There has been much coverage, and many blogs, posts, and press releases, about how AI will increase employee productivity, improve customer experience (CX), and at the same time reduce costs. It also includes how workforce dynamics and future hiring practices may evolve.
But what do the industry professionals who manage contact center workforces think about these complex, interrelated issues, and their implications? What is their advice for the contact center leadership who must work through them?
To understand more, and from that perspective, I had a virtual conversation with Tony Graczyk, a member of the Society of Workforce Planning Professionals (SWPP) Advisory Board.
Tony is employed by a Fortune 500 financial services organization, with his focus on the workforce solutions space. His views are his own and not of SWPP or the organization that employs him.
Q. Do you think - and are you seeing - that AI, like agentic AI, will reduce the number of contact center agents needed, Resulting in layoffs or limiting future hiring? if so, how and why?
I haven’t experienced that in my business areas, but I would anticipate some shifts in what the future of work looks like for contact center agents.
“Centers where agents are handling transactional types of calls will probably be the most impacted, as those are the easiest to build mechanisms for automation.” —Tony Graczyk
Initial changes could be efficiency improvements for the contact center agents, notably agent assist features such as:
- Pulling up information from separate systems and combining that information together without the need for separate independent searches.
- Providing possible scripting to relay information about the situations being discussed.
- Giving suggested information to relay to the callers in anticipation of additional questions for those subjects will potentially help to reduce future repeat calls.
To me, the natural progression, after confirming success and completeness of the information being relayed through agents, is to look for automated mechanisms for that information to be available in a self-service format. This would include things like AI-based bots for chats and calls.
Like any tool or process implemented for the contact center that reduces the average handle time (AHT), prevents follow-up calls, or even negates the need for the initial calls, there will be changes to the work that needs to be done to field those questions.
As a result, AI will and should cause changes in future hiring. Centers where agents are handling transactional types of calls will probably be the most impacted, as those are the easiest to build mechanisms for automation.
By contrast, agents working through complex situations or troubleshooting that are rarely alike will be more difficult to address with automation. In either case, working alongside AI tools and capabilities will be increasingly common.
Q. Do you similarly think that AI will have an impact on agent qualifications and teams, such as by deflecting more calls in self-service and/or helping agents manage challenging customer problems? And consequently, lower agent turnover by making the work more interesting and less stressful?
AI technology will cause a shift in qualifications for contact center agents. As the simpler transactional calls are moved into the technology space, the interactions that remain will be those situations that are more complex.
Successfully handling more complex situations requires a troubleshooting mindset and a better understanding, in most cases, of the systems involved. This has the potential to increase the AHT of each call, but at a lower volume with the simpler items being addressed by technology.
I find more satisfaction in helping others through more complex tasks, so there is potential for more job satisfaction. One of the common frustrations from contact center agents is related to:
- The number of steps/systems involved to be able to find information.
- The stress of coming up with the right words to successfully relay that complex content to the customer.
- The need to then capture all those details into a CRM so that the next agent can be informed of what was done, should the customer need further assistance, or that something was done to help but was not successful and why.
AI-based technology holds strong potential to address each of these challenges. While navigating the situation can still be mentally taxing, faster and more comprehensive access to relevant information can significantly reduce the cognitive load.
This makes it easier to identify patterns and begin assembling solutions with greater clarity and speed. I like to think about it as figuring out the shapes of the pieces of the puzzle before it can start to be assembled.
Q. Conversely, given how AI is being widely billed, will it dampen agent morale and productivity, driving them to seek more stable jobs?
A lot of the impacts on morale and productivity will be dependent on the presentation and execution of the benefits. As with any change, there will surely be some who aren’t comfortable or willing to leverage AI technology.
The capabilities of AI-based technologies are so vast that it feels like eventually nearly all jobs will have some sort of involvement. To me, it is somewhat similar to the advent of the internet. Would any of us have anticipated that there would be a situation where our refrigerator would need access to online content?
Q. Will AI affect coaching and supervision including tasks, qualifications?
I’m confident that it will. Think about the scope of data available in the contact centers:
- How frequently/quickly/completely are agents handling calls? From which queues? From what types of customers?
- Are compliance requirements being met?
- What are CSAT scores on those calls?
- Are supervisors/coaches breaking apart the content from each of those perspectives, comparing the results to peers, and using that to generate a coaching plan?
Without AI-assistance, or at least automation, it would be far too labor- and time-intensive to do all of that. But think about a coach/supervisor who does have that insight. Their effectiveness as a coach becomes much more powerful in improving the agent’s skill set and the customer’s experience.
At this point, then, I don’t see as strong of an impact on the coach’s/supervisor‘s skill sets to effectively lead and influence people as that still exists in both worlds.
The additional details provided through AI tools, however, give them the information to be much more influential and impactful on the topics for which they coach.
Q. Will AI alter the planning and scheduling of contact center workforces, and if so, how?
The potential is there to affect both. While I’ve not yet seen a fully AI-based forecasting methodology, it can be very beneficial in taking historical results and automating the testing of that data through multiple forecasting methods. Workforce planners can then identify the one(s) that have been the most consistent with the histories and use them to generate future forecasts.
It’s important that forecasters know the various methods used. But rarely do they have the time to run through all of the scenarios, compare/contrast the results, and identify/leverage the best one for building the forecast for volume, handle time, shrinkage, attrition, etc.
“...[AI] can be very beneficial in taking historical results and automating the testing of that data through multiple forecasting methods.”
Once the requirements are built from those combinations, generating schedules can take on different forms. Whether template-based, preference-based, or some combination, they all inject complexity that AI is well-suited to analyze and provide insights towards desired outcomes.
Q. What are your best practices recommendations for contact centers in adopting and utilizing AI?
AI is a powerful tool when used properly, but it is not foolproof and will require our input and vigilance to continue to develop for our desired success. There is an ethical responsibility that we all should take seriously.
While concerns about job replacement are understandable, the priority is ensuring AI can first perform assigned roles reliably and effectively. Only then can we thoughtfully explore how it fits into the future of work.
If you’re planning to implement AI technology for your customers to use, perhaps it would be better to leverage it as a tool for your agents first?
- Improve the accessibility of information to them, ask for their feedback, and make adjustments along the way.
- Once AI is providing consistent support with reliable results to your agents, then look to expose that to your customers as a self-help option.
I think about AI technology in a similar way to the introduction and expansion of computing power. There’s no doubt that it has made processes faster and more efficient.
Have some jobs drastically changed as a result of the computer age? Most definitely! But an even bigger part of the change is the number of jobs that involve computers. AI will be similar going forward and will be a companion to many of the jobs of tomorrow’s workforce.