Contact Centers

What Will Have the Biggest Impact on Organizations’ CX Automation?

Telephony is no longer the focal point of modern contact centers; only 10% of business leaders think the channel will impact their CX automation efforts the most over the next 12 months.

Telephony is still for vital customer engagement, but the exponential growth of digital channels shows why it shouldn’t be the driving force behind CCaaS purchasing decisions.

A new approach that embraces a wide scope of engagement channels and elevates customer experience through CX automation is needed.

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With inflation rates still through the roof across most sectors, from energy to raw materials, businesses are struggling to keep their profit margins from tanking.

Millions of companies are being forced to take measures to mitigate escalating costs and decreased purchasing power from customers. They are tightening their belt one way or another, as they try to keep their business afloat during this economic crisis.

In this economy, every customer and purchase are invaluable. For that reason, tech-led companies especially have invested billions of dollars in making the customer experience (CX) as flawless and frictionless as possible.

Embracing Sophisticated Digital Transformation

Businesses are taking digital – including visual – transformation in CX seriously. From making payments as easy as using your smartphone camera’s facial recognition, to seeing how a piece of furniture will look in your living room with augmented reality (AR).

In fact, IDC predicted that DX (digital transformation) global spending, which encompasses CX, is forecast to reach nearly $3.9 trillion in 2027.

CX teams have embraced such sophisticated technologies to deliver simple, seamless customer-oriented solutions.

Their companies understand the financial impact that customer satisfaction has on the bottom lines. This has led to an increased customer-obsessed approach that will go to extremes in order to win at CX.

Amazon is probably the best example of this customer-obsessed approach, with its ambition to provide an outstanding level of service even if at the short-term expense of some margins.

How can this company turn a profit when a customer in New York City gets free delivery of toilet paper or a tub of ice cream within an hour? Have you ever had a problem with an item order: and it just simply sent you a new one without asking you to return the other item?

Of course, Amazon, and other companies that follow similar practices, are looking at the long-term value of the customer. They understand that customer loyalty over time will significantly balance in their favor.

Businesses are taking digital – including visual – transformation in CX seriously.

In spite of all these emerging flawless automated digital processes, there are always instances where customers will need help from another human.

Many products will require installation help, maintenance, or repairs. There is a delicate balance to managing CX during these occasions; the way in which companies handle these experiences will ultimately have direct links to customer retention and brand loyalty.

Looking at the market needs, challenges, and research on customer preferences and expectations, there are three key ways for companies to improve their CX.

All of them leverage different technologies to provide a more cohesive and frictionless experience while taking into account economies of scale.

In the end, fixing or improving these areas will help organizations save money through operational efficiency: while delighting customers with experiences that fuel loyalty and trust.

1. Build a seamless, continuous user experience.

Channel switching from self-service to live agent interaction has been proven by multiple studies to be the leading factor in increasing customer effort and frustration, resulting in lower customer satisfaction.

Needing to repeat information, interacting a second time, experiencing generic service, a lack of self-service options, or exerting additional mental effort to resolve an issue are all examples of high-effort customer dissatisfaction.

Survey data from TechSee’s State of the Service Report shows that in 2022, 95% of customers had to repeat themselves when contacting customer service.

Customer effort in omnichannel service flows is high. 45% of customers have to repeat themselves every time they are transferred across channels (e.g., chatbot to agent) or between agents.

The easiest way to explain or understand an issue is often seeing it in a picture…

Companies must aim for a seamless contextual transfer of data between self-service, live remote service, and field service interactions.

To achieve these successfully, the full omnichannel journey must be taken into account. And visual data can play a huge role in making this happen.

Imagine if your contact center agent has a visual record of images or videos taken by field agents. This ability could make an upcoming phone interaction much more efficient and wouldn’t require a frustrated customer to repeat information.

Also, what if your live agent could see the self-service solution a customer tried before as they pick up the phone? What if their colleague could see the visuals shared on the previous call? And finally, what if the field agent had access to all the visual records before walking into the customer’s house?

Access to contextual visual data provides the missing link needed to make interactions more efficient and effective. Delivering continuity within channels will significantly drive improved customer satisfaction and agent performance scores.

2. Embrace Computer Vision and Multi-Sensory AI.

Mainstream adoption of smartphones means customers communicate with hundreds or even thousands of videos and pictures every day.

The easiest way to explain or understand an issue is often seeing it in a picture, video, or even with an added layer of AR which provides guidance.

In fact, the State of the Service report revealed that customers strongly prefer visual guidance over verbal or textual instruction. 20% more customers stated they would rather receive visual instructions than textual instructions and 48% more customers prefer visual compared to verbal instructions.

The computer vision revolution is here. Its application to enhance the overall CX will be key going forward. Human beings are visual; pictures do tell us a thousand (if not more) words.

What’s more, the integration of Computer Vision AI (artificial intelligence) and Conversational AI brings new ways to empower organizations to offer full service automation through a new breed of multi-sensory AI across all digital channels including voice, chat, image, and video.

While there may be a reluctance to embrace emerging technologies, companies need to understand that it is not about dropping traditional communication channels. Instead, it is giving them a major upgrade with an added visual layer to capture crucial customer data to help inform every interaction.

