LiveVox Holdings, Inc., a leading cloud-based provider of customer service and digital engagement tools, and Omdia, a leading research and advisory group focused on the technology industry, today released the results of a joint study commissioned to understand how well contact center agents are equipped to provide exceptional customer experience in today’s digital environment. The study, entitled “Are Agents Ready for the New Digital Reality?” surveyed 530 customer-facing agents across key verticals including retail, healthcare and financial services and found that the biggest barriers to customer experience and agent productivity are unintegrated and inaccessible data, too much agent complexity, and slow digital adoption.

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“Today’s customers expect digital-first experiences and personalized interactions. This requires service organizations to ensure agents engage with customers proactively across the web, social, and chat”

Delivering a consistent, proactive and personalized customer experience is imperative for businesses in today’s increasingly digital environment. However, providing contact center agents with must-have tools and training to deliver digital-first, omnichannel engagements remains a challenge. The study found that only 59% of agents felt they had the right level of training and knowledge, less than a third (31%) were able to develop a holistic view of the customer journey, and only half (50%) were able to access data across their company’s business units. The result? 65% of agents said that customer experience differs across channels, 49% said that customers call back repeatedly to resolve issues, and only 37% said they were empowered to act in the customers’ best interest.

“The contact center has become the new digital storefront for brands and is often not only the initial touchpoint for customers, but frequently the only touchpoint – agents have an incredible amount of influence on the customer experience,” said Louis Summe, CEO and co-founder, LiveVox. “Our study with Omdia revealed that agents are dealing with an unnecessary amount of complexity – too many applications, too much tech that’s hard to use, and an inability to clearly see the data they need to personalize customer interactions. And, these limitations harm agent productivity and morale. The next phase of digital transformation for the contact center must focus on creating a streamlined, agent-centric experience – including the use of practical AI and self-service solutions.”

LiveVox & Omdia suggest the following areas of focus for contact center leaders:

• Invest in technologies that centralize data and make it accessible and actionable to agents when and where they need it.
• Enable AI-powered applications and educate agents on the pivotal role AI plays in alleviating routine tasks, reducing workloads and creating a seamless experience for customers.
• Obtain buy-in from senior leadership by tying digital deployments to ROI to secure necessary budget and ensure customer support teams have the tools needed to navigate changing customer expectations.

“Today’s customers expect digital-first experiences and personalized interactions. This requires service organizations to ensure agents engage with customers proactively across the web, social, and chat,” said Mila D’Antonio, principal analyst, Omdia’s Business Platforms & Applications. “Achieving such personalized, omnichannel engagement depends on the accessibility of customer data, the tools to orchestrate the appropriate actions across all channels at the right time, and a culture that supports a customer-first strategy. Service organizations that optimize for those three requirements will set themselves up for long-term customer retention and loyalty.”

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