Customer Service

Automation costs, complexity hindering CX programs

Photo by istock.com

August 30, 2022

The inability to connect the dots behind the scenes between customer service chatbots, human customer service agents and data sources is producing less than optimal experiences for customers.

That's a prime finding of a Simplr study that polled 160 customer experience decision-makers at global enterprises.

The study, "Driving Next-Gen Customer Experience Through Chatbot-Agent Collaboration," claims CX programs are also being hindered by automation costs and complexity, according to a press release.

Integration among disparate CX technology was cited as a top challenge by 52% polled.

Other top challenges include:

• The high costs associated with maintaining and optimizing AI and automation (cited by 50% of respondents).
• The inability to quantify the impact of automation technologies on CX (48%).
• The available budget is not keeping pace with customer complexity (48%).

The study also found CX programs continue to struggle with core elements of both the customer and agent experience, along with an inability to properly convey CX's value to the organization at large.

The following were cited by respondents when asked to identify the situations that occur as a result of customer service challenges:

• Customer frustration with automation and/or chatbots (cited by 45% of respondents).
• Agent time wasted on administrative tasks (42%).
• Lack of alignment between customer metrics and broader business KPIs (40%).
• Long wait times in chat queues (37%).
• Too many systems required for agents to handle customer requests (36%).