Recently in the news, we’ve heard about the challenges which local regional government have faced with budgets and spending. It’s becoming increasingly difficult for all organisations to deliver exceptional customer service and experience within the budgets which they hold for technology.
Contact Centres under more pressure
Contact Centres are under more pressure than ever to deliver on ever increasing customer expectations, business goals and financial targets. From our extensive experience of working closely with clients within the Public Sector together with our Microsoft Contact Centre partner Anywhere365, we have developed strong commercial and technical acumen which has seen our customers realise real world savings and improvements in their services.
Improving Contact Centre Agents’ time-usage and efficiency
Contact Centre Agents are an expensive and valued resource for organisations, you need to ensure that you are get best value from their time and expertise to resolve customer contact first time as much as possible. So how do we protect their time? Channel shifts are one method where customer dialogues are directed through different modes of communication, whether to a chat bot, direct to a knowledge base, or through web chat with an agent.
Agents can handle more than one voice call through channel shifting, by chatting with several customers in parallel. Having all modes of communication such as voice, chat, email etc. in one coherent interface within Microsoft Teams also drives efficiencies and allows for improved management and measurement.
Automation
Automation of customer contact can redirect communication to chat bots, or self-serve through databases, FAQ pages or weblinks to particular information. Providing this is designed well, with the customer in mind and ethics, this can have a significant impact on reducing Agent time on interactions, freeing them to deal with more complex customer requirements.
One-stop-shop Microsoft certified Contact Centre platform
Most organisations have a wealth of information which can benefit their clients, but Agents often have to sift data and use multiple platforms (CRMs, Knowledge Bases, Payment Platforms etc.) to be able to get hold of the particular details they need to help a customer. Integrating siloed platforms to a Microsoft certified Contact Centre such as Anywhere365 enables Agents to find information quickly without logging into multiple platforms, the data is surfaced within the Microsoft Teams application so they have it at hand.
Channel shift and deflection
A good example of the use of channel shift or deflection for local regional government, has been the reduction of voice calls to services such as Highways and Waste Services. Leveraging Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services we use intent recognition, transcription and text to speech services, monitoring speech for key phrases such as ‘pothole’, ‘recycling’, or ‘bin collection’ and then issue automated SMS messages (where calls are from mobiles) to direct customers to digital services whether portals or knowledge bases. Similarly where emails are sent to departments, monitoring the subject lines and content automated responses can be created and fine-tuned to ensure citizens get the information they require quickly and agents are free for more complex calls – the principle can also be applied to webchat conversations.
Choosing the right platform model
Platform models make a difference, Anywhere365 enables all people within an organisation to be an ‘agent’ and benefit from the solution wherever they sit within the business. With all touch points in a customer journey encapsulated within a single platform, this ensures the full customer journey is captured. This can be reviewed and measured, so that Customer Experience (CX) can be improved, to ensure that those contacting the organisation receive a high quality service consistently.
Multi-mode agent role
Modern contact centres also allow any user to change mode from back office to front line, so they can be customer facing, as well as working on tasks and administration behind the scenes. This multi-mode agent role allows them to handle more than just calls and empowers then as users, rather than deskilling the agents become more skilled having a wider remit which benefits the organisation.
‘Doing More with Less’
‘Doing More with Less’ has been a phrase used for several years now, never more relevant than today for local regional government, hybrid and remote working for agents, enables organisations to retain valued staff, giving them a flexible way of working, whilst continuing to deliver quality services. Moving contact centre staff remotely can have potential savings in terms of estate, where building use can be rationalise and downsized if possible.
Workforce performance monitoring for remote working
Remote and flexible working can come with the fear that agents are not being productive, but through reporting, dashboards and wallboards Anywhere365 Dialogue Cloud enables managers, supervisors and decision makers to view detailed information on how their workforce is performing. Full informed, they can make decisions on staffing, rotas, workload and overall workforce management with a view of the whole organisation where back office, or non-agents are also utilising the platform.
Keeping agents trained to the best level
Customer expectations are shifting, so you need to ensure agents are skilled, upskilled, reskilled, and assisted wherever possible along their journey to deliver exceptional client service. This will also help with retention and loyalty of staff, limiting churn which is costly to any organisation. Scripts and workflows guide the agent through the customer query, acting as a helping hand for agents.
The customer dialogue landscape is changing at a rate of knots. Customer service, customer expectations and customer loyalty are all in the crosshairs of organisations, certainly for those who are looking to succeed. So rather than a bolt-on, the modern workplace contact centre is now front and centre and it can deliver significant cost savings when implemented correctly.
For those wishing to understand more about how the Microsoft certified Contact Centre Anywhere365 Dialogue Cloud can benefit their organisation, please get in contact and we can try to help you meet your business goals and hit cost savings.
Chris Goodwill
Strategic Partner Manager and Solution Specialist
Symity