Imagine how much time, energy, and money can be saved if a remote customer agent or field technician is able to see an image or video taken by the customer. Thereby eliminating the need for an in-person visit. Customers want their issues to be solved as fast and simply as possible. If this can be achieved remotely, instantly, and autonomously it significantly improves the overall CX.

The combined power of Visual Intelligence, alongside text-based tools like ChatGPT, gives organizations a way to provide uniquely personalized and context-aware experiences for customers. This includes responses to customer questions and technical issues at high levels of accuracy.

Customer interactions and service responses can be truly multi-sensory, available as text, synthesized voice, and augmented images or video.

Customers are open to innovation when it enables better service delivery. Survey data from the State of the Service report suggests that customers are open to submitting pictures (63%), using AI (73%), and receiving visually guided instructions (65%) in order to receive faster resolution.

Bottom line: embracing these tools to establish more efficient, automated, and vision led CX should be a top priority.

3. Focus on Self-Service and Automation.

Customers prefer to resolve any problems autonomously if and when possible.

Having said that, there is huge room for improvement to meet customer service expectations, with our research through the State of the Service report showing that 67% of U.S. customers are dissatisfied with existing self-service solutions.

Additional data from Gartner suggests that only 9% of customers report solving their issues completely via self-service. Developing better self-service experiences will help companies improve operational efficiency and reduce unnecessary costs.

What’s more, companies should also leverage existing self-service channels, such as automated chat, phone, and messaging, to capture visual information, including video and images.

If an issue then needs to escalate to an agent (remote or in-person), they will have all the content needed for a faster resolution.

More advanced companies will go beyond simple visuals and add a layer of AI to their self-service protocols, leveraging computer vision that is able to guide customers to perform activities in real time.

…companies should also leverage existing self-service channels…to capture visual information…

For example, when installing a new device you could use AR through your smartphone to guide you step-by-step through the set-up experience, showing you which plugs need to be connected, or what a flashing light in your router means. This could ultimately eliminate the need for cumbersome manuals or confusing YouTube explainer videos.

Build Loyalty at Every Touchpoint

The north star for CX needs to be building loyalty at every touchpoint. With user journeys becoming increasingly digitized and fragmented, companies will need to make a big effort to create holistic omnichannel experiences. Where every touchpoint is leveraged as an opportunity to please customers.

Today, consumer stickiness is impacted mostly by CX. With 80% of customers churning due to dissatisfaction with service quality, according to the State of the Service report, this is not something brands can ignore.

Customers are ready…to embrace technology that helps them directly manage any processes or issues…

Customer expectations when it comes to customer service are at an all time high. We have experienced a real boom in eCommerce and instant gratification. As customers we have quickly adopted technologies to manage our life from our smartphones: from our bank accounts, to Zoom meetings or Uber rides.

There is an expectation, then, for technology to help us seamlessly and autonomously manage so many aspects of our lives that no longer require a phone call or an in-person visit to the shop, the bank, or even the office.

Research from the Customer Service Institute, reported in a paper by Hoovers shows that existing customers account for 65% of a company’s business. That’s because consumers like staying loyal to brands when they connect with them and build strong relationships. Nurturing loyalty and satisfaction with the right tech will be key to customer retention.

Customers are ready and keen to embrace technology that helps them directly manage any processes or issues when possible.

However, if and when they do need assistance, it must be provided easily by agents equipped with the tools that empower them to handle a situation successfully, quickly, and efficiently.

From virtual visits to AI-powered assistance, there is a plethora of tools available to optimize the performance and cost of any customer interaction. These provide a huge opportunity to differentiate and grow through exceptional CX.

Customers expect excellent products and services from companies and deservedly so. After all, it is their money. Particularly in challenging times like these with inflation and other financial worries where every dollar (or other currency unit) – and when every buying (and referring) customer – counts.

That makes it imperative for companies to offer an excellent customer experience (CX). But they too often have to watch their dollars (or other currency units). Consequently, they must maximize the returns (ROI) through obtaining superior, expectations-exceeding performance and productivity from their customer service budgets.

Artificial intelligence (AI)-driven software has shown much promise in enabling contact centers to manage both CX and costs. But is it really delivering? And can it do more in the future?

To gain insights into how to enable a superior CX using AI in this environment, we recently virtually interviewed Barry Cooper, President, CX Division, NICE. Here is our conversation.

Q. What are the top CX trends, what are their drivers, have these changed since 2023, and why?

Here are three:

1. We are seeing an increase in the number of blended agents. They manage both voice and digital interactions as digital interactions become more prevalent.

For 2024, I predict a 75% increase in the use of blended agents. As companies invest in AI, this allows agents to become super-agents and easily handle voice and digital interactions. AI is a vital tool that can increase productivity, eliminate mundane tasks, and elevate both the agent and customer experience.

2. The gap is widening between good and bad AI. This is becoming more prevalent as more discussions happen around AI regulations, putting a spotlight on the importance of having purpose-built AI created with the proper guardrails.

When it comes to customer service, this means AI that is domain-specific and built from rich CX data, ensuring that responses that are generated are accurate, relevant, and appropriate. AI is the answer to managing the overwhelming complexity of customer service in the digital omnichannel age.

