Tag: Cost vs Quality Trade Off

Part 1: Master Travel Customer Satisfaction With BPO Back Office Digital Support

Posted on by Susan Halvorsen

This blog post is the first in iQor’s 2-part travel and hospitality CX series.

In this chapter, you’ll discover key analyst insights from McKinsey and Forrester that explain how a trusted BPO partner maximizes travel customer satisfaction through outsourced back office support. Join us now to see why a data-driven approach powered by analytics, AI, and automation equips iQor’s CX specialists to support the world’s best loved travel and hospitality brands.  

Want to learn how outsourcing safeguards travel brands and customers, secures lasting trust, and inspires positive social media engagement? Check out “Part 2: Forge Powerful Customer Trust Through Transparent and Secure CX Policies” by clicking here.

Proactive Digital + Human CX Strategies Differentiate Success With Today’s Travelers

What makes a traveler choose your brand again? In the travel and hospitality arena, where comfort and accommodation quality are key, customer experience (CX) is the cornerstone that can make or break customer satisfaction and promote repeat business.  

This article zeroes in on the characteristics of exceptional customer experience in the travel sector from the perspective of top business analysts. We explore strategies for online travel agency (OTA), airlines, hotels, cruise lines, and other industry stakeholders to implement best CX practices with support from a customer-centric outsourcing partner like iQor.  

According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, travel and tourism are nearing full recovery from pre-pandemic levels. They predict that recovery and growth are likely to continue, with travel and tourism GDP outpacing the overall economy at an average of 5.8% per year between 2022 and 2032. 

This promising outlook explains why tourism businesses are more energized than ever about developing an effective CX approach. Nevertheless, the sector still faces significant challenges from widespread labor shortages, particularly from customer-facing roles. A sustainable future for tourism hinges on proactive strategies to align customer experience (CX) and satisfaction growth with the same upward trajectory as the industry’s overall current forecast.  

While customer-facing interactions may seem like the logical first step, we’re here to prove why back office teams, technology, and processes are equally integral to delivering unforgettable, smile-worthy travel customer experiences.

Key Insights

  • Analyst insights indicate that effective back office operations achieved in partnership with a trusted BPO play a critical role in optimizing customer satisfaction through streamlined processes and smoother customer journeys. 
  • Hyper-personalization is critical. Historical data analysis, loyalty and reward programs, tailored recommendations, and outreach and promotions are determining factors for optimal offer development through precise customer segmentation. 
  • Continuous investment in analytics, AI, automation, employee training, and secure regulatory practices is vital for optimizing customer experience in the travel and hospitality sector. 

Why the Back Office Is the First Step Toward Creating Delighted Travel Customers

Let’s explore some examples from different segments of the travel and hospitality sector. One principal analyst from Forrester notes that turbulence in the airline industry is largely connected to end-user customer experience (CX) management.  

A strong digital CX strategy is key to unlocking lasting customer engagement for travel and transportation organizations. By bridging gaps between travelers, employee teams, and brands through CX expertise, airlines and travel companies can enjoy the advantages of streamlined operations and engaged customers. 

Another Forrester Research survey reveals that 90% of customers will advocate for hotel brands when their experience makes them feel valued. Hospitality brands—from established full-service hotels and resorts to the booming short- and long-term stay marketplace—encourage positive word of mouth and brand advocacy when they provide enjoyable, relaxing stays for their guests.   

The good news? The major analyst groups are only confirming what customers are already telling business leaders loud and clear about how to deliver seamless CX: 

One solution could be to build a workforce with the mix of digital and interpersonal skills needed to keep up with travelers’ fast-changing requirements … In McKinsey’s experience, the total service cost of this type of work can make up 10 percent of total operating costs. Most often, these roles are not guest facing. A professional and digital-based solution might become an integrated part of a third-party service for [travel and hospitality businesses] looking to outsource this type of work. 

—McKinsey, “The Future of Tourism: Bridging the Labor Gap, Enhancing Customer Experience” 

Case Study Snapshot: iQor Expertly Implements Back Office RPA to Streamline US-Based Air Carrier’s Travel CX

For one major U.S.-based air carrier’s customers, the process for redeeming a voucher toward their next adventure was met with long wait times. The air carrier commissioned iQor to implement a robotic process automation (RPA) solution that simplifies the voucher redemption process.  

iQor’s solution surpassed the air carrier’s expectations by streamlining internal back office processes and significantly improving by saving over 2.5 months’ worth of wait times in one year for customers on hold.

Our airline RPA case study demonstrates how iQor:

  • Automates Repetitive Tasks. The RPA takes care of those back office tasks that, while essential, can bog down the multi-step validation process involving CRM systems, booking platforms, and payment verification. RPA automates these steps, freeing up human agents to focus on complex issues and provide immediate responses. 
  • Reduces Customer Wait Times. By eliminating manual data entry and streamlining processes, wait times dropped by a staggering 29%! This translates to less frustration for travelers and a smoother overall customer journey. 
  • Enables Swift Voucher Access. The RPA ensures relevant customer data and voucher details are captured and stored in a secure digital repository. This allows for immediate access and redemption, empowering customers to book your dream trip with ease. 

iQor is transforming the customer experience in the travel industry with our digital support solutions for air carriers. By eliminating disruptions and ensuring rapid responses, RPA empowers travel brands to deliver a seamless journey, from voucher redemption to unforgettable post-trip memories.

Self-service automation and AI support empowers customers with optimized back office CX.

Every moment of travel is integral to the overall journey experience, and travelers place a high value on efficiency. Self-service travel customer support and back office support work together to create a smoother and more satisfying customer experience. Self-service options, like FAQs, knowledge bases, robotic process automation (RPA) and AI chatbots, empower travelers to find answers and resolve simple issues independently.  

This seamless collaboration between self-service and back office support empowers travelers with control and fosters a sense of efficiency, ultimately leading to a more positive customer experience. 

Enable strategic AI chat capabilities and mitigate irregular operations with back office BPO expertise.

As AI continues to evolve, it rewrites the rule book driving 24/7 real-time customer service for travelers. AI-powered chatbots are designed to optimize disruption management, save time, and increase productivity in customer service in a sector that constantly experiences irregular operations (IROPs). 

AI chatbots can act as a bridge between travelers and the back office support team in the travel industry. While AI chatbots can handle basic inquiries and resolve simple issues directly, their true value for back office support lies elsewhere, including:

  • Initial Screening and Triage. AI chatbots can efficiently screen incoming inquiries, identify when live agent resolution is required, categorize issues resulting from IROPs, and even gather initial information from travelers.  
  • 24/7 Availability. Chatbots provide travelers with self-service options and basic support around the clock, even outside of regular business hours. This provides customer resolutions without waiting for live agent availability. 
  • Data Collection and Insights. AI chatbots can collect valuable data from traveler interactions. This data can be analyzed by back office teams to identify recurring issues, improve self-service options, and personalize future interactions. 

By partnering with a managed services provider, travel or hospitality businesses gain access to expert insights on implementing AI for back office functions. These experts can help design and scale AI policies, procedures, and tools to optimize the travel customer experience.

