{"id":1808,"date":"2022-05-11T16:52:04","date_gmt":"2022-05-11T16:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.replicant.ai\/myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why\/"},"modified":"2022-11-01T01:15:32","modified_gmt":"2022-11-01T01:15:32","slug":"myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Myth: Automation is Bad for Customer Service Agents. Here&#8217;s Why."},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Contact Center Automation is putting to rest common AI misconceptions<\/h1>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When people think of Artificial Intelligence and automation, one of the first questions they ask is \u2018will this replace human jobs?\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Contact centers are no different. And in an era where it\u2019s harder than ever to hire and retain great agents, it\u2019s a valid question.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But Contact Center Automation was built for this exact reason: agents have never been more stressed and disenchanted with their jobs. 96% feel acutely <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.calabrio.com\/wfo\/workforce-engagement-management\/what-agents-want-in-the-era-of-the-great-resignation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">stressed<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> at least once a week. Almost half cite \u2018too many calls\u2019 as their biggest challenge. They\u2019re being asked to manage 7.2 more calls per day.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, there\u2019s still plenty of room for hesitation when it comes to automation. Here are some of the most common myths about Contact Center Automation and agents, and how Replicant is proving them untrue.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Myth #1: Automation will replace human agents<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As mentioned above \u2013 today\u2019s contact center agents have far too much on their plate. The <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.replicant.ai\/blog\/how-the-great-resignation-is-impacting-contact-centers-in-10-data-points\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Great Resignation<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> has seen talented agents leave to seek more engaging and higher paying work. Meanwhile, those who are still serving customers have been asked to pick up the slack in order to keep wait times at a minimum. But their workloads are unsustainable, and customers are waiting historically long times to speak with an agent. With Contact Center Automation, Replicant\u2019s Thinking Machine offloads repetitive, tier 1 requests like order updates and account maintenance from agents, so they can focus more on engaging customer interactions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And when agents are more engaged, everyone wins. Not only agents and employers, but customers too. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mckinsey.com\/pe\/~\/media\/McKinsey\/Business%20Functions\/Operations\/Our%20Insights\/Boosting%20contact%20center%20performance%20through%20employee%20engagement\/Boosting-contact-center-performance-through-employee-engagement.ashx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">McKinsey &amp; Company<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> found engaged and satisfied call center employees are:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>8.5x<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> more likely to stay than leave within a year<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>16x <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">more likely to refer friends to their company<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>3.3x<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> more likely to feel extremely empowered to resolve customer issues<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Myth #2: Automation relieves contact centers, not agents<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While it\u2019s true that certain kinds of automation only offer marginal process improvements for things like data entry and ticket creation, Contact Center Automation does much more.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Replicant <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">resolves<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> common tier 1 requests, from question to answer, within a single interaction. Using conversational AI, it allows customers to talk, type, or text as they would with an agent, providing an automation experience that they actually want to use.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In doing so, Contact Center Automation transforms what automation can mean in customer service. By serving customers more fully and decreasing the amount of customers in queue, Replicant\u2019s Thinking Machine provides true relief to agents. It&#8217;s why <a href=\"https:\/\/www.replicant.ai\/blog\/why-contact-center-agents-%e2%9d%a4%ef%b8%8f-replicant\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">agents love Replicant<\/a>: the Thinking Machine acts as a partner to customer service representatives by helping them solve requests \u2013 not simply offering tools that encourage them to take on even more requests.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Myth #3: Automation leads to more escalations<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Automation is not new. In fact, customers have been dealing with it for years in the form of Interactive Voice Response menus (IVR) and rudimentary chatbots. These traditional forms of automation have given the term \u201cautomation\u201d a reputation of customer frustration. Think of how many times you\u2019ve been told \u201cListen closely, our menu options have changed,\u201d or \u201cSorry, can you repeat that?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But Contact Center Automation and the conversational AI that powers it are purpose-built for customer service. Because of this, Replicant\u2019s Thinking Machine is able to create customer experiences that significantly decrease escalations. It does not aim to deflect customers to websites for self-service, or prevent customers from speaking with an agent. Instead, it aims to resolve every tier 1 request that it was designed to tackle, and does so with an over 85% success rate, making more agents available for customers who truly need them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2>Myth #4: Wages and agents won\u2019t grow<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the biggest concerns around automation isn\u2019t just that it will replace agent jobs, but will deprioritize them as managers focus investing in technology over people.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But Contact Center Automation is not a zero sum technology. It is designed to deploy in weeks, and quickly begin tackling thousands of high-volume requests across every channel \u2013 a stark departure from the months-to-years-long cycles contact centers are used to when implementing a new technology. By prioritizing simplicity over complexity, Replicant ensures that contact centers won\u2019t lose focus from their core objective of serving customers and empowering agents.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And while wages are already <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dallasnews.com\/business\/jobs\/2022\/04\/18\/verizon-raises-retail-and-customer-service-hourly-wages-to-20-with-signing-bonus-in-d-fw\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rising<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to attract more talented contact center agents, automation aims to provide agents a greater capacity to earn certifications and develop professionally as they focus on handling more sensitive and complex customer issues.