But that does not mean that all AI is created equal. Increasingly, businesses are struggling to optimize AI tools for their needs.

Intelligently communicating with customers, supporting contact center agents, and operating in the cloud at scale are all vital parts of successful CX. Only AI which has been purpose-built and trained on millions of customer interactions is suitable and trustworthy to manage an organization’s CX efficiently and effectively.

3. Cloud adoption is on its way to peaking in 2024. AI advancements are leading to mass adoption of the cloud, with companies realizing the necessity of bringing their operations to the cloud to be able to fully utilize AI and succeed in the digital era.

Here’s why the cloud is essential to AI-based applications. The cloud allows for much easier data sharing across an organization and applications. This is very important as AI is trained on this data. The easier this data is to access, the easier it is to train AI.

Organizations are no longer able to manage complicated tech stacks of patchwork solutions. In the age of AI, organizations can’t afford to operate like this any longer. They need their data to be easily accessible and shareable.

Consequently, organizations are moving to adopt a single, open cloud interaction-centric platform, underpinned by AI, allowing organizations to seamlessly connect third- party resources with native capabilities on the platform.

Q. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is forecasting slower labor market growth and a decline in the demand for customer service employees over the next 10 years. Will these macro trends affect contact center delivered CX, including agent performance and productivity?

AI is allowing CX organizations to do more with less, enabling these organizations to not only maintain service levels despite the impacts of economic uncertainty but become more efficient and improve overall operations.

Even with slower labor market growth, we see a constant increase in the volume of customer service interactions in the post-COVID Digital Economy of today. Less and less is done face to face which means more business is done virtually.

While Conversational AI will pick up many of those interactions, human agents will be needed as more complex business processes move from face-to-face to virtual.

And this represents the second area where AI will make an impact as Augmented Intelligence supporting the agents to do more complex work. It enables offloading repetitive tasks and giving agents access to what they need as they deal with ever more complex tasks.

Q. There appears to be a trade-off between providing an excellent CX and agent performance and productivity. Namely, “I would like to stay online to serve you better, but my supervisor wants me to go to the next customer.” Please discuss. Is it possible, and if so, how, for CX for performance/productivity to be on the same page?

AI removes a lot of the pressure on agents to do it all. Before AI, agents not only had to worry about getting through phone calls but also took care of non-customer-facing tasks like post-call summaries. Agents also had to spend a lot more time combing through clunky knowledge bases to find answers to customer inquiries, lengthening the time to resolution.

AI eliminates this extra work, freeing up time to focus on building customer loyalty and looking for upsell opportunities. It writes post-interaction summaries. And it also creates robust knowledge bases where agents can instantly pull the information they need to resolve an issue.

Finally, AI frees up the agents’ time to build deeper relationships with customers and shift the focus of an interaction away from simply solving a problem.

Q. AI, like Generative AI, has been seen by some in the industry as being overhyped: overpromising and underdelivering for contact centers. But is it? What types of functions and value is it delivering? And what new applications and value do you see for it and why?

AI has transformed post-interaction summaries. What once was a cumbersome, loathsome task for agents has turned into an automated, much more efficient process.

Before, agents had to spend time after every interaction dictating a summary of how the interaction went. It was subjective and an afterthought as agents dealt with more pressing priorities.

Now agents don’t have to worry about it at all. AI generates an objective, detailed summary of every interaction, noting the appropriate context needed for the next agent who interacts with that customer.

As we look to the near future, ticket-based systems will be phased out and will be replaced with interaction-based systems to provide a more modern, seamless help-desk approach.

“…AI frees up the agents’ time to build deeper relationships with customers and shift the focus of an interaction away from simply solving a problem.” —Barry Cooper

Generative AI is enabling organizations to build more robust knowledge bases and train more intelligent chatbots. This will allow organizations to move to interaction-based systems, able to answer inquiries on any channel, automating many support requests, and reducing the need for manual intervention by support staff.

Advancements in AI will also enable organizations to drive seamless asynchronous customer interactions. These will allow customers to pick conversations back up with human agents or bots right where they left it without needing to repeat information or start the interactions from scratch.

Developments such as this will eliminate the frustration that can commonly be felt by the customer who is asked to repeat things during an interaction. It also gives the customer more freedom if they need to leave an interaction at any time.

This concept, which customers have been demanding, is the future of customer service. It will be fully realized by businesses in 2024 and will lead, I predict, to a 50% bump in CSAT scores.

Q. What are your recommendations to contact center decision-makers?

It has become increasingly difficult to manage customer service compared with even five and 10 years ago. With the rise of digital interactions, there are so many different ways a customer can reach out to an organization, and they demand that organizations be reachable at any touchpoint.

“Organizations need to think of the customer service interaction at the center of their operations. It should drive everything they do.”

Customers want their problems solved immediately on their channel of choice. What may seem like a daunting task is a quite simple fix. There are tools available on the market today that can allow organizations to manage the complexity of interactions we are seeing today.

Organizations need to use an open interaction-centric cloud platform with a suite of solutions underpinned by AI. Organizations need to think of the customer service interaction at the center of their operations. It should drive everything they do.

AI is the future of CX, and we are already seeing a shift from fear to fear of missing out (FOMO) of AI in CX. It is integral to the contact center of the future.

