Competitive pressures have pushed customer service to the forefront of the struggle among businesses to stand out from the pack. Many organizations are turning to automation to gain an edge, placing it at the heart of their service delivery strategy.
The role of automation has shifted from an “option” to a “condition of survival,” according to a 2021 analysis from Gartner, a technology research company. By 2024, organizations will reduce operational costs by 30% by combining “hyper-automation technologies” with “redesigned operational processes.”
A multi-billion-dollar global media organization recently launched an automation initiative in its customer service operations, and has seen strong results from Intradiem’s Intelligent Automation technology.
Streamlining Processes
The company needed to overcome challenges that plague call centers everywhere, like maintaining service level despite fluctuating call volume, preventing agent burnout, and reducing caller wait times.
A four-week pilot with Intradiem’s Handle Time use case resulted in a 15-second shortening of average handle time (AHT). The organization was able to tie seconds to savings, and concrete results led to an expansion of this and other Intelligent Automation use cases to more of the company’s call centers. The organization realized $3.6 million in full-year savings for 2021.
The company used Intradiem’s Training use case to automatically identify pockets of availability in agents’ schedules and accelerate completion of compliance and training requirements. Six thousand agents were required to complete 11 training modules in 90 days, and with the Training use case, 98% of them finished in just 60 days.
Agents were pleased to be able to access and finish their required training so efficiently, and Workforce Managers were excited to see tedious scheduling duties removed from their overcrowded workloads.
In another example, Intelligent Automation allowed the company to automatically survey agents about their work on large projects, gaining valuable feedback that will be used to refine and improve future operations.
Following on the success of these initiatives, the company plans to add the Coaching use case, which, similar to Training, will automate and facilitate agents’ ability to fit in valuable coaching time. The success of these programs has led other business lines within the organization to express enthusiasm to participate in the Coaching pilot.
Driving Effective Change Management
Introducing automation into an established working environment can create disruption, but effective planning and communication can help prepare employees for successful change. Highlighting the benefits of new technology to their daily work reduces anxiety and promotes precious buy in.
The organization rolled out these new automation use cases one at a time, but communicated their combined value to employees all at once. Agents learned at the beginning that Intelligent Automation would smooth the pace of their workday, eliminate the frustration of getting stuck on calls that ran through scheduled breaks, and deliver perks like “surprise and delight” birthday and anniversary breaks.
Like so many organizations with large customer service operations, this media company raced to set up its agents to work remotely in the spring of 2020. And while many businesses are bringing at least some agents back into the office, this company will continue to maintain an all-remote agent workforce as long as pandemic-related uncertainty remains.
Fortunately, the location-agnostic capabilities of Intradiem’s Intelligent Automation platform will enable the company’s remote agents to remain fully engaged, fully supported, and fully able to deliver great customer experiences.