Agent Collaboration Tools

Agent collaboration tools provide an electronic virtual workspace where agents and consumers can collaborate using secure email, secure document sharing and communication tools, and secure instant messaging. These tools help agents interact with specialists in the home office, consumers or third parties (such as accountants and attorneys) on complex life insurance cases or planning scenarios. Agent collaboration tools include the ability to make customers’ financial plans and account data accessible via agent websites.

The Upside of Integrating Collaboration Tools
Here are four reasons why integrating collaboration tools with the contact center offers your company a significant upside: 1. Customers Prefer Web Chat and Instant Messaging: More and more customers are turning web chat instant messaging (IM) to resolve issues. As it turns out, chat and IM work well for internal collaboration, too. While chatting online with a customer, agents can use messaging apps to contact an internal expert for help. The resulting resolution is swift, and conversations can be stored and searched later when similar issues arise. 2. It’s Easier to Connect Customers with Experts: What’s the most important thing a company can do to deliver an exceptional experience? Show customers that you value their time, according to 73% of the consumers who responded to the Forrester Research survey, Top Trends for Customer Service in 2016. Presence and text messaging help speed response times significantly. For example, when a patient calls a healthcare group, presence enables agents to locate the right doctor and immediately connect them with the patient. In emergencies, callers are frequently anxious and worried, so the ability to reassure them without delay is certain to create a positive impression. 3. Information Personalizes the Experience: Although we often think of collaboration as being real-time, it also happens as information is shared over time. When teams collaborate internally and can share customer details, the result is a more personalized consumer experience. By integrating your CRM application with your contact center, you can put valuable intelligence into the hands of your reps, thus elevating all interactions. Agents have critical details at their fingertips, including customer preferences, recent conversations, and products they’ve purchased in the past which allows agents to more effectively tailor their interaction with each customer. 4. Self-Service Tools Save Time: Sometimes, it’s more expedient – and more desirable – for customers to resolve issues on their own. In fact, Forrester says self-service is the top trend in customer service this year. When compared to research results from 2015, web and mobile self-service interactions exceeded interactions over live-assist channels in 2015. Indeed, sometimes removing the agent from common processes can save time for customers and free up agents to handle more complex scenarios. Tools such as these enhance the contact center’s ability to exceed customer expectations. They make it easier for customers to resolve issues and enable agents to track down internal experts and obtain answers more quickly. And when tools such as web chat, instant messaging and CRM applications are tightly integrated with the contact center, they can help your business deliver a superior – even legendary – customer experience.

Further Reading

• Agent-branded collaborative search tool catching on with brokerages Paul Hagey
• Agent Empowerment Using Collaboration Tools in Life Insurance CapGemini