The COVID-19 pandemic caused a temporary shift in investment priorities in the contact centre. Millions of agents suddenly needed to work remotely, and businesses needed to figure out how to manage and provision for a remote workforce.
Investments were focused on developing new ways of working, new channels of customer engagement, and enhanced e-commerce capabilities.
It further solidified the knowledge that competitive differentiation is more than features and price; it also encompasses the experience businesses create for the customer, from how the product or service fulfils expectations to how they nurture the customer relationship.
This means that rich performance management solutions, already rapidly adopted pre-pandemic, became more important during the pandemic, and required new ways of measuring performance and engaging agents.
For instance, while the traditional methods of using standard key performance indicators such as average handle time or customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores were adequate, measurements such as active call resolution emerged as vital productivity indicators.
Nancy Jamison, industry director for ICT at Frost & Sullivan, says by acknowledging that customer and employee satisfaction are interdependent, contact centres that want to thrive in uncertain times need to take a deeper look into the interwoven dynamics of performance metrics.
“Enabling tools for agents from modern desktops to knowledge management and process automation are key to improving employee experience. If agents are empowered to positively assist customers and be attentive and engaged, customers will respond in kind,” she continued.
“Rich performance management tools can unlock hidden operational information that is critical to navigating the changing workplace,” she continued.
Sharpen CMO Murph Krajewski declared that inefficiency and low CSAT scores are two of the most pressing issues facing contact centres. “Anyone facing either of these issues needs to know about Active Contact Resolution,” he added.
Improved agent experience will lead to increased customer satisfaction. Frost added that by tapping on the right metrics, contact centres can:
- Obtain active contact resolution scores to unlock hidden operational performance insights for a complete picture of the factors that enhance CSAT.
- Gain visibility into the true components of CSAT and actively work to raise scores quickly.
- Manage and refine both agent performance and employee engagement through an enterprise-grade platform.
- Rapidly increase ROI with simplified queue interactions and workflows to empower agents.
- Create a contact centre that empowers rather than hinders great experiences.
