Contact Center of the Future Part 3 - Managers

The Contact Center of the Future will be a finely-tuned machine - using real-time data to optimize experiences. So, who's at the controls? In this third instalment of our series, Ashley Burton, Head of Product at Eckoh, explores the future for Managers.

Last time in our series, we talked about the Agent of the Future and the superpowers they'll use to delight tomorrow's customers. But none of that is possible unless organizations are adept at managing the Contact Center of the Future.

To meet the needs of the customers and agents of the future, contact or call centers will need to be ultra-agile. Instead of responding to changing requirements on a three-year procurement cycle, extra capacity and capabilities will need to be reviewed and adjusted on a monthly, weekly, daily and even hourly basis.

The contact or call center managers and supervisors of the future will need to handle a diverse array of channels, new and old. They will need to keep track of multiple channel interactions and identify opportunities for journey optimization, so customers get the best experiences every time.

Data-driven decisions
Managers will have access to live dashboards that provide fine-grained visibility into customer queries, feedback from surveys, agent utilization and performance. Rather than waiting for the next daily report to come from an MI team, they will have access to real-time analytics on any device. They'll be able to see how contacts are being handled, understand feedback and be able to use that data to take immediate action - all through a single, simple interface.

Automated AI analysts will monitor the data, highlighting emerging situations and changes in trends and surfacing them to the operations teams in proactive alerts - so managers can step in when it's necessary.

These proactive notifications will identify opportunities for improvement and make suggestions for changes to optimize for the new conditions. But managers will be able to set parameters within which systems can self-optimize, based on live data and changing circumstances. Managers can then see the results as they happen.

Test and learn as you go
Changes will be made through a test-and-learn approach where managers can use analytics to understand the potential impact of changes and then A/B test those changes through a roll-out process with an instant ability to revert to a prior configuration.

Managers will be able to dynamically adjust agent workload, channel mix and routing parameters based not on rigid "departments," but dynamic teams created from analytics and automatic clustering. For example, these could be from groups of agents that get high CSAT for complaints, or agents whose upsell conversion exceeds 70%.

The same tools will also allow the managers to monitor and tune their "digital agents" whether they be chatbots, voice bots, virtual agents or concierge solutions, using agent free-time to QA automated interactions and feeding the data back into AI training models.

Managers will also be armed with an array of tools to help create a great agent experience through gamification, training, coaching and support - making sure that remote and office-based agents feel part of a single team, working together to meet their common goals.

One of the key roles of the team will be to take secure payments. But how will this work? Watch out for Part 4 in our series - Payments of the Future.

• If you like the way we're thinking, take a look at how Eckoh can help your customers make payments using the channel of their choice. Our secure data solutions transform customer engagement, protect information and achieve PCI DSS compliance.

So, how will payments be made in the Contact Center of the Future? See the next in our series - Payments.

To find out more about what the Contact Center of the Future holds, download our insightful guide.

Get in touch if you'd like to talk to us about any issues around contact center technology.