Deliver Better CX With GenAI-Powered Knowledge Bases
When customers contact a company, they expect the right answers instantly. Traditional knowledge bases often complicate the experience, requiring agents to sift through overwhelming amounts of information. These delays — or, worse, inaccurate responses — frustrate customers, damage brand perception, and result in missed opportunities.
iQor’s infinityAiQ™ platform solves this by turning our knowledge bases’ data into actionable insights with our generative AI-powered knowledge assist. This innovative solution helps deliver the right answers to customers faster, whether through self-serve options or through CX experts.
iQor’s generative AI knowledge assist reduces handle times up to 20%.
In this blog post, we’ll explore how iQor’s knowledge assist streamlines information access, empowers agents to exceed customer expectations, and helps businesses achieve measurable CX success.
What Is a Knowledge Base?
A knowledge base is a centralized repository of information that helps businesses organize and store key data, such as product details, company policies, troubleshooting steps, and FAQs.
For CX leaders, an efficient knowledge base is a critical tool to meet customer expectations and drive loyalty. It provides agents with the resources they need to answer questions and resolve issues, but navigating them efficiently can be challenging.
That’s where iQor’s GenAI-powered knowledge assist comes in. It unlocks the full potential of knowledge bases by converting data into real-time, actionable insights, helping agents find the correct answers and handle customer inquiries quickly.
Access Answers Instantly With GenAI
Imagine a customer comparing phone models. Instead of sifting through hundreds of pages of technical data, an agent uses knowledge assist to retrieve the key differences in seconds.
This is possible because iQor trains agents to craft precise GenAI prompts, ensuring faster, more accurate resolutions and improved KPIs.
“Before knowledge assist, I had to go through hundreds of pages to find the right information for customers. Now, I get instant insights, and my customers notice the difference. They’re happier, and I feel more confident.”
Building agent confidence and retaining top talent.
Transform Your CX With GenAI-Enhanced Knowledge Assist
Fast, accurate information drives exceptional CX and measurable business growth. iQor’s GenAI-powered knowledge assist simplifies complex knowledge bases, reduces handle times, improves first call resolution, and, most importantly, boosts customer satisfaction.
By exceeding customer expectations, you can turn every interaction into an opportunity to win and keep customers.
Over 14,000 iQor employees are trained to harness the power of generative AI, resulting in faster resolutions, more satisfied customers, and improved KPIs.
Why Choose iQor?
At iQor, we deliver more than GenAI-powered tools. We provide tailored CX strategies that integrate advanced AI capabilities with scalable operations to deliver consistent results.
From improving efficiency to building customer trust and loyalty, we help businesses transform customer service into a strategic advantage.
Strategic Partnership
Agile Operations
Scalable Knowledge Solutions
GenAI-Powered Innovation
Compliance and Accuracy
Proven Impact
Ready to transform your customer experiences with AI? Contact us today to explore how iQor’s CX solutions can elevate your CX strategy.
Anupam Verma is senior director of digital solutions at iQor. He works on simplifying CX through iQor’s Innovations Lab. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
Deliver Faster, Smarter CX Resolutions Through AI-Powered Efficiency
In today’s fast-paced customer service environment, complex customer interactions are a daily challenge. High call complexity can frustrate customers and overwhelm agents, leading to inefficiencies that hinder first call resolution and weaken the overall customer experience.
Part of iQor’s Symphony [AI]TM ecosystem, this transformative tool equips agents with instant insights and guidance to resolve even the most intricate issues with precision and speed. With AI-powered efficiency, CX BPO teams deliver faster, smarter resolutions that enhance customer satisfaction, optimize operational performance, and support regulatory compliance.
As industries across the board adopt self-service options and automation, the need for more effective tools to handle evolving CX needs is clear. In this post, we outline the benefits of iQor’s real-time AI agent assist as part of our intelligent operations designed to meet the needs of today’s customer.
Say Hello to AI-Powered Results
Long handle times. Inconsistent service quality. Escalations and transfers. Missed upsell and cross-sell opportunities. Frustrated customers.
No CX professional wants to see these KPIs, but they’re often the case when customer service agents are expected to quickly solve complex problems with insufficient or overwhelming resources to sift through.
iQor addresses these challenges through its strategic use of AI. iQor’s AI-powered agent assist technology monitors calls in real time and analyzes conversations to provide agents with the guidance they need. Whether troubleshooting a technical issue or navigating a customer inquiry, the system instantly displays relevant information and step-by-step instructions in a clear and concise format. This minimizes the need for agents to search through lengthy databases or escalate issues, reducing both call handle time and customer effort.
AI-powered tools like real-time speech recognition and sentiment analysis equip agents with immediate insights, helping them respond quickly and confidently. This boosts agent productivity and ensures a superior customer experience with every interaction.
Natural language processing (NLP) plays a crucial role in this process. By analyzing conversations in real time, NLP helps the AI understand customer language, detect emotions, and recognize patterns from past interactions. This capability allows agents to respond more accurately and empathetically. NLP-informed AI also suggests resources specific to the conversation, accelerating resolution time and reducing call complexity.
Win and Keep Customers With AI Agent Assist
Empowered by AI agent assist, iQor’s agile CX teams deliver optimal results across key performance indicators for global brands.
iQor’s agent assist technology helps reduce call handle time by up to 30%.
Coupled with iQor’s proprietary AI-powered interaction analytics that identifies key phrases, customer emotions, and potential signs of frustration during calls, AI agent assist enables agents to adjust their approach in real time.
What does all this mean for you? You can keep your customers loyal and win new ones with a reputation for superior CX, regardless of the complexity.
Gain a Competitive Advantage
Real-time AI agent assist redefines what’s possible in customer care. By integrating advanced AI technology with human expertise, iQor’s real-time AI agent assist transforms high-complexity interactions into opportunities to exceed customer expectations.
With instant insights, step-by-step guidance, and intelligent recommendations, agents are equipped to handle even the toughest customer challenges with speed and accuracy. When agents are supported, customers feel valued — and that’s the foundation of a CX strategy that wins.
Why Choose iQor?
iQor is more than a provider — we’re a strategic CX BPO partner dedicated to delivering transformative results that help you win and keep customers. With advanced AI-driven technology, global scalability, and tailored CX strategies, we empower brands to excel at every stage of the customer journey.
Expert Partnership
Agile Operations
Scalable Solutions
AI Innovations
Compliance & Efficiency
Proven Results
Transform your CX strategy today. Contact us to learn how iQor’s intelligent operations can deliver results that matter.
Prabhjot “Pj” Singh is chief digital officer at iQor. He drives digital transformation and innovation across global operations, leveraging advanced AI technologies to enhance customer experience strategies. Connect with Pj on LinkedIn.
Accelerate Agent Proficiency, Maximize Sales Conversions, and Deliver Superior Customer Satisfaction with High-Impact, Scalable Training Solutions
For subscription services providers, agent training is crucial to maintain a high standard of customer experience (CX) for sustained and scalable growth, minimized churn, and optimized operational excellence.
As subscription-based service models revolutionize industries from travel and hospitality to financial services, maintaining high customer satisfaction is a key differentiator in a competitive marketplace. J.D. Power reports customer care as a critical factor for business leaders investing in the success of their subscription services.
iQor’s Symphony [AI]TM provides subscription services a robust ecosystem of AI tools that equip agents with the necessary skills to deliver optimized CX across the customer’s entire lifecycle. Through Symphony [AI], we optimize complex interactions with customers using agent-facing AI-simulated training. This intuitive system empowers supervisors to identify and address specific areas where agents can improve their performance, ranging from new account sales to retention and winback. Such an approach leads to more effective training and coaching sessions, as well as more accurate testing results.
For leaders in this sector, reducing customer churn and enhancing service quality are top priorities. iQor, a leader in data-driven solutions for CX operations and strategic outsourcing, offers AI-driven training and coaching programs designed to tackle these challenges head-on.
Specialized AI-Simulated Agent Training Is Key to Subscription Service Success
Subscriber loyalty hinges on one crucial element: customer satisfaction. Traditional customer care, as well as inbound and outbound sales models, operate in a fast-paced digital environment. AI-simulated agent training leverages real-time analytics capabilities to unlock success for both customer care and sales in the subscription services world in the following ways.
Deeper Understanding of Customer Needs: Subscription services cater to specific niches or interests for their valued members. Well-trained CX reps have a deeper understanding of the product’s or service’s intricacies and the unique challenges users face. This allows them to provide faster, more effective solutions, fostering trust and loyalty.
Personalized Communication and Scripts: Today’s customers expect more than a one-size-fits-all approach. Highly skilled CX reps can tailor their communication to each customer’s situation, building rapport and ensuring a positive experience.
