Real-time agent guidance leverages natural language processing and other artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to give agents customer-focused suggestions at the best opportunities. It also allows supervisors to monitor agent performance, effectively helping contact centers train and develop their agents while also enhancing the customer experience.  

Whitepaper

Your Real-Time CX Enhancement Plan

In this post, we’ll explore real-time agent guidance and how it can help contact centers achieve greater success, including: 

• What is real-time agent guidance and how does it work? 
• 4 things real-time agent guidance can do in a contact center 
• Real-time guidance gives agents the information they need to enhance customer experiences 
• Frequently asked questions 

What is real-time agent guidance and how does it work? 

Real-time agent guidance is an AI-driven process that listens to customer conversations to find opportunities for suggestions and improvements. These suggestions are meant to enhance the conversation by giving agents ideas for upsells, offering things to say to improve the sentiment of the conversation, or proposing a call escalation.  

Providing quality #CX means helping contact center agents make the most of their time interacting with customers in the moment.#AI-powered real-time agent guidance can help do just that while driving continuous agent performance improvement. Read more: https://t.co/1Zkcqa8k2C

— CallMiner, Inc. (@CallMiner) December 21, 2023

Real-time guidance listens for specific words and phrases, such as a customer mentioning a competitor or talking about pricing, and the emotion and sentiment of a conversation to make personalized suggestions to the agent.  

For example, if a customer says, “The monthly price is higher than I want to pay,” real-time guidance technology might suggest to the agent to offer a reduced subscription, providing helpful details to create a successful offer for the customer. Or, if an agent gets off-track from a script, real-time guidance can identify it and steer the agent back on the right path. 

4 things real-time agent guidance can do in a contact center 

Real-time agent guidance can help foster relationships with customers, enhance the brand experience, and identify ways to retain them. Here are a few specific ways real-time agent guidance can help contact center agents. 

Make helpful suggestions to improve customer satisfaction  

Real-time guidance sends alerts straight to the agent as needed based on the specifics of the current conversation. As an agent chats with a customer—whether through a call or text-based conversation—real-time guidance gives the agent suggestions as soon as they make sense.  

If a customer mentions a refund, real-time guidance technology might suggest a personalized offer for the customer to potentially prevent a refund, for example. By implementing real-time guidance, contact centers can significantly improve customer satisfaction.  

Monitor agent performance 

As an agent speaks with customers, a real-time agent guidance system allows supervisors to listen to the conversation. They stay muted unless they need to interject, giving them the opportunity to monitor an agent’s performance and hop in only if necessary.  

This feature is especially beneficial during the initial agent training process when supervisors may need to take over a call for an escalating situation that the agent may not yet be able to handle properly. 

Agents can also escalate calls quickly by flagging the conversation to let a supervisor know they need further assistance. Offering these types of support helps to improve the frontline agent experience, which translates to improved customer satisfaction.  

Automatically redact sensitive information 

Real-time agent guidance is designed to help customers just as much as it helps agents. One of the ways it does that is by listening for and redacting sensitive information given by customers during conversations, like bank account information or medical data, ensuring that this information isn’t passed on to agents or other team members.  

This way, agents can get the information they need to assist a customer while also adhering to privacy standards and regulations.  

Increase efficiency 

Real-time agent guidance can improve the overall efficiency of a call center, suggesting ways to move the conversation along while giving the customer the information and help they need.  

These systems also reduce wasted time by automating workflows, converting speech-based conversations to text, and providing helpful insights into each conversation. Thus, agents can spend more time caring for customers and less time completing after-call tasks. 

Real-time guidance gives agents the information they need to enhance customer experiences 

CallMiner RealTime works behind the scenes in call centers to help agents act based on customer behavior during support conversations. By proactively giving assistance when it’s most needed, CallMiner RealTime creates a level playing field for all agents to assist customers efficiently and successfully. 

Request a CallMiner demo to see it in action. 

Frequently asked questions 

What are the top benefits of real-time agent guidance? 

Real-time agent guidance monitors conversations between agents and customers to give agents instant feedback that they can use to improve the conversation and meet their customers’ needs. It also allows supervisors to monitor agent performance through live listening and take over a call if necessary. 

What are the limitations of real-time agent guidance? 

Without proper training in a call center, agents may come to rely on real-time guidance too much rather than use their instincts and knowledge to assist customers. Real-time agent guidance is a form of technology, so it may lack the same sentiment and empathy a human agent can provide.  

What’s the difference between agent assist and real-time agent guidance? 

Real-time agent guidance is a more sophisticated version of agent assist. It uses conversation analytics technology to thoroughly analyze a conversation and provide personalized suggestions to an agent based on the current conversation. Real-time guidance works throughout a conversation to guide an agent toward a successful resolution.