Contact center agents have to deal with many problems daily; these problems can reduce the quality of customer service that agents can provide, increase contact center operating costs, reduce agent job satisfaction, and can reduce the overall effectiveness of the contact center. In this article, we outline some of the challenges that contact center agents face and the things that can be done to improve contact center effectiveness.
Here we cover the top 4 ways to improve call center and contact center efficiency.
1. Continuous Training
All call center and contact center agents need to undergo proper training. When they first begin working, all new agents should receive thorough training on how to use the software, the knowledge base, and the key features of the top goods or services. More importantly, agents must receive ongoing training to reinforce what they already do and expose them to the latest features of the products/services the contact center handles. To achieve this, an effective contact center should use either a stand-alone e-learning tool or a knowledge base with e-learning features.
2. Skill-Based Routing
Skill-based routing refers to an initial automated system that routes a customer to an agent with the right skill set to solve a problem. When a customer calls the contact center and wants to buy a product, the routing system should route the call to the sales department, not to the billing department or the general operator. Skill-based routing can significantly increase first call resolution and improve customer satisfaction.
3. Chat Between Agents
When solving a complex problem, an agent can benefit from using inter-agent chat. Agent-to-agent chat allows an agent to communicate with another more experienced agent or their manager to resolve a problem while the agent stays on the phone with the customer. The chat feature can be set up in one of two ways: as a one-to-one chat where agent “1” can ask agent “2” a question directly, or as a group chat function where an agent can post a query in a group and another agent who knows the answer can swiftly publish the response. Agent-to-agent chat is very useful because it allows one agent to resolve the issue instead of transferring the customer to another agent, leading to customer frustration.
4. Agent Autonomy
Contact center agents are experts in their field, know the product/services well, and can solve most problems smartly and creatively if given autonomy. By reducing micromanagement, managers are freed up to deal with more complex issues or train newer agents. In addition, studies have shown that employees who are given more autonomy have higher satisfaction and lower turnover.
Conclusion
These have been the highlighting points for improving Contact Center’s efficiency. Moreover, trying different solutions can also help a lot when it comes to improvement. Want a solution for your organization? If yes, then Contaque’s customized solution is best for you!