Smart Desktops Enhance Agent and Customer Experiences

Transcription

1 Smart Desktops Enhance Agent and Customer Experiences Q&A with Richard Snow VP & Research Director Customer and Contact Center Research Ventana Research 14

2 Q: What challenges do companies face in handling customer interactions? The Author Richard Snow, VP & Research Director Customer and Contact Center Research Richard leads Ventana Research s Customer and Contact Center Management research practice, which is dedicated to helping organizations improve the efficiency and effectiveness of managing their customers, throughout their lifetime and across all touch points, including the contact center. As an industry veteran with more than 30 years experience, Richard conducts research exploring the people, process, information and technology issues behind customer operations management, contact center management, and customer experience management. A: Our benchmark research shows that organizations now support up to 17 channels of interaction with their customers, each of which requires its own system. Some of the channels are assisted, in which employees are involved, and others are self-service or digital, in which customers attempt to resolve their issues by using technologies such as IVR, mobile apps or social media. Increasingly organizations must support connected service, in which a customer starts in a digital channel but switches to assisted service. Related research shows that customer data sits in many disconnected systems so employees handing interactions contact center agents, home agents, knowledge workers and mobile employees often have to access multiple systems to resolve a customer interaction. The variety of customer interactions also has increased, ranging from simple such as an account balance inquiry to complex as in closing a sale. This, too, can increase the number of systems agents need to access and complicate the process they must follow to resolve the issue. 1

3 Added complexity can undermine agent satisfaction and performance These three challenges in channels, data and types of interaction often make employee desktop systems used to handle interactions more cluttered and complex. Added complexity can undermine agent satisfaction and performance, and thus directly impact the customer experience and the ability of organizations to deliver a true omnichannel experience. Q: What is required to provide an omnichannel experience at every point of contact? A: An omnichannel experience should be one in which it is easy for customers to interact with the company and that makes it irrelevant to them which channel they use and which employee they engage with. It should be one in which the information they receive is consistent, personalized for them and put into the context of their relationship with the company. Its goal is to resolve issues at the first point of contact. When an issue cannot be resolved using the initial channel of engagement, an omnichannel experience should enable customers to switch to an alternative channel or point of contact without having to repeat tasks they have already completed, such as entering data into a mobile app. 2

4 Omnichannel engagement thus should reduce the effort customers require to interact with companies, should be as efficient as possible and should result in as many interactions as possible being resolved at the first point of engagement. Omnichannel engagement should reduce the effort customers require to interact with companies, should be as efficient as possible and should result in as many interactions as possible being resolved at the first point of engagement. To deliver on these goals, companies must overcome the three challenges identified above: accessing multiple communication channels and business systems and managing the varying complexity of interactions. They must provide systems that make it easy to receive an inbound call from a queue, open an message, log in into a chat session or make an outbound call the list is as long as the number of channels the organization supports. This challenge is intensified if the need arises to switch channels for example, transitioning from a chat session to a call. Typically the agent has to find the information required by the second system and initiate the interaction. They must make it easy to access the systems that contain data required to resolve the customer s issue or make the transition between channels. Our research shows this can require two to four systems for certain interactions, the number can rise to 10 systems. This situation is further complicated if data has to be entered into more than one system, which can not only slow down the interaction but lead to data entry errors. 3

5 Scripts run the risk of reducing customer satisfaction as they leave little room to personalize interactions Finally companies must deploy systems that manage the process of handling different types of interactions. These should react to the type of interaction, the customer, the skill level of the user and the data entered during the interaction. Organizations must achieve a balance between relying on the agents initiative and providing a fully scripted process to handle each type of interaction because scripts run the risk of reducing customer satisfaction as they leave little room to personalize interactions. Our research shows that only about 1/3 (35%) of agents are fully satisfied with their job, and organizations told us that fewer than half of customers are fully satisfied with the way interactions are handled. Q: How do these challenges impact agent performance and the customer experience? A: Without the support of a smart desktop system, agents have to focus on which system contains what data, what systems need to be updated with what data, how to access those systems and how to navigate between different systems and screens within systems. This can impact their level of satisfaction, the time it takes to resolve issues and the number of errors they make. These factors in turn can degrade customer satisfaction and the overall customer experience: Our research shows that only about one-third (35%) of agents are fully satisfied with their job, and organizations told us that fewer than half of customers are fully satisfied with the way interactions are handled. 4

6 Reduced agent satisfaction can lead to more turnover, which impacts recruitment and training costs. But the most significant impact can be on customer satisfaction, which can lead to less customer loyalty and fewer up-sales, thus reducing customer lifetime value. These challenges impact some key metrics; for example, average handling times are likely to increase, which impacts the cost of handling interactions; our research finds that agents meet their call-handling targets in fewer than one-fifth (17%) of interactions. There also are likely to be fewer interactions resolved at the first attempt, which drives up the number of interactions and their costs. Reduced agent satisfaction can lead to more turnover, which impacts recruitment and training costs. But the most significant impact can be on customer satisfaction, which can lead to less customer loyalty and fewer up-sales, thus reducing customer lifetime value. 5

7 Q: How can a smart agent desktop overcome these challenges? A smart agent desktop can bring together all the systems and information that users need to carry out tasks A: A smart agent desktop can bring together all the systems and information that users need to carry out tasks. The best systems can be configured by users for each task they are carrying out. A smart desktop should provide a single complete view of all supported communication channels as well as ease of use, typically through point-and-click capabilities to select an interaction. It should display all available information relating to the customer, including the history of previous interactions and any data the person entered at a previous stage of the interaction, whether on the website, into IVR or through a mobile app, and do this before transferring the customer to the agent. It should enable the interaction to continue easily on a different channel, for example, through clicking on the customer s telephone number to make an outbound call. It should provide easy access to templates to create outbound interactions, such as preformatted templates into which the agent can paste relevant data before completing and sending the message. 6