Transform Social Chatter Into Travel Customer Triumphs, Beginning With App and Social Media Engagement

Today’s travel landscape is a dynamic ecosystem fueled by social media, savvy customers, and the power of voice search. While this might seem overwhelming, social media monitoring reveals a treasure trove of opportunity. Here’s why:

  • Social Media Visibility. Social media enables brands to tap into the power of peer-to-peer interaction, where happy customers become your biggest advocates. By actively engaging on these platforms, you build trust and credibility, attracting new travelers eager to experience what you offer. 
  • The Voice of the Traveler. Voice search is booming, and travel is a prime target. Travelers on the go can instantly research and book experiences using simple voice commands. This means your online presence needs to be optimized for voice search, ensuring your brand pops up when those travel questions arise. 
  • Real-time Feedback Loop. Social media is a two-way street. Travelers are constantly sharing their experiences, both positive and negative. By actively monitoring these conversations, you gain valuable insights into what’s working and what needs improvement. This feedback loop allows you to continuously refine your offerings and ensure exceptional customer experiences. 

In today’s fast-paced world, customers anticipate immediate responses. Platforms such as WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger cater to this demand by providing swift support, thus elevating the overall experience of customer service. 

Leveraging these messaging platforms fulfills the desire for rapid replies that customers have come to expect. SMS and apps for messaging provide a communication avenue where interactions with customers receive higher visibility and prompt action. Companies harness these widely used platforms’ convenience and user-friendly nature when they integrate them into their customer support strategy. 

From streamlining customer experience to leveraging technology for better interactions, you’ll find focused insights on boosting satisfaction and loyalty—essential for those ready to take their travel or hospitality CX to new heights with a trusted outsourcing advisor like iQor.  

Hyper-Personalization That Secures Customer Engagement, Closes Sales, and Fosters Repeat Travel Business

Remember the days of generic travel brochures promising a one-size-fits-all experience? Those are long gone. Today’s travelers crave experiences that cater to their unique desires. This is where customer segmentation and hyper-personalization enters the scene, and it’s a game-changer for travel brands. 

Imagine that you’ve booked a flight for a weekend getaway. Instantly, you start receiving personalized recommendations based on your past travel preferences. Perhaps you loved exploring hidden gems in Rome, so your inbox pops up with a curated list of off-the-beaten-path adventures in your new destination. Feeling peckish after landing? Location services suggest delicious local restaurants near your airport arrival point. 

How does hyper-personalization work in the travel industry? It’s an integrated ecosystem of components involving: 

This level of hyper-personalization is powered by historical data and targeted customer segments. By analyzing past booking trends, travel companies can predict what kind of experiences you’ll crave and tailor offer development accordingly. This elevates the travel journey and unlocks powerful upselling and loyalty-building opportunities.

Today’s travelers expect inspiration, influence, and incentives that transcend brand loyalty.

In a post-pandemic world, leisure travelers have a newfound appreciation for exploration. Despite this, brand loyalty might not be their top priority. Statistics prove that many travelers focus on leveraging points systems and reward programs to maximize value.  

With 83% booking on their phones and nearly half using voice search on-the-go, immediacy and value reign supreme. Furthermore, with 6.5 million travel influencer posts manifesting in the search algorithms of Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, social media retains its powerful influence on the consciousness of social media-embedded, travel experience-seeking customers.

Here’s the value of hyper-personalization and customer segmentation for the travel sector: by understanding who your customers truly are—their past preferences, travel styles, and in-the-moment needs—you can create targeted experiences that resonate deeply. This goes beyond traditional loyalty programs by building genuine connections and exceeding expectations at every touchpoint. 

The travel industry is all about creating unforgettable experiences. By harnessing hyper-personalization, proactive outreach, and real-time communication channels, you can transform your brand into the go-to choice for today’s discerning traveler.

The Smart Analytics Approach to Mastering Chat And Web Support to Maximize Customer Engagement 

When travel and hospitality brands proactively reach out to travelers who might be considering booking elsewhere, they can optimize customer satisfaction (CSAT) and net promoter score (NPS) targets. For instance, receiving an exclusive offer or a personalized message from a friendly social media ambassador might make all the difference for your choice to do business with that company and spread your word-of-mouth recommendation among your peers. 

Understanding customer preferences in real-time is crucial. Analytics tools–and the expertise to wield them–are integral for reaching customers when the customer base numbers in the millions. This data becomes the foundation for predictive net promoter score (predictive NPS) strategies powered by AI. Imagine being able to identify potential brand promoters before they even book! By proactively addressing their needs and exceeding expectations, you can cultivate loyalty and continuously improve your brand’s CX delivery model.

Unlock your travel or hospitality brand’s analytics advantage with iQor’s VALDI.

iQor ensures our travel and hospitality brands effectively bridge the gap between irresistible customer experiences and third-party back office support with our proprietary VALDI interaction analytics platform. This innovative tool goes beyond basic data collection, proactively analyzing customer interactions across all channels. We identify trends, uncover pain points, and understand customer sentiment, allowing us to tailor CX strategies for each brand.

What makes VALDI stand out?

  1. Define Customer Segments. We can analyze interactions on any platform, providing the historical data that creates a more complete picture of travel and hospitality CX.
  2. Harness Actionable Insights. Our platform does more than report issues; it identifies the root cause, enabling targeted interventions and continuous improvement. 
  3. Transcend Script Compliance. By sensing customer sentiment and distress, we take a proactive approach to addressing concerns and fostering empathy. 

Analytics acts as the bridge between understanding customer sentiment and taking actionable steps. It fuels hyper-personalized recommendations, streamlines immediate support via live chat, and ultimately, allows you to refine your offerings to create a customer journey that surpasses expectations, every single time.

Leverage back office CX technology and expertise to achieve hyper-personalized travel customer interactions.

In a marketplace defined by irregular operations (IROPs), forming partnerships with a BPO can serve as a linchpin for disruption management. iQor is a BPO that has garnered substantial expertise by working closely with preeminent OTAs, hotels, airlines, and cruise lines for 25+ years. Our robust back office processes enable unparalleled operational excellence, allowing travel and hospitality businesses to confidently navigate CX challenges and opportunities. 

In the current digital communication era, customers interact with travel and hospitality brands across many platforms. They might browse for flights on their desktops, reserve accommodations through mobile applications, and proceed to check in using airport kiosks.

Travel companies are tasked with providing an uninterrupted experience that spans all these channels. This investment in the customer journey also provides the following:

  • Well-documented histories of conversations. 
  • Detailed profiles revealing customer data and trends. 

CX technology that enables digital support channels is transforming back office operations and customer interactions. By leveraging automation tools, AI chatbots, and data analytics, back office teams can consolidate processes to ensure operational excellence. 

This translates to faster issue resolution, more efficient handling of complex cases, and the ability to personalize the customer experience. Self-service options powered by CX technology allow travelers to manage their bookings and find solutions independently, reducing wait times and frustration. Ultimately, CX technology in the back office creates a smoother journey for travelers, fostering higher satisfaction and engagement.

Reimagine Travel and Hospitality CX With a Trusted BPO

The travel and hospitality landscape is undergoing a dynamic shift. Leading analysts highlight the crucial role of back office outsourcing in streamlining operations and driving optimization. By partnering with a BPO provider, you can unlock a world of benefits, from expert customer segmentation and hyper-personalization to powerful analytics and AI that fuel exceptional self-service experiences. 

Unveil the Cybersecurity Advantage for Irresistible CX: Part 2 Awaits

This blog post offers a glimpse into the transformative power of BPO for travel and hospitality brands. The journey keeps getting better. In Part 2 of our 2-part blog series, we delve deeper into the critical role of a highly secure back office provided by a trusted BPO partner. You’ll discover how robust security becomes a mission-critical differentiator in today’s security-conscious travel landscape, fostering trust and loyalty with your guests. 

