Contact center automation isn’t just a trend in the CX landscape; it’s quickly emerging as a vital part of the technology stack. As customer journeys become more complex and expectations evolve, automation offers businesses an effective tool to improve and accelerate interactions.
According to Gartner, 72% of customers expect excellent service from the companies they interact with, but only 49% feel their experiences are up to scratch. Contact center automation can help businesses live up to expectations.
It helps organizations lower costs, optimize resources, and satisfy more customers. Moreover, with advances in machine learning, robotic process automation, and other digital technologies, contact center automation solutions are becoming ever more sophisticated.
Here’s everything business leaders need to know about the power of contact center automation.
What Is Contact Center Automation? An Introduction
Contact center automation uses innovative technology to automate tasks commonly performed by human agents. It builds on the broader digital process automation market, set to reach a value of $42.7 billion by 2031.
While automation has become more commonplace in virtually every part of the business landscape, it’s highly beneficial in the contact center. Customer service teams and experts are using automation not just as a tool to improve efficiency but also to enhance customer experience.
Contact center automation tools can even empower companies to offer customers a different level of service. For instance, chatbots can interact with customers and complete tasks on behalf of humans.
However, self-service tools aren’t the only solution companies can leverage with contact center automation. Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) is changing how customers interact with IVR systems. Workflow automation tools are improving employee productivity and efficiency.
Automated systems are even influencing how companies manage contacts. Today’s CCaaS platforms and contact center tools can help organizations rapidly route customers to the right agent based on their intent, needs, and agent skill sets.
The Types of Contact Center Automation
Contact center automation can improve and simplify many parts of your contact center. It offers organizations an effective way to address everything from call scheduling to workforce management. Here are some top examples of contact center automation tools and solutions.
Call Scheduling Automation
With automated scheduling tools, companies can schedule calls based on specific, pre-defined criteria and improve the customer experience. For instance, based on CRM data and other information, contact centers could choose to schedule a call with a customer when they need to renew their contract or when they might need an upgrade.
Companies running sales-focused contact centers can even use automation to schedule calls, then leverage automatic dialers to reach out to customers instantly. Some auto-dialers, such as progressive and predictive dialers, can even anticipate the likelihood of an actual human answering the phone, reducing the risk of unanswered calls.
Customer Interaction Automation
Perhaps the most common example of contact center automation, customer interaction automation, gives companies ways to connect with their audience and deliver self-service. Chatbots and virtual assistants can automatically respond to customer queries with guidance and support.
Intelligent Voice Assistants and enhanced IVR solutions can automate defining a customer’s problem and routing them to the correct agent. Some innovative AI-powered solutions can even automate completing specific customer tasks, like checking a bank balance or renewing a subscription.
More basic contact center automation tools can also help manage call queuing, ensuring customers are placed in the correct queue to access the needed help.
Sales and Marketing Automation
Contact centers aren’t just responsible for serving customers with issues or problems. Contact center reps can also encourage sales, market products to customers, and more. Sales and marketing automation solutions can speed up the sales cycle and increase conversion rates.
Automation tools integrated with a CRM system can also personalize sales and marketing content to each customer's specific needs. They can help companies segment their audience into different groups and deliver messages at the right time in the marketing journey.
Forecasting Automation
A common feature of many workforce optimization and management tools, forecasting automation, assists companies with scheduling and running their teams. The right forecasting tools can anticipate the inbound contact volume of a company across multiple channels. It can then suggest shift schedules for agents based on these predictions.
Many CCaaS platforms now include omnichannel forecasting tools that monitor KPIs, multichannel activity, and call center insights to deliver helpful guidance. Machine learning tools can even factor in agent availability to optimize staffing.
Workflow Operations Automation
Designed to reduce some of the repetitive tasks in the schedules of crucial contact center employees, workflow automation tools are growing increasingly popular. Automated solutions can use artificial intelligence to handle all kinds of routine tasks.
They can assign agents to queues and channels based on specific needs, track agent adherence to compliance rules, and even collect and store data for teams. Many CCaaS platforms now feature automation solutions for SLA compliance, alerts and notifications, and proactive outreach.
Messaging Automation
As mentioned above, automation tools are excellent for sending marketing and sales messages to customers at the best possible time in their buyer journey. However, contact center automation tools can also enhance other types of messaging, such as cross-company notifications.
With the right technology, often built into collaboration apps and CCaaS platforms, companies can keep their team members updated with relevant alerts, reports, and insights.
The Benefits of Contact Center Automation
Automation allows companies to reduce costs, improve productivity, and save time in the contact center. Whether a contact center is responsible for serving customers, providing tech support, or setting appointments, automation can help.