Live agent assist as a force multiplier for contact center coaching
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Bella Williams - 10 min read
The contact center industry faces a myriad of challenges, particularly in coaching and developing agents effectively. As customer expectations rise and operational demands increase, traditional coaching methods often fall short. Supervisors struggle with capacity limitations, leading to inconsistent coaching and delayed feedback. This can result in agent disengagement, performance plateaus, and ultimately, a negative impact on customer experience. Live agent assist technology emerges as a powerful solution, acting as a force multiplier for contact center coaching by providing real-time support and guidance, enhancing both agent performance and coaching effectiveness.
Understanding Real-Time Coaching
Traditional vs. Real-Time:
Traditional coaching methods often involve reviewing recorded calls days or weeks after they occur. This process typically includes:
- Listening to recorded calls (20-30 min per call)
- Manual quality scoring and documentation
- Scheduling 1-on-1 sessions (30-60 min)
- Reviewing calls with agents
- Following up in the next cycle
This approach requires a significant time investment of 1-2 hours per agent per week, allowing supervisors to coach only 8-10 agents at a time. In contrast, real-time coaching leverages live agent assist technology to provide immediate feedback during customer interactions.
Key Differences:
- When: Real-time coaching occurs during the actual call, while traditional coaching happens days or weeks later.
- What: Real-time coaching focuses on in-the-moment guidance, whereas traditional coaching reviews past performance.
- Impact: Real-time coaching prevents errors before they occur, while traditional coaching corrects historical behavior.
- Agent State: Agents are active learners in real-time coaching, applying guidance immediately, compared to being passive recipients in traditional coaching.
- Coverage: Real-time coaching can cover 100% of calls, while traditional methods only review 2-5% of calls.
By implementing live agent assist tools, supervisors can monitor agent performance in real-time, detect coaching opportunities, and provide instant feedback. This shift not only enhances agent learning but also improves customer interactions, creating a more efficient and effective coaching environment.
The Multiplication Effect: Supervisor Capacity Transformation
With live agent assist technology, the workflow for supervisors undergoes a significant transformation.
Old Workflow:
- 60% spent listening to calls and manual scoring
- 20% on documentation and reporting
- 15% on scheduled coaching sessions
- 5% on real-time floor support
New Workflow with Agent Assist:
- 10% on exception review (automation handles routine tasks)
- 30% on strategic coaching based on patterns
- 40% on real-time intervention during high-impact moments
- 20% on performance analysis and team development
This transformation allows one supervisor to effectively coach 20-30 agents with real-time assist technology, compared to just 8-10 without it. The dashboard capabilities provide a real-time view of all agents, enabling supervisors to monitor performance trends, receive alerts for intervention, and prepare coaching sessions with relevant examples.
Alert-Based Intervention Types:
- Critical Error Prevention: Immediate correction when an agent is about to provide incorrect information.
- Coaching Opportunity: Guidance offered when an agent struggles with objections or upselling.
- Performance Pattern: Noting consistent skill gaps for future coaching sessions.
- Positive Reinforcement: Immediate praise when an agent successfully applies coached behavior.
This real-time feedback mechanism not only enhances agent performance but also reduces supervisor burnout, as they can focus on strategic coaching rather than administrative tasks.
Self-Coaching & Agent Development
One of the critical challenges in traditional coaching is the dependency it creates; agents often wait for supervisors to tell them what to improve. Live agent assist technology fosters self-sufficiency among agents through a structured development approach.
Phase 1: Guided Learning (Weeks 1-4)
- Heavy real-time prompting and active supervisor monitoring.
- Post-call automated feedback and weekly coaching sessions.
- Goal: Understand what good performance looks like.
Phase 2: Supported Independence (Weeks 5-12)
- Reduced prompting, with agents accessing on-demand knowledge.
- Supervisors monitor performance patterns rather than every call.
- Goal: Apply learning independently while having a safety net.
Phase 3: Self-Directed Improvement (Week 13+)
- Minimal prompting, with agents driving their own analysis.
- Self-identification of improvement areas and monthly strategic coaching.
- Goal: Own performance and continuously improve.
Self-Coaching Tools:
- Agent Performance Dashboard: Personal quality scores, skill-specific performance, and improvement trajectory.
- Self-Assessment: Replay calls with annotations and AI-generated feedback.
- Goal-Setting Framework: Clear objectives for skill improvement tracked automatically.
By encouraging agents to take ownership of their learning and performance, organizations can foster a culture of continuous improvement, ultimately leading to better customer experiences.
Analytics-Driven Coaching
The shift from traditional to real-time coaching also allows for a more data-driven approach to performance improvement.
Traditional Selection:
- Random call selection based on recent or memorable calls.
- Subjective topic selection and success measurement.
Analytics-Driven Selection:
- Systems identify calls showing specific skill gaps and highest-impact improvement opportunities.
- Data-driven coaching topics based on objective metrics.
Coaching Preparation Intelligence:
- Pattern recognition to identify consistent issues and strengths.
- Pre-selected call examples with timestamps for focused coaching.
- Suggested coaching focus areas based on performance trends.
Data-Driven Session Framework:
- Performance Overview (5 min): Review dashboard together.
- Pattern Discussion (10 min): Coach agents to identify their own patterns.
- Call Examples (15 min): Play specific moments and discuss alternatives.
- Skill Building (20 min): Provide frameworks and practice responses.
- Action Plan (10 min): Set specific behaviors, goals, and timelines.
This structured approach not only enhances coaching effectiveness but also ensures consistency across agents, as they receive standardized feedback regardless of the supervisor.
Measuring Coaching Effectiveness
To truly understand the impact of live agent assist technology, organizations must measure coaching effectiveness beyond traditional metrics.
Traditional Metrics (Activity-Based):
- Number of coaching sessions completed.
- Percentage of agents coached monthly.
Real-Time Coaching Impact Metrics:
- Agent Performance Improvement: Quality score trajectory and specific skill development.
- Business Outcome Correlation: Improvements in conversion rates, customer satisfaction, and compliance.
- Coaching Efficiency: Increased supervisor-to-agent ratio and reduced time per agent on coaching.
Leading Indicators:
- Agent engagement with dashboards and self-directed goal setting.
- Peer learning activity and voluntary skills practice.
By focusing on these metrics, organizations can demonstrate the ROI of live agent assist technologies, showcasing improvements in agent performance, customer experience, and overall operational efficiency.
In conclusion, live agent assist technology serves as a transformative force in contact center coaching, enabling real-time feedback, enhancing supervisor capacity, fostering self-sufficient agents, and leveraging data-driven insights. By implementing these solutions, organizations can not only improve agent performance but also elevate the overall customer experience, driving long-term success in an increasingly competitive landscape.