FAQ: Empowering Your Travel or Hospitality Brand With Back Office BPO Solutions

1. How can BPO back office support specifically benefit the travel industry?

Answer: BPOs offer a range of back office solutions that can maximize your travel brand’s operations: 

  • Streamlined Customer Service. BPOs can handle tasks like booking management, itinerary changes, and voucher processing, freeing up your in-house team to focus on complex inquiries and building customer relationships. 
  • Optimized Dispute Resolution. BPOs with expertise in chargeback management and dispute resolution can efficiently handle these issues, reducing costs and improving customer satisfaction. 
  • 24/7 Availability With Global Support. BPOs with geographically diverse teams can provide multilingual customer support around the clock, ensuring seamless assistance for travelers in any time zone. 
  • Data Analytics & Reporting. BPOs can analyze back office data to identify trends and inefficiencies. These insights can be used to optimize processes, reduce costs, and improve the overall customer experience. 
  • Robust Data Privacy and Security. BPOs prioritize data security with robust protocols and employee training. This ensures your sensitive customer information is safeguarded. 

2. How can BPOs leverage data analytics and AI to improve back office operations for travel brands?

Answer: BPOs can analyze back office data from various sources, including call recordings, emails, and customer interactions. This data can be used to: 

  • Identify peak call times and staffing needs. 
  • Pinpoint areas for process improvement. 
  • Uncover trends in customer inquiries and complaints. 
  • Develop targeted training programs for back office staff. 
  • Measure the effectiveness of back office processes.

By leveraging data analytics, BPOs can help travel brands optimize their back office operations, leading to increased efficiency and improved customer satisfaction.

Experience the iQor Difference

To navigate today’s travel and hospitality landscape, you need more than just a BPO provider. You need a trusted BPO who understands the unique challenges you face and can deliver solutions that drive real results. 

iQor is a globally trusted managed service provider of digitally enabled business and CX solutions recommended by the world’s leading travel and hospitality brands as a trusted advisor that seamlessly integrates with the needs of their organization. 

We go beyond traditional outsourcing to offer a comprehensive suite of services designed to optimize your entire customer journey.  Here’s how we can help you soar: 

  • Deep Industry Expertise. Our team boasts extensive experience in travel and hospitality, including navigating our customers’ proprietary CRM platforms and leveraging OCR. 
  • Data-Driven Insights. We implement cutting-edge data science and AI to unlock actionable insights from your customer data. This empowers us to optimize channel utilization, identify risk areas, and personalize the customer experience for increased satisfaction. 
  • Global Capabilities & Security. With a presence across 10 countries and a private, high-performance CX cloud, we offer scalability, security, and seamless global support. 
  • Next-Generation Solutions. We are early adopters of innovative technologies like VALDI’s advanced analytics and iQor’s Symphony [AI]TM ecosystem, continuously investing in creating the future of travel industry customer service. 
  • Trusted Partner Approach. We foster a consultative partnership, deploying dedicated account teams with industry expertise to guide you every step of the way. You’ll gain a reliable advisor who understands your business and is invested in your success. 

iQor offers the perfect blend of innovative digital support solutions and expert leadership dedicated to creating exceptional customer experiences. Ready to transform your travel and hospitality brand? Contact us today, and let’s discuss how we can turn more travelers into enthusiastic brand advocates.

Susan Halvorsen, vice president of business development at iQor, is a dedicated CX leader who champions the power of innovation to elevate customer experiences in travel and hospitality. Connect with Susan on LinkedIn.

Strategic Outsourcing Saves Fashion Retailer $5 Million in Order Entry Costs

Posted on by Nicole Gobbo

Why iQor 

In this case study you will discover the benefits of iQor’s strategic solution expertise, in collaboration with the client, with a specific emphasis on building a strong sales culture within the contact center in an offshore operation. 

In each engagement, iQor’s new program implementation (NPI) team looks for opportunities to optimize automation and people. The CX integration professionals—who are experts in cloud-based omnichannel solutions, automation, process, proficiency, and security—focused on best practices and digital tools that would assist in the identification, training, and ongoing development of a world-class sales culture.  

The team looked to prioritize sources that would identify individuals with the right skills and attitude to succeed in sales and provide them with ongoing training and development. These new team members would set the foundation for future sales leaders, looking to model behaviors and attitudes that reinforced the importance of sales and a great customer experience. 

The project plan identified techniques and tools to foster an environment where team members support and motivate each other to reach their sales goals. iQor’s digital Recognize platform offers incentives and recognition assets to reward high-performing individuals and teams, creating a sense of friendly competition.  

Furthermore, the team introduced automation and AI technology to listen for opportunities to improve interactions with customers and close sales effectively. 

A scripted playbook set measurable targets for individuals and teams that communicated the definition of success based on the client’s expectations regarding sales performance while maintaining a customer-centric culture. 

Background   

This case study documents how a retailer saved nearly $5 million in order entry costs in one year while surpassing sales goals and maintaining their high customer experience standards through a strategic partnership with iQor. After a competitive process, the retailer selected iQor over a leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for Customer Service. 

A U.S.-based fashion retailer has sold high-quality products at affordable prices from multiple brands for generations. The products they sell through their online marketplace and retail catalog testify to their extensive industry experience and understanding of their customers. They continually strive to meet their customer’s needs and exceed their expectations. 

This retailer offers products from more than a dozen brands through their catalogs and e-commerce website. Customers can buy online—even from a catalog—but most prefer to place orders by phone and speak with a live agent. Agents strive to make callers feel like they are more than just customers in each voice conversation. They listen to callers’ preferences and make related product recommendations that customers appreciate. 

More than 10% of this retailer’s revenue comes from inbound voice upselling and cross-selling, which takes time on each call. Agents establish rapport with each customer interaction, enter the order, and then offer several other purchase options. Even for experienced agents, average handle time (AHT) exceeded more traditional timeframes. Most of that time is spent selling. While the job title is order entry, agents must be able to upsell or cross-sell. 

Because this retailer prioritizes exceptional customer support, they earn high levels of customer satisfaction and loyalty. They have a lot of repeat customers. With customers increasingly shopping online at any hour of the day or night, agents need to be available whenever their customers want to interact with them. 

The e-commerce retailer relied on in-house teams to create an excellent customer experience, but they faced multiple challenges: 

  1. A lean labor market of qualified agents. 
  1. Access to the latest digital technology.  
  1. Staffing the phones 24/7. 
  1. The need to recruit and onboard quickly for critical spring and holiday shopping seasons.  
  1. A dropped call rate of 10%-15% due to long AHT. 
  1. The need for more agents proficient in order entry and upselling. 

The retailer recognized their need for a reliable outsourcing partner that would meet their high standards for processing orders, cross-selling, upselling, and consistently providing customers with the excellent customer service they’d come to expect. 

They researched business process outsourcing (BPO) companies and conducted a formal request for information (RFI) process with three BPOs. After reviewing the submissions and performing due diligence, they selected iQor as their first and only BPO partner. The initial contract called for iQor to handle 10% of their order entry volume. 

Business Challenges  

Our client engaged iQor to support their commitment to superior customer service and raise their inbound sales head count to handle increased call volume while staffing, training, and managing teams with four specific requirements. 

Challenge 1: Staff, Train, and Coach Order Entry Agents to Sell 

This retailer’s order entry agents spend as much or more time selling as they do taking orders. Share of wallet is important for our client. Considerably more than 10% of all revenue comes from sales made after the initial order is entered. Agents must be able to think on their feet and navigate the website and product catalogs quickly to suggest related products the customer might buy. 

