" LET’ S BE REAL ABOUT AI AND HUMAN INTEGRATION... IT IS VERY EXPENSIVE TO IMPLE- MENT; I DO NOT FORESEE THIS HAPPENING IN CENTERS BELOW 250 AGENT-SEATS."
• What will you do when our computer systems shut down and you are speaking with a customer on the phone?
IS AI CHANGING COACHING AND TRAINING, AND IF SO, HOW? FOR EXAMPLE, THERE HAS BEEN MUCH TALK ABOUT INTEGRATING / HAVING AI AGENTS WORK WITH HUMAN AGENTS.
A: Let’ s be real about AI and human integration. By this I mean that the two will be interacting live on the same interaction. It is VERY expensive to implement; I do not foresee this happening in centers below 250 agent-seats.
CTI screen pops available in current CCaaS integration software has been around for years to help assist agents on a call and it works quite well.
" LET’ S BE REAL ABOUT AI AND HUMAN INTEGRATION... IT IS VERY EXPENSIVE TO IMPLE- MENT; I DO NOT FORESEE THIS HAPPENING IN CENTERS BELOW 250 AGENT-SEATS."
HAVE THERE BEEN ANY CHANGES IN THE SKILLS SOUGHT FROM COACHES, TRAINERS, AND SUPER- VISORS? IN WHAT THEY ARE TASKED WITH? HOW THEY ARE SELECTED, TRAINED, AND MANAGED?
A: I have not witnessed any skill changes required for these jobs and hope we never will.
Keep in mind HR must continue to look for management staff who can answer these behavioral competency questions without any hesitation:
• What does customer satisfaction mean to you?
• How would you improve customer satisfaction?
• What are the key attributes of a contact center agent?
• How do you handle work pressure?
• What is the key to a successful contact center?
I am most proud of advocating for and seeing the following positive changes in many contact centers:
1. Operational measurement that should be based on forecast accuracy, schedule fit, service level, quality, performance criteria, employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and strategic value( efficiency, profitability) to your organization.
Consider these contact center measurements:
• Service level percentage( x % in Y seconds, average speed of answer, abandon rates)
• First contact resolution( FCR), skill levels
• Average handle time( AHT), after-call work( ACW)
• Cost per call, conversion rates
• Employee satisfaction
• Customer satisfaction, e. g., interaction analysis, surveys, focus groups
2. Contact center software technology that should combine the best of human interaction and AI to be sure it is distributing accurate information to your staff on time, at the same time, and in the same format.
3. Providing time-off from interaction work for:
• Special projects
• Career enrichment training
• Outside seminar attendance
• In-house seminars by outside professionals 4. Using the“ task force” approach for:
• Selecting“ complaining agents” to solve an issue.
• Creating a general task force in charge of creating ways to make their jobs less stressful or ways they could be empowered to solve customer complaints.
WHAT ARE YOUR BEST PRACTICES RECOMMEN- DATIONS FOR CONTACT CENTERS?
A: Having 40 years of experience in the industry it is a bit daunting to reply to this question. Between articles, TV appearances, and audits on scores of clients there are so many recommendations that have become industry standards and best practices.
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