2024 JANUARY CCW MARKET STUDY | Future of Contact Center Employees
CUSTOMER
CONTACT WEEK
DIGITAL
www.customercontactweekdigital.com |
Intro
The biggest cost of universality is a lack of intense questioning. This reality has long been
evident when it comes to the contact center employee experience.
Few contact center leaders dismiss the importance of the employee experience. Few
doubt the impact empowering atmospheres have on agents’ ability to support customers.
But as we celebrate broad ideas around the employee experience and trumpet concepts
like “happy agents equal happy customers,” we do not always ask ourselves what it truly
means to generate agent happiness. Equally importantly, we do not always question whether
supposed “employee empowerment” initiatives will actually deliver short-term happiness, let
alone spur long-term improvements in performance, engagement, and retention.
This lack of questioning is particularly notable – and concerning – when it comes to the
impact of artificial intelligence (AI). As we embrace concepts like “AI for simple issues,
agents for complex work” as employee-centric initiatives, we may not sufficiently question
whether agents want to do the work, have the skills and capacity to do the work, or have
the leadership support to do the work. As a result, we may not be taking the necessary
steps to cultivate a next-generation workforce that is ready, willing, and eager to delight
ever-demanding customers in an ever-complicated customer experience landscape.
To help the contact center community overcome these challenges, CCW Digital is thrilled
to share this market study on the Future of Contact Center Employees. The product of
exclusive, in-depth research, it reveals how the role of the agent will evolve in the era of AI.
More importantly, it reveals the questions leaders must ask and the steps leaders must take
in their effort to prepare and motivate agents for the new, AI-driven normal.
It closes with a look at how the supervisor experience must concurrently evolve to create
managers who can become coaches and bosses who can become visionary leaders.