Is screen switching hurting your contact center agent experience? | #customersupport #supporticket

Highlights:

• Screen switching can hurt your contact center agent and customer experience.
• Agents often lack the correct tools for their jobs, and customers often don’t get the answers they need on the first call attempt.
• RingCentral’s all-in-one cloud-based communications solution consolidates agent screens and tools to simplify their job and make them more productive and satisfied.

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Are your contact center agents constantly screen-switching? If so, this is likely a point of contention for them, which can trickle down to customers and affect their experience.

In contrast, when contact center agents have the right tools at their disposal, agent and customer experiences improve. In turn, productivity and satisfaction soar.

Here’s why contact centers should find ways to consolidate agent effort without the need to switch back and forth from one application to another.

The state of the industry

These statistics highlight the significant challenges contact center agents face today:

Contact center agents use too many screens

Contact centers that use outdated platforms force their agents to use too many screens and apps. From taking basic calls, to cross-selling promotions, and everything in between, oftentimes agents may feel as though they need to tap into different sources to get the information they need to successfully resolve issues and answer queries.

When agents have to switch among multiple apps on one call to get the information they need, calls can take longer than necessary, and customer personalization becomes more difficult. In turn, agents are left burnt out. Agents can easily become disengaged at work when they feel like they’re being pulled in too many directions.

When agents aren’t happy at work, turnover rates can spike. On average, contact centers replace between 30-45% of their agents every year, leaving management spending time, effort, and money continuously recruiting and training new hires.

Instead, contact centers should be spending their resources to improve agent retention and keep agent turnover rates low. This improves agent satisfaction and keeps customers happy, too. When agents are scrambling to get the answers customers are looking for, callers are left less than satisfied.

Agents’ perceived lack of product knowledge can frustrate customers looking for support. Approximately 60% of customers who don’t get the level of customer service they expect are more likely to stop doing business with a company, according to a Microsoft customer service survey.

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Implementing innovative solutions is key

To ensure agents are performing at their best and keep customers satisfied with the support they get when they reach out to a contact center, modern cloud-based contact center solutions should be seriously considered. Companies should implement simpler, more streamlined platforms that make it easier for customers to reach a support representative and simplify the job of the agent.

This is especially important during periods of call volume spikes. When calls increase, faster routing and communication channel management is vital.

Consolidating screens and apps into an all-in-one solution can better equip agents to provide optimal service to callers. All this is possible with the implementation of a cutting-edge, digital cloud-based solution that RingCentral offers.

Here are a few actionable steps contact centers can take right now to improve contact center agent experience, particularly when it comes to improving technology in the workplace.

Go digital

To free up agents from redundant tasks and ultimately minimize customer effort, contact centers should go digital first. AI tools like chatbots can answer simple questions and resolve basic issues before a customer is routed to the appropriate agent for more help.

Implement one desktop

Siloed teams lack collaboration among all employees in a contact center. This disconnect can be frustrating for workers and ultimately inhibit customer centricity. It can also make training workers in multiple systems much more cumbersome. Instead, all agents should be connected — no matter where they’re working from — through the use of one digital, cloud-based, omnichannel platform.

Leverage automation

Break the cycle of boredom that typically stems from basic, repetitive tasks by utilizing automation.

Let’s take a look at one particular case study in which RingCentral’s solutions helped revamp and vastly improve communications.

Case study: Texas Christian University uses RingCentral to improve staff mobility and student communications

After depending on decades-old telephony infrastructure that hindered processes and workflows, the leadership team behind Texas Christian University finally decided to make some significant upgrades and implement a more modern cloud-based platform from RingCentral.

Migrating staff to a more sophisticated solution allowed workers to field calls from any device and from wherever they happened to be working. The added flexibility and mobility that RingCentral’s cloud-based solution proved to be indispensable, particularly during the recent health crisis when businesses were forced to remain in lockdown for extended periods of time.

Even those who worked remotely were easily able to communicate and collaborate from home, much like they would have had they been working on campus. Staff could make calls on their mobile devices and tap into the system remotely.

TCU also made good use of RingCentral’s integrated SMS capability. Staff and faculty can now seamlessly communicate with students through text without the need to hand out personal cell numbers. Since the SMS function is built into the mobile app, staff can use their work numbers to communicate effectively, thereby enhancing both staff and student experience.

Modernize your contact center with RingCentral solutions

Eliminate screen switching with an all-in-one, cloud-based solution from RingCentral. Connect SMS, video, phone, and email, simplifying the job of your agents and ultimately promoting impeccable customer service.

Speak with a customer service representative today to request your free demo and see how to improve your agent experience with the right tools.

Originally published Apr 26, 2022