Real-time guidance: Technology that drives better call center interactions
Imagine if the most knowledgeable person in your call center could sit in on every customer interaction. They’ve been with your call center for years, know your knowledge base front to back, could walk through any workflow in their sleep, and have learned exactly what to say to customers in every situation. They also know exactly when to offer your agents assistance, adding value to the interaction rather than just being a distraction.
That person probably doesn’t exist in your call center—or if they do, they can’t be in every customer interaction at once. But fortunately, real-time guidance software can.
Real-time guidance (also sometimes called next-best-action guidance) involves using technology to assist call center agents as they talk to customers. This can include:
Real-time guidance aims to enable all agents to efficiently resolve customer queries using the best information available to them.
Real-time guidance software uses a combination of pre-built script logic, machine learning, and AI to assist call center agents during live interactions. Managers can use a low-code script builder and integrations with existing data sources to create flexible workflows that walk agents through required steps in a simple interface. Creovai Agent Workflow is an example of this type of real-time software.
A real-time interface may also include pop-up prompts that assist the agent based on the context of the conversation. The software uses machine learning to understand the meaning of specific phrases and trigger an appropriate action. For example, if a customer mentioned they thought the price of a service was too high, the software might show the agent a prompt to help them overcome this objection.
This same technology can also trigger dynamic checklists that automatically update as agents complete necessary steps. This helps keep agents on track and in compliance no matter what direction the customer interaction goes in.
Finally, real-time software may use AI for tasks such as summarizing the call, looking up information from a knowledge base, and auto-populating fields in the agent’s workflow. This reduces time-consuming and repetitive work, giving the agent more time to focus on assisting customers.
Creovai Agent Assist is an example of real-time guidance software that uses both machine learning and AI to help agents work more efficiently and deliver positive customer experiences.
Real-time guidance gives call center agents one interface with the right information delivered at the right time in the customer interaction. This means new agents don’t have to spend months learning many different systems or memorizing where to find answers to different questions. Not only does this reduce onboarding time, it also reduces training costs so call centers can reallocate training budget to other critical areas.
Call center agents often handle complex interactions that require them to navigate multiple knowledge sources and compliance requirements. This is especially common in call centers that offer technical support or operate in regulated industries. Real-time guidance software gives agents step-by-step workflows so they can be confident they’re providing accurate information and following the correct protocols.
Real-time guidance software reduces average handling times (AHT) by giving agents the information they need in a single interface, reducing the time spent trying to track down answers. This software can also improve first-call resolution by prompting agents to address secondary issues that frequently cause customers to call back.
Compliance is critical in regulated industries such as financial services, insurance, and utilities. When agents make errors, it can put their organization at risk for legal action, hefty fines, and reputational damage. Real-time software provides dynamic checklists and prompts to ensure agents stay in compliance. Managers can also set up compliance triggers that notify them of compliance breaches in real time, enabling them to act fast.
Real-time guidance software can analyze customer sentiment, loyalty, and product mentions to identify upsell and cross-sell opportunities. The software can prompt agents with these offers when appropriate to increase sales generated by the call center.
If agents don’t feel confident handling customer objections, it can be hard for them to close sales. Real-time call guidance can serve agents objection-handling prompts based on previous successful sales calls, helping them increase their win rates.
Real-time software can automate repetitive tasks like writing call summaries and recording call data in a CRM or ticketing system. This helps prevent important information from slipping through the cracks while also reducing the time agents spend on after-call work. The less time agents have to spend on after-call work, the more time they have to problem-solve for customers.
Call center agents typically have multiple applications open during customer interactions, including their CCaaS interface, CRM, and knowledge base. When answering customer questions, they often must navigate between systems, increasing the length (and cost) of the call and potentially frustrating the customer. Real-time call guidance surfaces the information agents need when they need it, allowing them to work more efficiently and provide great customer service.
Having to contact a business multiple times is one of the top drivers of customer dissatisfaction, and repeat contacts drive up operational costs. Real-time guidance helps reduce repeat contacts by ensuring agents have the resources and information they need to resolve issues on the first call.
Real-time interaction guidance puts the knowledge of the business and top call center performers at the fingertips of every agent. This means the call center spends less time and money training new agents, and new agents get on the phone faster.
There’s a strong correlation between a positive agent experience and a great customer experience. Real-time guidance improves the agent experience by simplifying workflows, which helps agents feel prepared to handle any customer query.
Working as a call center agent can be stressful, and burnout is a top cause of agent attrition. By setting agents up for success with in-the-moment coaching and step-by-step workflows, real-time guidance reduces stress and helps call centers keep their best agents for longer.
Real-time guidance ensures customers receive consistently great service whether speaking to a new or veteran agent. Real-time software helps agents deliver a faster resolution on the first call, leading to greater customer satisfaction.
Connecting your real-time guidance software to your existing tech stack will help you maximize its value. To get up and running quickly, you’ll want to look for a solution that offers pre-built integrations to your core tools, such as your CCaaS and CRM. You should also look for a platform with an open API so you can connect other systems as needed.
Live audio capture from the agent’s desktop gives you another option for quickly getting started with real-time guidance. It allos you to record audio and generate high-quality transcriptions in real time, improving your conversation data collection and enabling live captioning.
A good real-time guidance platform should simplify call handling, not just give agents another system to juggle. Look for a platform that brings all the information your agents need, such as customer data, checklists, and coaching prompts, into one approachable interface.
If you need your IT team to update call scripts and workflows, you may get stuck behind other priorities in their queue—potentially causing agents to share outdated information. Look for a real-time guidance platform that offers a low-code or no-code workflow builder so managers can easily build new workflows and make changes to existing ones.
Look for a real-time solution that can be trained on your customer interactions and also offers pre-built categories that trigger actions based on phrases agents and customers utter. The pre-built categories will help you quickly build automated prompts for common scenarios, and the ability to build custom categories will help you ensure you can guide your agents through scenarios that are specific to your business.
A good real-time guidance platform will use AI to automate repetitive tasks and free up call center agents to focus on problem solving and strengthening customer relationships. Look for a solution that can summarize calls using generative AI and write call data back to the system of record.
Your contact center’s past interactions contain valuable insights into what’s working well and what needs to be improved—but you need to be able to surface those insights and apply them to real-time guidance. Look for real-time software that is tightly integrated with a conversation intelligence platform. This software lets you apply conversation insights (such as your most effective rebuttals or save offers) to your real-time interactions, helping all your agents be as successful as your top performers.
There’s still a strong demand for human contact center agents, with a majority of customers saying they prefer to speak to a human when they have a complex issue to resolve. Real-time guidance software supports your human agents so they can meet the needs of your customers. By giving your agents flexible workflows, dynamic checklists, relevant coaching prompts, and other real-time tools, you can help them deliver the type of customer experience that becomes a competitive advantage for your business.