The Omnichannel Agent: The Future of Call Center Representatives

Redesigning call centers to lower churn rates, increase customer satisfaction and brand loyalty is not net new. Call center demographics and the way it was built, is mostly seen as an entry level job where employees stay 2–3 years in this role, either move up to management or end up going back to school to learn new skills and build careers.

The movie version of the book "The Circle" — the best company on the planet, displays a scene on a Customer Experience Day 1 training. As part of the training, the manager claims that “if we don’t give customers a human to humane experience, we have no customers, that’s pretty elemental.” If only it would be that easy…

Call centers to be cost effective are organized by tiers, claims (billing) and escalation processes. They have not been designed to address consumer tasks related to the service being provided. Tier 1 Agent (or representatives) training is focused on getting the basics right, answer the call in an inviting way, document the case and re-route to another tier if necessary. These agents rarely can advocate for a consumer request — because they have not been empowered to do so or because their access to tool or systems are limited. Tier 2 Agent training get a little bit more sophisticated, where there are some technical issues that could be solved through them — in healthcare is even possible to triage someone over the phone through this tier. However, if the tasks are related to account management or claims, they may need to re-route to another department. Which brings me to the additional tiers — claims and escalation processes. The focus of these Agent’s trainings is to deliver on “one call resolution” (even though the consumer might have already been transferred once or twice in the same call). Claim and Escalation processes are usually handled by Agent that have experience being in the call center and in some shape or form, can advocate for the consumer request and resolve as fast as possible.

None of the tiers mentioned above provide training that allow agents to see the whole “consumer” picture. You either get assigned to the general process or you get the ability to see and advocate to resolve request but the processes and systems in place do not help Agents gather key pieces about the consumer profile, history, behavioral patterns and tasks they are used to perform when interacting with the service. This gap has come to be even greater after the pandemic because now, consumers can advocate for themselves and go through digital channels to try to find the answers. (I would even dare to say they because better Agents then the Agents themselves in a way)….

So I'm bringing awareness to a new kind of Agent: the omnichannel Agent. Yes, companies would need to invest time, money, recruiting and training — but it would pay off in the long run when digital interactions will have matured all over the service sector.

Omnichannel Agents are trained in a set of tools and processes that connect the consumer front stage interactions and the back stage systems and processes. This way an Agent can navigate across channels and effectively identify key points in the experience that something is not working as it was supposed to.

When a consumer calls, Agents can proactively assess the situation, not have the consumer repeat their story and they are able to provide options that go beyond the phone call because they know what is available to the consumer and what the company can offer. The call conversation between an Agent and the consumer takes a different turn. it becomes personal, purposeful and effective.

I’ve observed the rise of this capability first in retail, then in telecommunications and now I’m seeing first hand in healthcare. Companies like Publix and Target allow their call center Agents to be empowered to solve request such as delivery preferences and claim asynchronously, which gives the consumer and the service provider time to assess and collect evidence to help paint the picture of the request and solve for the long term.

Google Duplex — an AI phone system for natural conversation helps customers complete specific tasks, such as scheduling certain types of appointments but it still in its infancy. In time AI technology through phone and/or chatbots, can elevate the value of the omnichannel agent role. According to HBR article "Robots are changing the face of costumer service", a function of the service robot could be used to blocks abusive or derogatory customers from human agents. They conclude by saying "to ensure the long-term success of robots in customer service, it is important to strike a balance between utilizing their benefits and maintaining a human touch."

There is still a long way to go but here are some thoughts on how your company or your team can build omnichannel Agents:

• Start by assessing your current processes, training and technology capabilities and ask “how are we keeping up with consumer requests online, offline, asynchronously and synchronously?”
• Go through a deep analysis on how are Agents being incentivized? Ask “are our metrics based on time or consumer experience?”
• Identify key moments of the recruiting and training needed to be redesigned to fill the omnichannel gap.
• Ask “what key role the call center plays in the consumer omnichannel experience?”

In my opinion, Agents can become very resourceful in today’s service experiences due to the overwhelming amount of information that has been put on the consumer’s hands. Not to mention that these Agents become the humane point of the service experience and can promote satisfaction scores and brand loyalty. To invest in omnichannel Agents seems almost a necessity than a nice to have in our post-pandemic world.