Highly productive agents, minimal employee turnover and well-defined processes are just a few of the factors that tend to separate a successful contact center from an unsuccessful one. However, by leveraging the right technology, your business can maximize revenue and improve agent performance and productivity.
In this article, I will share with you four technology-enabled best practices that will help you drive your business to new levels of success!
Beat Practice #1: Move to a blended agent environment for maximum efficiency.
The most efficient call centers train their agents to handle both inbound and outbound calls. This allows supervisors to better balance staffing levels based on call volume. For example, your agents can conduct outbound campaigns to generate sales as their primary responsibility, while also receiving incoming customer service calls. This allows the agent to convert routine, inbound customer service calls to revenue-generating interactions (“As you requested, I have updated your mailing address. By the way, have you heard about our new product?”).
From a technology perspective, managing a blended agent environment is easier facilitated if your system 1) allows for the same agent desktop for both inbound/outbound activity; and 2) monitors call volume and automatically switches agents between outbound and inbound campaigns (based on business rules that you define). Automatic call blending increases contact center efficiency and removes the supervisor from the time-consuming task of monitoring call activity and manually moving agents between campaigns.
Best Practice #2: Maximize agent productivity with a unified desktop.
A unified desktop provides a single, integrated interface to all enterprise and external applications that agents typically make use of during a call. The unified desktop manages key supporting systems such as scripted sales and service workflows, an objections/rebuttals knowledgebase, payment processing and a customer interaction history that shows prior interactions, activities and additional profiling and context….