RPA in the customer service office: Can process automation improve customer support?

Automation and robotization, often supported by cloud solutions, have found their place in the IT market and beyond. These technologies support not only HR departments or marketing and sales activities, but also streamline processes throughout the entire company. From a business perspective, automation in the customer service office is of particular importance.    

Does RPA in the customer service office make sense? What are the benefits of implementing RPA in customer service?

In the case of a typical single transaction, 95% of customers receive data from three or more channels, and inconsistency between them is the main reason why customer service falters. Moreover, support staff often have to switch between several platforms, thereby lowering their productivity and wasting time. Not to mention that they divert their attention away from the customer.   Combining RPA + customer service office allows, among other things, to:

• reduce the number of calls made and received by up to 50%,
• improve the quality of the first contact with the customer and the overall customer satisfaction index by simplifying and shortening necessary interactions,
• reduce training costs and the time spent on them,
• increase the customer retention rate,
• take care of user experience,
• lower the risk of errors occurring or being made.

   

Robotization of customer service and expanding the workforce

Thanks to RPA taking over manual tasks, a support employee can focus exclusively on the customer’s needs. This means not only space for more ambitious duties and professional development, but also room to expand the team with additional specialists who take care of relationships with consumers and provide them with unique experiences. These could be, for example, Client Engagement/Customer Success Managers or even UX Designers. Throughout this process, however, one should not forget about education and transparent communication. When faced with modern technologies, employees often worry about whether they will still be useful. It is therefore essential that they understand that robotization in the service office is only intended to streamline daily operations, not to take anyone’s tasks away. In their place, new, often more interesting challenges will appear.    

RPA in customer service – use case examples

As we have already mentioned, Robotic Process Automation has been widely used in customer service for many years. As for specifics, this technology is successfully implemented and used, among others, in the case of:

• chatbots, voice assistants, and automated call centers, which, thanks to cognitive improvements, can respond to queries immediately and have a more transactional character,
• self-service (access to application back-end),
• login process – using robotization, customers can secure their access data,
• enforcing security measures (lower probability of human error enforces compliance and improves quality).

   

Can RPA also cause customer service problems? What are the main problems with implementing RPA in customer service?

Improving the customer service office using RPA technology will not pass the test, however, if the implementation attempt is carried out:

• in an ill-considered manner,
• with the choice of a random platform or provider,
• without a reliable action plan (broken down into smaller steps and set in time), necessary training, and calculation of all expenses.

Moreover, one should be aware that in some industries, collecting all the necessary information from the customer will require advanced cognitive automation techniques. These generate additional costs and often require complex machine learning algorithms (e.g., ‘what if’ types), which will ensure that the client does not give up or demand to speak with an always-busy consultant. Artificial intelligence is able to predict customer behavior in the near future and, based on such forecasts, model the responses prepared for sending.