Proactive Problem Solving: Subscription services are all about ongoing perceived value by the customer. By equipping CX reps with access to proactive data, they are empowered to anticipate customer issues and proactively offer solutions, preventing frustration and reducing churn.
Upselling and Cross-Selling Opportunities: By proactively sharing data that shows customer needs and usage patterns, proficient CX reps can identify potential upsell or cross-sell opportunities. This boosts revenue and demonstrates a genuine interest in the customer’s experience.
Accelerating Agent Training With VALDI Analytics
iQor utilizes our proprietary interaction analytics platform, VALDI, to continuously improve the success of agents.
VALDI enables supervisors to identify and address specific areas where agents can enhance their performance, leading to more effective training and coaching sessions. These insights fortify customer relationships with every interaction, translating to happier customers and a more successful subscription service.
The Option of On-Site or Work-at-Home Agents
AI-powered training creates skilled agents in both on-site and work-at-home environments. Here’s how:
Increased Save Rates: BPO agents are extensively trained using iQor’s AI-simulated training methods, which enhance their communication skills and confidence with custom speech analytics. This results in higher save rates sinceagents are better equipped to leverage the analytics and improve scripts and training for outbound retention services.
After partnering with iQor, a home warranty client has experienced a 32% increase in its save rate and 12% increase in its calls per hour (CPH).
Improved Rebuttal Rates: Preventable subscription service cancellations can lead to significant revenue loss. Advanced AI tools and real-time feedback systems informed by data analytics enable agents to uncover the reasons for cancellation requests and implement strategies to retain customers.
The home warranty client’s rebuttal rates increased from 18% to 90% in four weeks, demonstrating how iQor’s AI-powered speech analytics can turn customer interactions into lasting relationships.
Addressing Traditional Training Challenges With AI and Active Learning
Traditional training methods can be time-consuming and disrupt daily operations, impacting operational performance. iQor’s active learning training solution overcomes these obstacles by providing:
Immediate and Detailed Feedback: Objective, data-driven insights on key communication metrics, fostering continuous improvement of sales outcomes.
Customizable Training Modules: Tailored scenarios that allow agents to practice in a safe, pressure-free environment.
Gain a Competitive Edge With iQor: AI Training Simulations Designed to Revolutionize Subscription-Based Success
For subscription services leaders, doing business with BPO partners who use AI-simulated training can address key pain points such as customer churn, retention and winback, and customer service quality. This is vital to reach customers in an increasingly competitive marketplace, provide incentives for loyalty and engagement, and drive conversions.
Leverage iQor’s Industry Expertise and Proven Results to Drive Growth and Loyalty
Choosing to partner with a trusted third-party provider like iQor offers a strategic advantage for subscription services leaders looking to overcome operational challenges.
Here’s why:
1. Unmatched Process Expertise: With decades of accumulated process knowledge and a deep understanding of customer behavior across more than 500 million interactions annually, iQor is uniquely positioned to refine your subscription model’s customer experience. Our AI-driven simulations are built on a foundation of diverse industry insights, enabling us to tailor training for any scenario. This ensures your agents can tackle complex customer needs with confidence and precision, delivering a level of expertise that sets you apart from competitors.
2. Accelerate Customer Acquisition: iQor’s AI training simulations don’t just train agents — they create high-performing, conversion-driven sales teams. By simulating real-world customer interactions, our platform prepares agents to engage, persuade, and close more deals. This results in faster ramp-up times, reduced training costs, and an immediate impact on customer acquisition. Our focus on optimizing every touchpoint ensures that your agents are not only ready for today’s demands but equipped to turn prospects into lifelong customers.
3. Boost Retention and Loyalty: Customer loyalty is the backbone of successful subscription models, and iQor excels in keeping your customers engaged. Our AI simulations train agents to resolve issues swiftly, provide personalized experiences, and anticipate customer needs — key drivers of long-term loyalty. By empowering agents to deliver superior service in every interaction, we help reduce churn and foster deep customer relationships, giving your business an unfair advantage in retaining customers against competitors who fail to prioritize consistent, high-quality customer care.
Partnering with iQor allows subscription services operations to focus on core business activities while leveraging the expertise and resources of a leading BPO to handle complex and labor-intensive tasks. This approach mitigates operational risks and positions companies to sustain growth and customer satisfaction at scale.
Optimizing Employee Experience With a Holistic Approach to AI
iQor’s approach to integrating AI into employee experience is comprehensive. By leveraging our Symphony [AI] ecosystem, iQor creates an environment where employees are more engaged, informed, and empowered. This approach enables real-time data analysis and feedback, providing valuable insights that empower employees to make better decisions and perform their tasks more efficiently.
Award-Winning Training That Yields Exceptional Performance
iQor’s commitment to excellence in training and organizational development has earned numerous awards. Our training programs are designed to be flexible, scalable, and highly effective, ensuring that every employee is equipped with the skills and knowledge needed to excel in their roles.
Our iLead program has been recognized with a Stevie® Award for Sales and Customer Service and a Brandon Hall GroupTM Gold award for excellence in Leadership Development Competency Models, underscoring our commitment to exceptional employee and customer experiences.
Data Annotation and Labeling Capabilities Unlock Analytics Insights
Data annotation and labeling are critical components of AI development, and iQor excels in providing high-quality services in this domain. These processes are the backbone of training AI models to improve their accuracy. Here’s how data annotation and labeling can help agents succeed in delivering smile-worthy CX:
Enhancing AI Training Through Data Annotation Expertise: Building on our strong foundation in data annotation and labeling, we enhance the capabilities of AI models and empower our workforce with the essential skills required to thrive in a technologically advanced environment. Our commitment to delivering high-quality data annotation and labeling services ensures that both our AI systems and employees are well-equipped to handle complex analytical tasks.
Deepening Understanding of AI Applications: Precise data labeling significantly boosts the functionality and reliability of AI applications. By training our employees in these meticulous processes, we equip them with a nuanced understanding of how data influences AI behavior and decision-making processes. This knowledge is crucial for managing AI tools effectively and ensuring they perform optimally in real-world scenarios.
Strategic Learning and Development: Leveraging our insights from successful BPO partnerships, we implement strategic learning initiatives that mirror our data handling excellence. These programs are designed to systematically enhance the AI literacy of our teams, enabling them to better support and improve the AI solutions we deploy. This approach increases operational efficiency and fosters a culture of continuous learning and adaptation.
At iQor, the synergy between our advanced AI models and well-trained employees creates a dynamic environment where analytical insights are quickly transformed into actionable business strategies. By focusing on both the technological and human aspects of AI training, iQor ensures that our teams are drivers of innovation, leading to superior outcomes for our clients and a competitive edge in the market.
Exceptional CX Operations Designed for the Future of Subscription Services
The integration of AI-simulated training represents a significant advancement in the way subscription services brands can train their customer-facing teams. This approach offers a scalable, efficient, and effective solution for delivery of operational excellence and customer satisfaction.
Through iQor’s integrated ecosystem, we optimize complex interactions using agent-facing AI-simulated training tools. This intuitive approach empowers supervisors to identify and address specific areas where agents can optimize their performance, leading to faster speed to proficiency and more effective coaching sessions that support sustained performance results.
Subscription services brands that leverage iQor’s AI-simulated training position themselves for market share leadership with an ability to adapt to the ever-changing needs of their customers.
Experience the iQor Difference
To navigate today’s subscription services market, you need more than just a BPO provider. You need a trusted CX Solutions partner 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 subscription brands as an advisor and partner 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 your brand soar:
Deep Industry Expertise. Our team boasts extensive experience in subscription support, including navigating our customers’ proprietary CRM platforms and maximizing sales opportunities.
Data-Driven Insights. We implement innovative 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, our proprietary analytics platform, and AI tools that equip us to continually invest in creating the future of 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 CX solutions and expert leadership dedicated to creating exceptional customer experiences. Ready to transform your subscription services? Contact us today, and let’s discuss how we can turn more subscribers into enthusiastic brand advocates.
Gail McLaughlin Toti, vice president of global sales at iQor, is a dedicated CX leader who champions GenAI’s impact on sales performance for subscription services. Connect with Gail on LinkedIn.
With a proven track record of success, strategic analytical insights, and a commitment to regulatory compliance, iQor was well positioned to help a major U.S. airline design and implement a concierge program to significantly improve customer experience and operational efficiency.
iQor stands out as a trusted advisor with a strong reputation for integrating technology and fostering a customer-centric culture. Our expertise in rapidly deploying digital solutions, providing multilingual customer support, and delivering comprehensive service models makes us an ideal partner for ambitious CX optimization goals for the airline industry and beyond.
