Are Robots Taking Over the Call Center?

The idea of embracing robots as key contributors to society is something that has fueled the Sci-Fi genre for years. In more than a few movies, it’s been the downfall of human civilization, giving rise to the machines and changing the world forever. While we haven’t quite reached that pinnacle, we are in a place where robots have replaced human employees, forcing some to wonder if it’s just the beginning.

In call center scheduling, the challenges around efficiency generally fall into the variances with human assets. Individuals on the agent team have different skillsets, availability and requests for specific shifts. It can easily turn into a scheduling nightmare when requests conflict with forecasts and call center management can’t schedule according to needs. If many of the interactions could be streamlined through robots, why use live agents at all?

A piece in The Mary Sue recently focused on this topic, highlighting the use of chatbots in the call center and our growing acceptance of interacting with robots. While we might have once been annoyed to talk to or interact with a robot on the other end of the call, we have since experienced how much more efficient this process can be, getting us to call resolution much faster. And while robots have replaced some of the human jobs that existed in the past, they are also making the environment better for those who are still working in the call center.

If you consider that the robots that are assisting in the call center replaced jobs where the turnover rate was typically 45 percent, it’s clear that the jobs being taken away weren’t positions the individuals wanted to keep in the first place. For those who did stick around, they tended to get burned out and were increasingly unhappy in the position. Now, those call center agents still around have robots that will handle the more annoying parts of the job, while they focus on higher value interactions with consumers.

For the manager who is responsible for call center scheduling, the variables have changed. Now, the redundant tasks that once needed to be managed by a person on the calling floor can be done automatically with a robot. The variables that exist with scheduling humans are still there, but they can focus on higher skilled individuals who have a more career-focus to the job. That means fewer scheduling changes, more longevity and a professional approach to the interactions.

While there is still the segment of the consumer base that always wants to talk to a live person, the growing number of individuals perfectly happy to interact with a robot to speed interaction time lends considerable value to the call center. Now if the robot could always be as helpful and accurate as Siri…hopefully that’s coming soon. 

Edited by Alicia Young