Telecom—Support complex diagnostic processes

38%

reduction in handset returns a result of the agent’s access to knowledge

50%

reduction in “no fault found” handset returns due to interactive guided help

80%

of online self-service users find accurate information

These agents need 20-pound brains to serve customers

Few industries expect their front line agents to tackle calls as complicated as those received by a telecom contact center.

Agents routinely get calls where the customer says something as generic as “I cannot connect to the Internet” or “I cannot get email on my mobile” or “My smartphone batter life is too low!” These are not easy problems to solve—remotely, across multiple geography, network, device, and service plan configurations.

Typically, these questions end up touching multiple aspects of the customer and product such as customer account status, service configuration, device status etc. To complicate matters further, the customer may be unfamiliar with the product and terminology and agents may feel under pressure to come up with a quick resolution.

 


Artificial Intelligence guides customers and agents through the difficult resolutions

eGain Knowledge+AI offers the agent a rich set of capabilities to support complex diagnostic processes:

  • An engaging and intuitive user experience
  • A search mechanism that can start with the customer’s description of the problem rather than some text that might be part of the answer
  • A highly interactive dialogue that:
    • Guides the agent with questions to ask next
    • Allows the agent to enter information as the customer provides it
    • Allows the agent to skip questions if the customer does not have the information
    • Allows re-answering of questions without restarting
    • Automatically answers some questions using customer information from other systems

In the contact center one size does not fit all. Solutions have to meet the needs of different groups of agents. For instance:

  • Novice agents who need a lot of help and support to structure the customer interaction
  • Experienced agents who want a flexible solution that ensures they don’t miss any important steps
  • Expert agents who want a fast track to solutions as well as integrated access to community content and internet resources

BEST PRACTICE ADVICE

Keep Your Products “Sold” and Avoid Returns

Consumer products are getting more complex, increasing the need for help in using them. Moreover, as these products get sold to broader segments of the population, the need for hand-holding will increase. When increased product complexity is not backed up with knowledgeable customer support, product return rates surge. A good knowledge management system coupled with diagnostic capabilities through Artificial Intelligence (AI) can alleviate this to some degree.

eGain Knowledge+AI reduces unnecessary handset exchanges and saves millions of pound for Virgin Mobile

“The original business case called for… a five percent reduction in handset exchanges. What we’ve actually found six months down the line is that there has been a 38% reduction in handset exchanges.”

 


Related topics on how to reduce supply chain costs

Reduce product returns  |  Reduce field service visits

Skip to content