All of us have already contacted a call center. You know the procedure by heart. We all pressed “0" hoping to get an answer on the other end of the phone. We all listened to the music on hold for long minutes. Generally, we want to get through this stage as quickly as possible and communicate with a human, rather than with a pre-recorded voice. But times have changed. The capacity of call centers to respond to our requests has greatly improved.
In reality, automation and RPA fill a lot of loopholes in today's call centers. In this article, we'll show you how automation can make your call center experience much better.
The case for automating a call center
The pandemic has had a huge impact on call centers. As call volumes exploded and agents had to work remotely, the centers were overloaded. As a result, average call handling time, abandonment rate, average queue, and wait times have all increased.
To cope with radical changes in demand, many businesses have turned to automation.. Indeed, some automation technologies such as chatbots can significantly reduce call waiting times.
To meet customer demand, call center agents often have to navigate between multiple systems. The latter, which allow them to search for the necessary information, are often poorly connected, which increases the delay in responding to the customer. With technological solutions, all customer information can be grouped together so that the agent can consult it and even enter into communication.
Thus, call center automation has multiple benefits. It allows employees to work faster and more efficiently and even goes so far as to allow the complete processing of some calls without any human intervention. Indeed, requests that are not very complex, which often constitute a large part of the requests, can be handled by a Interactive Voice Server (SVI), while agents can focus on issues that require real analysis.
Many businesses have already recognized the benefits of automation on call center efficiency. Thus, the digital transformation of these centers will become a major competitive advantage in the years to come..
How to take advantage of an automated call center?
One of the main benefits of automation is the ability of software robots to collect a plethora of data that would be impossible to gather if all calls had to be handled manually. This is where artificial intelligence technologies - such as voice or feeling analysis - find all their usefulness..
Most call centers have analysts who specialize in quality assurance. The role of these agents is to listen to and analyze telephone calls in order to guarantee their quality. However, with the increase in call volume, analysts are running out of data. Voice analysis is an AI technology that can overcome this problem. Instead of a few calls, the organization will be able to analyze all incoming calls.
In addition, AI-powered voice analytics technology doesn't just analyze content, but also customer context and sentiment.. Thanks to Machine learning, AI can capture customers' emotional and cognitive responses in real time. The ability to perform context and sentiment analysis on telephone conversations provides valuable information.
Finally, data analysis enabled by automation includes keyword analysis. This allows you to understand the most common requests and, thus, to better adapt to the market.. You will be able to make more informed decisions based on more reliable data.
How to use RPA to transform your call center
We've listed the main benefits you can benefit from automating your call center. This would not be conceivable without the intervention of robotic process automation. Indeed, here is how RPA can help you.
1. Reducing the volume of calls handled by humans
As we explained earlier, an IVR or a chatbot to handle incoming requests that are not very complex and only redirect calls to a human if the robot cannot solve the request by itself.
Depending on what's needed to fulfill a request, you'll likely need to write custom scripts to perform custom tasks.
This is where RPA comes in handy because its role is to broaden your integration options.. As a low-code platform that excels in integrations, our partner UiPath allows businesses to automate their call center processes in just a few weeks.
2. Leveraging the presence of robots to assist human agents
RPA also allows you to create software robots whose role is to digitally assist human agents.. This frees employees from excessive call volumes.
So, RPA is a benefit that you cannot ignore for your business. It allows you to freely integrate automation and robots into your business. This possibility provides flexibility and makes the art of the possible limitless.
About StoryShaper:
StoryShaper is an innovative start-up that supports its customers in defining their digital strategy and the development of automation solutions tailor-made.
Sources: StoryShaper, UiPath