On each call, agents establish rapport, enter the customer’s order, and offer the customer another product to complement their purchase. If the customer isn’t interested in the suggested product, the agent—with help from AI tools—suggests an alternate product, with a high probability of interest, from a different catalog or a volume-based discount (i.e., customers who purchase more than a certain amount receive a percentage discount off their total purchase). 

Additionally, agents invite eligible customers to apply for the retailer’s branded credit card. 

Challenge 2: Maintain High Customer Satisfaction Levels 

Our client’s business depends on loyal customers who shop with them regularly and recommend them to friends and family. Customers call for a personal touch, and it’s up to the agent to provide it. Calls can be complex and exceed traditional handle times. Throughout the call, agents always keep the customer’s satisfaction top of mind. 

Challenge 3: Excel in Key Performance Areas 

The client specified three performance areas, and iQor added one internal goal: 

  • Cross-sell complementary products.  
  • Upsell volume-based pricing.
  • Sign up eligible customers to their branded credit card. 
  • Reduce AHT while maintaining exceptional quality. 

Challenge 4: Ramp Up Quickly for Peak Seasons 

The average order-entry agent head count remained stable for most of the year and ramped up with 25% more agents for the spring and holiday busy seasons. 

With changes in their local labor market, the retailer encountered challenges finding the short-term contact center staffing overflow they needed. In response to this need, iQor was tasked with making seamless head count additions and subtractions as seasons changed. 

In addition to prioritizing these four production-related requirements, the company’s new CEO sought to increase profitability. He viewed partnering with a BPO as part of that solution. One of the reasons the client chose to partner with iQor was our track record of exceeding strategic sourcing goals while meeting or exceeding sales production goals and providing exceptional customer service. 

Solutions 

Designing and executing meticulous staffing criteria, customized training, technologically aided coaching, and a strong partnership with the client was critical to solving these challenges. 

Highly Selective Staffing 

To meet our client’s contact center staffing needs, iQor recruits experienced agents with a positive sales track record. During the recruitment process, hiring managers evaluate agents for their ability to tailor their sales approach to the customer, develop the need in the customer, and, when appropriate, think outside the box to earn the sale.  

Recognized for our skill executing fast and large seasonal inbound sales staffing ramp-ups, iQor consistently handles our client’s seasonal head count needs with great efficiency. Globally, iQor ramps for seasonal staffing by more than 400% annually.  

The positive employee experience seasonal staffers enjoy increases our pool of potential new permanent sales-savvy employees. 

Customized Training With Innovative Training Techniques 

The first week is focused on product-specific training. Agents learn about products from more than a dozen brands, how to navigate the website to access products fast, and how to take orders quickly and accurately. 

With the basics under their belts, agents are then trained to increase share of wallet by cross-selling complementary products, upselling volume-based discounts, and selling the retailer’s branded credit card. 

Agents then begin nesting: on-the-job training with half the day spent on the phones with customers and the other half in debriefing sessions with training focused on specific areas where they can optimize their performance. 

Training is detailed and rigorous. Once fully trained, agents are ready to work full time to meet and exceed our client’s goals. 

Proprietary Interaction Analytics Informs Coaching 

VALDI, iQor’s proprietary speech and interaction analysis platform, uses cloud computing, machine learning, and artificial intelligence to mine every available recorded interaction between agents and customers in search of opportunities to improve the customer experience through agent coaching. Multiple types of opportunities are revealed. 

VALDI can mine calls for specific trends or hot topics that call for additional coaching. For example, if customers consistently mention one of the retailer’s products, VALDI can quickly uncover all conversations in which the product is mentioned and analyze customer sentiment toward the product. Supervisors can then coach agents on how best to respond to customer comments about the product in a way that satisfies customers and supports the brand. 

Similarly, if the retailer doesn’t want specific subjects discussed during calls, VALDI can instantly search for every conversation that includes those subjects and bring them to the supervisor’s attention. Subsequent coaching helps significantly reduce or eliminate discussions of those subjects in the future. 

VALDI can monitor agent compliance with KPIs and recommend to supervisors those agents who could most improve with additional coaching. KPIs to be monitored can be tailored to customer needs. Three examples of the many KPIs that can be monitored include: 

  • Average handle time (AHT). 
  • Potential call avoidance (PCA). 
  • Script adherence. 

Additional proprietary interaction analytics supporting tools we use for the client include Qatch and sQan. All calls and screen activities are recorded and uploaded to a searchable database with Qatch. VALDI mines the database to uncover deep insights and coachable moments. sQan displays all agents’ quality performance reviews for voice, e-mail, and chat communications with customers and documents coaching sessions. 

Strong Partnership 

Through mutual respect, open communication, and a shared commitment to delivering excellent customer experiences, we’ve built a strong partnership with our client. In a joint quest for continuous improvement, the client’s CFO and the iQor VP overseeing the program are true partners, meeting every two weeks to discuss the latest progress and future steps.  

Results 

Since they began working with iQor in 2020, our client has enjoyed significant returns. 

Millions Saved in Year One
In iQor’s first year serving the client, we reduced their order entry costs by nearly $5 million.

Cross-Sells Approaching 9% Over Goal
iQor agents cross-sell additional products at a rate nearly 9% over our client’s inbound sales goal.

Upsells Greater Than 12% Over Goal
iQor agents upsell volume-based discounts at a rate more than 12% over our client’s inbound sales goal. 

Credit Card Signups Nearly 2% Over Goal
iQor agents sign up customers for the retailer’s branded credit card at a rate nearly 2% over our client’s goal.

Reduced Average Handle Time (AHT) by More Than 16%
After iQor implemented our proprietary speech analytics technology to aid in agent training and coaching, agents reduced AHT from 10 minutes to 9.

9x Increase in Order Entry Volume Handling
In just over two years, the percentage of the client’s order entry volume iQor handles has grown from 10% to 90%.

Role Expanded From Order Entry to Include Customer Service
Our order entry work exceeded the client’s expectations regarding quality and financial savings. Consequently, they engaged us to take on some of their customer service work. Today, the program’s customer service team ramps up by more than 400% for the holidays and handles over 25% of the e-commerce retailer’s customer service calls.

Roadmap Includes Adding Digital Services
Next steps for this thriving partnership include expanding iQor’s role to introduce more integrated digital services, such as chat and email, with an emphasis on minimizing the 1:1 transfer of talent where possible.

According to a member of our client’s senior leadership team, iQor is “mission critical” for their success. And that gives us both—and their customers—reason to smile. Heart

The Benefits of RPA: How BPOs Help Organizations Save Time and Money With CX Automation

Posted on by Joe Przybylowski

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Providers Add Strategic RPA Business Benefits to Projects 

As brands continually look to boost efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness in the marketplace, business process outsourcing (BPO) providers with digital transformation expertise offer unique insights and strategic value. This includes helping brands refine processes to achieve more loyalty throughout the customer journey. 

In recent decades, brands and analysts have come to recognize that BPOs understand how to navigate the options and opportunities created by business process optimization technologies. 

In recent decades, brands and analysts have come to recognize that BPOs understand how to navigate the options and opportunities created by business process optimization technologies.

One such technology—robotic process automation (RPA)—offers myriad business benefits, especially when deployed through a BPO with strategic digital transformation experience. 

Recognizing the Unique Business Benefits BPOs Add to Digital Transformation

In an August 2022 article, Gartner highlighted two unique benefits of partnering with a BPO for digital transformation.  

  1. Because BPOs consistently add technology to their tech stack, it’s easy for them to demonstrate how a given digital solution can help solve a client’s operational challenges. 
  1. By taking on vendor administration responsibilities for you, a BPO can remove two apparent needs: a) to hire more full-time employees and b) to give your IT staff additional work. 

