Gartner: "Connected rep" strategy key to unlocking contact centre efficiencies

New Gartner research boldly claims that businesses that invest in a "connected rep" strategy will improve their contact centre efficiency by a staggering 30% by 2026. 

But what exactly is a “connected rep” strategy?

According to Gartner, the “connected rep” is a strategy that enables customer service reps (CSRs) to perform high-quality assisted service at scale. It bridges technology and talent, using context, guidance, and design to reduce rep effort and increase consistency across interactions.

As companies expect their CSRs to deal with more complex and challenging customer interactions, a “connected rep” strategy is more efficient and less costly than upskilling or recruiting new, stronger talent.

It will allow customer service and support leaders to reduce their reliance on talent strategies and increase the value of their assisted service interactions at scale.

As Kathy Ross, senior director analyst in the Gartner customer service and support practice, explains: “Leaders must go beyond traditional talent levers and include rep enablement technology as a core component of talent strategy. This is the crux of the connected rep.”

How to begin implementing a “connected rep” strategy

Whilst the prospect of notably improving contact centre efficiency is certainly a tantalising one, there are still considerations and actions that must be taken for companies looking to implement one of their own.

In order to reap the economic, CX and employee experience (EX) benefits that a “connected rep” strategy provides, customer service and support leaders must address the following:

• Evaluate the gaps and growth areas in the current state of rep enablement technology, and build a legacy system shutdown strategy with enterprise partners.
• Secure approval of rep enablement investments by developing a business case that prioritises helping inexperienced reps perform in highly complex environments.
• Build a roadmap to support their connected rep implementation by partnering with IT to assess the current state technology architecture and data management capabilities against the requirements to implement the leader’s vision.

It is clear that any company looking to capitalise on the advantages of a “connected rep” strategy must be willing to put in some serious preparation work, but it is also abundantly clear that the juice will be well worth the squeeze. 

As Ross puts it: “Rep enablement technology can create lower rep effort, drive consistent outcomes, and promote customer experience (CX) and efficiency. A dollar invested in rep technology is a dollar that stays when the rep leaves.”