Reduction in wrap time for contact center success

Wrap time is a performance metric used in call center parlance and refers to the time spent by an agent post-call. Also known as after-call work (ACW), the process involves the agent updating notes on his conversation with a customer, processing any requests, and using codes from a drop-down menu that is already pre-populated with call reasons and call outcomes. For call centers, wrap time is a crucial measure that they need to monitor as it greatly influences the customer experience.

According to a report by Accenture, 58% of customers prefer to call an agent to resolve their urgent issues rather than use any other channel. This makes managing wrap time of strategic importance for a business that deals with large volumes of incoming call traffic. Secondly, the average speed of the answer (ASA) is 28 seconds. However, most customers contact a call center when they have an issue that needs a quick resolution, and they do not like to be put on hold. This makes it important to foster digital enablement and curb wrap time to a minimum in order to improve the quality of customer experience.

The measurement and optimization of wrap time leads to –

• Steady monitoring of the amount of time an agent takes to handle the administrative wrap-up tasks. When wrap time is measured against the call handling time, you can get an idea of the time that agents actually spend talking to the customers. Therefore, it is a metric that helps track and improve the agents’ efficiency.
• Higher efficiency of the agents translates into higher productivity for the call center provided that the reduction in the wrap time does not compromise the quality of data entry.
• Customers do not like to be put on hold and a shorter wrap time means enhanced customer experience.
• Reducing the wrap time can be a money and time-saving activity. Reduction in wrap time can make a call center more productive. It can answer more calls per agent and thereby save both time and the costs incurred in the process. Thus, it can boost the immediate return on investment (ROI) for the company.

There are many ways in which call centers can reduce their wrap time –

A well-prepared agent is better equipped to work with different tools and software at his disposal. He is also adept at managing a range of customer issues as well as post-call work. All of this aids him in keeping the wrap time to a minimum. In short, training and coaching of agents is one of the most basic and useful ways of –

• Eliminating common inefficiencies in the agents.
• Helping agents learn how to use the call center tools and software properly.
• Teaching them how to handle the post-call administrative activities during the call without getting distracted from answering the customer’s needs.
• Allowing team leads and managers to coach underperforming agents by listening in to the calls and identifying areas of improvement.
• Coaching the agents in industry-wide best practices and then replicating those as ongoing processes.

Documentation of the after-call work and its processes can help agents in increasing their speed. As calls can be repetitive, agents can use process documents of common best practices to re-write standard advice or actions. This can improve the speed as well as the accuracy of handling post-call work as long as agents are trained to personalize the standard documentation. Agents can also be trained to type fast in order to finish early. To aid this, call centers can utilize voice typing tools such as Google Voice Typing that can help in saving the agents’ time.

A digital enablement platform is a software designed to assist people with performing digital tasks and improve their productivity in the digital workplace. Automation through digital enablement has permeated various industries and processes. It has removed the silos in which different teams work. It has significantly reduced the scope of human errors and improved the turn-around time for business activities. All of this makes it ideal for call centers. For example, intelligent automation can enable speech analytics of customer calls, thereby automatically categorizing the calls into their disposition codes. It will lead to a major reduction in the wrap time for an agent.

The after-call tasks are critical to how a customer will eventually perceive a brand. A promise made by an agent during a call must be fulfilled once the call is over. But owing to human errors or inefficiencies during data entry, even a positive customer interaction can yield negative results. For instance, in the case of a customer following up on a request, a new agent taking the call might not understand the customer’s interaction history. This is where Contact Center AI comes in.

Contact Center AI is software that can assist agents to expedite their work while maintaining consistency in customer service. It can automate after-call work using conversational AI, RPA, and workflow automation. It can reduce customer wait time by –

• Connecting them to the back-office operations seamlessly.
• Detecting human emotions in real-time to offer agents the next best course of action and recommendations.
• Transcribing calls and providing call summaries for agents to edit.
• With a significant portion of the work being automated, the agent only has to review the summary and thus he can focus on the customer.
• Automatically updating the CRM system.

By 2024, the global call center AI market size is predicted to reach $2990 million, a staggering 300% increase since 2018. Many credible solution providers can implement Contact Center AI solutions for a call center. supervity.ai is a front-runner in providing digital enablement platforms for businesses to engage with customers and employees and automate their manual work. Their Contact Center AI unites the synergy of AI with RPA to help businesses reduce customer wait time while bridging the gap between customer-agent conversations and service delivery.

The combination of training and technology such as Contact Center AI can reduce wrap time and aid businesses transform their customer experience. With its help, skilled agents can spur an era of effortless customer interactions for brands of all sizes.