Needless to say, modern contact centers are not what they used to be a few decades ago. Customer preferences have undoubtedly become pivotal to the growth and success of any contact center industry.
However, a report from HubSpot highlights the looming lacunae in the industry and warrants innovative steps to enhance customer satisfaction. The report states that 44% of the customers feel that businesses need to incorporate technological solutions to make customers’ lives easier. Also, 58% of customers are likely to end ties with a business due to poor customer service.
The days of customers settling with poor services are gone and this era is all about customer experience and convenience. If superior customer service reinforces excellent CX then knowledgeable agents are the medium to help deliver these experiences to the customer base. It makes sense to look at agents and CX in the same frame, and contact centers across the globe are making a big mistake by not doing so.
Did you know that agent attrition rates have been rising since 2013 and are at an all-time high in 2022? Not equipped with the right technology to handle customer queries and working in a dissatisfied, disconnected, and demotivated environment, agents reap anything but productivity.
Contact Center Wallboards: Taking Care of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
Wallboards are not a new invention; they’ve been around for as long as the internet. They have, however, evolved tremendously from the green screens of the past to the high-definition displays today. They have given contact center managers a robust platform to govern their operations and drive performances.
A visual communications tool used to display real-time information, a Wallboard enhances contact center performance. Contact center wallboards can stimulate positive performance if it is used effectively.
If your Wallboard solution is a cluttered, static, and pure-text tool and displays the same-old day after day, then there are high chances that agents would ignore it. Also, too much information flashing too rapidly before their eyes can only serve to distract them.
Extra care has to be taken when displaying individual agent performance as well. Displaying information that agents have no control over would only serve to demotivate. Secondly, misusing wallboard information can often push agents towards undesirable behavior like deliberately shortening their customer interactions when driven to reduce AHT-at the expense of call quality and overall customer satisfaction.
When Do You Need to Implement a Wallboard Solution in Your Contact Center?
Let’s look at some scenarios where a Wallboard solution can come in handy.
- When in need to retrieve agent performance data
- To be able to view enterprise systems and multiple contact centers’ data on a single screen
- To inform your team members via alerts and notifications when the department is in danger of failing to reach goals
- To be able to manage information from new channels and telephony systems.
- For better agent productivity and to help in reducing agent churn and absenteeism
- Empowering managers and supervisors to handle the workforce better
Common Contact Center Issues that a Wallboard Solves
Management thinker Peter Drucker is often quoted as saying that “you can’t manage what you can’t measure.”
Wallboards enable supervisors to take timely action based on Wallboards’ trends, ranging from agent availability to productivity. Let’s see some examples of scenarios where Wallboard solutions can aid a supervisor/ contact center manager:
- It can highlight the availability status, and if the number of agents showing ‘available’ status is low, then supervisors can act accordingly, and that too in real-time.
- It can also flag up information about technical outages and get the help desk agents to react.
- Wallboards enable comparison by displaying a trend in service levels vis-a-vis a previous period.
- They are equipped to deliver news of significant policy changes that impact the way agents handle contact center calls.
How does Wallboards Address Agent Attrition?
Wallboards are known to positively impact contact center agent engagement, productivity, and job satisfaction. Equipping agents and supervisors with real-time access to a blend of performance data and motivational information enables everyone in the team to see and work towards common business objectives.
Absenteeism: Wallboards reduce Agent absenteeism by an estimated 9%. By implementing a culture of communication and shared goals, agents are supported and help to reduce their stress.
Data filtration: Agents can filter out data as per business requirements and specifications. Thus, giving them access to real-time and threshold-driven data. It enables proactive customer demand management and improved service levels with reduced customer wait times.
Keep Track of CX: A report by Deloitte shows that 62% of companies perceive customer experience as a competitive differentiator. Wallboards allow managers and supervisors to look at different business performance areas or pick out trends in complaints and amend their approach to serve customers better.
Guidelines for an Effective Wallboard System
- Modern wallboard management software allows for the creative use of data, images, colors, symbols, icons, fonts, etc. Using it well will result in new, attractive displays that frequently change to maintain interest.
- Use KPIs and other operational data in bursts to avoid boredom and achieve maximum impact and comprehension.
- Avoid cluttering wallboard messaging or displaying data that is only of value to team leaders or supervisors.
- Use wallboards to inspire your agents. Individual recognition for achievements can become an important – and greatly appreciated – part of your contact center culture.
- Mix and match real-time KPIs and other data with occasional snippets of the company or contact center-specific news.
What to Expect from a Modernized Contact Center Wallboard
Contact center wallboards are usually expected to display key performance metrics in real-time. However, it’s hard to keep the agents engaged by merely displaying performance stats on a big screen in today’s era of significant disruption. To fuel a refreshing feeling and motivate them to do more, it’s imperative to engage them with the visually-appealing display of KPIs.
NovelVox, a disruptor in unified communications (UC) and contact center (CC) since 2008, offers a library of over 50 interactive Wallboard designs for leading contact centers like Avaya, Genesys, Cisco, etc. Interactive dashboards with pre-designed banners and a gamified interface for real-time performance metrics, alerts, and notifications helps drive agent engagement and motivation, further enhancing agents’ performance.
The snowball effect of good and bad customer experiences is undeniable. The impact of CX can reverberate across your organization more profoundly today than ever before. And to bridge the glaring CX gap, you ought to equip your agents with the right tools and timely insights to help them meet customer needs and expectations.
“There is a strong link between happy employees and happy customers, and another one between happy customers and profit.”- Bernard Marr