Success Snapshot
Unstoppable Performance
Customer loyalty initiatives.
Operational efficiency.
Regulatory compliance.
Digital and voice support.
Dual-channel inbound call handling.
Outbound callback support.
Irresistible Outcomes
105% NPS improvement.
18% reduction in employee attrition.
4% reduction in AHT.
Read on for the story that led to these exceptional results.
Background
To optimize resources, boost performance, and address evolving customer preferences, a leading U.S. airline initially phased out voice as a customer experience channel across all its platforms. In 2023, the airline achieved its chat deferral target of over 50% five months ahead of schedule, demonstrating the implemented system’s efficiency. The transition included 2:1 chat concurrency during steady state and 3:1 during ramps. Following the successful implementation of widespread chat, the airline, in partnership with iQor, planned to refine their customer experience strategy to specifically address the needs of loyalty program customers and those with imminent travel up to the next two days.
Business Opportunity
This proactive approach led to the development of a concierge program prioritizing customers with upcoming travel within 24 to 48 hours and those holding a priority flyer number. iQor leveraged its expertise and strategic collaboration with its technology partners to develop a hybrid omnichannel CX model with inbound and outbound communications tailored for the airline client.
Solution
iQor’s comprehensive customer experience management solution integrates various tools for contact center operations, offering features such as omnichannel inbound and outbound routing, workforce optimization, analytics, and automation. iQor’s deep integration with the client’s systems facilitate collaboration between our CX applications and the airline’s CRM, IVR and chatbot systems, enabling real-time data exchange and process automation. This tight integration ensures smooth, reliable, and scalable operations, allowing the airline client to deliver personalized and efficient customer service across multiple communication channels, achieving a 105% jump in NPS.
Inbound Call Handling
Inbound callers are first screened to identify customers with flights within 24 to 48 hours or those holding a priority flyer number. They are provided two options to resolve their issue through IVR and chatbot. This prioritization ensures customers with urgent travel needs or who are members of the airline’s customer loyalty program receive prompt voice interaction, helping mitigate potential travel disruptions and reinforcing their value to the airline. Inbound calls are serviced in both English and Spanish based on the airline’s customer base, accommodating a wider range of customers and broadening service inclusivity.
Outbound Callback Requests
iQor’s CX applications work with the airline’s chatbot and IVR systems to set up outbound callback requests, ensuring these callbacks are made within 24 hours. This feature provides flexibility and convenience, giving customers an option that best fits their schedule and provides expeditious assistance.
Coaching Agents for Concierge Services
Agents are coached to provide top-tier concierge services, focusing on empathy, quick problem-solving, and personalized service. Regular role-playing exercises and real-time feedback sessions help agents improve their customer interactions, while advanced training on the airline’s systems and policies enable them to navigate complex issues efficiently. Integrating iQor’s omnichannel CX applications facilitate:
Real-time data exchange. Facilitating instant data transfer between the IVR, chatbot, and agent systems ensures seamless customer experiences by providing accurate and up-to-date information, maximizing overall efficiency.
Automated call routing. Efficient call routing and callback requests for priority customers ensure high-value clients receive prompt and personalized service, leading to improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Customizable workflows. Tailored interaction workflows meet the airline’s specific customer needs to deliver personalized and relevant service.
Results
The concierge program significantly impacted the client’s key service metrics and delivered broader benefits:
105% NPS improvement.
Customer satisfaction soared with a dramatic rise in net promoter scores (NPS), influencing strong sales growth.
18% reduction in employee attrition.
Employee attrition plummeted while headcount doubled, due to iQor’s machine-learning-based attrition prediction, coupled with our CheQin process.
4% reduction in AHT.
Streamlined processes led to a significant reduction in AHT, ensuring faster resolution times.
iQor’s Expertise in Integrating Digital Solutions
iQor architected the concierge program for this airline client, seamlessly integrating an optional digital self-service option for the customer. Through analysis and innovative design, iQor developed workflows that strategically reenable a combined digital and voice concierge solution.
Our approach is grounded in a deep understanding of the balance between automation for efficiency and quick issue resolution while providing access to live voice support when the customer needs it. Leveraging our accumulated process knowledge, we efficiently and cost-effectively design digital self-service and voice customer support systems, ensuring an optimal blend of automation and human expertise to enhance the customer experience.
Broader Benefits to the Airline
In addition to the results listed above, the concierge program has yielded several broader benefits that significantly impact the airline’s overall performance. Strengthened relationships with key customer segments have resulted in increased loyalty and repeat business. iQor’s proactive adjustments to capacity in response to chat volume declines ensure optimal resource efficiency. Furthermore, aligning with regulatory expectations for customer care enhances the airline’s standing with regulators.
This case study spotlights iQor’s partnership with a financial services client that led to the addition of complex back office support services to improve efficiency and quality in their auto finance division.
With deep product knowledge; a strong understanding of the brand; comprehensive training; and ongoing QA, compliance, and efficiency monitoring, iQor delivers fast and accurate back office support to help achieve the client’s strategic objectives.
Our team of dedicated CX professionals delivers task QA scores at 99.3%, consistently above the client’s target with efficiency and accuracy. This results in faster turnaround times to advance the lender’s competitive advantage in the auto loan industry.
Background
Our client is a nationwide lender of new and used automobile purchase financing. The lender wanted to maintain its high standing and grow its market share in the competitive arena of dealership-to-consumer financing.
The lender sought to improve the accuracy and velocity of dealer funding back office support services to achieve four outcomes:
Grow its already-strong dealer network.
Fund more consumer automotive loans through dealerships.
Save time and money by doing the same work in less time.
Improve efficiency and quality by completing the loan documents with fewer errors.
The lender relied on an in-house team and several back office outsourcing providers to handle income pre-verification (IPV) and loan document review, two critical loan funding services.
Results were good, but they recognized an opportunity to get even better results by adding another business process outsourcing (BPO) provider.
They were very satisfied with the 15+ year relationship and the positive results iQor has delivered in other areas of their business as a trusted CX solutions outsourcing partner. So, they partnered with us for outsourced back office services to help them achieve the four outcomes described above.
Our client set high standards for the velocity and accuracy of their programs; iQor’s challenge was to meet those standards of excellence.
Business Opportunities
Buyers, dealers, and lenders each have their own priorities when it comes to automobile lending.
From the Buyer’s Perspective
Exceptional customer service throughout the buyer’s journey comes in the form of friendly and knowledgeable staff, transparent pricing and financing options, hassle-free negotiations, and comprehensive after-sales support. A great purchasing experience can enhance customer satisfaction and build long-term brand loyalty with the car dealer, manufacturer, and lender. This relationship is made stronger through a smooth, efficient, and secure financing experience.
From the Dealer’s Perspective
Dealers want to deliver an excellent purchasing experience to every customer who walks through their doors. Lenders that offer low payments and the best combination of velocity and accuracy help make that happen.
Lender velocity (speed and efficiency) and accuracy (quality and compliance) in processing income pre-verification (IPV) and reviewing loan documents directly impact a dealership’s ability to sell loans to buyers.
IPV is the first step in the loan application process. It’s used to verify the applicant’s income before a formal loan application is submitted. Dealerships need quick turnaround of IPV requests from the lender’s back office support team to hold the customer’s attention and keep the sales process moving forward.
Once the dealer has completed the paperwork and delivered the vehicle, the lender must review loan documents for accuracy. Oversights like date of birth mismatch or lack of proof that the buyer was offered insurance could put the dealership at risk.
In some cases, a flaw in the loan documents may require the dealership to ask the customer to come back to resolve the issue, potentially prompting them to pursue financing options elsewhere.
From the Lender’s Perspective
Competition among auto lenders is fierce. Every buyer has a bank or credit union that wants their auto loan business, as does the dealership that sold them the car.
Every dealership has multiple sources for loans:
Lenders aligned with the vehicle brands they sell.
Major national lenders (like our client).
Lenders seeking low-risk buyers.
Lenders seeking high-risk buyers.
Local banks with third-party lending programs aiming for local residents.
Local credit unions.
Lenders count on back office support services from in-house and/or BPO teams to execute the IPV and loan document review processes and maximize their win rates. Teams must execute these processes at a level of accuracy and velocity that satisfies the buyer, dealer, and lender.
In collaboration with our client, iQor set out to execute at the same or better rates of velocity and accuracy as the existing support providers within 90 days of launch.
