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Workforce Management Featured Article

How WFO Removes Contact Center Friction

By Paula Bernier, Executive Editor, TMC Removing customer friction should be a core goal for businesses in today’s day and age. That’s because in the always-on information age, consumers have a lot of power. And they can easily drop your company and move on to another if you’re not delivering the experiences they expect.

“Easy is always better,” notes Monet Software’s (News - Alert) Chuck Ciarlo.

So, businesses should look at what they can do to make their call centers as customer-friendly as possible. And, says Ciarlo, workforce optimization solutions can help them do that.

Customers most often reach out to contact centers to get product information, to make payments and purchase goods, and for help, he says.

Agents should be trained to answer product questions and that will require them to access part numbers and pricing information.

Products and services not purchased in store are most commonly bought via online portals. But not everybody is comfortable doing it that way; sometimes folks run into problems or have questions in the process. “When customers opt to handle such transactions over the phone, agents should be prepared to not just provide good service, but to also take advantage of upsell opportunities, as long as they do not significantly delay completion of the transaction,” Ciarlo says.

Over time, perhaps the most challenging scenario is when people call in for help and support. They may be frustrated and solving their problem may be complex. Sometimes, agents may need to escalate the call, but if contact centers can erect processes on the front end to avoid call handoff that is ideal both from a customer experience standpoint and in terms contact center KPIs like first call resolution. Again, Ciarlo says, WFO can help address all of the above.

Edited by Mandi Nowitz