Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
Majority of Call Center Agents Are Struggling with Complex Customer Requests
When it comes to the usability of technologies in your contact center, where do agents experience the most roadblocks? Do you know?
When agents stumble over tasks on the desktop, everything suffers: metrics and KPIs, customers, the agents themselves, the company they support and the revenue they direct to company coffers, not to mention the company’s reputation. Usability, therefore, is a critical thing to get right.
BenchmarkPortal (News - Alert) recently produced a one-of-a-kind agent experience survey, sponsored by eGain, that found that contact center agents continue to get hamstrung in the post-pandemic era by lack of knowledge-based guidance. The online survey was fielded in May 2022 and included responses and included responses from 456 call center agents. Some of the insights include:
- 76% of respondents are still working from home, a surprisingly high percentage given the easing of pandemic-related restrictions;
- 63% of respondents said customer queries are getting more complex;
- 64% of respondents said they do not have tools to guide them through customer interactions;
- Nearly half (49%) struggle with multiple systems to find answers; and
- Novice agents are stressed 31% more than tenured agents
Simply put, the study found that agents are struggling, which should worry any company trying to cultivate positive customer experiences and emphasizes the need for better knowledge management.
“Contact center agents, especially work-from-home reps, do not have the safety net of in-office colleagues for answers,” said Bruce Belfiore, CEO of BenchmarkPortal, in a statement. “It is concerning that most contact centers do not have adequate guidance tools even as customer queries get more complex. However, we also see this as a real opportunity to elevate the agent experience with modern knowledge management.”
“The findings are not a surprise. As self-service automates routine customer queries, agents naturally get more complex questions,” said Ashu Roy, CEO of eGain. “This complexity, combined with WFH and the need for compliance, has elevated knowledge to the boardroom.”
Edited by Erik Linask