Back Office Solutions
Having partnered with this client on numerous CX programs for over 15 years, we marked an expansion of our back office support with this funding program.
iQor leaders supporting the auto lender’s programs average eight or more years of experience with the lender, possessing extensive knowledge of the lender’s auto loan products. In fact, a common saying among the lender’s employees is, “If you don’t know the answer to a question, ask iQor.”
iQor team members enjoy an excellent employee experience that translates into longer tenure, more growth, and deeper knowledge in support of the brands we serve through ongoing initiatives such as:
Flexible work environments.
Digitally enabled training, coaching, and mentoring.
Proactive insights powered by machine learning to improve individual employee experiences.
Career development and progression through programs like iQor University.
With long-term program tenure, iQor’s team began from a position of deep product and brand knowledge to implement a three-prong solution to consistently meet the auto lender’s goals for velocity and accuracy.
Recruit and train.
Measure.
Coach and motivate.
Recruit and Train
iQor’s value-driven culture and flexible work environments in secure work-in-office and work-at-home settings powered recruiting efforts to ensure consistent delivery of staffing compliance. We recruited agents for the funding program’s back office support startup teams from a pool that included new agents as well as iQorians who had already proved their ability to produce at a high level for our client. From the start, our onboarding experience welcomed and engaged new employees through our culture, values, and policies.
The iQor team worked in collaboration with the client from Day One to understand training requirements, become subject matter experts, and partner on facilitation methods and content to drive the best performance outcomes.
Our award-winning training team worked with the lender to design a curriculum to address critical program needs, integrating collaborative learning experiences that accelerated time to proficiency.
iQor trainers undergo a four-level certification program to hone the skills needed to succeed in a fast-paced active learning environment. Equipped with these skills and the technology to deliver quality training, both in-person and virtually, iQor’s certified trainers deliver compelling and intuitive active learning facilitation at scale, guiding participants through a collaborative learning journey. Skills assessments help guide trainers to further support agents in areas of need.
This comprehensive training experience ensures agents have the knowledge and skills to complete all the processes involved with income pre-verification and loan document reviews with efficiency and accuracy.
New recruits receive onsite product training before beginning a nesting period. During nesting, agents spend part of the day handling calls and the rest of the day in training based on the calls they’ve handled. New agents must spend at least 90 days working onsite before they qualify to work at home (WAH).
Measure
Our client uses an internal system to assess performance in the loan document review process. This applies to their in-house team as well as outside BPO vendors. Performance appraisals comprise two categories:
80% of the performance assessment measures quality and compliance (accuracy).
20% measures efficiency (velocity).
Accuracy
The lender checks the accuracy of the back office support team’s review of 15 specific items in loan documents. For each item, they assign a grade based on the accuracy of an agent’s review of that item. They calculate a quality assurance (QA) score—the ratio of positive grades to the total number of documents reviewed—for each of the 15 items. All 15 individual QA scores are used to calculate a composite score.
Velocity
Two velocity measurements are recorded: total points per hour (TPPH) and conversion percentage.
1. Total Points Per Hour
Agents receive points for every item they review. The number of points they receive, divided by the number of work hours for the month, equals their TPPH score.
The average of all TPPH scores for all agents is the total TPPH score.
2. Conversion Percentage
Conversion percentage is the percentage of loans assigned to iQor that get funded by our client.
Our back office operations agents focus on generating IPV (income pre-verification) approvals quickly to allow agents to go through the remaining tasks and expedite deal funding.
Reporting
The client shares performance metrics with all loan funding back office services providers each week. A monthly business review includes the QA, TPPH, and conversion percentage for that month and the two previous months. The reporting denotes each provider’s performance in relation to the minimum score required by the client and to the stream (the average of all provider scores).
The reported data tells each provider how well they’re doing as a unit and how well each of their agents is doing.
Coach and Motivate
iQor supervisors review the individual QA, TPPH, and conversion percentage scores. They coach agents in specific areas to help further improve their performance.
iQor supervisors meet with the client’s QA team each week to review progress and keep lines of communication open.
iQor launched a weekly motivational program to reward agents who score 100 on all 15 items. This program is in addition to the original agent bonus plan.
Results
One year after the program launched, iQor, with support from the client, is helping the lender close more loans and create more loyal customers.
Accuracy Exceeds Client Goals
Rework Percentage: While a certain amount of rework is expected predominantly due to a lack of documents for POI (Proof of Income) tasks or for peer review, the amount of work iQor must rework is consistently lower than the target and significantly lower than the monthly stream score (the average score of all providers).
IPV: iQor consistently exceeds the service level agreement (SLA) requirement to reply to income pre-verification requests in less than an hour.
TPPH: iQor consistently exceeds minimum target and stream scores for the number of items reviewed per hour.
Conversion Percentage:iQor consistently outpaces the stream average and client goal by up to 40% for the percentage of loans assigned to iQor that get funded by our client.
Since partnering with iQor as one of their back office support providers for auto loan funding, our client enjoys:
Higher QA scores that consistently reach or exceed their target.
Improved velocity that helps convert a higher percentage of qualified applicants to borrowers.
Sometimes a client wants to bring a fresh pair of eyes and a new sense of purpose to a program. Expanding the role of a BPO they’ve come to know and trust in other CX programs may be their best course of action. That’s often the case when a client-BPO relationship is a true partnership, as our relationship with this client has been for 15+ years.
The expansion of this partnership continues as the client adds more iQor agents to the team providing back office support to their funding program.
Leveraging Machine Learning to Predict Employee Attrition Risks and Guide Retention Interventions
How Machine Learning Can Help You Reduce Employee Turnover is a free webinar available on demand, presented by iQor’s Vice President of Operations Terri Robertson, Senior Vice President of IT Joe Przybylowski, and Data Scientist Andrew Reilly. Here’s an overview of what they discussed.
Why Retention Strategies Are Critical to Your Business Success
Employee attrition is a more pressing concern for organizations than ever, as evidenced by cultural dialogue like “The Great Resignation” and “quiet quitting.” Attrition is even more significant for BPOs like iQor whose business is to deliver outsourced customer service to the brands that entrust us.
The cost of employee attrition is significant in both direct and indirect ways. For example:
Replacing an experienced employee with a new hire can lead to a decrease in productivity and efficiency, which can affect revenue.
A high turnover rate can lead to discontinuity in customer service, which can result in loss of business.
High turnover can impact morale among other employees and cause a snowball effect of attrition, incurring further costs.
The value of investing in employees speaks for itself. At iQor, employee experience is a cornerstone of our business model. Creating a work environment that promotes job satisfaction, recognition, and growth opportunities is critical to retaining valuable tenured employees.
Using Predictive Analytics to Help Prevent Attrition With Proactive Retention Strategies at iQor
For over 15 years, iQor has used cutting-edge technology to provide an irresistible employee and customer experience (CX). Our team of expert data scientists has developed models for predictive analytics to guide our strategies for revenue recovery, customer satisfaction (CSAT), net promoter scores (NPS), and more. So, why not leverage our data analytics expertise to predict attrition before it has a chance to materialize?
Using the power of predictive analytics, we asked the fundamental question of attrition: How do you know when an employee is thinking about leaving?
To answer this question, our team of expert data scientists developed a machine learning model to identify variables that correlate with attrition and predict which employees might be at risk of leaving the company. Our goal was to play offense rather than defense to the problem of employee attrition by developing proactive retention strategies for at-risk employees. The model successfully:
Analyzes which variables influence employee attrition.
Using the power of predictive analytics, we asked the fundamental question of attrition: How do you know when an employee is thinking about leaving?
Customized Employee Retention Processes Guided by Predictive Analytics
Predictive analytics placed the ball in our court to proactively shape a positive employee experience that improves retention. The foundation of machine learning and predictive analytics is data. To begin, iQor’s data scientists needed to know what data they required to build their “crystal ball” for proactive employee attrition prediction.
Their approach to data modeling consists of three stages:
1. What data is available?
The existing body of structured data could include tenure, compensation and benefits, workforce management data, interaction analytics, coaching outcomes, performance reviews, bonus history, training data, and other information that iQor already gathered about our employees.
2. What are we missing?
After conducting an inventory of existing data, we could identify data gaps. Gaps often include unstructured data, which is more difficult to gather and too subjective to easily evaluate, such as employee feedback.
3. What can we create?
Identification of data gaps can then drive strategies for gathering that data. For example, annual surveys for employee feedback are an option, but that doesn’t provide enough data for accurate analytics. Filling in this gap requires a high-frequency method of employee surveying for gathering reliable and timely feedback regarding their outlook on the job.
The answers to these questions create a broader data pool of structured and unstructured data to begin identifying which data points correlate to attrition risks.