• AI can be used to analyze every interaction, revealing rich insights about customer sentiment to show how CX organizations can improve operations to provide a better CX.
• AI can also greatly improve the employee experience, offloading repetitive tasks so that employees can focus on higher-value tasks.
• Finally, AI can also be used to improve knowledge management systems, creating an effortless system where employees ask anything and receive an accurate, relevant answer, instantly leading to quicker resolutions.

If you would like to learn more about Barry please click here.

In partnering with business process outsourcing (BPO) companies, it helps – and pays – to know what is happening in the BPO market before sourcing and working with these service providers.

You will want to be sure to partner only with those businesses that are going to be around and will be able to meet your needs for the long term.

There is good news here, however. In a period marked by economic uncertainty and fluctuating interest rates, the BPO sector has continued to show strength in existing as well as new markets.

According to IBISWorld, the global BPO Services industry revenue has been increasing at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of just under 2% over the past five years and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 1.2% to reach $77.2 billion by the end of 2029.

Economic volatility, business uncertainty, and increasing costs have all induced companies to explore outsourcing their front- and back-office functions. In addition, expanding end-markets such as finance, healthcare, and retail are expected to continue to drive market growth.

Trends Driving Dealmaking Involving BPOs and Contact Centers

The contact center BPO sector has long been characterized by aggressive M&A (merger and acquisition) activity. Many of the names of companies from 10 years ago, including SYKES, Convergys, SITEL, APAC and West, have long since disappeared. And there is every indication that this pattern will continue.

Here are several trends that are expected to drive sector M&A in 2024.

1. Equity capital availability. The ample supply of equity capital has continued to serve as a catalyst for M&A, with both strategic and financial buyers actively competing for high-quality assets.

2. Value creation. In today’s competitive landscape, acquisitions remain a primary lever in value creation with buyers looking to grow their geographic footprints, enhance technology, expand service offerings, and enter new industry verticals. These value drivers will continue to fuel dealmaking, with consolidation expected to continue across a fragmented landscape.

3. Expansion opportunity. The opportunity to expand into new industries, especially healthcare, retail, and finance, continues to play a significant role in driving deal activity. Rising wages and increased operating costs have helped steer employers towards BPO companies as a method of cost control.

In 2021, many companies ramped up hiring to meet increased demand as the economy recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as economic growth has slowed, workers are now being laid off, which has directly benefited BPOs that can supplement a diminished workforce and meet clients’ operational needs.

Increased end-market demand can be attributed to the specialized expertise needed from contact center agents.

For example, in the healthcare industry, agents are required to have a deep understanding of medical terminology and regulatory compliance.

Similarly, the hospitality industry requires agents who can deliver personalized and seamless guest experiences. Meanwhile retail and consumer-centric businesses require agents who are well-versed in product knowledge and customer engagement.

As a result, companies are increasingly outsourcing services to BPOs and contact centers with a proven track record and expertise in these industries.

A recent example of a strategic acquisition illustrating this trend is Continuum Global Solutions’ acquisition of Faneuil (September 2023), a BPO specializing in the public utilities, government, and healthcare services industries.

With the acquisition, Continuum added to its growing portfolio of industry verticals which includes healthcare, media and telecommunications, and the public sector.

4. Technology investment. In the current environment, it has become more important than ever for companies to invest in technology to stay relevant for their customers.

Cloud-based platforms, speech recognition, AI (artificial intelligence), and automation drive more personal and empathetic experiences. All while delivering higher quality service and improved experiences that are being demanded by customers.

Technology is not replacing the human element but rather enabling increased productivity and enhancing the CX (customer experience). Companies that embrace the tech-with-talent model elevate the agents’ role by automating simpler tasks and enabling the agent to focus on more complex customer interactions.

…BPO organizations are shifting away from only providing contact center services to offering…financial, accounting, and IT services, making them more attractive to buyers.

An example of this is TTEC’s acquisition of Avtex (March 2021) whereby TTEC augmented its capabilities in the areas of cloud services, mobile connectivity, CX, infrastructure, managed services, and business intelligence.

5. Complementary, expanded offerings. Acquirers have increasingly targeted businesses with expertise in specialized business process outsourcing to complement their core contact center offerings.

Furthermore, BPO organizations are shifting away from only providing contact center services to offering other back-office functions including financial, accounting, and IT services, making them more attractive to buyers.

This rationale for consolidation has created ever-larger industry participants offering an ever-broader range of services – and enabling clients to streamline back-office functions – through a single provider.

MAI’s acquisition of WASI (March 2023), a privately held contact center operator based in Nebraska, is an example of a company looking to add value with new services capabilities. With the acquisition, MAI now has more than 200 employees, including contact center agents in all 50 U.S. states and in Costa Rica.

6. Location(s). “Location, location, location” is a well-known phrase in real estate. But it also holds value in other industries, particularly in the BPO contact center sector given that geographic expansion enables companies to enter new markets. Which, in return, opens them up to new customer bases.

Categorized into three geographic concentrations – onshore, nearshore, and offshore – the BPO contact center landscape has experienced a recent resurgence in the demand for nearshore and offshore providers.

Rising labor costs and attrition of domestic agents have widened the cost differential between domestic and international solutions. This shifting landscape has led companies to look at new geographic options to optimize cost-efficiency and talent availability.

