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EXPERT RESPONSE
Ask yourself these questions when considering chat capabilities for your contact center:
1. Will we have a high volume of chat, or might we start with a
trickle? Or do we just not know at this point? If you are uncertain of
your volume or it's low, dedicating a group can be an expensive
proposition. Consider training a few "blended" agents to start, and go
from there. Another option is to consider an outsourcer.
2. How long are our calls? How long do we expect chats will take?
(Perhaps do some internal pilots or role plays to assess this.) If your
calls are long, and chats will be too, be careful about dedicated
groups. This combined with low volume can be a killer on your
efficiency and queue stats.
3. How complex are the questions we handle? More complex questions
make it more likely you'll need to avoid multiple chat sessions. The
agent needs to focus on one interaction at a time.
4. What is the risk of providing the wrong answer to the wrong person?
Sound like a crazy question? We've seen situations where the company
was considering multiple chats but the agents knew that could lead to
them pushing the wrong answer to the wrong person, with some dangerous
consequences. Avoid that situation!
5. Do we have a lot of down time today? Is our agent utilization low?
If you have down time and opportunities to boost utilization, having
blended agents might help (the fewer silos the better).
6. Do we have times when we're hammered with peaks, and the queues back
up? If so, look at other reasons you should or shouldn't do multiple
chats - they can certainly help with peaks.
7. Are there times when our agents are waiting on the phone for the
customer to do something? If so, this creates an opportunity for
multiple chat sessions.
These are just some examples of things that will point you in one
direction or another. You also need to consider how the chat option is
being marketed, and what the business goals are with it. A full
analysis of your specific situation is worth the time - make some
pros/cons tables, and do a cost/benefit analysis. And absolutely do a
pilot, with time to adequately analyze the results and an open mind to
change course if necessary.
Click here to read Part I of Lori's expert answer
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