Contact Center Automation 101: How To Streamline Your Call Center Agents

Contact center automation is revolutionizing customer service. Gone are the days of relying on human agents to finish thousands of repetitive, manual support tasks as more and more contact centers are automating their processes.

Automating support reduces costs and improves customer satisfaction. It simplifies contact center operations so you can deliver faster, more consistent experiences.

In this field, Synthflow is the pioneer in contact center automation, helping businesses simplify their call center and boost agent productivity.

This guide covers everything you need to know about contact center automation and how to use it to supercharge your human agents.

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What is Contact Center Automation?

Center automation refers to leveraging technology to automate processes and tasks within the contact center. This can include tasks such as call routing, customer segmentation, and more. Automation can help streamline center operations, reducing the number of repetitive tasks contact center agents deal with daily.

Types of automation include interactive voice response, robotic process automation, data entry, and post-call work automation. Center automation can help cut contact center costs, reduce errors, and improve overall customer satisfaction.

One of the emerging ways for contact center automation is through artificiant agents. With today’s generative AI technology, AI agents can now help contact centers automate many processes and deliver amazing benefits.

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Key Benefits of Call Center Automation

24/7 Support

AI voice agents provide around-the-clock support. Customers access support conveniently when they need it. They don’t have to wait for staff hours or put up with annoying time zone differences.

Efficiency and Resolution Rates

AI voice agents enhance first call resolution (FCR) by quickly routing customers to the right resources or providing instant answers. In fact, studies show that over 70% of routine queries can be answered by AI which further proves its validity as an automation tool. Voice automation supports high call volumes, as you can handle thousands of calls concurrently without a live agent.

The AI can generate call summaries instantly, improving center efficiency. It also saves time, making it easier to handle more calls.

Improved Agent Experience

You can use artificial intelligence to handle boring, menial tasks. Rather than spending time handling the same, mundane queries, human agents can dedicate themselves to interesting, complex cases. Automation allows center agents to focus on building customer relationships and providing high-quality service.

Some contact centers even implement augmented intelligence, where AI analyzes customer sentiment and provides real-time suggestions to human agents. For instance, AI may flag phrases like “I'm frustrated” to suggest empathy scripts. This hybrid approach can boost agent productivity by 20%, especially in industries like healthcare or finance.]

Operational Cost Reduction

Businesses can handle a lot more inquiries when menial call center processes are automated. Call centers can reduce the number of staff they need, while still taking on more calls, and cut costs. Human errors are reduced, slashing the fees associated with mistakes.

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Types of Call Center Automation

AI-Powered Automation Through Voice Agents

Voice agents are automated call assistants that use powerful artificial intelligence to complete customer interactions. Voice agents use natural language processing and sentiment analysis to provide engaging, emotive responses. Active 24/7, they can provide tailored assistance to every customer's call.

Single and multi-prompt bots are available. Instead of asking the user to press a number or say 'yes' or 'no', voice agents use sophisticated speech recognition to interpret and respond to free-flowing conversation. One such tool is, Synthflow, a no-code voice AI agent platform that makes it easy to build agents for any use case or industry. Predictive Call Routing

Predictive call distribution ensures call center operations flow seamlessly. Customers are transferred to the relevant department or human contact to handle their specific query right away, rather than waiting in a long queue for call transfers.

If a customer doesn't really need to speak to a live agent, automation solutions like Synthflow can also automatically route calls to a human agent who could provide a more nuanced customer support.

After-Call Work (ACW) Automation

After-call work (ACW) is a key performance metric of contact center staff. On average, staff spend anywhere from 45 seconds up to 5 minutes call scheduling, speaking with other agents, entering data and other busywork. Experienced staff finish ACW 20% faster than novices, and are vital in a traditional call center environment.

With AI, you can streamline the after-call process. For example, Synthflow allows you to use post-call actions, like sending texts, generating reports and other tasks, to rapidly reduce your manual workload. Instead of waiting hours for human staff to complete ACW tasks, Synthflow can do it in seconds. This allows for a more efficient and productive call center, with less downtime between calls.

Post-call enquiries and other customer follow-up tasks can be automated by Synthflow. All of these free up your agents' time to focus on delivering a better customer experience.

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Challenges and Considerations

Human Agents and Conversational AI

Call centers need to know how to balance human agent involvement and conversational AI. AI is good at manual, repetitive tasks. Areas of call center automation that work best are where people and AI work together.

Human agents are better at emotionally charged, complex cases. Freeing up contact center staff to focus on these tasks means better outcomes for customers. The goal shouldn’t be to cut staff, jobs and calls with conversational AI but to use it as a tool to augment human skills.

