Workforce optimisation (WFO) is no longer a nice-to-have for large businesses but should instead be an essential part of a strategy for successful customer support.
Here, Michael Collier, Head of Software Development at Connex One, explains how these five WFO essentials can benefit contact centre in 2022.
Embrace Artificial Intelligence
AI is already having a huge impact on business contact centres, helping streamline processes, increase efficiencies and support creating happier, more productive workforces.
In 2022, AI-enabled intelligent call routing is supporting customer experience teams of all shapes and sizes. Automatically directing incoming callers to the correct teams that have the skill set to resolve issues and support customers appropriately is a no-brainer.
To do this, there needs to be a holistic understanding of a team’s abilities - such as whether they excel on phone calls compared to live chat interactions or have expert knowledge in one area over another. Instead of random queue-based routing, AI can facilitate the best match.
Real-time speech-to-text transcription models can also support in identifying team capabilities and should be considered by any call centre lead. For example, live AI-automated scoring, based on set parameters such as whether agents have greeted a caller appropriately, or their ability to answer queries, can help pinpoint areas for improvement for individual agents or a whole team.
AI-powered sentiment analysis can also provide a clear picture of a team’s performance and customer satisfaction level, and as a whole, after-call admin work can be dramatically reduced.
Commit to continuous training
Transcription data helps identify team improvement opportunities or where an individual agent might need additional support.
Generated word clouds can highlight recurring customer complaints and - therefore - flag where training could be beneficial. In addition, live on-call coaching can help contact centre leads guide agents in understanding the best way to manage any given customer scenario.
However, to achieve this, businesses need to commit to continuous improvement. By encouraging employees to improve their skillsets and giving them the resources and training to do so, they can support teams and facilitate a happier work environment where every person feels valued.
Raise the stakes with gamification
Gamification – adding game mechanics into commercial environments – is projected to reach a USD 30.7 billion market size by 2025 (MarketsandMarkets report, 2021), so it’s no surprise that it’s making waves in the CX industry and will continue to do so for sales and customer experience teams.
Incorporating customisable gamification processes helps assess, motivate and reward employees in simple yet effective ways. Incremental reward psychology can encourage people to do their very best in the workplace, and tangible benefits help staff feel that their contributions are worthwhile.
For businesses with budget available next year, incorporating shop functionality into gamification models - where accumulated points can be spent outside of the business -is a good choice. Alternatively, giving the team the option to ‘buy’ a duvet day, late start or lunch on the business can also help motivate and boost both morale and productivity.