Transforming Raw Data Into Usable Variables
Data is just raw material; it needs to be refined to be useful, as described by Gartner’s Four Phase Data Maturity Model. iQor’s data scientists had to decide how to categorize the data into variables that could be computed by their algorithms. They then validated each data feature using a process called variable importance testing to determine what to include and exclude from the production model. This process assesses how much influence a particular variable or feature has historically impacted our attrition. Those that rank high are selected while those that rank low are rejected.
Using these variables and a combination of five main algorithms, our data scientists deployed a five-fold cross-validated Stacked Ensemble Meta learner with auto-tuned hyperparameters—or, in layman’s terms, they created a customized employee retention model that could assess the probability of employee attrition within the next 60 days.
From Data Science to Pragmatic Action: The Plan for Proactive Frontline Employee Retention
At iQor, we place a high value on providing exceptional employee experiences. As our data scientists and operations teams collaborated to develop a practical, specific, repeatable process for proactive retention, they kept the employee experience top of mind. The process needed to be simple for employees and managers in terms of time and effort expended; it needed to be standardized yet flexible; and it needed to be embeddable into our feedback culture. The result was a Measurable Skip-Level Meeting, also known as “The Touch Base.”
“The Touch Base” Strategy for Employee Retention
Every week, iQor runs our machine learning model for all 40,000 employees company-wide. We analyze each individual’s probability of attrition between 0% and 100%. At-risk employees are identified at a threshold of 65%. Employees who meet or exceed this threshold for attrition risks will automatically engage the company’s proactive retention strategy enacted by the operations teams.
As a result of these analytics, our operations teams are informed of at-risk employees every week. They receive the employees’ names, the names of their direct supervisors, and the skip-level managers responsible for scheduling the Touch Base. These managers have a structured guide with clear, consistent guidelines, a system of record, and a method for feeding results back into the analytics model.
The Touch Base is standardized enough to provide data points that can guide improvements to the machine learning model but also conversational and customized to each employee’s needs.
It’s important to note that the Touch Base is not focused on the employee’s performance. Rather, it is about encouraging open communication to identify and support the employee’s needs. The anatomy of the Touch Base is as follows:
Before the Touch Base
The manager reviews the employee’s information to approach the conversation with an informed and empathetic mindset.
The manager schedules the 30-minute session with the employee through our workforce management system.
During the Touch Base
The manager asks open-ended questions in an effort to identify what the employee may be experiencing that makes them at risk.
The manager lets the employee guide the conversation to help the employee feel listened to, valued, and supported.
The manager thanks the employee for their time and willingness to share.
After the Touch Base
We use the same module that guides our coaching to measure the effectiveness of each Touch Base. The Touch Base checklist includes a summary with the following priorities:
Clarify timelines, deliverables, and expected outcomes.
Agree on next steps.
Schedule a follow-up meeting with the employee.
Escalate to the next level of management, if needed.
Lastly, the manager documents the meeting in the system with as many details as possible.
The manager also rates the Touch Base for their impression of the employee’s overall state of being. In some cases, just having the conversation with the manager can make the employee feel valued and clear up the risk of attrition. In other cases, the situation is not something the manager can easily address, and escalation may be necessary.
Combining Clinical Trial Methodology and Human Storytelling to Gauge the Effectiveness of the Touch Base Process and Guide Next Steps
For iQor’s machine learning model to be effective, it has to be able to measure the effectiveness of our interventions and the results of these Touch Base meetings. We performed a controlled study, much like a clinical trial, to go beyond the manager ratings to use a scientific approach to our evaluations.
Comparing Retention Outcomes Between Control and Experimental Groups Showed a 2.6x Increase in Retention for Touch Base Employees
Out of 100 at-risk agents, we withheld a small sample of at-risk agents to serve as a control group. They received no Touch Base interventions. The other 95% served as the experimental group and proceeded through our Touch Base intervention process. The results were clear. After 60 days, the control group experienced 18.3% attrition while the experimental group experienced 7% attrition.
This led to two main findings:
The model appropriately identifies employees at risk of attrition.
The intervention is meaningful.
At-risk employees who go through the Touch Base process are 2.6 times more likely to stay with the company than employees who do not receive proactive retention strategies. We refer to this as our Attrition Mitigation Factor. The takeaway? Our Touch Base strategy worked to effectively retain at-risk employees and embody our commitment to providing an outstanding employee experience.
Stories Shared by Agents and Managers Through a Culture of Feedback Relate Positive Outcomes Beyond the Science
What steps actually work to retain at-risk employees? The answer to this can help us implement a repeatable process and create a culture of feedback. Feedback and storylines from our operations teams about their experiences with the Touch Base process guides continuous improvement to the model.
Using the Touch Base process, managers now get to talk directly to frontline employees instead of just hearing from their direct managers. This makes it much easier to find resolutions and improve relationships to encourage retention. When managers listen, they can facilitate adjustments that lead to employee retention. Sometimes, preventing employee attrition is as simple as adjusting schedules.
Putting the “Active” in “Proactive:” How the Machine Learning Model Constantly Self-Improves
iQor’s machine learning model is dynamic. Future improvements are guided by the data science team, the operations team, and stakeholders, who have the opportunity to provide feedback and ask questions during quarterly reviews. The key is data. Each time the machine learning model processes new information, it improves its own ability to fulfill its intended purpose.
Best Practices for a Machine Learning Approach to a Proactive Retention Strategy
iQor’s machine learning model is successful because our data science, operations, and frontline teams collaborated to define, implement, and improve the process. Embodying our iQorian Value of open communication helped our teams develop an effective machine learning model that kept the human experience at the forefront of the process.
Here are some best practices our teams followed:
Define the problem in as much detail as possible through collaboration, data discovery, and analysis.
Acquire high-quality data by asking three main questions: what data do we have, what data can we create, and what data can we enrich by joining it to another data source?
Name the project to give it its own brand. Our Touch Base system makes the project memorable to stakeholders and builds value.
Create a control group like a clinical trial to evaluate results for an accurate indication of effectiveness.
List all KPIs to specifically define the model’s parameters.
Start with a quick win to motivate involvement and maximize collaboration potential.
Fail small and fast to allow the data science methodology to break the project into bite-sized pieces that are not overwhelming.
Communicate between teams so they can seek support across the organization. Establishing a regular cadence for communication keeps channels open that we can use as potential input sources for continually improving the model.
Investing in Employees to Retain Tenured, High-Performing Teams
Employee attrition can be a significant issue for any company. Our proactive retention strategies help us stay ahead of the curve through processes that incentivize valuable employees to stay on board. iQor’s machine learning model successfully predicts attrition and guides effective intervention strategies, empowering us to transform at-risk employees into tenured career professionals that provide irresistible customer service.
Experience the Best in CX
iQor offers analytics as a service to enhance employee, customer, and client outcomes. Our proprietary speech analytics platform, cloud computing, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and data analysis enable us to provide effective workforce management solutions, flexible work environments, and improved coaching processes. We prioritize our employee experience and aim to cultivate a culture of success that fosters loyalty and high performance.
As a managed services provider of customer engagement and technology-enabled business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions, iQor provides a comprehensive suite of full-service and self-service scalable offerings that are purpose-built to deliver enterprise-quality CX.
Our award-winning CX services include:
A global presence with 40+ contact centers across 10 countries.
A CX private cloud that maximizes performance and scales rapidly across multiple geographies on short notice.
A partnership approach where we deploy agents and C-level executives to help maximize your ROI.
The perfect blend of intelligent automation for scale and performance coupled with an irresistible culture comprised of people who love to delight your customers.
Virtual and hybrid customer support options to connect with customers seamlessly, when and where they want.
The ability to launch a customer support program quickly, even when you need thousands of agents ready to support your customers.
A best-in-class workforce management team and supporting technology to create a centralized organization that can better serve your entire business.
iQor helps brands deliver the world’s most sought-after customer experiences. Interested in learning more about the iQor difference? If you’re ready to start a conversation with a customer experience expert, contact us to learn about how we can help you create more smiles.
Joe Przybylowski is senior vice president of IT at iQor. Connect with him on LinkedIn. Andrew Reilly is a data scientist at iQor. Connect with him on LinkedIn. Terri Robertson is vice president of operations at iQor. Connect with her on LinkedIn.
Improve the Employee Experience for Customer Service Agents and Supervisors Through Conversations Informed by Predictive Analytics
Creating rewarding employee experiences and retaining employees is key to running any business. Using machine learning as a retention enabler is the focus of this blog post.
While appearing on CNBC in 2019 to announce a new tool IBM had created—with AI, machine learning, and predictive analytics—to identify employee flight risk candidates, former IBM CEO Ginni Rometty said, “The best time to get to an employee is before they go.”
By harnessing digital technology innovation, forward-thinking business process outsourcers (BPOs) can take action to reduce employee churn—especially among frontline workers.
