Donna Fluss of DMG Consulting presents good reasoning on how companies should consider blending self-service and live agents in an article on CRM Xchange.
Here’s an excerpt:
Investments in self-service applications have skyrocketed during the past two years, as companies large and small are building or enhancing self-service solutions. More than one company has called me to ask for assistance in building a zero-footprint call center. This is an interesting concept – a customer service environment without any live agents to help customers.
Four enterprise-centric trends are driving companies to invest in self-service automation, either to eliminate or minimize the need to employ live agents to assist their customers. These trends are:
- The need to reduce call center operating expenses in order to improve the company’s margins and bottom line
- The desire to automate as many servicing tasks as possible prior to moving call center activities offshore
- Self-service applications that are reaching their end-of-life and are in need of replacement; in some situations it is less expensive to replace a solution than to continue to maintain an old platform
- The current generation of self-service Web and voice portal technologies and solutions that are able to deliver high-value applications not previously available
Five additional call center departmental trends are pushing even the most quality-conscious managers to consider using self-service to eliminate or dramatically reduce their need for live agents. These trends include:
- The ongoing agent attrition problem
- The challenge of finding qualified agents
- Increasing cost of agents
- Poor service quality and bad public relations associated with offshore outsourcers
- Increasing gas prices, which are exacerbating many agent-related issues
Filed under: Contact Automation, Self-service, Shared IVR Services | Tagged: Self-service