Concentrix, a leading provider of customer experience services and technologies, acquired Webhelp, a recognized leader in the market, in March 2023.

This transaction is an example of two larger industry participants combining to expand their overall geographic coverage. The merged company has established one of the most robust, well-balanced global footprints in the industry, enhancing Concentrix’s presence in Europe and Latin America, and establishing its African footprint, all at scale.

Webhelp’s network of contact centers adds over 25 new countries to the combined company, with a diversified revenue contribution and footprint across more than 70 countries. The new partnership brings a set of anticipated benefits including a diversified customer base, value-added digital capabilities, and additional support located throughout three continents.

Similarly, the rationale for Konecta’s merger with Comdata in April 2022 was to expand the geographic footprint of the two combined companies. Konecta had historically been strong in most of the world’s Spanish-speaking areas – the Iberian Peninsula, northern Africa and Latin America.

By contrast, Comdata was renowned for its coverage of mainland Europe, especially Italy and France. The combination of Konecta and Comdata created the sixth largest company in the BPO sector with close to 2 billion euros ($2.1 billion) in annual revenues.

Of more consequence, the merger created a company that can offer services in 30 different languages utilizing a global footprint that provides “best-shoring” to a customer base of more than 500 large corporates.

By 2029, China and India are expected to generate considerable revenue share and boost regional market growth. The report cited improved infrastructure, increasing government spending on BPO, BPO-centric education, and an emphasis on employees’ communication skills.

These two established geographies, along with newer markets such as South Africa and the Caribbean, are likely to be the focus of much acquisition interest in the coming years.

Valuations

Historical public company valuation multiples in the contact center services subsector have held relatively steady at elevated levels, driven by favorable industry tailwinds and a buoyant capital markets environment.

Increasing adoption of business process automation, AI, Internet of Things, cloud, and other emerging technologies will drive [global BPO] market growth…

However, multiples have come under pressure in recent quarters owing to major concerns by investors regarding the negative impact that AI will have on this people-centric industry vertical. The median EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) multiple was 6.8x in Q3 2023, representing a 10.3% decrease from Q2 2023.

Broadly, M&A valuation multiples in the contact center services subsector have also remained steady, which has predominantly been the result of strategic and financial acquirers engaging in competitive bidding processes for high-quality middle market assets.

Looking Ahead

The global BPO market is poised for continued growth. Increasing adoption of business process automation, AI, Internet of Things, cloud, and other emerging technologies will drive market growth as companies look to implement new workflows and capabilities that address the changing needs of customers.

Furthermore, demand from rapidly expanding industry verticals will remain a key driver of market expansion.

We expect M&A to continue to shape a shifting landscape of BPOs and contact centers across a variety of market sizes. The emergence of large-scale transactions will pressure larger industry participants to make their own strategic acquisitions.

Similarly, when one company merges with another, there will inevitably be a change in workflow at the executive level leaving skilled management looking for new opportunities. This outcome will enable mid-level competitors to bring in talent with significant subject-matter expertise to pursue aggressive acquisitive growth strategies.

When sales teams get chatting about productivity, it’s usually all about how much time agents spend on money making tasks.

Whether an agent is in a customer success or a sales role, fostering meaningful customer engagements is where true and tangible productivity lies.

When agents can have relevant conversations (or a good chinwag), answer questions thoroughly and succinctly, and explain the value of the company’s products, that’s when customers start to trust the business. And when trust is built, sales agents are in a better spot to seal the deal.

So, improving the customer experience is becoming a big deal. According to McKinsey & Company, it’s the fastest growing priority area for customer service leaders.

To improve customer experience or CX, companies are becoming more focused on reducing contact volumes, leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), and emphasizing revenue generation. By building trust, and focusing on stuff that really matters, sales teams can build a customer base that’s worth its weight in gold.

The perks of top-notch customer service are clear as day, but it’s important to have a solid plan for delivering the goods in every chat. This is especially true in an age where sales teams are struggling to connect with new customers in an online-first world.

…fostering meaningful customer engagements is where true and tangible productivity lies.

To remain competitive, businesses need to have a combination of the right tools, technology, and approaches to keep the money rolling in.

Here are a few tricks to close the productivity gaps in the sales process, so agents can focus their efforts on the next best action.

1. Ditch the Tedious Stuff.

Getting rid of the dull admin work is a golden opportunity for automation. For example, when companies can free agents from drafting, organizing, and sending meeting notes, those agents can allocate more time to working directly with current and prospective customers.

Using AI for transcribing and summarizing meeting notes is well underway. As soon as a meeting ends, Generative AI apps can immediately share the notes, as well as a list of key actions. In addition, an AI system will adapt to a business’s standard style and processes, making it more valuable and personalized over time.

Some AI assistants can even work out the odds of sealing a deal and offer recommendations for what to do next. When this information is available, sales agents are more likely to hit the bullseye.

…AI can take over the earliest steps in the sales process by initiating conversations that feel genuine.

Cutting down on admin work is the ticket to a healthy sales funnel: and clearing out the drudgery should be a top priority. When lower-level tasks are being handled by AI, sales agents are not only empowered to foster deeper engagements with their strongest leads, but they’re also better positioned to meet their KPIs.