In this blog post, we’ll explore how BPOs can use machine learning and predictive analytics to retain more contact center employees by assessing frontline employee attrition risk and leveraging that knowledge to create an employee experience that often addresses their unique needs.
We’ll cover:
Employee retention in the 2020s.
Costs of replacing contact center employees who leave.
Modeling data to identify employee attrition risk patterns.
Predicting and reporting employee attrition risks.
Intervening to retain employees.
Measuring intervention outcomes.
Calculating the impact of intervention on P&L.
A real-world example.
Employee Retention in the 2020s
Since the onset of the pandemic, employee retention has become an even greater challenge than it was when Ginni Rometty appeared on CNBC in 2019.
A global survey by PwC revealed that, across all lines of work, one in five employees expected to find a new opportunity in 2022.
Digitally savvy BPOs use every tool at their disposal in an attempt to retain their frontline customer experience team members.
Costs of Replacing Contact Center Employees Who Leave
Direct and indirect costs add up quickly when replacing contact center employees who leave voluntarily.
Direct costs include recruiting, onboarding, and training each new employee. It can take months to hire a new employee and train them to become fully versed in a new customer experience position.
Indirect costs become factors the moment an employee departs. That’s when the employer loses the employee’s skillset, everything the employee learned about the company and the CX program they supported, as well as internal processes when working with their team and stakeholders.
Moreover, teams have to cover the gap left by the departing employee until a new employee is onboarded and up to speed.
When a team member departs, their loss can also lower morale. When an experienced worker leaves—especially one in a supervisory role—indirect costs rise even higher.
Watch Our Webinar
iQor SVP IT Joe Przybylowski, Data Scientist Andrew Reilly, and VP Operations Terri Robertson explain how iQor uses machine learning to help reduce employee turnover.
Modeling Data to Identify Employee Attrition Risk Patterns
Organizations have long used annual surveys to measure employee sentiment. Surveys can provide a limited sense of how employees feel about working for an organization to help guide general improvements. Annual surveys are limited in their ability to identify individual employee sentiment and predict which specific employees are likely to leave, for several reasons:
Many workers don’t complete the survey.
Some workers might respond with what they think is the “right” answer instead of how they really feel.
Some organizations only use anonymous surveys, so the organization doesn’t know which employees fit the profile of a flight risk.
For a more accurate snapshot of individual employee sentiment, quick surveys conducted at regular intervals that identify employees are often more effective.
Training the Machine Learning Model
Data Scientists can use machine learning to analyze harvested data from former employees’ surveys and create profiles of employee sentiment that suggest when a worker is likely to voluntarily separate from the BPO. With these profiles, data scientists can create an employee attrition risk training model for a machine learning algorithm. As new data is compiled from existing workers and as more workers depart, machine learning automatically updates the algorithm to make it more accurate.
Adding More Data Sources for Modeling Accuracy
While using a single source of data may provide some guidance, there’s always a risk that the model is biased in some way, or that the sample size is too small. Using multiple data sources makes the model more accurate.
Data scientists follow a formal process to identify and validate potential data sources based on elements of a worker’s environment, including how they interact with coworkers and supervisors.
Environmental data sources might include:
Schedule.
Login and logout times.
Frequency of breaks.
Compensation.
Complexity of the tasks assigned.
Coaching interactions.
Data scientists diligently explore other data sources through cross-functional analysis of processes.
Predicting and Reporting Employee Attrition Risks
Using multiple data sources minimizes bias built into a single data source. With enough data, predictive analytics (a subset of machine learning) can forecast which employees are the most likely flight risks and why they are at risk of leaving.
Once data analysts have an accurate view of which employees are likely to voluntarily separate—and the probable causes for their separations—they share their findings with the employees’ managers. These reports get to the heart of who’s at risk and why, and spare managers the tedious task of having to decipher the data.
The manager then determines the next step to take with each employee. Knowing the likely reasons an employee is an attrition risk gives managers a relevant starting point when they intervene proactively in their attempt to retain the employee.
Intervening to Retain Employees
Knowing why an employee is considering leaving can enable a manager to determine the best approach to resolve the employee’s concern, create a better experience for them, and help them remain on the team.
When the manager is empowered to take an empathetic approach to intervening with the employee, they help the employee understand their commitment to resolving the concern.
For example, if predictive analytics identifies an employee encountering scheduling concerns that make their job logistically challenging, the manager can work with the employee to design a more flexible schedule that better meets the employee’s needs.
If, for instance, predictive analytics identifies an employee seeking additional career growth opportunities, the manager and employee can develop a plan to support the employee’s aspirations to learn and grow within the organization.
With these and many other examples, when a manager knows the likely reasons an employee might voluntarily separate, they can tailor their approach to address the employee’s individual needs and create a better employee experience that recognizes their value to the organization and keeps them on the team.
More Real-World Examples
Learn How Machine Learning Can Help You Reduce Employee Turnover Check out our webinar featuring iQor SVP IT Joe Przybylowski, iQor Data Scientist Andrew Reilly, and iQor VP Operations Terri Roberts to discover how to harness technology to engage employees and reduce turnover. Get the details directly from the experts responsible for this program. Watch Now
Measuring Intervention Effectiveness
To determine the efficacy of interventions, companies run tests. Among a group of employee churn candidates, a portion is placed in a control group to measure the differences in outcomes between those who receive interventions and those who don’t.
Calculations over time have proven how much more effective intervening is than not intervening to retain employees predicted to be at risk of voluntarily separating through the intelligent model explained in this blog post. This can result in significant boosts in contact center employee retention as well as improved overall employee experiences, including career advancement for retained employees.
Experienced customer service agents build relationships with their teammates, serve as mentors to newer agents, treat their customers with the care and respect they deserve, and champion the brand they represent.
With machine learning and predictive analytics, BPOs can positively affect frontline employee retention and keep their employees and customers smiling.
Experience the Best in Data Analytics
iQor’s analytics as a service offering uses a combination of iQor’s proprietary speech analytics platform, cloud computing, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and data analysis to develop custom interventions for identified areas in need of improvement along the customer journey. The results produce targeted improvements for the employee, customer, and client.
iQor is a business process outsourcing company ideally suited to help brands create amazing customer experiences. iQor provides a comprehensive suite of full-service and self-service scalable offerings that are purpose-built to deliver enterprise-quality CX.
Our award-winning CX services include:
A global presence with 40+ contact centers across 10 countries.
A CX private cloud that maximizes performance and scales rapidly across multiple geographies on short notice.
A partnership approach where we deploy agents and C-level executives to help maximize your ROI.
The perfect blend of intelligent automation for scale and performance coupled with an irresistible culture comprised of people who love to delight your customers.
Virtual and hybrid customer support options to connect with customers seamlessly, when and where they want.
The ability to launch a customer support program quickly, even when you need thousands of agents ready to support your customers.
A best-in-class workforce management team and supporting technology to create a centralized organization that can better serve your entire business.
iQor helps brands deliver the world’s most sought-after customer experiences. Interested in learning more about the iQor difference? If you’re ready to start a conversation with a customer experience expert, contact us to learn about how we can help you create more smiles.
Joe Przybylowski is SVP of IT at iQor. Connect with Joe on LinkedIn. Andrew Reilly is a data scientist on the AI & Data Science Team at iQor. Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn.
Delivering Effective Coaching That Strengthens Performance in an Increasingly Complex CX Ecosystem
5 Steps to Improve Coaching Effectiveness for Frontline Supervisors is a free webinar available on demand, presented by iQor and AmplifAI. David Arellano, head of product at AmplifAI, joined the authors of this blog post: Saurabh Bhaskar, iQor’s senior vice president of operations, and Anthony Paige, director of training and quality for iQor. Here’s an overview of what they discussed.
Measuring and Improving Frontline Coaching Effectiveness Is Critical
Eighty percent of agents who leave contact centers do so because of their frontline supervisor. And the biggest challenge these supervisors face is usually their own interpersonal coaching skills. Effective frontline coaching is the best way to sustain and improve agent performance. This means measuring and improving frontline coaching effectiveness is critical to achieving desired outcomes.
iQor invests heavily in recruiting, training, and coaching frontline employees. We want everyone we hire to enjoy a long and successful career with us. That’s why we provide professional learning opportunities and pathways to advancement. Coaching has always been a priority.
Automation Has Changed Agents’ Roles
In recent years, automation has taken on many of the more mundane tasks that agents used to perform, leaving them to handle more high-skill and high-value tasks.
The growth of multi-channel and omnichannel customer experience—and all the digital CX technologies that make them possible—has enabled that complexity. Every CX interaction is recorded. Proprietary data analytics technologies scour recordings in search of opportunities for improvement through coaching and examples of best practices in action.
