Admittedly, it’s a bit of a spoonerism here, but there is truth to it! Let’s look into what Panels are. They have been added to the NICE CXone My Agent eXperience™ – MAX interface with the last release. They are in fact an integral part of the MAX interface and displayed to the right of the interface as “slide outs” when needed. There can be multiple panels, and the panels are tied to the contact they “belong to”. The latter does not sound too exciting, but let’s look at the advantage in a multi-contact handling situation. Say an agent handles multiple chats with information such as a customer profile tied to each interaction. In the past, your agent needed to manually “sort through” multiple windows when switching to a different interaction to figure out which data go with which interaction. Costs time, bears a risk for error, and does not streamline contact handling. With Panels in MAX, your agent has immediate access to the data that go with the contact they handle – handy, isn’t it?
Now let’s take a look at three distinct usage scenarios for the new “Panels” – not the only ones, just some ideas illustrating what is possible.
Let’s start out with a no brainer – as a matter of fact, even if you do not use Panels for any other purpose in your contact center, this really simple scenario will be executed via Panels if your agents use the MAX interface. Apparently, an average typist (if those still exist) types at a rate of 50-70 words per minute. It’s simple to do the math on how much time you can save by providing your agents with email and chat Quick Replies. We all know that faster replies make happier customers. But as a bonus, Quick Replies can also help with compliance, as well as adherence to communication standards.
Second usage scenario: we know that customers today expect personalized service. That means that in the contact center, you need a place in which to present your agents with information pertaining to the customer they interact with. Enter Panels: because they are tied to the interaction, they are the perfect place to present customer data – no searching, no confusion – just the information the agent needs to provide stellar customer service.
Last but not least: panels are non-intrusive. They do not clutter up the agents’ screen. And because they stay with the contact they belong to, you are able to provide your agent with all the information they MAY require to handle the customer interaction, if and when they need it.
Do you have a Knowledge Base? By all means, give the agent access to that, ideally based on contact type to make the search faster and easier. Aberdeen has found that, not surprisingly, Knowledge Management helps improve both agent productivity and customer satisfaction -- delivering a 4.5% increase in customer satisfaction (CSAT) and 4.1% improvement in the number of quality SLA’s met. You can argue the percentages, but the overall finding holds true.
Is your website is a treasure trove of information? Give your agents streamlined access by putting it in a Panel. You can direct agents to certain areas of the website, too, based on the contact type the agent is currently handling or which area of your website the customer last visited. This really is a case where more is more: According to the 2014 American Express Global Customer Service Barometer, 86% of US consumers say that “representatives must be able to ‘provide a satisfactory answer to their question’ for the interaction to qualify as an excellent customer service experience. The agent must be knowledgeable and able to help them. Sounds simple, right? And done right, the payoff can be considerable: According to the same report, three out of four consumers say they have spent more with a company because of a history of positive customer service experiences.
Are you using MAX yet? If so, make sure you pay attention to those Panels…
