First, there was The Great Resignation. Then, The Great Exhaustion. Don’t discount these as one-off trends. Instead, they are largely the results of a weary workforce.
Recognizing this, 92 percent of employers have made enhancing employee experiences an “important priority” for their organisations over the next three years.
What will this involve? For contact centres, dusting off the quality assurance (QA) playbook and bolstering performance management is perhaps the most pressing course of action.
When Auto-QA Wasn’t an Option
QA programmes positively influence agent behaviours, pinpoint customer experience issues, and ensure compliance when implemented well.
Yet, over the years, many contact centres let their programmes fall flat, and this immense opportunity became – in many cases – a box-ticking exercise.
To hit their targets, analysts had to score five or six contacts per agent every month. So, what did they do? They picked contacts with low handling times, disregarding the meatier issues, which make or break the customer experience.
As such, agents rarely received meaningful performance insights that inspired behaviour changes.
Moreover, they could not ignore one simple truth: the system is unfair. Analysts judged their performance on such a small sample; it could not possibly offer a true reflection of the work efforts.
As a result, these potluck performance reviews demotivated agents, supervisors overlooked their value, and many regarded the entire exercise as a drain on time.
Thankfully, automation tools are changing that narrative, pulling insights from every contact centre interaction and attaching metadata for deeper analysis.
Such a solution is powerful. Yet, remember, it is not a magic wand. Operations must build a better strategy around Auto-QA to extract full value.
Get Everyone Pulling In the Same Direction
Businesses that draw the most value from QA consider it a team sport.
Joined at the hip, their coaches and analysts develop shared performance standards, isolate and close performance gaps, and run post-training reinforcement.
Only with this shared philosophy can businesses create a connected learning strategy that draws the most value out of a modern QA system.
Such technology not only automates call listening but flags conversations, filters contacts, and spotlights performance trends. Each capability drives significant value when used as part of a connected strategy.
As Jaime Scott, Founder & CEO of EvaluAgent, adds:
“With everyone pulling in the same direction, the contact centre can become more methodical in how it identifies performance improvement opportunities, applies appropriate training, and follows-up to measure the impact.”
In developing such connected workflows and fully involving agents in the process, operations may ensure agents receive personalized performance insight, relevant coaching, and a clear-cut view of how their performance is improving.
With such an approach, the contact center lays the foundations for success. Yet, one problem persists: spotting the most significant agent improvement opportunities.
Here is where Auto-QA enters the fray.
Let’s Focus Our Efforts In the Best Places
QA automation tools – integrated into other contact centre systems - evaluate every customer conversation against particular criteria and attach metadata to it.