Experience management (XM) creator and provider Qualtrics has released two new real-time contact center solutions aimed at making agents more productive and empathetic.

With the first solution, Real-Time Agent Assist, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are deployed to analyze customer needs and emotions, and then real-time coaching is delivered so contact center agents can take the next-best step for customers. With Automated Call Summaries, the second solution, manual work for contact center agents is eliminated with the instant creation of a comprehensive summary after each customer call. Together, both solutions boost agent effectiveness and engagement while improving customer satisfaction and lowering costs, Qualtrics says in an official statement.

Related Article: Qualtrics Introduces Employee Experience ID and Employee Experience Analytics

The solutions also tackle the problems of poor customer service and agent burnout. Bad CX is the top reason why customers switch brands, and countering negative feedback following poor CX is often not enough to salvage the relationship, Qualtrics research shows. Meanwhile, agent burnout and attrition are rising in the face of ongoing labor shortages, increasing the cost of recruiting and training agents. Already, more than one-third (38%) of contact center agents do not feel they are set up for success, and only 54% of agents believe their leadership invests in their team, according to Qualtrics research.

Real-Time Agent Assist

Real-Time Agent Assist coaches contact center agents live during a call with a customer, using AI to analyze the conversation and develop real-time, informed recommendations. Using natural language understanding (NLU) and ML capabilities, Assist listens to contact center conversations, automatically identifying a customer’s sentiment and reasons for the call. Qualtrics brings that data together with information relating to the customer’s past interactions with the company, as well as insights from millions of other interactions that customers have had with the brand across all channels, to diagnose the caller’s needs. It then goes on to provide recommendations specific to the customer.

Based on the analysis, Assist prompts the agent with brand-specific suggestions, personalized experiences and offers, relevant knowledge base articles, and related answers, helping the agent focus on listening to the customer with the intention of reducing the time it takes for agent resolution of a customer’s issue.

Assist can also recognize when it may be appropriate to deliver in-call reminders to the agent for occasions when agents go off-script or out of compliance, when they need to show more empathy, or when to offer a discount to an unhappy customer. The assistance provides opportunities for contact center teams to improve customer interaction while also increasing agent empowerment and reducing employee exhaustion or burnout.

Automated Call Summaries

Following a customer call, Automated Call Summaries deliver instant automated call recaps that include all relevant details discussed during the call, including reasons for the call, call duration, how the call went, if the issue was resolved, the amount of effort needed for resolution, and further steps—if any—that still need to be taken. Agents can then simply review the automated summaries and add additional context as needed.

Automated Call Summaries easily integrate with an organization’s customer relationship management (CRM) system to give organizations a single source of truth for all customer records and a comprehensive CX history. Records can be referenced if compliance issues arise, reducing the need for repeat callers to recount their service needs multiple times, making for a smoother experience for both customers and agents overall.

Brad Anderson, president of products and engineering at Qualtrics, says the solutions are meant to help ease the burden on contact center agents and remedy their pain points. “Organizations need to guide and orchestrate experiences in real time, starting on the front line,” Anderson says. “These new contact center solutions save agents time and arm them with the information and coaching they need to deliver more efficient and empathetic customer service.”

Qualtrics, with co-headquarters in Provo, Utah, and Seattle, Washington, is the creator of the category now known as XM, which the company defines as the process of monitoring every interaction that people experience with a business to spot opportunities for improvement. Using the XM concept, Qualtrics aims to change the way organizations manage and improve the core experiences relating to a company’s customer, employee, product, and brand.