2024 JANUARY CCW MARKET STUDY | Future of Contact Center Employees
CUSTOMER
CONTACT WEEK
DIGITAL
www.customercontactweekdigital.com |
Key Findings
Employee engagement remains a top priority, with 95% of contact center leaders still
faithfully subscribing to the idea that “happy agents equal happy customers.”
Top employee experience focuses for 2024 include satisfaction and retention, training
and coaching, and performance management. Though still on the radar, rethinking
compensation and career pathing represent comparatively less popular priorities.
The fear of AI replacing jobs is palpable, with 70% of acknowledging the existence of
such concern within their teams.
Granted, many leaders do not feel the fear is warranted. Only one-fifth presently worry
that AI will lead to significant contact center job reduction.
But even if it does not eliminate jobs, it will likely change the nature of the agent role.
Many contact center leaders expect AI to remove at least some simple issues from the
typical agent’s job, thus shifting them to more complex, high-value work.
Nearly 90% are confident agents would be willing to take on this more complex
work, although a non-trivial percentage believes this eagerness is contingent upon
improving compensation and career path opportunities.
Once they are willing, agents will need to develop skills related to product mastery,
emotional intelligence, multichannel fluency, and knowledge management. More than
eight-in-ten contact center leaders believe their teams will require at least six months
to cultivate such competencies.
Beyond providing the requisite training, contact centers will have to eliminate
inefficiencies that inhibit successful performance. At present, high volumes of simple
issues, ineffective knowledge management solutions, insufficient customer data, and
burdensome non-interaction work create undue effort for agents.
Despite trumpeting the importance of providing more personalized, consultative
support, only 6% of contact centers actually grant agents complete freedom to go off-
script and provide “above and beyond” care.
10 To empower the next-generation agent experience, successful brands must cultivate
a team of next-generation supervisors. Crucial competencies for the manager of the
future include the ability to coach for product mastery, comfort with modern contact
center systems, adeptness at managing customer and employee feedback, and a flair
for managing based on big picture outcomes rather than traditional efficiency metrics.