Beyond these two benefits, BPOs bring a third benefit: objectivity. As third parties, BPOs can focus solely on the client’s objectives: to solve operational challenges, boost productivity, improve efficiency, and increase competitiveness while maintaining excellent customer and vendor relationships.  

As BPOs have demonstrated, these benefits apply to automation projects as well.

BPOs and Automation

Many BPOs that excel at digital transformation have also become experts in business process automation (BPA), an umbrella term that covers any type of automation used to streamline business processes and workflows, including robotic process automation.  

Like digital transformation, BPA is an increasingly popular and effective way to make business processes more efficient, workers more productive, and brands more competitive.

Rapid Expansion of RPA

From 2020-2026, global use of business process automation (BPA) is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 12.2%, from $9.8 billion to $19.6 billion. 

The robotic process automation market is consistently the fastest-growing of all types of BPA. Forrester Research expects RPA deployment and support services to reach $12 billion in 2023. 

Forrester Research expects RPA deployment and support services to reach $12 billion in 2023.

Brands prefer robotic process automation to other forms of automation because it: 

1. Requires little support from IT, leaving them to perform their duties uninterrupted.  

2. Has proved its value across industries by automating a wide array of functions with accuracy, including: 

  • Manipulating and migrating files and data between different applications.
  • Entering and validating massive quantities of data (big data) from multiple systems.
  • Reconciling accounts.
  • Processing credit cards, mortgages, invoices, and insurance claims.
  • Detecting potential threats of bank fraud.
  • Planning resource needs and managing inventory.
  • Onboarding new employees.

RPA at a Glance 

RPA is a collaborative function of business stakeholders, users, RPA designers, and developers who automate processes on an RPA software platform.  

With RPA, software records a human’s clicks and keystrokes as they perform a high-volume, tedious, and repetitive process—such as data entry—on a digital interface. A virtual robot (bot) then mimics the human’s clicks and keystrokes, but much faster and with no errors.  

Like a human operator, an RPA robot can perform data entry tasks, open and close different applications, and use optical character recognition (OCR) software to digitalize data found on hard copy assets—such as printouts of Excel spreadsheets—and then use that data in the process. 

Today, RPA and digital transformation are often used on the same projects, so a thorough discussion of RPA must include digital transformation. 

In this blog post we’ll cover: 

  • Top Benefits of RPA for BPO clients. 
  • The RPA-digital transformation connection. 
  • Why a BPO with a proven digital transformation track record can multiply the benefits of robotic process automation. 
  • Experience the best in RPA 

Top Benefits of RPA for BPO Clients 

When asked, BPO clients cite the following benefits of robotic process automation. 

Boost Efficiency and Reduce Costs 

RPA saves time by assigning repetitive tasks to bots, which allows humans to focus on tasks that require critical thinking. Reducing the human time spent on repetitive processes also reduces the cost to complete each process. Efficiency savings of 25%-50% are common. 

Improve Customer Satisfaction 

Contact centers help brands build relationships with customers, earn high customer satisfaction ratings with excellent personalized service, and help retain customers. To personalize customer service, an agent must access the customer’s history of interactions with the brand in every channel they’ve ever used—including in-store, e-commerce, chatbot, voice, social media, and more.  

Pulling all that information together can take the agents several minutes. In today’s real-time world, several minutes can be enough to make customers wonder what’s taking so long. RPA can pull all the customer information together from every channel in seconds. That makes it easier for the agent to focus on the customer and provide excellent, personalized customer service that makes the customer smile. Heart

Accelerate Productivity 

Many frontline workers perform repetitive tasks that take time away from the more valuable work they joined the brand to do. RPA removes the need to perform repetitive tasks and allows them to focus on knowledge and skills-based responsibilities. The result is a win-win for both the employees and the brand. It lowers costs for the brand and boosts workers’ morale by making them feel more valuable. 

Increase Accuracy 

When humans perform the same monotonous tasks repeatedly, they make mistakes. A 2% error rate may not seem like much, but over 10,000 repetitions, that’s 200 errors. Fixing those errors takes time, which costs money, and means valuable workers are doing something other than their primary tasks. When RPA bots take over those monotonous tasks, they make no mistakes. RPAs are robots that do a handful of things consistently well.  

Tighten Data Security 

Brands prioritize the security of business data and personally identifiable data. By specifying strict parameters in the RPA security rules, brands can limit the number of people who see confidential data and make it difficult for bad actors to copy or share it. Tightening data security with RPA helps brands comply with government and industry-specific privacy regulations. 

Scale on Demand 

Many business activities change seasonally, and seasonal change often requires temporarily ramping up headcount, onboarding, and training. When RPA handles the repetitive processes, bots do all required work without impacting headcount to meet changes in demand. 

Generate Valuable Data 

An RPA gives brands the opportunity to digitally track processing efficiency. This is especially important when humans and bots work together, with the bot handling the parts of the process that can be automated and the person handling the rest. The RPA can track the time it takes to complete the process from beginning to end, including the part performed by the worker.  

When some instances take longer than normal, these outliers may be signs that the process could benefit from analysis and modifications that will allow the human and robot team to consistently complete the process in the same amount of time. This data enables organizations to fine-tune their RPA and generate additional efficiencies. 

Function Consistently 

People find their own ways to perform processes, even when they are repetitive.  

When the person who usually handles a process is unavailable, someone else must perform the task. The replacement brings their own touch to the task, so you can’t expect them to complete it in the same amount of time or with the same level of accuracy. RPA works the same way every time, as long as the rules and the systems remain the same. 

Extend the Life Cycle of Legacy Systems  

When workers are required to execute repetitive processes that move data from one application to another, it’s usually because a legacy system that doesn’t accommodate API connectivity is involved. Brands can improve efficiency by using an alternative way of connecting the applications. RPA is that alternative.  

RPA bots do everything workers do when transferring data between systems—but in a small fraction of the time and with 100% accuracy. Bridging connectivity gaps is how brands employ RPA in digital transformation projects. 

Each of these benefits of RPA generates significant value for brands that do RPA right. The next two sections clarify the RPA-digital transformation connection and the role business process outsourcing providers play. 

The RPA-Digital Transformation Connection 

In a perfect world, digital transformation would be a straightforward process, with new software replacing old software and data digitalization making all data shareable and actionable across lines of business.  

In reality, there are times when old software can’t be replaced because the hardware that hosts it doesn’t meet the technical requirements of the new software. That’s usually because the hardware was created for an outdated—or legacy—operating system. When that’s the case, there are two options: 

  1. Replace the old hardware with new hardware at considerable cost and time-consuming operational disruption. 
  1. Find a way to connect the new software in the modern digital system to the old software in the legacy system.  

This is where RPA comes in. Instead of spending a fortune on new hardware and disrupting operations until it performs all functions properly, RPA can bridge the gap between the new hardware and the old by mimicking all the steps required to connect the two applications. 

The need to solve connectivity gaps is a common need in digital transformation projects, and a major reason RPA has become an invaluable component of digital transformation. By incorporating RPA to bridge digital transformation gaps—at a much lower cost than that of buying and installing new hardware—brands can stage their digital transformation strategy over time. 

Why a BPO With a Proven Digital Transformation Track Record Can Help Multiply the Benefits of Robotic Process Automation 

We’ve touched on three unique RPA business benefits that BPOs bring to projects: 

1. Conduct affordable pilot programs to prove the RPA concept.
If your brand wants to see what RPA can do before investing in a large project, a BPO with RPA expertise can run a small pilot project. 

