Digital Island Exclusive Pt 4: How to Balance on the Tightrope of Cost Management and Quality Service

Welcome back to our series on insights from the exclusive executive luncheon hosted by Digital Island. In this series, we’ve been exploring valuable takeaways shared by the renowned contact centre expert, Brad Cleveland. If you’ve missed the previous parts, we’ve discussed a whole host of aspects of contact centre management, with the singular goal of genuinely improving customer experience (CX) and engagement.

In this fourth instalment, we’ll look at how to balance cost management with quality service in contact centres. It’s an age-old problem — if you cut back on investment, your bottom line looks better in the short term, but then your service suffers, and both your customers and agents leave. On the other hand, if you invest too much, you reach a tipping point in marginal utility, and you’re needlessly burning money.

Balancing cost management with quality service is therefore a big challenge for contact centre leaders, and so this article will share practical insights and strategies to help you walk that tightrope with aplomb. The end goal is to keep your customer service top-notch, all while making sure your contact centre stays efficient.

Workforce Management Trends

Brad really made sure it was clear that workforce management (WFM) in contact centres involves more than just scheduling shifts. It should be a more holistic strategy that forecasts call volumes, manages workloads, and makes sure that agents are deployed in the best way to meet customer needs. Brad then highlighted several key trends reshaping WFM that were making it more inclusive, but at the same time, more efficient.

Inclusion of All Work Types

Modern WFM should now cover all types of work, including asynchronous interactions like emails and internal tasks. Asynchronous interactions refer to tasks that don’t need real-time communication, allowing agents to respond at their convenience within a certain timeframe.

By accounting for every aspect of an agent’s workload, contact centre management can get a better handle on the total workload, allowing for more accurate scheduling and better resource allocation. This top-down, holistic view goes a long way towards reducing wasted time and resources, ultimately balancing operational costs with service quality.

Agent Visibility and Control

A growing trend is giving agents greater visibility and control over their schedules and workflows. Advanced WFM software lets agents see their schedules in real time, request changes, and manage their work preferences.

And we should note, don’t see this as a trend for merely the sake of being a trend. This flexibility really does boost morale and lead to higher productivity — one study found that 41% of Fortune 500 HR leaders with the most flexible policies said their productivity had increased in the past year.

It makes sense — when agents feel in control of their work-life balance, they are more engaged and deliver better customer service. In the end, you get a win-win scenario: You get more engaged, efficient agents, helping your contact centre manage costs more effectively without compromising service quality.

Cost Reduction without Compromising Quality

Reducing costs effectively while maintaining high service quality is absolutely possible. Even small reductions in Average Handle Time (AHT) and unnecessary inbound workload can seriously impact operational costs. Just look at a straightforward, logical example:

• Reducing AHT by 10%: If you reduce the time each call takes by 10%, agents can handle more calls in the same amount of time, increasing efficiency.
• Impact on a 30-Seat Centre:
  • 30 Agents: Imagine you have 30 agents taking calls.
  • 10% Reduction in Workload: If each agent works 10% more efficiently, it’s like having 3 extra agents (10% of 30).
  • Full-Time Equivalent (FTE): This means you effectively need fewer agents to handle the same workload.
  • Savings: This efficiency gain can save the equivalent of 3 full-time agents’ salaries.
  • Financial Impact: If each agent’s salary is $65,000 per year, the total savings would be approximately $195,000 ($65,000 x 3) per year.

Admittedly that’s just one quick and dirty way to demonstrate the concept, but how do you get there? The short answer is data, so let’s talk about it.

Data-Driven Decision Making

The Role of Analytics in Contact Centres

Another big theme during our group discussion was using AI analytics and data to drive decisions. Leaders talked at length about how analytics can uncover insights that improve customer service strategies while actually improving efficiency.

Sentiment Analysis

One of the standout tools is sentiment analysis, which evaluates every customer interaction to gauge customer feelings and satisfaction levels. This method provides a real-world, evidence-based view of CX and helps understand customer sentiments more accurately. By analysing customer interactions and feedback, AI analytics is a crucial tool in identifying trends and insights that can be used to improve service quality and customer satisfaction.

