{"id":1729,"date":"2022-01-27T18:17:21","date_gmt":"2022-01-27T18:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.replicant.ai\/how-automation-is-rescuing-contact-centers-from-the-great-resignation\/"},"modified":"2023-05-09T21:18:21","modified_gmt":"2023-05-09T21:18:21","slug":"how-automation-is-rescuing-contact-centers-from-the-great-resignation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/how-automation-is-rescuing-contact-centers-from-the-great-resignation\/","title":{"rendered":"How Automation is Rescuing Contact Centers from the Great Resignation"},"content":{"rendered":"

By almost every account, 2021 was the hardest year in history to manage a contact center. In the words of one contact center leader: \u201c2021 sucked\u201d. And with 2022 off to a rocky start, many are questioning whether the light at the end of the tunnel might actually be a train.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our latest guide, \u201cThe Great Resignation: Why Your Contact Center Won\u2019t Survive without Automation<\/a>,\u201d provides answers to some of today\u2019s most pressing challenges:<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s Impacting Contact Centers Today<\/span><\/h2>\n

The Great Resignation
\n<\/b>According to the U.S. Labor Department, more than 4.5 million people voluntarily left their jobs in November of last year. That was up from 4.2 million in October and was the most in the two decades that the government has been keeping track.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Great Resignation has caused stress on contact centers as employees reevaluate what meaningful work is. This has caused new, unforeseen and unplanned workforce management issues and made retention that much harder.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Global Pandemic
\n<\/b>According to the Harvard Business Review, the pandemic has created 68% more call escalations, 50% more difficult calls and 34% longer hold times. The pandemic is upending every aspect of business. It has taxed organizations greatly, leading to agent shortages, higher stress for employees who are still working, and unhappy customers (which negatively impacts customer loyalty).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Unpredictable External Forces
\n<\/b>Catastrophic weather events, cybersecurity threats, supply chain disruptions and other unpredictable crises are creating massive customer service challenges. Companies can\u2019t scale up and down quickly enough to meet customer demand in the face of these events. No longer do the operations models of the past predict future forecasting needs as it relates to hiring and surges in customer service volumes.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why Traditional Solutions are Failing\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n

\u201cModern problems require modern solutions.\u201d The old adage, cliche as it may be, could not be any truer that it is for today\u2019s contact centers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Great Resignation: Why Your Contact Center Won\u2019t Survive without Automation\u201d digs into the strategies long used by contact centers in times of crisis. Are they still fit for today\u2019s challenges?<\/span><\/p>\n

Seasonal hiring and BPOs <\/span>don\u2019t guarantee lower AHTs, higher CSAT scores, or lower queue times. And they can lead to cost overruns, inefficient training, and harm to your brand promise.<\/span><\/p>\n

Legacy technologies like agent assist solutions, IVRs and self-service can force customers to sit through rigid menus, stay on calls for minutes to hours only to be deflected elsewhere, and have to repeat themselves once transferred to an agent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

56% of consumers cite automated telephone systems as the most frustrating aspect of poor customer service.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Why automation is succeeding<\/span><\/h2>\n

Contact center automation comes in many forms. The most comprehensive solutions leverage conversational AI which has received rapid adoption rates in contact centers due to its proven ability to solve the problems outlined in this guide. It is the only automation solution that directly partners with humans to create a seamless experience that benefits both customers and agents.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This guide explores the foundation of the technology as well as its ability to directly address today\u2019s challenges:<\/span><\/p>\n