Today’s agent desktop is overloaded with features and tools. As a result, it’s become increasingly difficult for customer service reps to focus on the task at hand. It’s harming contact center productivity and impacting the customer experience more than you think. Keep reading to find out why agent desktops have become so cluttered and how you can fix this common problem.
What is window overload?
You’re probably familiar with the term “window overload.” It’s when you have too many windows open on your desktop and it becomes difficult to find the information you need. This can be a major problem in contact centers, where agent productivity is one of the biggest keys to success.
Window overload can be caused by a number of factors, including:
Too many applications: In many contact centers, agents are required to use multiple applications to do their job. This can lead to a lot of window switching and information overload.
Lack of integration: If your agent desktop is not integrated, it can be difficult to find the information you need. This can lead to frustration and lost productivity.
Complex processes: If your agent desktop is not user-friendly, it can be difficult to navigate. This leads to confusion and errors.
How does window overload impact your contact center?
Reduced agent productivity: Window overload can have a major impact on agent productivity. When agents are trying to focus on multiple windows, they miss important information. This can lead to mistakes and lost productivity. Window overload can also cause agent burnout.
Increased operational costs
Agent burnout costs you more than time. Turnover in call centers averages 30-45%. When you lose a call center agent, you don’t just lose their expertise or years of experience with your company, but also the investment that it took to hire that employee. For example, when calculating the cost of turnover, you need to not only account for that employee’s salary but also recruiter fees, onboarding costs, and training expenses.
Low team efficiency
You may not realize it, but the design of an agent desktop can have a significant impact on how efficiently your team works. In fact, many common agent desktop issues can lead to decreased productivity and even customer dissatisfaction.
Waste of resources
When agents have too many windows and tabs open on their desktops, it hurts their ability to utilize and deploy AI-powered tools effectively. In other words, they can’t take full advantage of the automation and AI capabilities that could help them work more efficiently. All of those windows and tabs can lead to agent distraction and multitasking, which studies have shown can decrease productivity by as much as 40%.
The solution to window overload: A configurable and unified agent desktop
Fortunately, there is a solution to window overload. In order to improve agent productivity, you need to declutter your agent desktop and streamline the information that agents need to do their jobs. This can be done by deploying a configurable agent desktop. With a customizable desktop, your team is able to consolidate windows, use tabs and accordions, and hide unnecessary fields.
By decluttering the agent desktop, you make it easier for agents to find the information they need and take full advantage of the tools at their disposal. As a result, you’ll see an improvement in agent productivity and customer satisfaction.
Custom workflows
Most agents have between 4 and 10 applications open during a typical customer interaction and are stalled by inefficient processes. You can create custom workflows unique to each agent to avoid clunky on-screen experiences that comprise an agent’s ability to handle interactions smoothly. This flexibility allows you to modify specific to the desktop, increasing efficiency.
Seamless integrations
A big issue that contact centers face is having too much technology without ensuring it’s user-friendly and quickly accessible to agents. If your tools don’t work well together, it’s not only counterintuitive, it’s harming overall productivity in your contact center.
The takeaway
When scouting any contact center software, make sure the moving pieces you deploy integrate well and continue to play nicely with each other. Every tool and piece of tech within your contact center needs to come together to provide agents and management with a clear picture of what’s going on. By doing this, you’re setting your agents up to deliver an effective and positive customer experience as well as preparing your operations to effectively utilize artificial intelligence (AI).
Byline: Nick Bandy, Chief Marketing Officer, LiveVox
Author Bio: Nick has over 25 years of executive leadership experience in the marketing and technology space, serving private, PE-backed, and public organizations. He founded and developed the SpeechIQ product which was subsequently acquired by LiveVox in 2019.
