How Real-Time Agent Alerts are Harming Customer Experience

The contact center is where business meets customer, and the teams who represent healthcare organizations have one of the most challenging jobs in any industry. The role is under-recognized and over-simplified.  

Consider the dichotomies of demands on contact center agents: 

• Be genuine and authentic, but don’t divert from the script 
• Be human and empathize, but this bot is going to tell you when to be empathetic 
• You to hit 50 calls a day, but you need to treat each customer like they are the only one 
• Proactively listen and respond, but also complete all the fields on these five screens 
• Surface areas of customer frustration, but sorry, the organization won’t make changes based on anecdotes

In healthcare, especially, agents must navigate heavy topics, complex customer emotions, strict regulations, and complicated processes – all while keeping the customer and the business top of mind. 

Many organizations rely on notifications to coach agents in real-time. But these alerts come at a cost to the humanity of the customer interaction. Mid-conversation alerts: 

• Distract the agent by pulling them out of the very human interaction they’re having 
• Add to the agent’s burden. Now in addition to collecting the appropriate information, resolving the customer’s issue, following the script, and remaining compliant they must also take real-time direction from a machine 
• Teach the agent to rely on props rather than their training. Agents are less likely to build core customer experience competencies if they become dependent on alerts to guide their actions.  

At Authenticx, our mission is to help humans understand humans. We believe advancements in AI and technology should improve and elevate the human experience, not detract from it.  In the world of contact center operations, technology should seek to support and enhance human interactions, not complicate or dehumanize them.   

AI and machine learning can play a crucial role in improving customer experiences, business results, and health outcomes when leveraged appropriately. Rather than relying on a machine for in-the-moment guidance, AI is most effective when it is used to: 

• Identify agent coaching opportunities by surfacing macro and micro-level strengths and weaknesses 
• Provide visibility into agent performance at the team and individual level 
• Drill into specific conversations that require attention 
• Surface the complexity of the agent role to leadership so they can provide support 
• Foster empathy and spark change that enhances both the employee experience and customer experience 

See Authenticx in Action

Learn more about how Authenticx analyzes customer conversations to surface recurring trends in this two-minute video.

About Authenticx

Authenticx was founded to analyze and activate customer interaction data at scale. Why? We wanted to reveal transformational opportunities in healthcare. We are on a mission to help humans understand humans. With a combined 100+ years of leadership experience in pharma, payer, and healthcare organizations, we know first-hand the challenges and opportunities that our clients face because we’ve been in your shoes.

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