Automation that rocks: How to inspire customers and agents

Let's be clear right away: The aim of automation is not to empty contact centers of staff! That would not be a good idea, if only because this industry is already suffering from a severe shortage of skilled workers and over 20,000 vacancies cannot currently be filled. We are therefore a long way from cutting jobs. Rather, it's about using employees' time as efficiently as possible, being able to deploy them for valuable tasks and relieving them of monotonous routine tasks that a bot can also do.

Where do we start?

Anyone looking at automation from this point of view is faced with the question: Which tasks can be automated at all and for which tasks does it make sense? We recommend taking stock and, for example, analyzing the current incoming calls in your service center. Use a speech analysis tool, for example, and you will be able to identify the recurring questions and tasks in the recorded calls. This allows you to recognize which issues are being discussed and how often they occur.

Recognize construction sites!

What's more, callers usually tell you far more than just their concerns. They start with an explanation of why they are calling in the first place, for example: "I couldn't find the information on your website" or: "I haven't received a reply to my email inquiry!" This information is very valuable, but in the often stressful day-to-day work of a service center, it gets lost without a trace. Using speech analytics changes all that. You have the opportunity to recognize precisely these important clues, determine their frequency and then react to them. For example, if prospective customers cannot find prices on the website, it is easy to supplement or optimize the website - and you can reduce the call volume and make it easier to acquire new customers.

The analysis gives you the opportunity to identify construction sites and ideally close them through automation - whether it's optimizing the website, identifying requests or announcing the opening hours of the various branches over the phone. Intelligent bots instead of a rigid IVR are perfect for pre-qualification. Voicebots and chatbots take over the answering of simple, recurring questions, such as opening hours, without complaint. This allows you to offer automated services that are available around the clock and provide real added value.

Intelligent quality assurance

Another area of application for automated solutions such as speech analytics is quality monitoring. Optimize the conversations of your agents: Determine whether certain phrases, greetings and farewells are being used as intended. Whether too frequent pauses in speech are causing calls to stall. Whether callers can express their concerns in peace or are constantly interrupted. Whether too many negative filler words reduce sales success. And... and... and! You can also use such a tool to evaluate your agents neutrally, fairly and transparently.

A bot is a bot, a human remains a human

Another important option is partial automation through AI-supported assistance functions. For example, automatic voice authentication can simplify and shorten the verification of callers - for example, for the use of sensitive banking or insurance data. Use AI-based solutions to relieve your employees of repetitive tasks and give them the time to take on complex, high-value work. This is because employees can score points in customer dialog with empathy, while a bot provides all the helpful information such as current offers, information on a caller's purchasing behavior or even recommendations for action. Because the fact is: people are too valuable to work like bots.