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Learn more about the benefits of Contact Center Automation by downloading the complete guide.<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-7716\" src=\"https:\/\/www.replicant.ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/TheDefinitiveGuideCCAutomation_2501x469-1024x192.png\" alt=\"Learn how Contact Center Automation is transforming customer service with Replicant.\" width=\"1024\" height=\"192\" \/><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Contact Center Automation is putting to rest common AI misconceptions When people think of Artificial&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":1809,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.2 (Yoast SEO v21.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Myth: Automation is Bad for Customer Service Agents. Here&#039;s Why. | Replicant<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Contact Center Automation is not a zero sum technology - it deploys quickly to relieve agents and empower them to take on more engaging work.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Myth: Automation is Bad for Customer Service Agents. Here&#039;s Why.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Contact Center Automation is not a zero sum technology - it deploys quickly to relieve agents and empower them to take on more engaging work.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Replicant\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ReplicantAI\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-11T16:52:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-11-01T01:15:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Contact-Center-Automation-Myths.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Harry Chang\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@replicant_ai\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@replicant_ai\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Harry Chang\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Harry Chang\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9c520e89b9abe4f8bebd578c7fe07717\"},\"headline\":\"Myth: Automation is Bad for Customer Service Agents. Here&#8217;s Why.\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-11T16:52:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-01T01:15:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why\/\"},\"wordCount\":771,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why\/\",\"name\":\"Myth: Automation is Bad for Customer Service Agents. Here's Why. | Replicant\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-11T16:52:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-11-01T01:15:32+00:00\",\"description\":\"Contact Center Automation is not a zero sum technology - it deploys quickly to relieve agents and empower them to take on more engaging work.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Myth: Automation is Bad for Customer Service Agents. Here&#8217;s Why.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/\",\"name\":\"Replicant\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Replicant\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Replicant-General-Feature-Image.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Replicant-General-Feature-Image.png\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080,\"caption\":\"Replicant\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ReplicantAI\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/replicant_ai\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/29011835\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCg-GDAYCyLsTTam64PlyBPQ\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9c520e89b9abe4f8bebd578c7fe07717\",\"name\":\"Harry Chang\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/avatar_user_25_1633392200.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/avatar_user_25_1633392200.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Harry Chang\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/author\/harryreplicant-ai\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Myth: Automation is Bad for Customer Service Agents. Here's Why. | Replicant","description":"Contact Center Automation is not a zero sum technology - it deploys quickly to relieve agents and empower them to take on more engaging work.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Myth: Automation is Bad for Customer Service Agents. Here's Why.","og_description":"Contact Center Automation is not a zero sum technology - it deploys quickly to relieve agents and empower them to take on more engaging work.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why\/","og_site_name":"Replicant","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ReplicantAI\/","article_published_time":"2022-05-11T16:52:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-11-01T01:15:32+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Contact-Center-Automation-Myths.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Harry Chang","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@replicant_ai","twitter_site":"@replicant_ai","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Harry Chang","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why\/"},"author":{"name":"Harry Chang","@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9c520e89b9abe4f8bebd578c7fe07717"},"headline":"Myth: Automation is Bad for Customer Service Agents. Here&#8217;s Why.","datePublished":"2022-05-11T16:52:04+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-01T01:15:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why\/"},"wordCount":771,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why\/","url":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why\/","name":"Myth: Automation is Bad for Customer Service Agents. Here's Why. | Replicant","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-05-11T16:52:04+00:00","dateModified":"2022-11-01T01:15:32+00:00","description":"Contact Center Automation is not a zero sum technology - it deploys quickly to relieve agents and empower them to take on more engaging work.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/myth-automation-is-bad-for-customer-service-agents-heres-why\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Myth: Automation is Bad for Customer Service Agents. Here&#8217;s Why."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/","name":"Replicant","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#organization","name":"Replicant","url":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Replicant-General-Feature-Image.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Replicant-General-Feature-Image.png","width":1920,"height":1080,"caption":"Replicant"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ReplicantAI\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/replicant_ai","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/29011835","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCg-GDAYCyLsTTam64PlyBPQ"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9c520e89b9abe4f8bebd578c7fe07717","name":"Harry Chang","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.replicant.ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/avatar_user_25_1633392200.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.replicant.ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/avatar_user_25_1633392200.jpg","caption":"Harry Chang"},"url":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/blog\/author\/harryreplicant-ai\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.replicant.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}