Data Privacy and Security Compliance

Call center software providers must ensure the data gathered and analyzed through automation tools is secure and compliant with privacy regulations. GDPR and other data protection laws must be followed to keep customer trust and avoid legal headaches.

When you’ve chosen your call center software, read the terms and conditions carefully. Make sure your data is safe and make sure you have full control over it. Choosing a contact center automation tool such as Synthflow that has SOC 2, HIPAA, and GDPR compliance is the way to go.

Call Volume and Conversational AI Scalability

One of the biggest headaches for call centers is call volume. As call volume increases it’s hard for human agents to handle every call efficiently. That’s where conversational AI comes in, a scalable solution for high call volumes.

But as with any tech, there’s a limit to how much conversational AI can handle at once. Call center managers need to consider the capacity and scalability of their chosen AI tools. They need to have a plan B for technical issues or unexpected call volume spikes. As for the tool, the technology must have features and pricing points that allows it to be scaled up and down on-demand.

Measuring Success

Automaton is only as good as the metrics you measure it against. Keep an eye on First-Call Resolution (FCR) and Average Handling Time (AHT) to see if automation is improving customer experience and reducing costs.By also tracking customer satisfaction scores and retention rates you will create a clear picture of the overall impact automation is having on your business.

First-Call Resolution (FCR)
A high FCR rate means efficiency, customer’s calls are being solved the first time. They don’t need to follow up to get their issue resolved. analyze FCR trends to identify bottlenecks. For example if you see a decline in FCR it may mean your conversational AI needs to be refined or tuned.

Average Handling Time (AHT)
A high AHT rate means the automation isn’t working as expected and needs to be adjusted.

Shorter handling times means you’ve streamlined your process. But, keep tracking customer satisfaction (CSAT) metrics as well. If you’ve speeded up your customer service at the expense of quality your automation system isn’t working.

Customer Satisfaction Survey
Use post-call surveys to understand your customer’s experience. Synthflow automates these surveys and reporting to give you real-time insights.

Rated 1 to 5, with 1 being very dissatisfied and 5 very satisfied, this score shows if the customer was happy with their experience and would recommend your business to others.

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Implementation Guide

Where to Automate in Your Call Center

Start by identifying high volume, repetitive tasks. Answering FAQs about your menu items, providing shipping updates and other tasks are great candidates for automation.

How do you identify the best automation opportunities? Your staff are the front line to your current operations. Analyze how they are currently spending their time by conducting surveys or observing interactions.

You can also analyze call logs and customer inquiries to identify recurring issues that can be automated. This will not only help you know what to automate but also what areas of your business need improvement.

Choose an Automation Tool

Before choosing an automation tool, it’s essential to understand your needs and goals for automating your call center processes.

As the market for automation tools is numerous, consider these key aspects before choosing your automation tool:

1. Integrations: It is essential to check if your potential automation tool integrates with your CRMs and other software. This is the difference between a seamless transition, and a messy prolonged migration.
2. Suitability: Is this potential tool able to suit your business needs? Make sure you choose a tool that’s flexible and customizable in order to adapt it to your business. Without this step, you may purchase an automation tool with features you cannot utilize.
3. Scalability: Everyone wants their business to grow, and when it does you want your AI tools to grow with you. To do this you need to choose a platform that can scale easily with increased volume and requirements.
4. Simplicity: There are many AI tools like Synthflow that are built to be easy to implement and utilize. Each of your employees will need to understand the automation tool to be able to utilize it. Choose an easy to operate option to streamline your transformation.
5. Cost: The critical consideration. Ensure your automation tool suits your budget and does not have hidden fees and costs that are rampant in the industry. Options like Synthflow operate with transparent pricing and zero hidden fees.

Integration with Existing Systems

One of the biggest advantages of automating your call center is the ability to integrate seamlessly with your current systems and tools. No more manual data entry and errors.

Customer info can be accessed by agents and a more personal and efficient interaction. How integration with other tools like CRM or customer databases can give you valuable insights and analytics to improve overall performance.

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Ongoing Optimisation

It’s not a one off, it needs to be monitored and optimised. Look for a platform with analytics and reporting so you can see your automated processes and make changes. This will help you find the bottlenecks and areas for improvement and ultimately better customer experiences.

Also regular updates and improvements to the automation platform will help with long term success. Make sure the provider has a roadmap for future developments and is up to date with the latest tech.

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Summary

Contact center automation can change the way you run your business and support your agents, making them more efficient and customer satisfaction increases. Use tools like automated call routing, chatbots and analytics to optimise workflows and reduce agent burnout and deliver a seamless customer experience.

To get started with your contact center, start by identifying what can be automated and what technology fits your business. Implement in stages and make sure your team is trained and supported.

Have you automated your contact center? Let us know in the comments. Find more info and resources here or contact Synthflow to request a demo or answer any questions.

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