Contact Center Agents Struggle with Traditional Desktop tools to Handle Customer Queries, Survey Finds

BenchmarkPortal’s one-of-a-kind agent experience survey, sponsored by eGain, reveals that contact center agents continue to get hamstrung in the post-pandemic era by lack of knowledge-based guidance

eGain Corporation, the leading knowledge management platform for customer engagement automation, announced findings from a groundbreaking agent experience (AX) survey of US contact centers. Conducted by BenchmarkPortal, the leading contact center benchmarking organization, the online survey was fielded in May 2022 and findings compiled from 456 responses. Unlike other surveys, the sample included only contact center agents. Here are key findings:

• Environment
  • 76% of respondents still work from home, a surprisingly high percentage, given the easing of Covid restrictions
• Knowledge
  • 63% of respondents said that customer queries are getting more complex
  • 64% of respondents said they do not have tools to guide them through customer interactions
  • 49% struggle with multiple systems to find answers
• Sentiment
  • Novice agents were stressed 31% more than tenured agents

Also Read: Social Media Monitoring: Meaning, Importance, Functioning, and Pricing

“Contact center agents, especially work-from-home reps, do not have the safety net of in-office colleagues for answers,” said Bruce Belfiore, CEO at BenchmarkPortal. “It is concerning that most contact centers do not have adequate guidance tools even as customer queries get more complex. However, we also see this as a real opportunity to elevate the agent experience with modern knowledge management.”

“The findings are not a surprise. As self-service automates routine customer queries, agents naturally get more complex questions,” said Ashu Roy, eGain CEO. “This complexity, combined with WFH and the need for compliance, has elevated knowledge to the boardroom.”