It’s no surprise that businesses are starting to realize the largely untapped potential of their employee base. Staffing is one of the largest costs to organizations, but it also represents an opportunity to serve as one of the biggest competitive advantages. Ongoing Gallup data on employee engagement shows that organizations with highly engaged workforces deliver 147% higher earnings per share and consistently outperform their competitors.
With performance demands on contact center staff consistently on the rise, how can you enable your team to produce above their current levels without inducing stress and employee turnover?
Let your call center agents focus on customers, not technology
There are many reasons why employees begin to disengage with their employers, leading to higher attrition rates and costs for the organization. One reason, presented by Mike Ettling, president of SAP SuccessFactors, suggests that the technology people use in their personal lives is exponentially better (faster, more accurate, and a far better user experience) than the technology they interact with in the workplace. He believes that by providing employees similar capabilities at work as in their personal lives, technology can enable new levels of engagement and a much more individualized work experience, leading to more enthusiastic and engaged contact center employees who are less inclined to leave their current role.
Agents need to have access to relevant customer data and critical information at their fingertips to ensure every customer interaction goes smoothly. Integrated technology and streamlined processes can help your agents focus on the needs of the caller at hand, rather than getting bogged down by disjointed systems and inefficiencies in their routine.
Enable, instead of force, your contact center staff to perform at higher rates
Quotas, KPIs, goals and targets can only go so far in boosting call center agent performance. Upping these numbers to achieve better business results without aiding your staff in getting there will only lead to failure, frustration and eventual turnover.
Instead, call center leaders should be arming their staff with the best tools and resources that will enable them to perform at their absolute best. Put better customer data at their fingertips faster, through the use of innovative technologies like computer telephony integration (CTI), which integrates phone systems into CRM platforms. With features like screen pop for retrieving customer information from the CRM before a call is even answered, click-to-dial for optimized rapid dialing, and automated call logging for reducing call wrap-up time, call center agents are equipped with accurate customer data for a streamlined experience on both sides of the phone.
Automated CTI processes not only help address speed and efficiency, but free up employees for more complex or innovative tasks, which keeps them engaged and content with their work.
Focus on the employee
How often does your management team actually talk to your contact center staff? Do you know what their biggest frustrations are?
More than one third of companies blame disconnected and complex agent desktop setups as a key obstacle to engagement and performance. Call center agents are expected to manage an average of five different screens to handle a single customer interaction, wasting more than 25% of their time searching for relevant data across these systems.
Modern work environments need to change to focus more on employees and their critical needs, in order to improve the agent experience, increase customer satisfaction and reduce attrition rates. Equip your contact center staff to achieve their highest potential by implementing the right tools and technologies for the job. Reduce burnout, poor performance and turnover rates by enabling your contact center staff to be their best selves, with technology that improves their daily lives.