Four points that contact centers should work on within the era of living with COVID-19

Due to the spread of COVID-19, many companies are making progress such as staggered commuting and working from home.

Changes are also occurring at the contact centers operated by transcosmos. Various measures are being taken, including shortening business hours, introducing chat and email, introducing unmanned support, and considering a shift to working from home.

In preparation for the second and third waves, it is important to formulate a "BCP (Business continuity planning)" and operate the contact center for risk distribution in the future, after changing the viewpoint from "area" to "channel".

BCP for COVID-19 measures

The word "BCP" became widely recognized after the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred in 2011. At that time, the issue to be examined was "how to disperse the work that was extremely concentrated". However, the impact of COVID-19 is not limited to areas, and considering the risk of office closure due to the occurrence of affected people and clusters, it is necessary when considering the formulation of BCP not only for the dispersion of business areas, but also for the distribution of channels and making contact center operations at home.

transcosmos to support BCP construction

At transcosmos, we prepare services that can be used for BCP measures at contact centers, from traffic line design to channel expansion and home-based services.

1. Flow design with looking ahead to channel expansion

In the case of adding channels such as chat and LINE, simply introducing it will not be useful. Since it cannot be solved by chat, there are tasks such as increased telephone support. Before introducing it, it is necessary to consider what kind of inquiries should be directed to which channel and how to respond.

At transcosmos, by using V-IVR (Visual-IVR), which is designed and introduced based on our customer service knowledge accumulated over many years, it is possible to guide to efficient channels while promoting self-solving.

Even with the introduction of V-IVR, there are some users who "want to make inquiries by phone". By using Contact-Link for MFP (Multi-function Platform), it is possible to connect to booking a callback even if the operator cannot respond due to the sudden increase in inquiries.

2. Knowledge development aimed at reducing incoming calls

While we need to improve the FAQ at the same time as proceeding with the flow design, we receive many opinions such as "it is not used very often" and "it is not solved even though it is used, and eventually it goes to the telephone".

At transcosmos, we do not aim to increase the number of FAQ contents, but to reduce incoming calls. We can support you to provide services that analyze the matching rate between contact center logs and public FAQs and to rebuild FAQs such as creating, updating, deleting FAQs, and managing and operating content management tools.

Inquiry analysis

From responding logs, we analyze user inquiries and the results of operator responses and visualize the inquiry tendency of the support center. * It can be analyzed even from recorded data.

Support website/FAQ operational support

We support you to build a PDCA cycle that emphasizes effectiveness, efficiency, and quality in the overall operation of the support website, including the creation and modification of FAQ content.

FAQ system introduction support

We support you to select and introduce the knowledge systems that are essential for building the support website that is "easy to find" and "easy to understand" with information of interest to users.

3. Construction of a system to continue expanding channels and improving operations

Various tools such as chat and bots have appeared as channels that can replace the telephone, but it is important to design operations and train human resources for utilization to introduce them to contact centers. Especially for bots, if you do not perform regular maintenance, the resolution rate will drop immediately. At transcosmos, we can meet a wide range of needs, from contact center operations to user-oriented operational improvements, including the introduction of chat tools, the construction of manned chat and bots, and the operation of contacts.

In April 2020, we started providing an emergency chatbot service that anyone can easily build. In May 2020, we started providing an automatic response service using voice AI（link available in Japanese only）that can cover elderly people who are unfamiliar with non-voice channels such as chat. We constantly introduce new solutions and support the introduction according to the tasks of our clients.

In addition, we prepare a channel optimization judgment to answer the opinion "I do not know what and how to start" when starting non-voice. We can propose the most suitable channel for each inquiry.

4. AWS (Amazon Web Services) working from home with utilizing the solution

The number of clients that consider making contact centers home-based while promoting channel distribution is on the rise.

Regarding the response with voice-oriented inquiries such as telephone calls, it is necessary to clear operational tasks such as "how to handle operational escalations" and environmental tasks such as "what to do with background noise" when moving to work from home. However, the response with non-voice inquiries such as chat, it is less likely to have an impact and is relatively easy to telecommute compared to telephones. It is a major point in promoting home-based inquiries.

Regarding voice-oriented inquiries, it is necessary to solve the operational tasks individually. However, at transcosmos, by using Amazon Connect to transfer incoming calls from existing PBXs to home-installed PCs, and by building an infrastructure environment (establishment of a virtual desktop) similar to the center using Amazon Workspaces, it is technically possible to use the same infrastructure environment as the center, such as telephone/existing usage systems, at home.

Toward the era of living with COVID-19

Toward the era of living with COVID-19, at transcosmos, with our clients, we promote various BCPs such as channel distribution and efforts to make contact center operations to telecommute. We can also provide measures other than the solutions introduced this time according to the needs of our clients.

Now that the state of emergency has been lifted, we need to prepare for the future.

[Points for building BCP in the era of living with COVID-19]

・Flow design with looking ahead to channel expansion

・Knowledge development aimed at reducing incoming calls

・Construction of a system to continue expanding channels and improving operations

・AWS (Amazon Web Services) working from home with utilizing the solution

* Amazon Web Services, AWS, Amazon Connect, Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS), AWS Lambda, Amazon Lex, Amazon Transcribe, and Amazon Comprehend are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates in the United States and other countries.