Because most agents are evaluated on how many deals they close, it makes the most strategic sense to offload the dull tasks to AI as fast as possible.

2. Streamline Customer Outreach.

Another major area for AI to have an impact is in the ability to qualify and form relationships with leads.

Today, AI can take over the earliest steps in the sales process by initiating conversations that feel genuine. It does this by scanning the internet to learn more about future customers based on individual profiles: and using those findings to send personalized messages to guide those leads further down the funnel.

For example, if a company was trying to reach potential buyers at a consumer goods company, it can generate a personal email that says, “I love product X and your company does a great job in the Y field.” And in a way that can come across as authentic.

By letting AI handle the initial customer connections, agents can devote more time to work that’s profitable. Fortunately for businesses, AI technology has finally reached the point where this level of custom communication can be done quickly, easily, and more reliably than ever.

3. Let the Bots Handle the Basics.

AI can make ancillary tasks like data entry, research, and prioritizing opportunities faster to accomplish. For example, a chatbot trained on prior customer requests can often answer simple customer questions.

When AI can actually handle more customer issues, then human agents can spend a lot more time offering in-depth, personalized assistance, instead of just solving immediate problems.

Today, chatbots can provide relevant product information, answer commonly asked questions, and guide customers through the first stages of the purchasing process.

While chatbots can provide extra help for service agents, the customers also benefit directly.

Because chatbots are available 24/7, AI can respond immediately, and offer support in several languages and customers can access the information at any time of the day.

When a prospect is able to receive the correct information quickly, they’re more likely to have a favorable opinion of the business, which leads to more sales.

Last but not least, by letting the bots take care of the routine stuff, businesses can cut costs, which might lead to better prices or a fuller range of products.

4. Improve Lead Qualification and Process Testing.

For managers, one of the biggest goals is making sure sales teams have enough relevant information to close deals. One way this can be done is by providing targeted training for each lead qualification step.

No matter which qualification process a company uses, tailored training can help agents understand what they need to do. When agents know the next best thing to do within the chain of events, they become more empowered to move leads down the funnel with less oversight.

Another way managers can get the info they need is with AI-powered sales software. They provide sales professionals with predictions on a deal’s win probability and recommendations for the next best actions: ultimately increasing the odds of winning deals.

Right now, AI is learning to assess when a critical part of a sales process is going south. For example, if the application is showing high abandonment after the decision-making process, the manager can step in and help their agents refine their approach.

Similar to targeted training, this application and action also results in a team of agents who are more capable of executing deals with less managerial intervention. When the correct information is in front of them, they become more likely to succeed.

5. Keep the Sales and Support Teams Fired Up.

Finally, businesses can benefit from keeping an eye on what gets each agent buzzing. For instance, recognition has been repeatedly shown to maintain employee engagement and promote job fulfillment. When the team is happy, businesses enjoy less turnover, higher satisfaction levels, and most importantly, more productivity.

In the current technology age, businesses can measure the ROI of recognition through HR software solutions. With this technology in place, managers can ensure that agents receive the motivators that are most closely linked to their success.

Although recognition tends to be a great motivator, it’s still important to remember that not all agents are equally driven by praise. Other common motivators include greater autonomy, collaboration opportunities, bonuses, and time off.

By leveraging software to track which motivators have the greatest impact on each agent, managers can better inspire their teams to perform above and beyond expectations.

It’s also important to implement standard, reliable practices for contributing to a positive company culture. When a company’s culture is strong, revenue tends to be as well.

Here are some key indicators of a healthy culture. They include setting agreed-upon goals that are achievable and well defined, providing regular and ongoing feedback, encouraging collaboration amongst teams, and creating opportunities for career advancement.

With a good roadmap of the strengths and gaps in the sales process, businesses can use their resources better, improve sales training, and fix any problems that are slowing things down. When these five areas are streamlined, from automation to rewards, agents can put more hours into work that makes a real difference to the bottom line.

Call centers know that a stellar customer experience (CX), whether it’s servicing customer issues or calling a potential buyer, is critical for generating positive outcomes.

But too often, call centers take a narrow view of CX, neglecting how employee experience (EX) – and other factors – are interwoven. Call center leaders need to broaden this view to differentiate themselves: and start investing in a more comprehensive approach, centered on total experience (TX).

Total experience is a business strategy that aims to create more integrated, holistic experiences for all stakeholders that engage with a brand. Organizations that embrace TX see how the experiences of their customers, employees, and other end-users influence each other.

By prioritizing TX, call center leaders can better support their agents and provide more seamless customer interactions.

The Three Pillars of TX

There are three main pillars of total experience, according to Gartner. Let’s take a closer look at each of them and how they relate to call center operations.

1. CX. CX encompasses a customer’s entire journey with a brand, from the moment they become aware of the company all the way to point of purchase: and everything in between.

In many cases, a customer’s call center experience is the first actual conversation they’ve had with a representative of that brand. As such, the quality of this interaction carries tremendous weight.

Too often though, many consumers have a negative call center-related story to tell, and these poor experiences can be difficult to recover from. 76% of consumers say that a bad customer service experience negatively impacts their perception of a brand.

2. EX. EX describes the overall perception employees have of their company, informed by what their day-to-day typically looks like.