Contact Center Complexity and Data Overload Create New Coaching Challenges
Several years ago, the increasing complexity of the agent ecosystem began to leave supervisors wondering what their next coaching step should be. There was so much data and no efficient, effective, and accurate way to make sure coaching aligned with business priorities or measured coaching effectiveness.
Fifty-six percent of contact center employees say job complexity is a top challenge.
One Solution to Reduce Complexity, Identify Business-Critical Coaching Opportunities, and Measure Coaching Effectiveness
We wanted to allow our supervisors to spend less time with data and more time coaching, so we researched numerous potential solutions.
Facilitates coaching events by surfacing the most impactful coaching opportunities.
Reduces complexity by telling supervisors what they need to do next (based on specific coaching goals).
Reports on agent performance in key areas.
Identifies the type of coaching that agents and coaches need.
Measures coaching effectiveness.
How Webinar Attendees Rate Their Coaching Effectiveness of Frontline Employees
14%
43%
14%
4%
25%
Excellent
Good
Fair
Poor
Not Measuring
Three years later, results from our strong partnership with AmplifAI—and the solution’s sophisticated AI and machine learning—have proved that investing in AmplifAI was the right decision.
iQor employs AmplifAI to help coaches coach and measure coaching effectiveness. The five steps to improve coaching effectiveness show you how we work together.
1. Create and Communicate Your Coaching System
Your coaching system—the technology that facilitates the coaching process and measures coaching effectiveness—can only be as good as the coaching itself.
iQor and AmplifAI align on what good coaching looks like:
Proactive coaching with a specific goal in mind that enables the agent to perform their job better.
Frontline leaders customize coaching to the individual agent’s learning style, whether that’s visual, audio, kinetic, or digital.
Even in flexible work environments where agents can work at home or on premise, all agents are trained equally well.
Supervisors need to be able to focus on their team, not the data, and provide specific actions the agent can deliver.
Quick onboarding, consistent training, and effective coaching contribute to improved retention.
Better employee experience translates to improved customer experience.
To create your coaching system, you’ll also need clear expectations about:
For iQor, the system provides easy-to-review performance data that show where everyone stands in relation to their goals, their team, and their program.
2. Train Coaches How to Communicate and Develop Others
In contact centers, supervisors are often former agents who were promoted from within.
All agents need to be able to communicate effectively. Those who become supervisors (and coach others) also need to have the right underlying skillset, which includes the ability to help others change their behavior.
At iQor, developing a new leader includes providing best practices for follow-through and leadership skills training. Plus, new leaders are trained to leverage technology that will help them be effective coaches.
3. Provide Visibility Into Performance and Testing
With AmplifAI, the system’s AI can be trained to identify coaching opportunities with the greatest potential impact and direct coaching activities to the right metrics, individuals, and tactics to add the greatest lift to performance.
The AI cuts right through the complexity to show supervisors what they need to do next, offering coaching suggestions unique to each agent’s individual needs. This enables supervisors to save time they once spent determining which potential coaching opportunities to pursue—up to 40% of their time—and devote that time to coaching.
The AI cuts right through the complexity to show supervisors what they need to do next, offering coaching suggestions unique to each agent’s individual needs. This enables supervisors to save time they once spent determining which potential coaching opportunities to pursue—up to 40% of their time—and devote that time to coaching.
Should KPIs change—along with the behaviors required to achieve success with those KPIs—the system can be tuned to reflect which coaching opportunities are important. iQor’s close working relationship with AmplifAI makes those kinds of changes easy to make.
4. Measure Coaching Effectiveness
Measuring coaching effectiveness is critical to understanding which coaches are doing exceptionally well and deserve recognition, and those who could benefit from coaching.
5. Learn From Successful Coaches
Many coaches are good at walking their agents through processes and expectations. Some are good at helping agents buy into and become a part of the learning and development process. Others are great at helping the agent understand how this change will benefit them.
By measuring coaching effectiveness, you can identify where individual coaches could benefit most from coaching.
AmplifAI points to the most successful coaching lessons in a given area. That enables other coaches to learn how to modify their own behavior based on how the most successful coaches teach those lessons. Also, coaches can use those lessons when coaching agents.
The best coaching helps improve outcomes for agents, keeps agents more engaged, and contributes to their long-term success.
The Proof Is in the Results
When a telecom client asked iQor to shift their KPI emphasis from customer satisfaction (CSAT) to net promoter score (NPS), we turned to AmplfAI to identify opportunities to coach the behaviors needed to improve NPS. By focusing on the metrics that matter most, AmplifAI reduced the number of dashboards and reports that coaches were required to review.
With a significant increase in coaching and more time spent on effective agent development, we produced these results for the client:
6x improvement in customer resolution time.
An increase in NPS ranging from 2.5% at the beginning of the test period to an increase of 13% at the end of the test period.
40% more coaching sessions with tracking and accountability.
Your Next Step
For the complete case study details, plus charts, graphs, more in-depth discussion of the points referenced here, and an easy-to-understand look at how AmplifAI works, watch the webinar. It’s free and available on demand.
Experience the Best in CX
We partner with clients to design the optimal mix of CX automation and people. iQor is ideally suited to help brands create amazing customer experiences. As a managed services provider of customer engagement and technology-enabled business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions, iQor provides a comprehensive suite of full-service and self-service scalable offerings that are purpose-built to deliver enterprise-quality CX.
Our award-winning CX services include:
A global presence with 40+ contact centers across 10 countries.
A CX private cloud that maximizes performance and scales rapidly across multiple geographies on short notice.
A partnership approach where we deploy agents and C-level executives to help maximize your ROI.
The perfect blend of intelligent automation for scale and performance coupled with an irresistible culture comprised of people who love to delight your customers.
Virtual and hybrid customer support options to connect with customers seamlessly, when and where they want.
The ability to launch a customer support program quickly, even when you need thousands of agents ready to support your customers.
A best-in-class workforce management team and supporting technology to create a centralized organization that can better serve your entire business.
iQor helps brands deliver the world’s most sought-after customer experiences. Interested in learning more about the iQor difference? If you’re ready to start a conversation with a customer experience expert, contact us to learn about how we can help you create more smiles.
Saurabh Bhaskar is senior vice president of operations at iQor.
Anthony Paige is director of training and quality at iQor.
This client is a U.S. wireless provider. They offer an array of mobile communications products and services to millions of subscribers. These include smartphones, accessories, monthly plans, music, video, ringtones, directory assistance, and mobile applications. They were one of the earliest companies to offer unlimited data plans to customers.
The Challenge
The mobile products and services that consumers purchase today are more technologically advanced than ever before. As a result, the frequency of consumers needing technical customer support has increased substantially, sometimes producing longer customer resolution times (CRT) in order to provide complete solutions to customer inquiries. Committed to addressing customer service needs with accuracy and speed, the telecom client partnered with iQor to develop strategies to improve performance metrics throughout the customer experience.
The primary means of achieving consistent customer support metrics is through an engaged and supported frontline workforce. Developing employees from within and supporting their growth and development has always been a priority for iQor. In fact, it’s essential for generating meaningful employee and customer experiences. With a hybrid mix of work-in-office and work-at-home contact center agents and various metrics to evaluate, supervisors sought ways to continually optimize efficiency for the coaching and support they provided to agents under their leadership. They explored opportunities to further increase insights into employee performance and target improvements unique to each employee.
iQor was looking to invest in an AI-powered performance enablement process that could scale and simplify supervisors’ access to information to enhance personalized coaching based on each individual agent’s behaviors. In a high-volume contact center environment, both supervisors and agents want to be accountable for performance and for growth in career development.
Additionally, supervisors wanted to leverage a tracking tool to assess agent improvements and guide relevant follow-up. This would increase efficiency and help further strengthen supervisors’ connections with their agents, resulting in improved employee engagement and customer experience, while also having the additional benefit of reducing the cost to serve.
The Solution
In late 2020, iQor partnered with the telecom client to pilot AmplifAI, a software as a service (SaaS) performance enablement platform to reach these goals across six contact center sites (four in the Philippines and two in the U.S.). After achieving positive results, iQor has decided to continue using the platform.
Harnessing AI-powered data to differentiate their interventions, frontline leaders provide timely, targeted, and efficient employee development and engagement across their teams. They access performance data and AI-driven recommendations through one system that prioritizes actions, key behaviors, and performance indicators scorecard metrics for the client program, empowering supervisors to help more frontline employees strengthen specific skills in less time.
