Gartner: A “Connected Rep” Strategy Will Improve Contact Center Efficiency by 30 Percent

Customer service teams that commit to such a strategy may also enhance agent experiences, claims Gartner

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Gartner: A “Connected Rep” Strategy Will Improve Contact Center Efficiency by 30 Percent
Contact CentreWFOLatest News

Published: February 14, 2023

Charlie Mitchell

Before 2026, contact centers that deploy a “connected rep” strategy will improve operational efficiency by 30 percent – according to Gartner.

The market analyst defines such a strategy as one that allows agents to perform high-quality assisted service at scale.

In doing so, it bridges the gap between technology and talent, empowers agents with context and guidance, and drives consistency across all customer conversations.

Kathy Ross, Senior Director Analyst at Gartner, suggests that this is the future of customer support.

“As CSRs (customer service reps) handle more complex customer interactions, upskilling or recruiting strong talent is a challenging and costly approach to help reps respond, especially in a tight labor market,” she says.

“Instead, leaders must go beyond traditional talent levers and include rep enablement technology as a core component of talent strategy. This is the crux of the connected rep.”

A “Connected Rep” Strategy Also Increases Agent Engagement

As Ross indicates, investing in such a strategy may relax the reliance of service teams on recruitment initiatives, simplifying the agent role and increasing engagement.

With a March 2022 Gartner benchmark finding a 25 percent median attrition rate among contact center agents, these benefits will likely appeal to many.

“Rep enablement technology can create lower rep effort, drive consistent outcomes, and promote customer experience (CX) and efficiency,” continues Ross.

A dollar invested in rep technology is a dollar that stays when the rep leaves.

With that said, additional Gartner research suggests that 45 percent of contact center agents avoid new technologies.

As such, the analyst suggests contact centers implement a thoughtful shutdown strategy of old technologies. Nevertheless, additional action is likely necessary.

Include Agents In Creating a “Connected Rep” Strategy

Businesses must take care when implementing the agent-assist use cases that facilitate a “connected rep” strategy.

“You can do a shutdown, but it doesn’t mean that they won’t hanker after the old ways of working,” adds Nerys Corfield, Director of Injection Consulting.

There is a responsibility on the vendors and the business to recognize the significant change and have a clear training and adoption program that continues way past deployment.

Indeed, even if the new way of working is much more efficient, agents typically go with what they know to follow the path of least resistance.

Recognizing this, contact center leaders should look to win agent buy-in from the off when developing a “connected rep” strategy. Otherwise, it may not deliver the expected efficiency gains.

How to Implement a Connected Rep Strategy

After mulling over how to maximize agent buy-in, consider the following three-step process for implementing a connected rep strategy, as put forward by Ross.

  1. Assess the current state of rep enablement technology, pinpoint improvement opportunities, and develop a legacy shutdown strategy with vendor support.
  2. Build a business case that quantifies the ROI of the investment, considering the projected reduction of handling times, agent onboarding, attrition, and so on.
  3. Create a connected rep implementation roadmap, partnering with IT to build on the existing architecture and bring the connected rep vision to life.

Gartner fleshes out this process in its 2023 Strategic Roadmap for the Connected Rep study.

However, non-Gartner members can also dig into the following article to uncover how businesses can better guide and support reps: Empowering Agents with Customer Context

 

 

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