8 More advanced systems provide capabilities that enable users to find and collaborate with expert colleagues who can help resolve a customer s issue or authorize taking a certain action. Rather than boilerplate scripts, it should include capabilities that use stored customer data or data entered during the interaction to display relevant data to the agent or recommend the next action. It should display any broadcast messages, dashboards and other relevant performance data to show agents and managers how well the center or individuals are performing. More advanced systems provide capabilities that enable users to find and collaborate with expert colleagues who can help resolve a customer s issue or authorize taking a certain action. Some products also include gamification capabilities that help agents develop skills identified as needed through the quality monitoring process. Q: What are the key features of a smart agent desktop? A: There is no one system fits all solution for a smart agent desktop, as it should suit users of various skills in carrying out a variety of tasks. Above all, it should be easy to use so that experienced users, knowledge workers and new employees all can carry out their tasks with minimal training. The system should be easy to set up and maintain, it should integrate easily into the overall IT architecture of the organization and thus allow companies to continue using existing systems and data stores. 7

9 To support omnichannel experiences it should provide easy access to communication systems, business applications, message boards, performance dashboards and analysis; especially it should make it easy to switch channels and seamlessly continue handling interactions. If appropriate, it should allow users to handle more than one interaction at the same time, such as multiple chat sessions, or suspend handling one interaction to process a higher-priority interaction, for example, to suspend responding to an to take a high-priority call and return to the once the call is completed. It should guide users on next actions and automate repetitive tasks such as data entry across multiple systems, creating personalized responses using templates, and end of contact tasks. 8

10 Ventana Research groups the criteria org-anizations use to select systems into seven categories: usability, manageability, reliability, capability, adaptability, company validation and TCO/ROI. 68% Usability 59% Reliability 57% Capability For situations in which the user is unable to complete the interaction, the system should make it easy to collaborate with other users or create alerts so that another user intervenes. Q: What are the key criteria for selecting agent desktop software? A: Ventana Research groups the criteria organizations use to select systems into seven categories: usability, manageability, reliability, capability, adaptability, company validation and TCO/ROI. In our research organizations exploring agent desktop systems most often identified as very important usability (68%), reliability (59%) and capability (57%). Usability is key because agents have to handle interactions in real time and should be able to focus on the customer rather than how to use the systems on their desk-top. A key part of reliability is the ability for the system to fit into the existing IT architecture. In the case of a desktop system, this is especially important because of the number and types of systems it must integrate with. Capabilities impact the efficiency and effectiveness of how agents or other employees handle interactions and how well they can collaborate with other employees if the need arises. 9

11 Q: What role does collaboration play in providing an omnichannel experience? The type of system organizations most often said can help users work better together is an internal collaboration system A: Our research shows that almost every business unit except IT engages with customers at some point, either as a front-line activity in marketing, sales, customer service or the contact center, or a back-office function such as finance to resolve payment issues, HR to deal with complaints about agents or service engineers, or manufacturing to answer complex product issues. Our research shows that the type of system organizations most often said can help users work better together is an internal collaboration system. Such systems can help users find an expert, share data, and work together to resolve customers issues. Effective collaboration systems ensure that all users work from the same information and avoids decisions made by one user creating work for others. Other forms of collaboration systems can help customers and agents share data and information, for example, a website or document. These systems make it easier for customers and agents to have a dialogue when both parties are viewing the same information and can increase first-time resolutions. 10

12 Q: How should companies measure the success of customer engagement? A: No one metric can fully measure customer engagement; we recommend a combination of four types. Efficiency metrics such as average contact handling times can show how well the process works. Effectiveness metrics such as firstcontact resolution rates can show how well the process meets customer expectations. Many companies have seen improvements in less tangible areas such as improved backoffice processes, reduced data entry errors, reduced training times and better compliance with regulations. Agent-related metrics such as quality scores can show which employees are doing the best job, and customer-related metrics such as customer satisfaction and customer lifetime value can show how happy and active customers are. To gain a complete picture, organizations need a balanced set of metrics that includes all four categories, including where possible links between metrics, for example in surveys that show which agents are best at meeting customer expectations and which deliver the best business outcomes. Our benchmark research shows that a smart desktop system makes it easier to capture all the data needed to determine more complex metrics such as customer lifetime value. 11

13 Q: What benefits can companies achieve by deploying smart agent desktop systems? A: Our benchmark research shows that 28 percent of organizations have deployed a smart agent desktop for contact center agents and a further 37 percent plan to do so over the next two years. In additional, 24 percent have deployed such a system for other users, and 35 percent plan to extend that use of the next two years. Those that have deployed such systems have seen an average of 4.5 benefits. 28% of organizations have deployed a smart agent desktop for contact center agents and a further 37 percent plan to do so over the next two years. 12

14 The primary benefit, reported by 57 % of organizations, is that it has enabled them to use more employees across the organization to handle interactions. The primary benefit, reported by 57 percent of organizations, is that it has enabled them to use more employees across the organization to handle interactions. This has led to better collaboration between business groups (49%) and more consistency in handling interactions and providing information to customers (43%). Just under half (48%) have seen a direct improvement in efficiency metrics such as average handling times, while slightly fewer (36%) have also seen an improvement in customer-related metrics such as CSAT and NPS. In addition to these direct benefits, many companies have seen improvements in less tangible areas such as improved back-office processes, reduced data entry errors, reduced training times and better compliance with regulations. Added together, these benefits reveal a strong business case for deploying smart agent desktop systems. For more information, see Ventana Research, The Unified Agent Desktop and the Customer Experience. 13