COVID-19 had thrown call centers into what is arguably one of the most testing times the industry has ever faced. A quick scroll through the social media pages of some of the world’s biggest brands revealed streams of complaints from customers whose calls were automatically hung up on or diverted down a long and winding path.
A recent TrustPilot review of BA reads:
“After roughly 15 calls to customer service (at £0.02/minute, which adds up) in which I was given a recording and hung up on, or it rang endlessly with no pickup, I called the international number and selected the Avios option (#2). I finally reached a human being.”
Understandably, the coronavirus crisis caught many, if not all, businesses off guard. Customer service representatives were, by and large, unprepared for the nature and volume of inquiries that came in. Policies were continuously changing as companies tried to respond to new information and developments in real-time, resulting in prolonged call queues and customers being passed along from one department to the next.
Organizations across the world are remembered for how they handled and responded to the pandemic, so your customer service delivery must always a priority. 41% of customers claim to have partly or completely stopped using a brand due to poor customer experience (CX) – and these figures are likely to increase as consumers grow increasingly conscious of where their money is being spent.
The legacy of the pandemic has changed working practices for many organisations, especially with the adoption of home or remote working. So what if you were already doing everything possible to help and assist your customers, despite a reduced or remote working team? What if your telecommunications were letting you down?
Statistics observed from our existing customer base during the pandemic highlighted that:
- Call failures due to carrier issues had increased 5%
- Call failures due to increased call volumes had increased 7%
- Overall error alerts from Razor tests had increased by 14%
While a level of empathy and understanding was required on all fronts as we tried to come up with quick solutions for our customers, there were tools that could have been utilized and actions that could have taken to; improve the quality of calls, easily adopt homeworking and roll out changes to IVR systems faster and with greater accuracy.
A proactive attitude was necessary as organizations shifted into a remote working model to ensure the safety of their employees. Call centers employ a huge volume of staff, and since these establishments were going to be one of the primary contact points for customers who were self-isolating or confirmed to their homes, it was essential for the industry to find successful ways of enabling its workforce to operate remotely. This model wasn’t new for many businesses, about 10-20% of call center employees worked from home. For others, however, the transition was going to be tricky and not without its challenges.
Not only did Contact Centers want visibility over their staff to ensure the upkeep of service delivery, privacy protection, and that workers were taking the necessary breaks, but they also wanted to make sure that the Agents systems were functioning and performing optimally.
At Occam, we’ve always worked closely with our clients to boost our service and support contact centers as they adapted to that unique situation.
Free monitoring service for contact centers during the pandemic
When Contact Center Agents transitioned to work from home during the pandemic, our Contact Center customers technology needs changed.
To help them , we offered a specialized service to ensure that they could can carry on with the business of delivering excellent customer service, even if their workforce was no longer in a centralized location. At a time when many companies were looking to cut spending, we were pleased to offer our; Remote Agent Network Analytics module, our Toll Free Number Testing module and our Razor Monitoring services free of charge for the duration of the pandemic.
Free monitoring with Occam included:
- FREE monitoring of up to 5 numbers in your contact center infrastructure – from carrier to agent (Full “End to End” testing).
- Automated testing – from once a day to every 15 minutes of any toll or toll-free number.
- Free setup of test cases from our Professional Services team.
How monitoring helps remote contact centers
When a contact center implements agents that are operating from home, it’s vital to anticipate and identify any snags in the Contact Center system and the Agents home working environment.
It’s likely that the Contact Center is experiencing high call volumes and that those calls are following a new channel to the home-based customer service agent. You’ll want to keep overseeing the success rate of your connections and having insight into how your carriers are coping with the increased stress on the system.
Since your call traffic is now moving to new locations, your priority is to make sure that those callers are getting answered promptly and that the audio quality is clear.
By employing Occam’s sophisticated Remote Agent Network Analytics Monitoring tool, you can deliver a consistent customer experience, despite the behind-the-scenes reshuffling of your infrastructure.
As an organization that prioritizes customer service, we understand how important it is for your business to maintain good relationships and remain helpful and supportive to its clients.
To take advantage of our services, you can simply complete a form and we can swiftly have you setup so that you can start monitoring your remote contact center’s performance and we can start providing you with invaluable insights that could make all the difference to your CX.
