The Key to successful Humanised Automation

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)increases efficiency and makes agents’ lives easier, but Visual IVR is the key to successfully blending the efficiencies of RPA with new customer service channels. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is transforming CX and customer care.

RPA is a way to easily automate individual, relatively simple tasks that would otherwise be handled manually.To enhance efficiency in their processes CX leaders can look to deploy RPA especially in conjunction with Artificial Intelligence and Analytics technologies to reduce costs, expedite outcomes and provide a better customer service experience.

Deploying RPA software is not equivalent to building fully automated processes and platforms from the ground up. With standalone RPA, a software robot literally does what a human would do:tasks such as data retrieval and entry, button clicks, file uploads and downloads, or transaction processing.

Robotic Process Automation can automate repetitive back office tasks that do not require human judgment (e.g.pulling information from interactions to populate forms and emails).

It is easy to implement in the right use cases and carries low risk, because it replicates and simplifies manual tasks that already exist.

How RPA Benefits Enterprises

Efficiency is the defining characteristic of RPA. No matter how good a contact centre agent is, an RPA bot is more efficient. RPA can handle more customers faster than an agent and can handle many times more customers at the same time. When bots are fulfilling the simple tasks that make up the majority of contact centre operations, the calls that used to get sent to back offices are never transferred. With RPA implementation, enterprises can shrink their back offices and reduce their costs. A client achieved savings of over £35k in 3 months following the introduction of our Visual IVR utilizing RPA technology.

There is no need to retrain employees or alter existing processes. So, RPA liberates humans from routine, repetitive tasks. This leads to greater job satisfaction,improved morale, greater productivity and freedom do more important work like solving problems or adding value to customer interactions.

• RPA replaces human tasks, not humans. It is assistive, taking over highly repetitive tasks and helping agents to do     their jobs better.
• knowledge becomes more valuable because agents now have the time to apply it to benefit the customer.
• RPA can help achieve gains in accuracy and compliance.
  

Robotic Process Automation bots complete time consuming yet straightforward tasks, freeing up live agents to focus on more complex, high-value tasks. The emerging technology will transform interactions for customers, enterprises, and even public sector agencies — if it can be implemented well.

One of the key benefits of RPA is that it enables the operation to serve customers faster and more efficiently than live agents can. Tasks with multiple steps like retrieving an invoice take time for humans to accomplish. Bots and automation are a key part of improving customer service, according to Microsoft. Their 2018 State of Global  Customer Service report found “Bots, one of the components of RPA, can automate resolution while reducing costs and improving customer satisfaction, freeing agents to work on more complex issues.”

Reading an invoice request, searching the database for the appropriate document, downloading the invoice, copying the customer’s email address, writing an email, attaching the invoice, and sending the email to the customer is a multiple-minutes-long process for an agent. RPA bots achieve the same result in milliseconds. Other simple tasks like tracking an order or initiating the returns process are easily fulfilled by RPA.

The net impact of introducing RPA  not only provides a benefit to both the customer and agent but also achieves a resultant cost saving, we were able to identify OPEX savings of  up to £1 million within 12 months for one of our clients looking to introduce automation into their Customer care operation.

Achieving your self-service and automation goals - Introducing visual IVR

RPA is the engine that powers self-service, but on-demand channels like Visual IVR take things up another notch. With self-service, customers gain the power to solve their own problems,and Visual IVR gives them access to most of the options and activities they used to need live contact centre agents for instantly. Customers do not need to trouble themselves by interacting with an agent. They simply solve their own problems by telling the RPA bots what to do, and everything is handled automatically.

Since RPA and self-service platforms like Visual IVR take care of the simple tasks, the calls that do make it through to contact centres are always compelling, high-value interactions.Without the burden of tedious interactions, live agents have the freedom to treat these complicated interactions with the attention they deserve. On-demand self-service options allow enterprises to not only shrink the number of agents they need but also empower the agents they keep and set those agents up for success.

RPA and Visual IVR: The Perfect Combination

The Visual IVR and RPA combination creates an incredible ecosystem able to elegantly answer customer questions without the need for live agents, only resorting to live agent when needed.

At Synergy we focus on four core CX enabling technology areas:

• Digital Channels
• Digital Analytics
• Robotic Process Automation
• Cyber Security