Customer service agents play a critical role in delivering exceptional customer experiences, but their effectiveness often hinges on the tools and resources available to them. Unfortunately, a significant percentage of contact centre agents, approximately 60%, report that their companies do not consistently provide them with the necessary technology to tackle customer service challenges. Additionally, 34% state that they lack access to the right data while interacting with customers. Such limitations can lead to agent dissatisfaction and contribute to high turnover rates, which currently range from 30% to 45%.

The implications of these challenges are far-reaching. Employees seek better working conditions, customers seek superior service elsewhere, and companies incur substantial expenses in recruiting and training new agents. Whether your contact centre employs just a few agents or a large team, there are strategies you can implement to enhance the agent experience and reduce churn.

Prioritize the Agent Experience Like the Customer Experience: Companies strive to make the customer experience personalized, effortless, and frictionless, and the agent experience should receive the same level of attention. Consider how you can reduce friction in your agents’ systems and provide them with a tailored desktop that aligns with their specific needs. Apply user experience principles to the tools your agents use to make them more intuitive, valuable, and well-organized.

For example, many agents grapple with fatigue from juggling multiple applications. Simplify their workflow by providing a unified collaboration application that replaces disparate tools for video, chat, file sharing, and task management. A Workstream Collaboration application, offering an all-in-one solution accessible on any device, can significantly improve the agent experience. Here’s why it matters:

• Enables an expert-centric approach to problem-solving, allowing subject matter experts to seamlessly join teams and customer interactions as needed
• Facilitates asynchronous work, ensuring work progress across time and location
• Eliminates redundancy and siloed apps, promoting contextual communication as if agents and managers were in the same room

Harness the Power of AI (Artificial Intelligence): AI is a game-changer for customer service. Virtual agents, for instance, can handle repetitive inquiries related to billing, order status, troubleshooting, and balance inquiries, freeing up human agents to focus on complex and time-sensitive issues. Virtual agents can also quickly acquire knowledge and fully or partially automate routine tasks such as appointment scheduling, data entry, and email follow-up.

Conversational AI is another AI-driven tool that empowers agents. It captures and mines conversations, identifying insights to enhance both customer experience (CX) and agent experience (EX). For instance, it can transcribe spoken words in real-time, reducing customer frustration caused by repeated requests. Conversational AI can also analyse agent sentiment during interactions, helping managers assess attitudes, emotions, and opinions for targeted training and improvement. These AI technologies are designed to augment agents’ capabilities, not replace them.

Customer service employees show up for their shifts with the intention of delivering the best possible service. However, they often face repetitive tasks and challenging customer interactions. To improve agent retention and reduce operational costs, business leaders must rethink the support and tools provided to these essential employees. Simple changes in technology and mindset can have a profound impact on the agent experience.