Support looks different for employees depending on the type of call center they work for.

A call center that focuses on sales must train its employees on handling customer objections and closing deals. While a call center that focuses on servicing requests must train its employees on increasing their product knowledge and empathy for customer concerns.

But EX in call centers can be turbulent. Call center turnover is notoriously high, and employees often lack the support they need to adjust to their role.

Regardless of the type of call center, the more supported employees feel, the more likely they are to go the extra mile to provide excellent customer service.

3. Multi experience (MX). MX is a strategy for providing customers with seamless experiences across channels.

This is one of the most underappreciated factors for call center leaders to consider. The call center is only one channel that customers use for service requests. Online chatbots and social media pages are increasingly the go-to options for customers, especially among younger generations.

As the number of channels for receiving customer service increases, so does the importance of integration between these channels.

If a customer initiates communication with a brand via web chat – and is then directed to call a customer service line where the representative has no insight into the problem – it’s a frustrating experience.

No one enjoys having to repeat themselves. Which is why call center employees must have visibility into the steps a customer has taken before hopping on the line with them.

Why Care About TX?

Enterprises that provide TX are projected to outperform competitors by 25% in satisfaction metrics for both employees and customers. CX-related metrics like post-call surveys and call length play a major role in how call centers earn new business: which should make TX a priority in your call center.

However, the nature of TX makes it difficult for many call center leaders to put it into practice. TX is predicated on interconnectedness. While this makes it a valuable approach for businesses, it also means that a failure of any one of the three pillars can lead to a breakdown of the other two.

For example, if a customer has been transferred multiple times due to poorly integrated MX, they enter their interaction with a call center rep frustrated and impatient. This short fuse increases the likelihood of a poor interaction, which comes at the expense of EX. It’s a domino effect that’s difficult to stop once it gets rolling.

High turnover rates also make it difficult for call center leaders to maintain continuity. Many managers already lack the bandwidth to provide sufficient training and support for each employee. And when employees are constantly cycling in and out, it makes TX more abstract than actionable.

Even so, TX is still the most accurate, holistic way for call center leaders to run their operation. And it’s worth navigating challenges to achieve it. Call center employees are the face of the organization for many consumers. And organizations cannot risk losing business by failing to consider all the factors that affect their success.

Clear the Path Toward TX

Investing in and building TX is an ambitious undertaking, but it becomes more manageable when you have the right technology in place.

One tool that can lighten the load on employees and managers is conversation intelligence. Conversation intelligence software records and analyzes both servicing and sales calls to identify patterns, then uses this acquired knowledge to provide real-time coaching for call center agents.

This software hits on multiple aspects of TX. It enhances EX by providing support in the moment instead of just after the call is over. Unexpected customer situations are inevitable, but having a helping hand to guide agents through these situations can keep call times down, thereby improving productivity and customer satisfaction.

Call center leaders don’t have time to parse through every call a rep makes to identify areas for improvement. But with the right software in place, you can gain access to call scores that provide a top-level view of what employees struggled with that week. These insights make the process of perfecting TX less abstract and more immediate.

Regardless of what technology you choose to implement, it’s important to ground your decision-making in a specific problem or objective.

Many call center leaders fall into the trap of dictating team culture without actually consulting their employees. You can guide EX, but it starts with the lived experiences of your agents. When considering potential technology solutions, consider the challenges your agents are experiencing and work backward from there.

TX is an Ambitious Goal but Worth It

If your call center is interested in improving EX or CX, you need to consider all the factors at play. Employee and customer satisfaction are intrinsically linked and influenced by external factors such as user and MX.

Taking a holistic approach through TX is undoubtedly a more complex endeavor than focusing solely on CX. However, it pays dividends. TX unlocks your call center’s full potential by helping foster customer loyalty, attract new customers, and generate repeat revenues. And by leveraging the right technology, you can give your employees the support they need to put a TX-centered approach into practice.

In today’s highly competitive and disruptive business environment, being agile is critical for success.

Just ask Robin Gomez, who is Director of Customer Care Innovation for Radial. The company provides B2C retail eCommerce fulfillment solutions to global North American market-focused brands across several verticals such as health and beauty, apparel, footwear, and home goods.

“Radial is an entrepreneurial and agile organization centered on our clients with a proven track record delivering strong peak management, successful launches, and quick expansion to new geographies,” says Robin. “As part of bpostgroup, our company has the strength and stability to invest alongside customers, an established network in the last-mile delivery community, and a commitment to sustainable solutions.”

Radial’s need for agility and service extends to its customer care through its nearly 100% remote workforce (see At A Glance).

“Having a remote team of agents enables flexibility in recruitment, disaster recovery, diversity, and the ability to quickly shift to meet business demands and new opportunities,” says Robin.

But being agile means never once resting on one’s laurels, lest they be swiped away. We had a virtual conversation recently with Robin on what other steps Radial has taken recently to keep its customer care nimble and responsive.

Q. Set the stage. Outline the challenges, but also the opportunities facing Radial. When did you come to the realization that you needed to take action?

In fall 2021 we were facing a decision on a go-forward strategy for our on-premise telephony and WFM [workforce management] solutions. They were aging, outdated, and for WFM, facing end of support.