You could run the test yourself, but the BPO’s technical knowledge and RPA expertise allow your brand to focus on your business without having to become RPA experts while the BPO runs the pilot. 

2. Save the brand from having to hire full-time employees.
Creating a successful RPA requires: 

  • Project leaders.
  • Ongoing communication with all stakeholders.
  • Expert RPA developers.
  • Post-launch follow-up communication.
  • Ongoing maintenance and fine-tuning as systems and rules changes dictate.
  • Vendor management.

A BPO with its own center of excellence has the experienced staff and leadership in place for your first project and all ensuing RPA projects, so increasing your headcount won’t be necessary. 

3. Instill confidence that all recommendations have the brand in mind.
Many decisions are made when creating an RPA. When you partner with a BPO that provides objective advice based solely on the goals and needs of your brand, you can feel confident in both the process and your decisions. 

But the most significant benefit a BPO can provide a brand is its unique ability to take a holistic approach to business process optimization. 

When objectively evaluating an organization’s potential RPA projects, a BPO with digital transformation expertise can employ a strategic perspective of the involved system(s) that includes: 

  • Brand objectives. 
  • IT modernization plans. 
  • Hardware lifecycle stages. 
  • Pending operating system and application updates. 

All this information must be considered holistically to properly answer these four fundamental questions: 

  1. Which form of optimization is the correct choice of optimization for a given process? RPA? Another type of automation? Digital transformation?
  2. What resources are required to complete each task? 
  3. What steps for preparing the system for optimization should come first? 
  4. In what order, and over what time span, should the creation and implementation of business process solutions be staged to generate a return in the least amount of time while minimizing operational disruption?

Getting these answers right the first time can multiply the value of the top RPA business benefits listed earlier. 

The right BPO—one with a track record of success in both RPA and digital transformation—can provide these services without pushing one solution over another for self-serving reasons.

The right BPO—one with a track record of success in both RPA and digital transformation—can provide these services without pushing one solution over another for self-serving reasons.    

Even if it means recommending an alternative solution to RPA, the BPO’s mission is to help the client achieve its goals to refine processes and improve the customer experience. 

Experience the Best in RPA 

iQor is a business process outsourcing company (BPO) ideally suited to help brands optimize their business processes through RPA and digital transformation. Our intelligent automation delivers better customer experiences and helps employees perform at their best.  

iQor’s cognitive RPA software solutions are customized to client needs. We use AI and machine learning to handle high-volume, repetitive, or slow, time-consuming tasks. With streamlined workflows using RPAs, our team completes tasks faster and more accurately to provide amazing customer experiences. 

Moreover, our experience designing, developing, and implementing successful RPA projects for many different businesses enables iQor to identify and recommend the solutions that will deliver to each client their highest return. 

If you’re ready to start a conversation with an RPA expert, contact us to learn about how we can help you create more smiles. 

Joe Przybylowski is vice president of digital solutions and optimization at iQor. 

Ada Smith is vice president of research and analytics at iQor.

How RPA Solutions Improve Productivity and Enhance Customer Service

Posted on by Ada Smith

RPA Creates More Rewarding Customer Service Experiences and Helps Employees Perform at Their Best 

Customer service is of the utmost importance in helping businesses strengthen their brand, stand out from their competition, and ensure customer loyalty. However, it can sometimes be hard to keep up with the large number of customer support tasks. That’s where robotic process automation (RPA) can help.

Solutions based on the strategic and effective use of custom-written RPA technology help businesses improve their workflows and achieve outstanding results, ultimately supporting better customer service. Through custom RPA solutions, employees can go beyond meeting their productivity goals and customer-facing employees can focus on creating more rewarding customer experiences.

Below, we discuss RPA solutions and their importance in ensuring a rewarding customer experience as part of a comprehensive digital transformation strategy that enhances the customer journey. 

What Is Robotic Process Automation?

Robotic process automation is a technology that allows computer systems to perform tasks typically handled by humans. It helps companies boost their productivity, decrease costs, and be more competitive by automating menial and repetitive tasks, all while maintaining accuracy and high levels of customer service. 

RPA uses intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) to handle an organization’s most basic and time-consuming activities. These include tasks such as collecting data from different sources, updating spreadsheets and databases, and filling out forms.

In customer service, solutions that utilize RPA technology can simplify processes like responding to commonly asked questions and directing customers toward self-service pages as part of a seamless omnichannel experience.

While traditional automation uses application programming interfaces (APIs) to integrate systems, robotic process automation makes use of software bots to understand the actions of users at the user interface level. An RPA developer must be thoroughly familiar with the target system.

The Goal of RPA 

The goal of RPA is to eliminate low-value tasks and free employees to spend more time on work with greater impact—like interacting with customers—to achieve better business results.

Intelligent automation can significantly advance customer experiences with your brand given that Americans are willing to pay 17% more to do business with companies with excellent reputations in customer service. Indeed, 90% of Americans consider customer service an important factor in determining whether or not they want to be associated with a company at all.

RPA bots offload the weight of inefficient processes across any business vertical or industry so employees can focus on what matters most. Tasks that check the following boxes can be optimized by RPA software to support your business: 

  • Time-sensitive 
  • Labor-intensive or high-volume 
  • Repetitive 
  • Rule-based 
  • Highly structured 
  • Prone to human error 

Understanding RPA is imperative for today’s businesses. Solutions that use RPA enable efficient automation of routine tasks in customer service, such as: 

  • Loading and changing data. 
  • Filling out forms. 
  • Streamlining information on different systems. 
  • Screening application forms and documents. 
  • Managing people requests. 

How RPA Solutions Help Improve the Customer Service Experience

Solutions that employ RPA software improve the customer service experience in multiple ways.

For one, it speeds up processes and reduces repetition, which enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty. Intelligent automation creates positive outcomes and improves customer service by providing quick and consistent support with reduced handle time for customer service agents.

Second, it helps create happier, more focused employees. On average, 40% of employees’ time is wasted on repetitive manual tasks, according to an Automation Anywhere study—and 75% of employees believe spending time on tasks that can easily be automated is a poor use of their skills.  By using automated processes to reduce or eliminate mundane tasks, employees can spend more time creating more meaningful customer experiences.

Third, RPA solutions increase productivity and accuracy. Through streamlined workflows, customer service teams can complete tasks faster and more accurately. UiPath’s 2021 Office Worker Survey found that 67% of global workers feel crushed by repetitive tasks. Intelligent automation of repetitive tasks can help people find fulfillment and attain higher productivity at work. 

Automated processes, such as conversational artificial intelligence (AI), have a lower margin of error which helps businesses meet customer expectations. RPA solutions eliminate potential human errors entering customer data, providing streamlined service and saving companies time and money.

Additionally, RPA solutions reduce costs and increase revenue. They provide early visibility into trends, creating opportunities to eliminate human error, reduce unnecessary spend, and improve productivity.

Finally, RPA solutions help maintain best practices by providing consistency in service delivery throughout the contact center. They also ensure that all employees use customer information effectively and efficiently. 

Ultimately, RPA solutions allow for better tracking of tasks, knowledge sharing, and consistent service delivery, thus helping employees provide better customer service through the contact center. They can generate remarkable benefits for multi-national corporations as well as local small businesses by offering significant time-savings for completing repetitive tasks and better utilizing employees’ skills on more meaningful work.

How to Measure and Optimize Customer Support Effectiveness With RPA Solutions

As a managed services provider of customer engagement and technology-enabled business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions, iQor creates RPA solutions for our clients. After implementing process automation in customer service, BPOs like iQor can measure its effectiveness for their clients in the following ways. 