For more powerful analytics, iQor pairs its proprietary speech analytics platform (VALDI) with AmplifAI’s SaaS performance enablement platform. VALDI identifies empathy, dead air, and other indicators of conversation effectiveness. So, at the click of a button supervisors can see specific reasons why an agent might need coaching in a particular area.
The platform supports frontline associates, with their leader’s guidance, by identifying a specific and measurable goal with a target date to reach it. All workflows within the platform align to that goal so coaches know what to coach, how to coach it, when to follow up, and what that follow-up action should be. Further, coaches also use employee development micro-learnings on specific topics to reinforce their coaching sessions and provide agents additional guidance.
The impact of these coaching sessions is strengthened through accountability, follow-up, and recognition. AmplifAI’s system notes the customer satisfaction score (CSAT) the day of coaching and automatically compares it three days later to check for improvement. Supervisors can see metrics alongside goals to quickly identify who meets which targets in order to inform their coaching. If the agent meets their goal, the supervisor can recognize their accomplishments; likewise, if they need more support the supervisor can offer that as well. Using AI in this way enables supervisors to coach more agents, more frequently, in less time, with more targeted development. No agent is left behind.
The performance enablement platform also has a proprietary coaching effectiveness index model that helps the organization determine where supervisors have opportunities to enhance their coaching. This effectiveness index is key to help managers determine how to develop better coaches that have the specific skills necessary to improve their agent’s performance.
Moreover, coaching sessions are recorded and automatically linked to the behavior and growth measure so supervisors can reference them, managers can use them to inform coach-the-coach sessions, and peers can access them as a resource for their own development. Built-in accountability ensures agents and supervisors receive the support they need to thrive.
The Results
Agents enjoy more frequent and precise coaching and support while the supervisors benefit from an easily accessible format that improves efficiency and yields more time for coaching. The end result is higher employee engagement and satisfaction and an excellent customer service experience.
6x Improvement in Customer Resolution Time
Customer resolution time has improved by a factor of 6 for agents coached using AmplifAI.
Net Promoter Scores Soar
Net Promoter Score increases range by 2.5% to 13% since program launch, reflecting higher levels of customer loyalty and satisfaction.
40% More Coaching Sessions
With better coaching efficiency, leaders have more time to work with more agents to improve CX.
More effective coaching builds deeper relationships with agents, elevating the employee experience and inspiring them to perform at their optimum potential. Seeing NPS performance improvements as a result of AI-enhanced coaching capabilities, the telecom client has agreed to expand the AmplifAI dataset to include first call resolution and credit and adjustment metrics.
How Analytics as a Service Unlocks Insights to Reduce Attrition, Boost Retention, and Elevate CX
Ongoing advances in big data and artificial intelligence (AI) provide countless insights and opportunities to improve the customer experience. One such capability is the use of machine learning to predict employee attrition. By collecting and analyzing data to identify employees at risk of attrition, data scientists can identify opportunities to intervene and reduce employee churn. These insights provided through analytics as a service can empower operations and human resources teams to develop strategies that raise employee engagement and retain key talent, ultimately improving business outcomes and creating a more rewarding employee and customer experience.
In this blog post, we’ll dive into the data sources and processes that make this possible along with the insights and outcomes they produce. But before we do so, let’s revisit what analytics as a service is and why it’s so valuable.
What Is Analytics as a Service?
Data-driven innovation happens when data scientists are integrated into the business culture and processes. Through analytics as a service, data scientists offer guidance and expertise to improve business outcomes that can measurably support our client’s customer support programs. A digital transformation strategy that includes analytics as a service provides access to massive amounts of data which the data scientists and operations teams dissect in order to harness its potential.
As a managed services provider of customer engagement and technology-enabled business process outsourcing (BPO) solutions, iQor offers analytics as a service as part of our comprehensive CX solutions to some of the world’s top brands. Through iQor’s vast digital ecosystem, we harness advances in AI-powered technology along with the expertise of our data scientists and operations teams to perform data analytics that yields measurable outcomes to improve employee and customer experiences at scale.
Data-based digital technology solutions have the power to drive meaningful results specific to the operating environment. iQor’s data scientists interpret the data housed in our private CX cloud to translate technical research and statistics into actionable insights that inform operational decisions and improve business outcomes. The 10-steps of analytics as a service typically start small and gradually expand to incorporate the entire customer service program. One of the many areas in which they provide insight is employee attrition and retention.
The Process of Predicting Attrition
The ability to predict and prevent employee attrition presents opportunities for success in customer service. Retaining qualified, experienced, and high-performing customer-care agents and supervisors can make a world of difference in the quality and consistency of service provided to the end customer.
Accessing data through analytics as a service to provide insight into the causes of attrition can provide invaluable information to inform interventions that can increase retention and ultimately minimize employee churn.
Data scientists begin by introducing new data sources to the machine learning model to identify agents at risk of leaving the company. In order to do so, they follow a formal process for identifying and validating potential data sources, gathering the data, and cleansing it. This enables them to generate new variables out of the data sources and then run variable-importance testing that compares the predictive power of every potential variable. If the predictive power exceeds the threshold, it’s included in the machine learning model to yield insights into attrition.
This is an ongoing process by which data scientists continue to explore additional data sources to add to the model in order to make it as accurate as possible for the entire company population.
Expanding the Data to Power Predictions
In order for predictive analytics to accurately forecast attrition, the projections must originate from more than one data source. This helps ensure a balanced view of each employee’s experience and accounts for a lack of data points for certain employees.
For example, iQor gathers data from weekly Mood-o-Meter surveys that employees have the option of completing. The survey gauges their job satisfaction and generates a net happiness score that provides helpful insights into their experiences. However, if certain agents never respond to the optional survey it cannot serve as a data source for deciphering whether those agents are at risk of attrition.
To offset this type of feedback-driven source, data scientists cast a wide net and include additional data sources based on each agent’s environment to help assess how they interact with iQor. These environmental data sources include how much time the agent spends logged in to work, participating in trainings, and taking a break. They also include the agent’s total pay, bonus history, and the complexity of the customer support program on which they work. Coaching interactions serve as another source for deriving environmental data. When an agent participates in the iQor Coaching ecosystem, data scientists are able to harvest this critical data from internal systems versus needing to seek a direct response.
Together, these data sources provide a more comprehensive view of the agent experience to determine if they are at risk of churning.
Analytics as a Service Yields Up to 2X Retention Rate for At-Risk Agents
Analytics as a service yields powerful results in reducing employee attrition.
Over the past year, the insights provided by iQor’s data scientists led to employee retention strategies that have helped retain more than 1,000 customer service agents.
iQor’s Machine Learning algorithm correctly identifies agents at the highest risk of attrition on a weekly basis. This is evidenced by the difference in attrition rates between the control group (a 5% sample of at-risk agents who do not receive an intervention) and the experimental group (those receiving an intervention). The experimental group retention rate is consistently up to 2 times higher than the control group retention rate.
By improving retention, these data-based interventions have increased the overall tenure makeup of the enterprise, ultimately leading to enhanced performance. Indeed, when deployed enterprise-wide, these attrition prevention methods can have a positive impact on employee engagement and improve business outcomes on a large scale. This benefits the client’s customer support program while also instilling confidence in agents and supervisors, which can lead to improved recruiting efforts. Furthermore, the iterative nature of the process allows for ongoing opportunities to add data sources and improve the model to produce increasingly valuable results.
Experience the Best in Data Analytics
iQor’s analytics as a service offering uses a combination of iQor’s proprietary speech analytics platform, cloud computing, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and data analysis to develop custom interventions for identified areas in need of improvement along the customer journey. The results produce targeted improvements for the employee, customer, and client.
iQor is ideally suited to help brands create amazing customer experiences. iQor provides a comprehensive suite of full-service and self-service scalable offerings that are purpose-built to deliver enterprise-quality CX.
Our award-winning CX services include:
A global presence with 40+ contact centers across 10 countries.
A CX private cloud that maximizes performance and scales rapidly across multiple geographies on short notice.
A partnership approach where we deploy agents and C-level executives to help maximize your ROI.
The perfect blend of intelligent automation for scale and performance coupled with an irresistible culture comprised of people who love to delight your customers.
Virtual and hybrid customer support options to connect with customers seamlessly, when and where they want.
The ability to launch a customer support program quickly, even when you need thousands of agents ready to support your customers.
A best-in-class workforce management team and supporting technology to create a centralized organization that can better serve your entire business.
iQor helps brands deliver the world’s most sought-after customer experiences. Interested in learning more about the iQor difference? If you’re ready to start a conversation with a customer experience expert, contact us to learn about how we can help you create more smiles.
Andrew Reilly is a data scientist on the AI & Data Science Team at iQor.
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