Customer experience automation is a topic we’re passionate about, and it also inspired us to come up with our own list of customer experience predictions with a particular focus on how automation is impacting the contact center and self-service.
Despite significant advances in technology, the contact center is still faced with many of the same problems the industry grappled with in its early days. For example, long handle times, disconnected channels and customer data, and cumbersome processes. However, the right customer experience automation platform has the power to change all that. With that in mind, our CMO Pete Wermter recently sat down with CCW Digital for a video interview on the current state of CX automation. Learn more below and watch the complete video!
Agents + Automation = Success
The idea that automation will ultimately replace people is a misconception. In fact, agents are essential to maximizing the power of automation and vice versa. Automation is great for common processes and use cases that can be addressed with little or minimal agent involvement—actions like change of address, order tracking, or payment arrangement. But delivering a high-quality customer experience will always require the human touch, and increasingly we’ll see companies striking the right balance between agents and automation.
Evolution of the Agent Role
As agents offload repetitive tasks to automation, it follows that new opportunities will arise for more value oriented, fulfilling work. For example, we partner with an instrument provider that employs musicians in its contact center. After implementing the QuandaGo platform and automating many routine interactions, the company’s agents could focus on providing product advice rather than answering mundane shipping questions. It goes without saying that these agents found greater satisfaction in these interactions and also delivered a much better customer experience. At a macro-level, this has the potential to address the recruitment and retention headaches with which contact centers have traditionally struggled.
Bots Become Better
Bots have earned a reputation for annoying customers and introducing more friction into the customer experience. However, this will change by bringing task automation and process automation into the equation across the customer journey. Bots can identify who customers are and what they need on the front end, and then connect them to an agent or the right back office professional with process automation support to complete the customer task. As customers see that these bot interactions can get their requests completed and problems solved more quickly, there will be an uptick in adoption.
Bridging the Front Office/Back Office Gap
The earliest implementations of automation occurred in the back office. When the technology moved to the front office, the primary focus was on identifying customers and their needs—but still left it up to agents to do the actual work and get the customer service request handled. Increasingly, we’ll see more connectivity between front office and back office automation, with the technology deployed to get things done for the customer with the best combination of agents and automation suited to the task.
For the full interview, watch the video:
If you’re interested in learning how QuandaGo can help you put these predictions into practice, please get in touch!