  • Increased revenue: How much money are you saving or making thanks to BPO solutions with intelligent virtual assistants? Your business may open up a new revenue stream by reassigning teams and workflows or adding new projects to expand operations. With higher customer satisfaction, you’re also bound to get new customers through word of mouth, ultimately increasing profits.
  • Velocity: Velocity is the time it takes for an automated process to complete a task. BPOs can save their clients time and increase velocity by removing manual processes through RPA solutions. 

BPOs like iQor can use these aforementioned metrics to identify opportunities to deploy RPA solutions to further enhance customer support strategies for their clients. Additionally, they can use intelligent automation to inform social media monitoring and respond to customer reviews and feedback to better meet customer needs.

How Can You Make the Best Use of RPA Solutions in Customer Support? 

Here are some ways to get the most out of RPA solutions: 

  • Start by automating simple tasks. 
  • Upskill customer support agents as RPA deployments mature. 
  • Automate customer service across all touchpoints and omnichannel platforms for a connected experience. 
  • Focus on specific metrics and determine how well RPA is doing in those aspects. 

It’s also imperative that the solution implemented by your BPO provides RPA security so automation and convenience align with cybersecurity protocols. In addition to a CX private cloud, here are four ways to accomplish this: 

  • Implement change control and review for RPA technology scripts. 
  • Ensure the RPA bot has audit capabilities. 
  • Avoid fraud and abuse by enabling privileged session management. 
  • Rotate bot credentials frequently to ensure accountability for the actions of the RPA solution. 

Typical Use Cases for RPA

Research indicates that 20% of organizations have adopted robotic process automation as of 2021, a noteworthy jump from just 13% in 2020.

At iQor, our cognitive RPA custom solutions have yielded outstanding results for clients. iQor developed an RPA bot that simplified the voucher program for a major airline carrier, saving time and significantly improving productivity. The airline program saved 1,965 hours per year by reducing handle time by two minutes per voucher request. They saw a 29% reduction in overall handle time and were able to process 36,400 transactions per year.

iQor’s RPA solution has generated improved outcomes across other business processes as well. It has been used to simplify processes for a global HR team, automating HR-based workflow requests. In checking for accuracy, providing real-time visibility into staffing metrics, and offering other payroll and benefits improvements it has saved 650 hours per employee each year. With 100% process automation it completes 75 complex HR transactions per hour, supercharging the HR workforce.

Some additional use cases for RPA technology solutions in customer support to improve contact center analytics include: 

Update CRM Data 

RPA solutions can cull customer data from a CRM solution and update it with the latest information. In this way, it frees up the customer support team to focus on helping customers instead of updating common data, such as cold calls, interactions with customer support employees, reports, documents, and emails. 

Root Cause Analysis 

When an incident occurs, the RPA solution can be used to gather data automatically so that your team can quickly identify the root cause. Once they know why an incident occurred, they can more easily solve the problem. 

Assist Customer Support Agents 

According to Salesforce, 63% of customers expect customer service agents to be familiar with their expectations and unique needs.  

An RPA solution can fetch customer data, such as purchases, previous complaints, demographics, and tickets, for the customer service rep to help them better deal with customer inquiries. 

Instant Response 

RPA solutions can be used to automate simple customer service functions, such as sending customers on hold new information about their order or shipping status. RPA is also great for generating responses to common requests or questions from customers, saving time and helping to provide better service.   

Final Words 

In sum, custom RPA solutions offered by BPOs like iQor can be immensely helpful in enhancing customer service and the customer experience for clients of all sizes. Whether large or small, companies can benefit from the enhanced productivity, cost savings, and improved customer service that RPA solutions provide.

Experience the iQor Difference 

iQor’s intelligent automation delivers better customer experiences and helps employees perform at their best. Our cognitive RPA software solutions are customized to client needs. We use AI and machine learning to handle high-volume, repetitive, or slow, time-consuming tasks. With streamlined workflows using RPAs, our team completes tasks faster and more accurately to provide amazing customer experiences.

If you’re considering outsourcing customer support, explore partnering with iQor. We are an award-winning global BPO, purpose-built to deliver omnichannel customer service through our work-at-home and in-office agents spread across more than 50 locations worldwide.

We know how to maximize RPA for superior customer service, efficiency, and cost-saving. To learn more about how we can help you achieve your goals, listen to our podcasts or contact us here.

Ada Smith is director of analytics at iQor.

The Role of Intelligent Virtual Agents in Customer Service

Posted on by Nicole Gobbo

As the world becomes increasingly digitized, many forward-looking businesses have started deploying intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) in their customer service delivery model. iQor has extensive experience designing, implementing and managing intelligent automation customer experience solutions for brands. We’re sharing our expertise and best practices on IVAs in this post.

IVAs are artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chat assistants that give customers personalized responses by combining cognitive computing and analytics. Unlike chatbots, which follow a given script, IVAs start humanlike, context-based dialogues to reach out to customers. For instance, if a customer enters an order number and asks a question about the order, the IVA will save this information so it can refer to it later in the conversation.

IVAs offer many benefits. They’re cost-effective, efficient, and they form an integral part of your customer retention strategy. IVAs can also help human agents interface with customers and improve customer service and loyalty. Additionally, they can be integrated with human agents through Customer Experience as a Service (CXaaS), a cloud-based solution that empowers organizations to deliver a cost-effective and hyper-personalized customer experience.

Read on to learn more about how IVAs work, how they can improve customer service, and how you can start integrating IVAs with human agents.

How an Intelligent Virtual Agent Works

An intelligent virtual agent is an AI virtual assistant that leverages various AI technologies to understand customers’ concerns. Using natural language processing (NLP) technologies, IVAs can understand answers that they haven’t been explicitly programmed to understand. That’s because NLP technologies — which include natural language understanding (NLU), text-to-speech, transcription, and speech-to-text — enable IVAs to find insights and meanings in spoken and written conversations. They also empower IVAs to understand the meaning of conversations without a predefined syntax and build their knowledge base.

Deep learning, speech recognition, and machine learning also help IVAs build up a large vocabulary, understand different accents and colloquialisms, and provide correct and accurate answers to customers.

Because they’re powered by so many different types of advanced AI technologies, IVAs can understand:

  • Free text
  • Speech
  • Multiple-choice selection of answers

What IVAs are used for

IVAs are used to answer and resolve simple customer requests. They come in two forms:

  • Messenger apps: This form is the most common. It’s the chat box that pops up at the bottom of your screen when you land on a website.
  • Virtual customer service agents: These IVAs give interactive voice responses during customer calls. 

How an IVA can reduce operating costs

An intelligent virtual assistant can help you reduce operating costs by:

  • Reducing wait times for calls. Without IVAs, your call volumes can get increasingly high, which will lead to call abandonment and frustration for your customer. Some customers may even give up on your brand due to long wait times. To prevent customers from abandoning and get them to continue interacting with your company, you could deploy IVAs to engage with them. Giving people instant answers and possible solutions will significantly improve the customer experience.
  • Automating repetitive tasks that don’t require human ingenuity. IVAs can deal with routine tasks and inquiries to give human chat agents more time and energy to deal with more pressing issues. This frees up more time and resources for agents to address customer questions and concerns that require more effort to answer and resolve. In other words, IVAs accelerate workflows.
  • Acting as assistants for agents. If an IVA can’t resolve an issue, it can gather key information from customers and pass that along to human agents.

