Using voice technology to improve customer and agent experience

Organizations are utilizing voice technology to identify knowledge and training gaps to improve customer and agent experience

Transforming speech to text for analysis

Analyzing voice data in its native form requires a prohibitive time and cost investment. Analyzing text is far simpler – meaning an investment in speech recognition and processing technology is likely to yield a much higher ROI.

Transforming voice data into text is also the first step to unlocking the ability to understand the mood, tone and sentiment of every call processed – which is hugely valuable when it comes to responding sensitively to customer emotion.

Turning speech into text also means that analysis becomes much simpler, and conversations can be stored, searched through, and used in a moment. From analysis of a single conversation to broad trends across thousands of calls, this gives everyone from agents to senior customer experience leaders the ability to understand how customers are feeling, how agents are performing – and, crucially, where the business can make quick wins and meaningful changes.

In recent years, speech-to-text technology has evolved from software that showed potential but with a lack of maturity required at an enterprise level to a dependable technology able to deliver highly accurate, well-punctuated transcripts with extensive language coverage. For those requiring additional customization in niche industries, the best speech-to-text technology also now offers custom dictionary capabilities – ensuring your transcriptions will capture context-specific content, such as names and acronyms, accurately.

The link between agent experience and customer experience in contact centers

While customers are rightfully front of mind for many customer experience leaders, it’s important to listen to the voice of the employee and consider employee experience, too. With access to meaningful feedback, timely praise and the right tools to serve customers effectively, employees will be more engaged – even in real time as calls become more challenging. This doesn’t only make for a happier workforce with decreased staff turnover – it also has a positive effect on contact center customer experience.

Effortless integration, more analysis, greater compliance – and a better contact center experience

Introducing speech-to-text technology has not always been easy. Many contact centers work with legacy technology, often with a mixture of on-premises and cloud infrastructure. Introducing new tools, without interrupting operations, is frequently a serious challenge.

And with compliance, data regulations and security front of mind for all businesses, any technology must also adhere to rigorous standards before it can even be considered. No matter how exceptional contact center customer experience is, it means nothing if customer data isn’t protected – and businesses must likewise be able to meet stringent compliance requirements with confidence.

So, despite the huge value it offers, the process of integrating speech-to-text technology successfully is a huge barrier for many. If the cost, time and risk required to introduce new tools are too high, the value it generates can be outweighed – and, of course, the business case is less likely to be approved in the first place.

Organizations need to look for a provider with flexible, secure and fast deployment options to suit their security requirements – whether that’s on-premises, in a private or public cloud, or in a hybrid environment.

It's a sobering thought that some businesses have a 95% blind spot from calls that aren’t ever reviewed. Voice technology can actively improve compliance, enabling more calls to be assessed with ease, and reducing the reliance on spot-checking as an accurate sample.

The power of voice technology to improve contact center agent experience as well as customer experience

Contact centers are changing – and the way we deliver customer service, in general, is diversifying year by year. But with 44% of customers still preferring to interact over the phone as their primary customer service interface, the value of investing in this channel is huge – as is the opportunity to improve outcomes across the business.

For agents, more meaningful feedback and an enhanced ability to understand customers leads to better, faster resolutions, more engaging agent experiences, and more opportunities for growth. For customer service professionals and senior stakeholders, voice data is the path to hitting KPIs and elevating business outcomes. And with flexible, easy-to-integrate technology, the journey doesn’t need to be a difficult one for the IT and operations staff in charge of implementation.

Ultimately, the value of speech-to-text technology can be felt across the business – and, crucially, in the experiences of customers.