Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technology is dramatically improving contact center efficiency and agent productivity.
Automating the right processes can pay huge dividends — from error reduction to shorter call times — creating a measurably better customer experience (CX) and employee experience (EX). We’ve identified the top 10 RPA implementation best practices to help you get the most out of these game-changing tools.
1. Start small and make the first deployment successful
Rather than developing an ambitious deployment plan, implement one capability at a time. Showing small successes early on can help achieve stakeholder buy-in and make future deployment possible.
2. Start out with attended RPA
A big part of starting small is transitioning slowly to fully automated tools. Instead, start with an attended RPA, or a tool with some human input. Benefits of attended RPA include:
The Ultimate Playbook for Contact Center Automation
3. Solution delivery should be agile
Stay nimble and set yourself up to adapt quickly when changes occur. That means making small-yet-effective sprints in the early stages of deployment so you can make additions and alterations down the road.
4. Obtain stakeholder buy-in
The best RPA implementation is a collaborative engagement between the business and IT sides of your company. As you begin the process, make sure both teams are well represented and involved in the decision-making.
5. Obtain executive buy-in
Buy-in from multiple departments alone won’t guarantee success. Bumps will come along the road; walls will need to be knocked down – you need a strong executive who “gets it” and can help with these things. Without executive support, your RPA implementation initiative runs the risk of becoming a “pet project” that won’t live past year one.
6. Documentation is good but it doesn’t mean your users follow it
Documentation, no matter how detailed, only works when integrated into the process and used effectively. When going through the design, make sure your documentation helps establish use-case accuracy and increases buy-in on the final solution.
7. Ensure proper vetting of RPA processes
Just because you can automate, doesn’t mean you should. Far too many contact centers think that automating for the sake of it will solve all their problems, without looking at which processes actually make sense to change. A Center of Excellence (COE) should be in place to review any backlog and make recommendations on what fits into RPA and what doesn’t. Ultimately, you want to avoid the “hammer/nail” approach: installing RPA and assuming positive results will follow.
8. Don’t try to automate every exception path of a process
Instead, stick to the 80/20 split between automation and attended processes. You may even want a 20/80 rule if your RPA implementation strategy is on a short timeline.
9. Have a realistic view of what RPA is
While RPA is one of the top contact center trends for a reason, you should still be aware of what its limits are. Robotic automation is not the purely business-user solution early hype suggested. (That claim has pretty much been debunked.) Instead, think of RPA as a way to improve internal processes and overall efficiency.
10. Perform proper use-case selection
It’s important to take some time to evaluate the pains you’re trying to solve for and prioritize accordingly. Poor use-case selection — choosing either the incorrect or too many uses — can have a resounding impact on the customer experience down the road.
For more information, be sure to check out our webinar
