CONTACT CENTRE AUTOMATION

Although automation can streamline the operation of contact centres and provide better customer experience at a lower cost, it cannot completely replace the need for human labour. While most contact centre agents may consider automation to be their competition, this actually is not the case. Contact centres strive to focus on using the automation technology to eliminate manual and repetitive tasks and provide their customers with a more efficient and personal experience.

WHAT YOU CAN AUTOMATE IN CONTACT CENTER

GOODS ORDERING

When ordering goods by phone or chat, and after conversation with a customer, a contact centre agent must enter the ordering system and fill in all the necessary information: the customer’s personal data, the delivery and billing address, and the purchased goods. This takes time for the agent, who could otherwise already be in conversation with another customer.

What the robot does
At the end of the agent’s conversation with the customer, the robot takes over the recorded data and enters the ordering system. There it verifies the availability of the product, creates an order, sends information about receiving the order to the customer, and sends a request to the warehouse to send the goods. By allowing agents to service other customers in the meantime, the number of calls they can handle is automatically
increased.

PROCESSING A REQUEST FOR A CONFIRMATION

When receiving a request for a confirmation, the agent must obtain all the necessary information from the client, including their personal data such as their name, surname, date of birth and address, the date the certificate should be issued on, the certificate’s purpose, and so on. The contact centre agent then creates a ticket for the back office, which then issues the certificate.

What the robot does
At the end of the conversation with the client, the robot takes the data obtained by the agent and enters the system to obtain any additional information needed to issue the certificate. After obtaining all the necessary information, the robot can issue the certificate and send it to the client by email. If the certificate is to be delivered by post, the robot will put it into the printing queue. Therefore, the agent does not have to create a request for the back office and the back-office staff do not have to issue the certificate manually.

EXISTING CUSTOMER VERIFICATION

In many calls, it is necessary to verify if the caller is already an existing client. In such cases, a contact centre agent must enter the information system and manually search for the client, which may take up to half a minute. Instead, the agent could be engaged in other activities with a higher added value.
What the robot does
After starting the call and obtaining basic information from the caller, the robot enters the internal system and finds out whether or not the caller is an existing customer within a few seconds. By involving the robot, the time for customer verification is significantly reduced and the agent can fully focus on the client’s requests.

THE AVAILABILITY OF GOODS IN STOCK OR AT STORES

Contact centre agents are often requested to check the availability of certain products in stock or at stores. For these requests, agents must access the ordering system or the company’s website, find the product, and check its availability, which can all be time-consuming. In the process, the agent must click through various systems and search for goods.

What the robot does
During communication with the client, the agent types the name of the product that the customer is interested in. Immediately after this information is entered, the robot enters the system and searches for the product. Within a few seconds, the agent is shown its availability in the warehouse as well as at individual stores.

ORDER CANCELLATION

In most cases, cancelling an order does not bring any profit to the company. Many companies offer cancellation services also by chat or phone. The customer simply writes through chat or calls a hot line, gives their data, and asks for a cancellation. The contact centre operator must then create a ticket for the back office, where they must search for the order, cancel it, return the payment, stop the delivery at the logistics department, and inform the client about the next steps and the status of the order cancellation.

What the robot does
When a contact centre agent records all the necessary data, the robot reads the order number, enters all the necessary systems (such as the relevant SAP, contact centre, and third party applications), cancels the order, informs the logistics department and the transport company, sends a request for a refund, cancels the order to dispatch the goods from the warehouse, and sends the information to the customer that the order has been cancelled along with information on any next steps. Thus, the agent does not have to click through different systems and create tickets for the back office, and they can spend time doing more beneficial activities instead. The robot will take care of the entire process.

WHAT DOES THE RPA IMPLEMENTATION LOOK LIKE?

CONSULTATION

The first thing that is needed is a meeting where we can talk to your IT department and the people who have been performing the processes you wish to automate. Together we will set up and define the necessary access rights.

MEETING

Meetings are usually about two to three hours long, and they do not have to be in person: conference calls via Skype, Teams, Webex,Zoom, and so on are enough.

PROPOSAL

Based on these meetings, we will document the process and propose how it should be automated.

AUTOMATION

We automate processes in the existing systems that you normally use. We do not create any new systems or modify existing ones.

REFERENCES

People are apprehensive about automation. That’s why we put a lot of effort into explaining that we were not going to lay anyone off. Rather, the aim was to stabilise the team, create conditions to be able to cope with seasonal surges, and allow employees to pursue higher added-value work.

Martin Ohradzanský, NAY & Electro World, CEO

HOW LONG DOES AUTOMATION TAKE?

The automation itself does not take long. We are able to deliver a complete and implemented robot for your systems within three to four weeks from the first meeting.

WHAT IS THE RETURN OF INVESTMENT IN RPA?

The return on investment in software robots ranges from six to twelve months. The complexity of the actual implementation is minimal compared to implementing a new system.

SOFTWARE ROBOTS IN CONTACT CENTRES

POST-CALL ACTIVITIES

Software robots for post-call processing

Automatic process initiation based on the input immediately after the end of the call or chat
Various system updates, copying data from one system to another, and application or database synchronization
Creating process “buttons” in existing applications

BACK-OFFICE PROCESSES

Easy transfer between front-office and back-office processes and tasks

Automatic processing of back-office tasks
Document or request processing, code generation, invoice issuing, automatic verification of the entitlement to an instalment calendar, and payment or money
refund processing
Data validation and process automation in the case of non-standard processes or exemptions
Controlled workflows: the orchestration of processes combining the work of humans and software robots

CUSTOMER SELF-SERVICE

Including any connected automatic service processing:

Chat channel/chatbot, web, email or IVR connected to robots that automatically respond or perform a process (such as order processing or order cancellation)
Customer request processing automation through integration with a helpdesk portal or a contact centre

AGENT ASSISTANT

Assistant platform for agents to optimize the performance of their activities:

Advisory: an interactive robot conducting necessary transactions in real time
during a call/chat with a customer (e.g., the calculation of an entitlement
to a discount, instalments, or the actual processing of a customer’s request,
including new service activation and data changing)
Customized agent console with real time data pulled in from various company systems helping to serve the customer
Omnichannel: an integrated agent platform for connecting various communication channels into a single platform

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