Ways That IVAs Help Human Agents Interface With Customers

Although IVAs can do a lot of the things that human agents can, they don’t replace human agents. There are still a number of things that only human agents can do. These include resolving complex issues that require empathy and compassion. In such scenarios, IVAs act as assistants for human agents and help human agents become augmented agents. 

Here are some ways IVAs can help human agents become better ambassadors for your brand:

  • Keep human agents in the loop: As mentioned above, an IVA can gather and pass vital customer information on to live agents. For example, if a customer wants to talk to a human agent about a warranty on her laptop, she can leave her order number with the IVA. The IVA will then pass the order number and a summary of her concern on to a human agent who has the skills, empathy, and compassion to help the customer understand her warranty better. 
  • Show human agents key metrics: Unlike chatbots and virtual assistants (VAs), IVAs have access to an entire ecosystem of software, services, data, and products. They also understand how these parts interact and how customers have interacted with them so far, thanks to machine and deep learning. This means human agents can use IVAs to:
    • Get a better and more accurate understanding of how customers have been interacting with the business so far
    • Develop a strategy to attract and retain clients based on existing statistics

How Intelligent Virtual Agents Improve Customer Service and Loyalty

IVAs can also improve customer service and loyalty. 

Due to their conversational AI capabilities, IVAs can attract and retain customers by creating positive, helpful experiences that stick in people’s minds. Think about that helpful store employee, museum guide, or IT professional who wants to guide customers to more resources. IVAs are like that, only they can work 24/7.

By creating these memorable experiences for customers, IVAs can help you improve your service design. Service design is based on the simple idea that customer service excellence is the most important concern when delivering a service or product. By putting your customers’ concerns and feelings at the forefront, you’ll be able to offer value and promote your brand every time you interact with customers. 

Integrating IVAs With Human Agents for CXaaS

Another way you can use IVAs to your advantage is to integrate them with human agents for CXaaS.

CXaaS is a cloud-based holistic solution for the design, planning, and implementation of activities that make up the customer experience. Specialty service providers such as iQor specialize in managing such cloud-based solutions for brands at scale. CXaaS solutions combine automation with customer experience (CX) strategy and data integration. In other words, CXaaS is the backbone of digital transformation. It’s not just a patchwork of the newest technologies — it’s also a foundational shift to digital. CXaaS deconstructs and re-imagines CX to ensure customer satisfaction.

What makes CXaaS special?

CXaaS leverages AI technology and massive amounts of customer data to give you a deeper understanding of customers’ specific needs in real-time by providing analytics to gather and analyze customer data, automating simple employee and customer tasks, and segmenting customers to give them personalized experiences. It also helps you create a CX roadmap that smooths out the customer journey and helps you initiate tools like automated IVAs, customer self-service apps, and proactive alerts to improve CX and customer engagement.

CXaaS also makes your brand future-proof. After you’ve created a CX roadmap and enhanced customer interaction and engagement by using CXaaS’ actionable insights, you can use CXaaS tools to expand your brand to other customer channels.

How does CXaaS work?

CXaaS comes with critical components for intelligent virtual assistants that you can integrate with human agents:

  • Online engagement: CXaaS lets your IVAs respond to customers immediately through text or text-to-speech. This allows you to keep your customers engaged, even if you can’t solve their problems immediately.
  • Personalized services: CXaaS tools let you and your agents create hyperpersonalized experiences for different types of customers. This will make customers feel cared for, so they’ll be more likely to visit your site again.
  • Cloud computing: Cloud computing makes everything more flexible and accessible. Instead of working from contact centers, your live agents can work from home and use screen sharing, Google Docs, and other cloud-based apps to communicate with customers.
  • Detailed metrics: CXaaS solutions come with detailed messaging and voice analytics to gather insights for improvement. Your human agents can access these metrics to determine:
    • Ways to improve CX
    • Prevent bad CX from happening again
    • Make adjustments to IVAs if they aren’t getting the results you want
  • Creative omnichannel experiences: CXaaS will help your IVAs and live agents reach your customers on the channels and platforms they use the most, whether it be Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, or WhatsApp.

Experience the iQor Difference Today

All in all, intelligent chatbots like IVAs are a future-proof, cost-effective part of your digital customer experience strategy. IVAs can help your brand compete and stand out among your competitors and ultimately build more loyalty. Powerful, streamlined, and intuitive, IVAs can be used alone, with human agents, or as part of a full-suite CXaaS solution.

If you’re interested in improving your brand’s customer experience, consider working with iQor.  We help brands deliver the world’s most sought-after customer experiences. We offer the following: 

  • A diversified technological suite that maximizes and scales performance across multiple geographies.
  • A secure private cloud platform that extends the call center experience into remote agents’ homes. This lowers costs while boosting customer satisfaction and agent loyalty.
  • Work-from-home solutions that blend IVAs with on-site and remote agents.
  • A partnership approach. Besides our agents, our Business Development Executives, C-Level Executives and Data Scientists will work with you to provide a consultative partnership focused on your success.

Interested in learning more about the iQor difference? Learn more by listening to our podcasts. If you’re ready to start a conversation with a customer experience expert, you can contact us directly to learn more about how we can help you create more smiles.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) simplifies processes for a global HR Team

Posted on by Blake Graves

Processes Automation

Manual review and approval of
HR process

Industry

Human Resources

The Challenge

Manual data entry processes slowed down critical human resource functions and reduce staffing visibility in the business. The repetitive HR task required a multi-step manual review and approval process from across several parts of the organization. As a result, long queues of HR tasks in the HRIS system took up hours per day.

The Solution

iQor developed a robotic process automation (RPA) bot to automate all manual data entry points and workflows within the cloud-based software for human capital management. The RPA incorporated human review procedures for exceptions

RPA supercharges your workforce

  • Complete processes and requests faster
  • Eliminate human error Increase productivity and streamline functions
  • Shift employees’ time to revenue-focused activities

The Results

The RPA bot, without the need for any human interaction, automates HR-based workflow requests by reviewing each request to fixed criteria. If the requirements are met, the bot automatically approves the request. If not, the system automatically alerts the requester for comments and changes. HR management can start and stop the RPA bot anytime through a simple email notification process. Additionally, the bot increased system record accuracy, provided real-time visibility into staffing metrics, and offered other payroll and benefits improvements.

650 hours saved per employee per year

75 complex HR transactions completed per hour

100% process automation

Intelligent Automation Simplifies Voucher Program for Major Airline

Posted on by Blake Graves

Processes Automated

Back office voucher fulfillment

Industry

Travel and Hospitality

The Opportunity

A back office voucher process required specially-trained agents to work off large Excel files on multiple applications and screens, leading to sub-optimal processing speed, frustrated customers, and missed opportunities to use skilled agents on more revenue-driven tasks.

The Solution

iQor developed a robotic process automation (RPA) function to automate the voucher workflow and create an easy-to-train guided instruction for agents of any skill to complete the voucher process. The human and bot partnership improves output accuracy by removing all Excel interactions, applications, and screen activities and prompts the user for validation and input as needed. The RPA bot guides the agent through the voucher process, saving the company two valuable minutes of handle time per voucher request.

RPA Supercharges Your Workforce

  • Complete processes and requests faster.
  • Eliminate human error Increase productivity and streamline functions.
  • Shift employees’ time to revenue-focused activities.

Results

These two minutes had a huge impact. The airline saves thousands of hours a year, frees up agents for more revenue-driven tasks, and consistently meets its hourly target every day.

36,400 transactions per year

1,965 hours saved per year

29% reduction in handle time