Embedding AI into the workflows of your customer service team isn’t about replacing human agents or automating the crucial relationship-building work that these employees do. Instead, agent-assist software augments and supplements the strengths of your contact center team.
Studies show up to a third of agents believe they don’t have the tools to perform effectively in the contact center. Plus, more than 69% of high-performing agents actively search for more AI-powered tools in their day-to-day work.
With intelligent agent assist software, companies can elevate customer and employee experiences, reduce costs, and increase revenue. The question is, how do you choose the right agent to assist with solutions for your needs?
Here’s your step-by-step guide.
Step 1: Examine Your Current Contact Center Technology
The first step in choosing the right agent-assist software is examining your current technology stack. First, look at the channels you use to interact with customers. Excellent agent assist tools should be able to support your employees regardless of where they’re interacting with consumers.
They should be able to process information shared in multiple formats, from videos and images to text and speech. If you’re running an omnichannel contact center, make sure your agent assistant tools can continue to coach and support team members as they move from one channel to the next.
Secondly, it’s important to ensure that your software can integrate with the right technologies outside of your central contact center tools. The best agent-assist solutions should be able to draw data from customer relationship management tools and help desks.
They should integrate with your workforce management and training tools to ensure you can coach agents effectively. They may also need to integrate with quality assurance solutions.
Step 2: Identify Essential Agent Assist Software Features
Once you’ve examined your contact center technology stack, the next step is thinking about the features that will have the biggest positive impact on your team. All agent-assist software should be able to provide step-by-step guidance to team members and surface information from different environments to streamline customer interactions.
However, some advanced tools can also use generative and conversational AI to rapidly create personalized responses for agents to give during a conversation. Some solutions feature dynamic scripting tools, which can help shape the flow of a discussion based on contextual insights.
Some agent assist tools come with real-time quality assurance and monitoring capabilities built-in, allowing them to create scorecards for team members, track adherence to compliance standards, and notify supervisors or managers when issues arise.
There are even tools that can analyze customer and agent sentiment in real time. Consider what you want to accomplish with your agent assist tools, such as boosting efficiency, hyper-personalizing customer experiences, or streamlining training.
Step 3: Prioritize Customization Options
Customization is crucial when embedding artificial intelligence into the contact center. When choosing your agent-assist software, it’s important to ensure that you can adapt the technology to meet your specific needs. For instance, you should be able to create automated workflows (preferably with a low-code or no-code solution) that help guide agents through different conversations.
When comparing your AI-powered options, consider whether you can feed your brand guidelines and other best-practice documents into the system. Also, consider how you can adjust the guidance offered to your agents to ensure you remain compliant with industry regulations and deliver exceptional customer experiences.
