It’s no secret that automation has changed everything about the way people operate their businesses. Call centers are no different, with 70% of consumers contacting customer support by phone, the use of call center automation software will only get stronger.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed about upgrading your call center, learning solid reasons why investing in this technology can boost your business to the next level will help you take the next steps.
Read on to learn nine reasons to consider investing in call center automation technology.
1. Improved Customer Satisfaction
The truth is that customers value their time, and wasting time with outdated call center technology will impact the overall customer experience.
It’s no secret that customer service ties directly into customer loyalty. In fact, 33% of Americans would consider switching companies after only one instance of poor customer service. In addition, approximately half of all loyal customers will leave a company if a competitor can offer customer service that better satisfies their needs.
Automation software allows for options like self-service menus allowing for efficient customer service. In addition, the combination of virtual agents and human agents gives you the option to offer services 24/7.
You can also choose to incorporate automated agent guidance via chatbots to help with specific situations. Automation also allows you to suggest products and services based on past shopping experiences.
You’ll be able to predict customer behavior and, as a result, offer them superior service.
2. Improved Employee Satisfaction
Happy employees can take your business to another level completely. The best thing you can do is remove obstacles that make the job less repetitive. These are the types of tasks that lead to job dissatisfaction, ultimately leading to poor customer service and higher turnover.
When you automate repetitive tasks, you allow your employees to focus on more rewarding tasks, like truly making a difference for a customer. It also allows them to focus on learning more complex skills that will benefit them long term.
Finally, call center automation significantly decreases employee stress. This is because calls are routed intelligently, which removes the chances of customers becoming angry due to waiting time. It also eliminates the need to explain the same issue over and over again to different customer service agents.
Overall, increasing employee satisfaction is one of the best call center improvements you can make.
3. Supports More Flexible Working Schedules
Today, many businesses are moving toward hybrid and remote working models. Doing this leverages you to a new level, making your business a more appealing option for experienced employees looking for a career change.
With call center automation software, your employees can work from anywhere. Remember, AI software doesn’t typically have a specific hardware requirement, making it easy for employees to configure their own devices.
Having this technology will allow you to ultimately expand roles into various hours, days, and even into fully remote positions. Even better, employees will still be fully connected with the team while working from home.
4. Allows You to Get the Most Out of Your Data
Data collection is huge for any business, but what if you could analyze data more efficiently? Well, this is where call center automation tools come in.
AI can help you identify data patterns with various analytics. This allows you to use this data more effectively to enhance your customer retention and loyalty. You’ll be able to analyze data to give you a broader understanding of who your customers are and why they call.
Utilizing data also allows you to better predict customer issues and trends early on. You’ll then be able to predict problems before they impact your bottom line, giving you a headstart in making corrections.
Real-time data monitoring gives you the power of immediate decision-making, so you can eliminate potential future setbacks.
5. Better Productivity and Efficiency
Not only does call center automation make your employees’ jobs more satisfying, but it also makes your call center more productive and efficient overall.
Routine activities like data entry, administrative duties, and report generation can easily be automated. This further reduces the burden on your employees and gives them more time to be productive. For example, automation tools include technology like auto-dialers. This saves your employees from having to manually dial numbers for every single customer they call.
Incoming preview dialers provide a quick snapshot of customer information when your employees receive calls. This eliminates the need to have to search for this information, which prolongs the call and adds to customer aggravation.
This allows employees to focus on various other initiatives like problem-solving or coming up with new ideas to enhance the customer experience.
In addition, these call center tools reduce the risk of human error. Even the best employees aren’t immune to mistakes, especially with repetitive tasks. Automation systems are designed with high levels of accuracy which improves the quality of products you’re offering your customers.
6. Saves You Money
Saving money is a massive part of improving your call center, and automation tools allow you to do just that.
First, automation reduces labor costs all around since it eliminates many time-consuming manual processes. When you reduce mundane and repetitive tasks, you need fewer employees to get the same amount of work done. Your employees will be able to handle a larger volume of calls, increasing your profits.
Additionally, manual processes also require you to pay for other resources like supplies, equipment, and storage space. Once you automate your processes like data collection, you eliminate the need for these extra resources. You can then automate inventory management to optimize stock levels, so you only have what you truly need.
You can even use technology like CRM integration to reduce manual processes even more since it gets rid of the need for constant manual entry.
7. You Can Offer Personalized Call Routing
When a customer reaches out to a business, they expect a prompt response to their question. If customers call and get lost in the shuffle, this can truly impact your business long-term since it can make customers look elsewhere.
With personalized call routing, you can generate shorter call handling times and get issues resolved efficiently.
Personalized call routing allows you to collect customer information and match calls to this data structure. Call automation technology can then decipher personal customer details and ensure they’re immediately forwarded to the right customer service agent.
8. You’ll Have a Higher First-Call Resolution Rate
There is nothing worse than customers needing to call multiple times in a row to resolve a problem or get the answers they need to a question. Not only does this frustrate your employees, but it hugely affects your customer outcomes.
The first-call resolution rate (FCR) ultimately measures how well a business can resolve a customer’s problem the first time they reach out. Having a successful FCR means that you don’t need to follow up with the customer since the issue has been completely resolved.
Call center automation has software that can automatically connect customers to an automated voice system if they have a simple issue. Most conversational AI bots can easily understand these simple problems and offer quick solutions.
Self-serve systems can allow customers to interact in different ways, which frees up the need for them to talk to a customer service agent. This allows your call center agents to take calls that involve more complex inquiries.
9. Improves Your Data Security
While advancements in technology can take your business to a new level, it also brings more cybersecurity risks that you must consider. Cybersecurity issues are surging, with over 83% of all organizations experiencing some kind of data breach in 2022.
The good news is you can reduce and even eliminate many of these risks by using automation technology. Automated systems have complex encryption mechanisms and security protocols that can protect sensitive customer data.
They do this by controlling who has access to specific data and monitoring data use of those employees who do need to use it. The technology will flag any suspicious activity, minimizing the risk of problems like identity theft and other cyber threats.
Automation technology can also anonymize your data, which protects it further, allowing you to protect your assets as a business.
Investing in these systems is becoming more and more necessary if you want your business to continue offering quality and consistency to every single customer. Remember, robust security measures also enhance the overall customer experience, making it well worth the investment.
Invest in Call Center Automation Today
As you can see, call center automation is well worth the investment and will continue to bring benefits long-term.
Finding call center solutions can be challenging, but luckily you can turn to Compendium Communications to make the process much simpler and easier to understand. Compendium is an information technology and communications consulting firm that focuses on matching you with solutions that work.
We aim to form solid relationships with our clients and will evaluate your needs to bring you technology that provides value to your business. We can help you with call center solutions like software integration, communications, and more.
Make sure to contact us today to get more information about our call center solutions and see how we can help you.