Automation Should Support the Human Agent

Analyst Viewpoint

Contact centers are experiencing a golden age of technology, thanks to new tools like artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing. Much of what’s new is being used to automate repetitive elements of the agent’s job and allow for more advanced self-service on the part of the customer. Many organizations look to automation to control costs by making people more efficient. However, it is very common for teams to overlook automation’s other significant benefit: better agent engagement.

Automation in contact centers should be seen as a stepping-stone on the pathway to deepening agent skills and reducing attrition. Yes, it’s great for cutting costs and ensuring consistent processes. But its greatest benefit may be that it provides agents with the tools they need to excel and grow in their jobs. That also saves money and frees up resources that can be used for further improvements. By 2025, 7 in 10 customer interactions will combine automated conversational self-service and live agents, reducing costs, time and enabling agents to focus on high-value interactions.

Managing an agent workforce is more complicated than creating schedules and evaluating interactions. Agents are valuable resources that cost a great deal to recruit and train. With competition for labor very tight, this effort never ends and it often crowds out ambitious plans for transformation or expansion into new areas. Automation is attractive because it is seen as a way of reducing a center’s reliance on those agents (and the long recruitment/training pipeline they require). “More automation means fewer agents,” goes the thinking. But that’s misguided thinking.

 As organizations automate and improve self-service, they reduce the need for agents to handle simple, repetitive issues. But the interactions that make it through the gateway are knottier, requiring more complex skills and judgement from agents. This means agents need to be smarter, better trained and more vested in finding solutions that boost customer loyalty. So workforce optimization doesn’t mean reducing headcount by handing human work to bots. Instead, it is about maintaining a corps of committed agents who can navigate the complexities of empowered, demanding but high-value customers. Changing that perception can open up opportunities to use modern automation to enhance, not replace workers, in the process providing resources for more ambitious technology deployments or transformation projects.

Workforce optimization has been a key goal in contact centers for decades. But “optimization” has largely meant near-perfect scheduling to volume, adherence to schedules and coaching based on evaluations of recordings. Modern workforce engagement, by contrast, should be focused on doing work better, not just doing more of it in less time. AI can be used to adjust schedules based on real-time input. Workflow systems use rules to enforce processes based on thresholds and actions triggered by those thresholds. That kind of automation gives supervisors and agents more time for nuanced training and collaboration.

Automation also provides an opening for managers to eliminate much of the manual, repetitive work that consumes their days and prevents them from working closely with agents to make them superior performers in ways that benefit the entire organization. Does an agent have a knack for identifying an upsell opportunity? Does someone’s empathy and manner encourage customers to be more loyal? Automation frees up manager and agent time enable better, more targeted coaching.

Many aspects of the agent’s role have changed since the early days of the pandemic. Remote work and new forms of collaboration are just the tip of the iceberg. Modern agents are much more interested in doing work that is meaningful and that contributes to a shared sense of progress and productivity. As a result, workforce optimization has morphed into workforce engagement, with organizations seeking ways to provide agents with tools that make their jobs easier and more rewarding so they are inclined to stay. Part of that involves automating tasks around the job that aren’t the job itself—for example, shift scheduling, moving breaks around and planning for spot training during free moments.

There is also a strong argument for automating parts of the traditional job as well. Optimizing average handle time is a good example. This KPI tracks how quickly agents complete interactions. Implementing an intelligent automation system to minimize handle time can take the form of suggesting assistance or notifying supervisors of problems. That can help reduce costs to be sure, but it has the added effect of giving agents a floor of support so they know help will be available for them whenever needed. And that can provide the boost they need to find greater satisfaction in helping people with their problems.

Automation should be used to put agents first and boost the organization’s ability to deliver training, coaching, real-time information and advice. These things are what people need to handle the complex issues of modern customers, and do so in a way that is satisfying for the agent and beneficial to the organization.

Many contact center professionals still see automation and human labor as a binary equation: use one to reduce the footprint of the other. That’s an outmoded way of thinking about the relationship as automation is not incompatible with human work. In fact, the opposite is true. Intelligent automation can open the door to better operations that are more predictable and measurably better. Automation should be deployed in service of people, and providing automation that supports the agent yields better performance from the people and better outcomes from the processes. It’s a win for everyone.