Automation is everywhere in the modern business landscape. Enabling companies to accomplish more, with smaller investments of time and money, automation can give brands a significant edge in any marketplace. The technology is particularly valuable in the CX environment.
As customer expectations continue to rise, automation could be the key to ensuring companies can deliver service and support with the speed and efficiency their clients demand. Around 57% of business professionals in enterprises are planning on building automations specifically to improve customer experience in the next two years.
While it’s difficult to say for sure what automation might do for the CX landscape as we know it in the years ahead, there are some trends that seem to be influencing the industry.
1. Hybrid Work
Hybrid work and remote employees have prompted a significant increase in the number of companies investing in disruptive tools like automation, automated workflows, and AI applications. Automation isn’t just a way to make employees more productive when they’re trying to work from a range of different environments; it can also be an incredibly important tool for helping business leaders to manage hybrid teams.
With automated systems built into CCaaS technology and service desk tools, managers can automatically track things like agent productivity and engagement scores. HR professionals can keep a closer eye on things like shift changes and swaps between employees, ensuring the correct number of staff are available in a CX environment at any given moment.
Automated solutions can also provide extra support for employees in a hybrid environment who won’t always have access to things like IT teams to help with technology issues. An AI bot can automatically troubleshoot a problem and help keep staff members on track wherever they are.
2. Agent Experience
The focus on agent experience as a precursor to good customer experience in the digital landscape has significantly increased in recent years. Business leaders know they need to provide their employees with the right support and tools if they’re going to thrive in the modern landscape. This is particularly true now that agents are dealing with omnichannel interactions from various platforms.
With automation, companies can take some of the extra pressure off their employees, helping them to focus more of their time on the things they do best and less on repetitive tasks. Automated workflows can handle administrative tasks, data input, and similar jobs, while your employees focus on tasks requiring their unique levels of creativity and empathy.
Virtually all employees in the customer experience landscape can benefit from automation. Some studies show that around 20% of a CEO’s working time could be automated with the right technologies.
3. Increasing Digital Channels
One of the most significant challenges companies face as they struggle to stay ahead of the curve with customer experience lately is ensuring they can connect with customers on all the right channels. Consumers are now interacting with companies through a host of new platforms, from social media applications and WhatsApp to SMS, email, video, and audio. Employees need a little extra help from automation to keep on top of these conversations.
Automated technologies in the CCaaS environment can help to give employees more control over the conversations they’re managing each day without asking them to jump between apps to keep track of context. With an omnichannel environment featuring intelligent routing, companies can assign specific tasks to the employees with the right skills or the availability required to answer a question.
Automated systems can combine conversations from multiple channels into one inbox, so companies can more easily offer their clients more of the channels they want to use. Not only does this make your company more competitive, but the right systems can improve the speed with which you solve consumer problems too.