We had to determine if we wanted to upgrade, and if so, did we want to remain on-premise or make the move to the cloud?

Q. Why go to the cloud?

We made the decision to move to the cloud for telephony and WFM as part of our overall strategic plans and to better align with the business needs. Most of our tech stack had already been migrated to the cloud, and the business dynamics of our support structure were continuing to change into a more remote first agent model.

Flexibility, scalability, and the seasonality of our business are the key reasons why the cloud works for us.

The cloud also enables us to be more agile (no more software upgrades) and fiscally responsible because there is overpaying for [software] licenses, and it can scale and [we] pay for only what is needed as demand fluctuates. This is better for the business, and for our customers as well, as we can pass along these cost benefits to its clients.

Q. What were your goals?

To make a transition to the cloud on the current version of Verint, take advantage of remaining current with ongoing release updates, make the migration timely, and within budget and meeting the needs of the business.

Q. Why Verint for WFM? Did you also upgrade Verint at the same time and if so, why?

We had moved to Verint for WFM in 2017: four years prior to making the decision to go to the cloud. We made a change to Verint due to its WFM, notably its schedule adherence management capabilities. Also, for its ability to support complex labor groups in our business that had consistently challenged us with planning in a shared agent pool with varying channels and SLAs (service level agreements).

“We made the decision to move to the cloud for telephony and WFM as part of our overall strategic plans and to better align with the business needs.” —Robin Gomez

With the move to the cloud, we would automatically get the latest version of Verint and be enabled to leverage the latest features and updates. We could push out the new Verint agent mobile app, implement a formal schedule adherence program, utilize the enhanced shift bidding process, and improve the overall workflows for the WFM team.

Q. Outline the implementations, both the platform to the cloud and lifting Verint to it. How long did it take?

We began it in late Q1 2022 and completed it in late Q3 2022 for Verint cloud WFM. We were also simultaneously migrating our telephony system from the on-premise solution to Amazon Connect.

We had to work on both projects in parallel to ensure an effective implementation that agents and our leadership teams could adopt: without causing significant disruption to the business as we were heading into our critical peak holiday season in Q4 2022.

Alongside the WFM we also use a cloud-based virtual agent workspace environment to deliver the agent desktop. While there was not a lot of integration entailed into the WFM, we did need to configure, test, and deploy the new URLs from that application into our virtual workspace.

We have strong partners to help us ensure local compliance along with a tight relationship with our training team and day-to-day operations. We operate 24/7 and use our agents as needed to support our various brands.

Q. What, if any, obstacles were encountered and how were they overcome?

There were challenges with some of the technical components and the “newness” of the Amazon Connect integration with Verint.

The teams worked together and with AWS (Amazon Web Services) to help resolve issues as they arose. Typical implementation bugs and defects were identified and corrected. We worked through some scoping issues on the project and reporting was a challenge. But through a lot of work we were able to resolve the issues and get the critical information to the WFM team and, in turn, our Operations team.

It was challenging implementing two new cloud based tools simultaneously. But the diligent work and efforts by all parties enabled us to complete the work and be in a position to service our agents and clients effectively through peak holiday season. Since that time, we have continued to refine and improve the integration, configuration, and usage of the platform.

Q. What impact did the COVID-19 pandemic have on your company, and on your cloud project?

The pandemic had significant impacts on our clients and in turn, on our business. We experienced significant demand on the customer care contacts and our clients were navigating supply chain challenges.

We worked with our clients to enable them to deliver for their customers in new ways, i.e., buy online with curbside pickup, and implement more self-service customer care options.

The dramatic increase in volume helped solidify the need to explore more flexible options in our technology solutions and helped accelerate decisions to move systems to the cloud. The ongoing shift in labor to a remote model further reinforced the benefits that cloud solutions could provide.

Q. What were the results and how did they align with the goals?

We were able to achieve a project implementation within the critical window. Although it was elongated, we did not run over budget nor did we have to cease the project and default to the legacy on-premise solutions we had in place for peak season 2022.

“Assess your technology in relation to your strategic imperatives. Technology is not a solution in and of itself, but an enabler of success.”

We have been able to use the enhanced features and are positioned to take advantage of the latest Verint products and services should we choose to do so.

Q. What are the next steps?

We will continue to refine the workflows, build out agent scorecards, evolve the omnichannel planning, and assess any future artificial intelligence (AI)-based capabilities that Verint brings to the table.

We’re now gearing up to deploy Generative AI chatbots in the very near future. And we are looking at ways to leverage GenAI to support agents and the broader business, with the goal being to make knowledge more accessible.

All of our core tools are now hosted in the cloud, and we have the flexibility we need to more efficiently operate our customer care business.

Q. What would be your recommendations to other organizations?

• Assess your technology in relation to your strategic imperatives. Technology is not a solution in and of itself, but an enabler of success.
• Partner closely with your technical resources and experts when assessing new technologies or upgrades.
• Work with your business leadership to ensure you are addressing the needs of the agents, customers, and clients. A holistic approach to evolving and maintaining your technical capabilities is critical to helping drive successful outcomes.
• Invest in the future through proper planning in the now. Assess and experiment with new tech, i.e., Generative AI, to see how this can continue to elevate and empower your workforce.