Automated Quality Assurance (QA)

Automated QA is another game changer. It offers a comprehensive view of agent performance, freeing up team leaders and QA staff to focus on proactive coaching. This leads to the development of better induction and training programs, which drive improved agent performance.

By analysing metrics such as call handling time, first call resolution rate, and customer satisfaction scores, AI can identify areas where agents need improvement and provide targeted coaching and training. This approach is fundamental for not only improving agent performance but also boosting overall productivity.

Benefits of Data-Driven Decision Making

By using data to understand customer needs and sentiments, contact centres can tailor their strategies to better meet customer expectations.

Reduced Call Volume

AI analytics can help contact centres reduce their call volume by up to 24% by pinpointing and addressing the root causes of frequent calls. For example, by analysing call data, AI can identify common issues that customers repeatedly call about and suggest proactive solutions. This reduction in call volume allows agents to focus on more complex issues, enhancing customer satisfaction.

Faster Call Resolution

AI analytics can speed up call resolution by 15% by giving agents real-time assistance and relevant insights. For instance, AI can analyse a customer’s call history and supply the agent with the right information to resolve the call faster. This leads to quicker call resolution, boosting customer satisfaction and cutting down call handling costs.

Cost Reduction

AI analytics solutions, like those offered by Digital Island’s AWS Connect Managed Services, can allow contact centres to cut up to 50% of their legacy system costs. These savings can be reinvested into other areas to further enhance performance.

High Return on Investment

Implementing AI analytics can result in genuinely impressive ROI, with some contact centres seeing returns of up to 241%. This demonstrates the real, transformative potential of AI analytics in enhancing contact centre operations and actually delivering substantial benefits.

All of those percentages are concrete proof of just how much analytics can improve your efficiency while improving CX. At the end of the day, if you’re not investing in AI analytics and actually using it to its full potential, you’re missing out on real, tangible benefits for your customers, agents, and bottom line.

Where to Next With Digital Island

Balancing cost management with quality service is like walking a tightrope. It requires careful planning and the right tools to get it just right. We were grateful to have Brad Cleveland share his invaluable insights with us, and we’re happy to pass these on to you. By adopting modern workforce management strategies, reducing Average Handle Time, and using AI-driven analytics, your contact centre can become more efficient without compromising on service quality.

Of course, all of this is easier said than done, especially if you are trying to do it all in-house. If you want some objective insight into your particular issues, contact Digital Island today — our team is ready to provide expert guidance and tailored solutions to help you implement these strategies and lift your CX so that it becomes a profit centre, not an obligation.

FAQs

1. What is workforce management (WFM) in contact centres?

Workforce management (WFM) in contact centres involves forecasting call volumes, scheduling shifts, managing workloads, and ensuring agents are deployed effectively to meet customer needs. It aims to balance operational efficiency with high-quality service delivery.

2. How can reducing Average Handle Time (AHT) save costs in a contact centre?

Reducing Average Handle Time (AHT) by 10% increases agent efficiency, allowing them to handle more calls in the same amount of time. In a 30-agent contact centre, this can save the equivalent of three full-time agents’ salaries, amounting to approximately $195,000 annually.

3. What are the benefits of using AI analytics in a contact centre?

AI analytics can enhance customer experience by reducing call volume by up to 24%, speeding up call resolution by 15%, and providing real-time insights. It also helps in cost reduction, cutting legacy system costs by up to 50%, and delivers a high ROI, with some centres seeing returns of up to 241%.

4. How does sentiment analysis improve customer service in contact centres?

Sentiment analysis evaluates customer interactions to gauge feelings and satisfaction levels. By identifying trends and insights, it helps contact centres tailor their strategies to better meet customer needs, ultimately enhancing service quality and customer satisfaction.

5. Why should contact centres invest in AI-driven analytics solutions?

Investing in AI-driven analytics solutions allows contact centres to improve operational efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance customer service quality. The significant ROI and tangible benefits, such as improved agent performance and customer satisfaction, make it a worthwhile investment.