Call center workflows: Using AI tools to improve processes

Running an efficient call center is essential for providing great customer service. Customers expect fast, accurate, and personalized interactions, which means every step of their journey—from first contact to resolution—needs to be handled smoothly.

Call center workflows play a key role in making this happen, outlining the process for managing and resolving customer inquiries.

What are call center workflows?

Call center workflows are step-by-step processes that guide customer interactions. They outline what agents should do, from greeting the customer to resolving their issue and ending the call. These workflows help ensure tasks are done consistently and efficiently, leading to better performance and a smoother customer experience.

Workflows keep a call center organized, and they are designed to:

• Boost efficiency: Help agents complete tasks quickly and correctly.
• Provide consistency: Give agents a clear process to follow for different types of inquiries.
• Reduce errors: Standardize procedures to minimize mistakes.
• Improve customer satisfaction: Deliver timely and high-quality support.

6 benefits of establishing good contact center workflows

Strong call center workflows can transform contact center operations. Here are some key advantages of optimizing your workflows.

1. Handling high call volumes

If not managed properly, high call volumes can overwhelm agents and frustrate customers. Optimized workflows ensure that customer calls are routed to the most appropriate agent based on expertise or availability. This reduces wait times and helps distribute the workload evenly, preventing agent burnout during busy periods.

2. Reducing long wait times

Long wait times are one of the main reasons for customer dissatisfaction. By incorporating features like self-service tools and AI-driven voice assistants into your workflows, you can handle inquiries faster and reduce frustration. For instance, customers can solve simple issues like password resets by interacting with a voice assistant, while complex problems are directed to human agents.

3. Lowering agent burnout and attrition

Disorganized workflows lead to repetitive tasks, excessive workload, and confusion. This can contribute to agent burnout and high turnover rates. Streamlining workflows, such as using AI to handle repetitive inquiries, allows agents to focus on meaningful tasks. This improves their engagement and job satisfaction, reducing the likelihood of burnout and attrition.

4. Capturing revenue opportunities

A disorganized workflow can cause agents to overlook potential upselling or cross-selling opportunities. Your customer support team may also forget during busy periods or find it uncomfortable trying to upsell customers.

When you implement a voice assistant into your contact center processes, you can hand calls over to sales agents at critical opportunity points or use AI to trigger upsell protocols based on customer behavior to drive revenue without distracting your agents from the task at hand.

5. Optimizing resource allocation

Efficient workflows reveal where resources are being over or underused. Managers can use this information to allocate staff more effectively, ensuring that peak demand times are covered without overstaffing during quieter periods. This leads to better agent performance and cost savings.

An underappreciated optimization opportunity is using a voice assistant to automate the low-value parts of a call, like customer password resets, ID&V, or simple FAQs. This can drive down average handle times (AHTs) by 20-30%, giving your call center additional capacity without sacrificing customer service.

6. Ensuring compliance and security

Call centers handle sensitive information like personal and financial data. Clear workflows ensure that agents follow all legal and security protocols, reducing the risk of errors or breaches. This not only protects customer trust but also helps avoid costly compliance penalties.

Essential contact center workflow processes and templates

Understanding and optimizing contact center workflows is essential for delivering exceptional customer experiences. Here are some key workflows and templates that streamline operations, enhance efficiency, and ensure consistent service delivery.

Customer interaction workflow

A well-defined customer interaction workflow ensures that every touchpoint follows a consistent process—from the initial greeting to issue resolution and closing the conversation. For example, agents might start with a friendly introduction, confirm the customer’s issue, resolve it efficiently, and then offer a closing summary or additional support. This consistency helps build customer confidence and satisfaction.

Escalation workflow

Not every problem can be resolved by frontline agents. An escalation workflow outlines clear criteria for transferring complex issues to specialized teams. For example, if a billing issue requires manager approval, agents should know exactly how to escalate the case to the right person, minimizing delays and customer frustration.

Outbound calling workflow

For sales or follow-up calls, structured workflows help agents handle leads more effectively. This includes pre-call preparation, clear scripting for introductions, steps for tracking outcomes, and protocols for scheduling follow-ups. Organized workflows improve efficiency and help boost conversion rates.

Feedback and survey workflow

Customer feedback is essential for improving service. Automating post-interaction surveys ensures you collect actionable insights from customers without adding to agent workloads.

How to build solid call center workflows: Strategies & tips

Building effective workflows is crucial for optimizing your call center operations. Here are some strategies to help you create solid workflows that improve performance.

Conduct a comprehensive workflow analysis

Analyze your current workflows to identify inefficiencies like bottlenecks or repetitive tasks. Use process mapping tools to visualize how tasks are currently handled, which can help uncover areas for improvement. For example, are calls being routed to the wrong agents too often? Identifying these issues is the first step toward improvement.

Prioritize customer experience feedback loops

Customer feedback provides valuable insights into the effectiveness of your workflows. Implement systems where customers can rate their interactions immediately after calls. Regularly review this data to refine workflows, ensuring they align with customer needs and expectations.

Automate wisely and often

Automating routine tasks like handling FAQs, scheduling, or appointment reminders can free up agents for more complex and high-value tasks. AI tools like voice assistants can handle these repetitive inquiries seamlessly, reducing agent workloads without sacrificing customer satisfaction.

Foster cross-departmental collaboration

Effective workflows rely on seamless communication between departments. For example, if a customer issue involves both the billing and technical teams, a collaborative workflow ensures timely and coordinated responses. Clear communication channels and shared insights can prevent delays and repeat errors.

Embrace revolutionary conversational AI solutions

Conversational AI solutions, like AI-driven voice assistants, can revolutionize call center workflows by handling high call volumes efficiently and providing consistent and accurate responses.

Voice assistants optimize resource allocation by managing routine queries while freeing agents to focus on complex, high-value interactions. They also capture revenue opportunities through personalized upselling and cross-selling while offering valuable customer insights to support informed decision-making and workflow improvements.

Build ironclad call center workflows with PolyAI’s customer-led voice assistants & conversational AI

Optimizing call center workflows is about more than just improving efficiency. It’s about enhancing customer experience, reducing agent burnout, and enabling data-driven decision-making. By embracing AI tools like PolyAI, you can transform your workflows and create a more efficient, productive, and customer-centric call center.

Gain valuable insights with AI-driven analytics

Implementing a voice assistant enables your contact center to automatically turn unstructured data into actionable structured data that can be integrated into marketing efforts, sales strategies, digital team efficiency, and financial decision-making.

This collaborative approach enhances customer experience and empowers every department to make informed, data-driven decisions that contribute to the overall success of your business.

Maximize your self-service channels

Using a voice assistant to handle customer interactions enables your business to bridge the gap between the phone channel and your existing investments in digital self-service channels.

For callers with online access, a voice assistant can provide an SMS containing a direct link to your online resources that specifically answer their questions. This approach encourages customers to self-serve while reducing the number of repetitive call types managed by your agents.

Avoid miscommunication in agent handoffs

With PolyAI, you can find out why customers are calling and route them to the right place with a voice assistant that feels, sounds, and speaks like your dream customer service agent.

Want to learn more about how AI can revolutionize your call center? Check out our guide on adding voice AI to your call center tech stack for more insights and actionable strategies to improve your workflows.