The evolving role of business process automation in the customer service experience.
Contact centre companies are still being forced to continually evolve in order to satisfy an ever more informed and demanding audience.
Distinctive dialler
BPA systems ultimately enable contact centre staff to view each customer as a unique entity.
Research has shown that one of the keys to improving the customer experience lies in the effective redesign of business processes. Yet, in most instances, short-term goals tend to take precedence over significant process automation efforts as a result of the everyday ‘busyness’ of business.
The outcome of outdated and non-customer-centric processes means an inevitable drop in customer satisfaction. In today’s competitive and constantly evolving landscape, businesses simply cannot afford to compromise on their customer service delivery, and should focus on the improvement of core processes in order to ensure their long-term success.
While companies are ultimately a product of their leadership, employee base and culture, their core processes can be substantially improved through the implementation of business process automation (BPA) software.
Far too often, businesses rely too heavily on their employees to execute business processes that could be better handled automatically. Contact centre workers often struggle to perform their tasks to the best of their ability, as a result of insufficient integration within the company’s systems.
Knowledge workers regularly end up manually re-entering the same data across a number of applications as a result of this insufficient integration, resulting in less speedy service, and a substantially increased margin for error.
BPA systems are able to greatly reduce pressure on employees, through seamless integration with legacy back-office systems. The result is a vastly simplified user interface, and a substantially reduced workload for contact centre staff, who no longer have to navigate multiple screens and applications.
An integrated system such as this also reduces the need for manual processes, thereby reducing the likelihood of human error. Over and above this, contact centre employees are able to better focus on the primary task at hand – servicing the customer.
From the customer’s perspective
Many companies have also made the mistake of creating their systems and processes around the structure of their internal organisation, rather than paying appropriate heed to the customer’s experience.
The building of processes around the needs of the organisation rather than those of the customer can quickly result in mounting frustration, and can leave businesses struggling in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Companies need to offer more viable pathways into their business processes, as this is what savvy customers now demand. Complicated IVR menus that mimic the company’s internal departmental structure have no relevance to the end-user, and while this might save on day-to-day operational costs, the financial impact of a dissatisfied customer base can be enormous.
In the vast majority of cases, this problem arises due to a company’s inability to place sufficient focus on customer satisfaction. Many tend to develop a unified view of their customers, as a result of data being spread across multiple systems, and tend to lose sight of what kind of experience will ultimately delight the customer.
Contact centre agents often become so caught up in the process involved in the facilitation of a customer experience that they lose the ability to actually engage the end-user in an appropriate manner.
BPA systems ultimately enable contact centre staff to view each customer as a unique entity, as they collate appropriate information and reduce the need for endless administration, thereby humanising callers, and help contact centre staff to view them as more than just a cog in a very complicated machine.
Business processes form the cornerstone of any business and brand, and can play a huge role in dictating an enterprise’s success. A strong foundation of sound processes enables a business to evolve to the needs of their customer base with greater efficiency and ease.
Automated process management tools can serve as a vital first step in a business’s re-examination of their core processes, and can help to facilitate a revitalised approach to customer service.
Outdated processes often result in the customer losing out at the end of the day, and while BPA systems are certainly not the answer to all a company’s problems, they can help to streamline the customer service chain, affording corporates the time and opportunity to refine their approach to their most important asset.