Maintaining rapid time to value despite the skills gap

The skills gap refers to the difference between the skills, or lack thereof, of an employee and the skills that a job requires. Contact centers have one of the highest turnover rates across any industry, forcing many organizations to repetitively onboard and train new employees. Consequently, this perpetual process widens the skill gaps, decreasing time to value and degrading customer experience (CX) (Yahoo Finance, 2023). 

To overcome this widening skills gap, contact centers must embrace automation powered by AI, which can simplify daily processes for employees and provide 24/7 accessibility to an organization’s customers. 

Meeting customers’ expectations is impossible when there is a skills gap

In July 2022, there were over 5.9 million total separations in the United States. Total separations refer to quits, layoffs, discharges, and other forms of involuntary turnover. (Workforce, 2022) Because companies struggle to retain employees, business leaders spend an exorbitant time training new hires, which reduces productivity and consumes resources. New employees can also be costly, from recruitment and onboarding to routinely hiring and training.

As a result of ongoing turnover, organizations often hire new employees who may not be the right fit for the open position or lack the necessary experience and skills. Likewise, they might not have received proper training at their last job.

The number one goal of a contact center is to provide value to customers, fulfill inquiries, and deliver a positive CX. Nevertheless, with consumer demands constantly evolving, many now expect quick response times and rapid resolutions regardless of their inquiry. But because so many contact centers operate with a skeleton crew of inadvertently trained employees, delivering quality CX and accelerating time to value can be nigh-impossible.

How automation can impact an organization

A communications automation platform powered by AI can effectively train new employees. Automated workflows can easily assign specific training materials and courses to new hires based on job title/position. (Jotform 2021) By accelerating the training process, organizations can start growing ROI, reduce the skills gap, and decrease employee turnover, improving morale. At the same time, automating manual and repetitive tasks eliminates the need to train agents on such responsibilities. 

Efficiently training employees can also give organizations a competitive advantage, increasing productivity, boosting revenue, and delivering higher quality service. (Indeed, 2022) Also, contact centers that leverage automation can simplify day-to-day operations and reduce labor costs.

Automation tools allow contact center agents to focus on high-value requests while handling those simpler ones that don’t require an agent. Not only does automation give 24/7 access to the call center for customers, but it reduces call times by up to 75%, empowering agents to quickly and sufficiently resolve customer queries. (Tech Native 2022)

Optimize your staff and reduce expenses with IntelePeer

IntelePeer can help transform your organization’s contact center through automation, reducing the skills gap, decreasing turnover, and eliminating time spent training new employees without ripping and replacing your current infrastructure. With an easy-to-integrate communications automation solution, your organization can almost immediately begin streamlining call center operations, increase customer satisfaction, and shorten call resolution times.

Contact us today to learn how you can start growing ROI and reduce overhead expenses by automating your contact center.