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4 Ways to Use Cloud Call Center Technology to Get Rid of Customer Service Inefficiencies

By Ellen Christenberry | Technology | Estimated Reading Time: 7 minutes

Does your call center need a software and process makeover? If you want to keep up with the Joneses, you may have heard joining the fleet of cloud call centers is on the radar of most customer service leaders. In fact, this year Forrester predicts U.S. tech investment will drop 1.5% overall but CIO spending on cloud platforms will accelerate. While IT leaders grip tight to budgets, the investments they do make will focus on cloud technology – like cloud call centers.

But finding the best cloud software for your call center’s needs can feel daunting. How do you choose the right technology for your company? Is buying cloud software actually worth it? And, once you’ve purchased new software, what can you even do with it?

Cloud technology brings many advantages for all call centers and gets rid of service inefficiencies that drain revenue-earning potential. To give you an idea of how a cloud call center can help you, here are four projects you can take on for better customer service with your cloud tech.

[Download Now] Seven projects every VP of Ops should do to reduce inefficiencies in their call center

1. Use customer data to personalize your omnichannel strategy

Cloud call centers put you a peg above your competitors when it comes to managing and tracking your customers’ data. Cloud platforms make it simple to integrate with your current systems and other cloud tools, like ticketing systems. So data-sharing becomes second nature because you can send information between platforms in real-time. And, data is super important if you want to connect with your customers and understand their needs; it’s the nucleus of your call center.

So where do you begin if you want to improve omnichannel using data? Here are a few places to start:

Collect lots of data and review it often

Gather information throughout the customer journey and during every agent-customer interaction. Learn your customer demographics, coach agents to ask clarifying questions to understand customer needs, and take notes on each customer interaction. Then, make the data work for you by organizing and reviewing it weekly.

Survey your customers often

Some of the world’s most successful companies (looking at you, Disney) prioritize frequent customer feedback. Send satisfaction surveys to your customers during different parts of the customer journey. Getting honest customer feedback is one of the simplest ways to know how to improve your CX.

Look for patterns in your data to improve your CX

If your goal is to personalize your CX, review customer data for patterns and trends in behavior and preferences.

Ask yourself questions like:

Do my customers use chat or email? How about social media?
Do my younger customers like to communicate differently than my older customers?
Are customers calling in with simple questions that my agents can resolve quickly?
Do my customers get the same experience if my agents work from home or from the contact center?
Do customers in different geographical areas prefer one product over another?
What are my customers most frustrated with? And are there patterns in who is frustrated with what?

2. Create performance dashboards to track agent performance

Almost 80% of agents show up to work without knowing what’s expected of them. When employees show up to work without feeling connected to their work – let alone to their company’s broader vision and mission, they’re more likely to underperform or burn out. On the flip side, agents who know what they’re expected to do (and why) work harder and smarter.

If you want to reach company goals, set performance goals for your contact center and track your agents’ progress. Cloud call centers make performance tracking much simpler because you can keep tabs on your agents – and coach them – no matter where they’re working.

Roll out new performance metrics for your agents using cloud performance management tools (like Sharpen’s Performance Tiles). Help agents, managers, and supervisors monitor agent metrics with personalized and user-friendly wallboards. And, help agents keep track of their performance compared to their peers, too.

As many contact centers continue remote work, it’s crucial to keep agents engaged and foster a team environment. Showing agents how their performance compares to their would-be-desk-neighbor’s reminds them they’re not alone in helping customers (and it drives healthy competition so they want to improve).

When setting up new performance goals, ask yourself questions like:

What do I want agents to learn by looking at their daily metrics?
Why is it important that they have visibility into these metrics and their progress?
How can I support and improve my remote agents’ performance?
If agents aren’t meeting performance standards, what will I do to help?
Why is it necessary that agents consistently meet their KPIs?

3. Improve agent performance with more effective training methods

Tracking agent performance is one thing. But improving agent performance is another. The most effective agents are knowledgeable and confident. Their managers invest time and energy in training and preparing them for any scenario that comes their way.

Cloud call centers make agent training simple and consistent, which leads to more effective and prepared employees. With cloud technology, training fits into your daily workflow because you can communicate and send feedback in real-time as issues pop up. Plus, cloud tech removes some of the burden on your agents as they navigate their queues, so they’re more efficient all around.

Here are a few ways you can improve agent performance using cloud technology:

Implement in-line training to make training simpler.

Leave comments and feedback alongside customer interactions so your agents can review them in real-time. And on their own time. You eliminate the hassle of scheduling training sessions or meetings when you bring the training directly to your agents.

Use micro-learning methods to keep your agents fresh.

Review your agents’ most common issues or weak spots. Then, create mini lessons they can review throughout the day. Micro-learning methods deliver training modules and company updates straight to your agents’ queues. This way, they’re always learning throughout the day and freshening up on concepts before their next interaction.

Integrate your CRM.

One major time-waster for agents is poor technology. Integrate your inbound, outbound, and internal messages so agents have fast access to customer data and history from any computer, anywhere. Don’t force your team to spend precious customer time toggling back-and-forth between systems or portals.

Build reports to share with key stakeholders

Cloud call center software doesn’t just benefit customer-facing players. It provides huge benefits to all the key stakeholders and business leaders in your company. Cloud technology can be used to review analytics and create custom reports with both real-time and historical data for any business need.

Since your C-suite stakeholders need to be in-the-know about ROI and company revenue, create custom reports that deliver the bottom line.

Share reports with your leaders that include metrics like:

AHT: Average Handle Time reveals how efficient your agents are in solving customer questions
FCR: First Contact Resolution scores matter a lot to stakeholders because good FCR = good CSAT scores
Employee Engagement: Glassdoor reports that every 1-point increase in employee satisfaction leads to a 1.33% increase in CSAT

Since your supervisors need overviews of week-to-week KPIs, create reports that speak to your customer service success.

Share reports with your supervisors that include metrics like:

Total number of support cases for the week
Total number of transfers for the week
Average speed of answer for calls, for chat, and messaging channels
Adherence to wait time SLAs

All these data points can guide your stakeholders to make important business decisions and update changes to any day-to-day operations that need improvement. Cloud call center software enables every team in your company to be more connected and efficient.

[Download Now] Seven projects every VP of Ops should do to reduce inefficiencies in their call center