Detached systems and siloed processes are silently killing contact center performance. They hamper productivity and efficiency but are hard to identify in monthly or quarterly performance reports.
Disconnected systems require agents to juggle between platforms in order to find relevant information and deliver quality service. Switching between screens and toggling applications chip away at agents’ time.
At first, a few seconds lost here and there might not seem substantial on an average day. Nevertheless, when you zoom out, you will find every second stacks up to drag down key performance indicators across.
This is why contact center integration is one of the most sought-after and talked about aspects of optimizing performance.
Integration is at the core of the contact center industry. Combining two disparate systems to help improve operational efficiency and automate routine workflows benefits the agents, customers, and the contact center itself.
And NovelVox, besides having its own set of advanced contact center optimization tools such as Agent Accelerator, Smart CTI Connector, NV Desk, and CXInfinity, has been the leading integration provider in the industry for the past 16 years.
Now, NovelVox is expanding its integration library from 75+ offerings to 100+ offerings with solutions like Jack Henry, Mailchimp, Guidewire, MongoDB, Epic, Journey Id, FIS, and more.
Here’s the long and short of the drive behind the expansion and what’s to come for NovelVox in the near future.
The Need for Integration in Contact Centers
NovelVox has always been at the forefront of contact center integration. And our purpose has always been to streamline day to day contact center operations, in turn, helping agents avoid inefficient workflows and access uninterrupted productivity.
The need for integration in contact centers is primal. Make a list of the biggest pain points in contact centers, and most (if not all) of them are caused due to various systems not being able to interact with each other.
Let’s look at some of the major obstacles contact centers face and how integration solves them:
Burned Out Agents
Contact center agents have a difficult job. Interacting with customers all day and making sure they are polite and forthcoming throughout is a chore, especially considering that not all customers reach out with the same intention or state of mind.
Add to that disjointed channels and siloed systems and you have the perfect recipe for burnout and even increased agent turnover in the longer run.
Integration can’t help make every customer interaction delightful, but it can make it simpler and easier. It essentially takes away half of the stress off the agents’ shoulders, enabling them to be attentive and foresighted in handling customer queries.
Poor First Call Resolution
On an average, customer satisfaction drops by 15% every time a customer has to call again regarding the same issue, according to a report by SQM Group.
This is why first call resolution is arguably the most important statistic in any contact center.
Improving first call resolution can significantly improve almost every other metric, including the overall contact center performance. Not to mention, it helps create a reliable image amongst customers by making them feel valued and prioritized.
A lot of factors come into play in improving first call resolution. Nevertheless, interoperability and inter-connectedness has to be the most significant. When agents have access to all relevant apps and information in one place, they are more likely to resolve a query on the first go, thus improving FCR.
But that’s not all. Integrated systems allow agents to be proactive in their approach. For instance, with a CTI integration, the agent gets all the relevant customer information pop up on their screen as soon as a call lands. This helps the agent get all the necessary context beforehand, enabling them to lead a personalized and impactful interaction.
Performance Deterioration
Lack of integration can be detrimental to contact centers in many ways, including lack of collaboration, delayed decision making, and lack of automation.Agility and collaboration are of the utmost importance in a contact center scenario. However, neither agility nor collaboration can be enabled within the team with obsolete, disconnected systems.
Not to mention, there is a severe lack of accuracy between data, leading to skewed reporting and analysis. This, in itself, can be detrimental to the entire growth strategy for contact centers.
Here are a few more dangers of lack of integration that hampers performance:
⦿ Scattered Data
With lack of integration, there is no single point of access to data. This, on a long turn, makes it difficult to assess which version of data is most recent.
⦿ Manual Processes
Lack of integration also prevents systems from interacting with each other, making automation of any cross-departmental workflow impossible.
⦿ Low User Adoption Rate
Each new system that you add without integration makes the learning curve for the agents higher. Each implementation would require them to re-learn workflows and understand the processes.
NovelVox as the Contact Center Integration Platform
Talking about the expansion, Amit Gandhi said “Contact centers must be well informed and well equipped if they are to operate at their best. And integrations play a vital role in ensuring optimum performance. With access to the right data at the right time, agents feel truly empowered. Our comprehensive integration library enables ACDs to streamline operations while equipping agents with the essential tools they need to succeed.
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