“Robotic Automation”: How to innovate and maximize its potential
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2024 3:57 am
A recent Forrester report noted that robotic process automation (RPA) enables faster onboarding of new agents, increased confidence and creativity, and improved quality of service delivery.
A recent Forrester report noted that robotic process automation (RPA) enables faster onboarding of new agents, increased confidence and creativity, and improved quality of service. However, Forrester also noted that despite nearly half of customer service companies self employed phone number data using RPA and other automation technologies, more than 50% of deployed RPA solutions employ no more than ten robots.
According to a study by Zendesk , the current COVID-19 pandemic has led to an overwhelming increase in the number of customer support requests. In this sense, RPA has the ability to free up agents from repetitive tasks so they can focus on more important and creative work. But how can customer service managers harness the potential of RPA and maximize their offering?
RPA implementation must be a team effort
To manage the automation process, you need to create a team that includes a sponsor, an architect, and an owner, working in collaboration with your company’s IT department and customer support team. The roles and responsibilities of each should be clearly defined, and the strengths and limitations of RPA should be thoroughly explained.
RPA is not artificial intelligence. It can’t make machines think, and while it is four to five times faster than agents, it must be deployed sparingly to ensure its effectiveness. It also can’t improve operational processes or improve the user experience, but it is an ideal solution for those repeatable tasks that don’t require creativity or judgment. Without supervision, agents can spend their time cultivating customer relationships.
Before beginning the implementation process, it is essential to communicate to employees the changes and benefits that RPA will bring to their jobs. Although the demographic transformations taking place in the world of work have increased the acceptance of automation, many employees still find it difficult to change their habits.
Some stakeholders fear that automation will lead to job losses, which has led to 11% of knowledge workers globally being reluctant to use automation solutions. For RPA implementation to be effective and to harness its full potential, it must be presented to employees as a reinforcement of the corporate strategy that has been developed and implemented to achieve specific objectives.
Overall, companies have been failing to communicate these changes adequately. According to Forrester, only 19% of employees say that their organization has clearly communicated the purpose of the technologies incorporated. Furthermore, only 18% of employees understand their professional role in an automated world.
However, RPA can also be an incentive to attract new workers, as it helps make teams more productive and creates a more pleasant work environment thanks to the reduction of routine and repetitive tasks.
The key to finding the balance between the old and the new lies in maintaining clear and efficient communication.
Optimize personnel management practices
Using RPA allows for more accurate insights when monitoring sales agent performance. To analyse activity, customer service companies monitor costs, customer satisfaction and compliance with service level agreements. Using RPA does not lead to any changes in these parameters, but it has a significant impact on the figures.
Overall, you should monitor the efficiency and value that both RPA and agents bring to the business. By integrating RPA performance, including failure rate, you can gain a more accurate view of how sales agents are spending their time.
RPA enables team leaders to play a more strategic role and better understand the strengths of their agents.
Despite this, Forrester says only 13% of companies are integrating bot-based efficiencies into their workforce management calculations.
This monitoring must be ongoing. Agents using RPA are more effective and more efficient, but these initial advances need to be monitored in order to maintain them in the long term. In the case of Baleària , the Spanish shipping group, redk identified the incorporation of RPA into business processes as one of the main tactical objectives of an exhaustive and ambitious reorganization plan. In this way, routine tasks were eliminated, which contributed to increasing team motivation and optimizing their work.
RPA in the future
RPA can be a major step towards digital transformation. If implemented properly, it plays a key role in CRM transformation, as in the case of Baleária, but it cannot be used in isolation without the support of other technologies.
RPA is expected to evolve to combine natural language understanding, machine learning, and predictive decision making to automate more complex tasks.
While there is no doubt that RPA will create new opportunities in the future, we should not underestimate its current potential. It is important that your company starts using it now in the most efficient way possible.
