimize these business processes or improve these digital worker interactions. It is about delivering to your customers a simple digital interface that reduces dependence on human support. You are now armed with the intelligence to build such a solution.
Are you seeking fresh perspectives and alternative approaches to customer experience? We believe that traditional BPO partners may not be entirely focused on the total customer experience, which should encompass far more than the common performance indicators of CSAT, AHT, FCR, and NPS. It’s time to think like a business process innovator and view your contact centre with a digital-first customer experience lens. Learn more here.