At redk, we have over 15 years of experience in CRM technical consulting and we support companies seeking to improve their efficiency and profitability by offering them top-notch technologies that optimize performance across the entire organization. Get in touch with us and find out what we can do for your company.
A recent Forrester report noted that robotic process automation (RPA) enables faster onboarding of new agents, increased confidence and creativity, and improved quality of service. However, Forrester also noted that despite nearly half of customer service companies self employed phone number data using RPA and other automation technologies, more than 50% of deployed RPA solutions employ no more than ten robots.
According to a study by Zendesk , the current COVID-19 pandemic has led to an overwhelming increase in the number of customer support requests. In this sense, RPA has the ability to free up agents from repetitive tasks so they can focus on more important and creative work. But how can customer service managers harness the potential of RPA and maximize their offering?
RPA implementation must be a team effort
To manage the automation process, you need to create a team that includes a sponsor, an architect, and an owner, working in collaboration with your company’s IT department and customer support team. The roles and responsibilities of each should be clearly defined, and the strengths and limitations of RPA should be thoroughly explained.
RPA is not artificial intelligence. It can’t make machines think, and while it is four to five times faster than agents, it must be deployed sparingly to ensure its effectiveness. It also can’t improve operational processes or improve the user experience, but it is an ideal solution for those repeatable tasks that don’t require creativity or judgment. Without supervision, agents can spend their time cultivating customer relationships.
Before beginning the implementation process, it is essential to communicate to employees the changes and benefits that RPA will bring to their jobs. Although the demographic transformations taking place in the world of work have increased the acceptance of automation, many employees still find it difficult to change their habits.
Some stakeholders fear that automation will lead to job losses, which has led to 11% of knowledge workers globally being reluctant to use automation solutions. For RPA implementation to be effective and to harness its full potential, it must be presented to employees as a reinforcement of the corporate strategy that has been developed and implemented to achieve specific objectives.
Overall, companies have been failing to communicate these changes adequately. According to Forrester, only 19% of employees say that their organization has clearly communicated the purpose of the technologies incorporated. Furthermore, only 18% of employees understand their professional role in an automated world.
However, RPA can also be an incentive to attract new workers, as it helps make teams more productive and creates a more pleasant work environment thanks to the reduction of routine and repetitive tasks.
The key to finding the balance between the old and the new lies in maintaining clear and efficient communication.
Optimize personnel management practices
Using RPA allows for more accurate insights when monitoring sales agent performance. To analyse activity, customer service companies monitor costs, customer satisfaction and compliance with service level agreements. Using RPA does not lead to any changes in these parameters, but it has a significant impact on the figures.
Overall, you should monitor the efficiency and value that both RPA and agents bring to the business. By integrating RPA performance, including failure rate, you can gain a more accurate view of how sales agents are spending their time.
RPA enables team leaders to play a more strategic role and better understand the strengths of their agents.
Despite this, Forrester says only 13% of companies are integrating bot-based efficiencies into their workforce management calculations.
This monitoring must be ongoing. Agents using RPA are more effective and more efficient, but these initial advances need to be monitored in order to maintain them in the long term. In the case of Baleària , the Spanish shipping group, redk identified the incorporation of RPA into business processes as one of the main tactical objectives of an exhaustive and ambitious reorganization plan. In this way, routine tasks were eliminated, which contributed to increasing team motivation and optimizing their work.
RPA in the future
RPA can be a major step towards digital transformation. If implemented properly, it plays a key role in CRM transformation, as in the case of Baleária, but it cannot be used in isolation without the support of other technologies.
RPA is expected to evolve to combine natural language understanding, machine learning, and predictive decision making to automate more complex tasks.
While there is no doubt that RPA will create new opportunities in the future, we should not underestimate its current potential. It is important that your company starts using it now in the most efficient way possible.
At redk, we have over 15 years of experience in CRM technical consulting and we support companies seeking to improve their efficiency and profitability by offering them top-notch technologies that optimize performance across the entire organization. Get in touch with us and find out what we can do for your company.