New Sword Ciboodle and Capgemini ConsultingÂ’s new offering promises to revolutionise customer relations

New Sword Ciboodle and Capgemini Consulting’s new offering promises to revolutionise customer relations

Customer-oriented business software and services provider, Sword Ciboodle has announced a new collaboration with consulting, technology and outsourcing provider Capgemini Consulting.

The new partners have launched “Love Your Agents,” a new offering built upon Sword Ciboodle’s desktop call centre agent solution, Ciboodle One. Sword Ciboodle joined forces with Capgemini Consulting to develop a range of user interfaces that cater to different agent learning styles and preferences to improve overall customer interactions, retention and the ability to cross sell.

Flexible, intuitive interfaces

By partnering with Capgemini Consulting, Sword Ciboodle said it has empowered agents by giving them the ability to choose the version of the user interface that best suits their individual cognitive style. Whether the agent has a highly visual mind and feels more at ease with a pictorial interface, or responds to text and written stimuli, the Love your Agents offering is designed to create an environment that promotes agent productivity through freedom of choice.

Not only do the Love your Agents interfaces create a more self-reliant workforce and bolster overall morale in the contact centre, according to the companies, they also fundamentally improve customer relations as agents are able to dedicate more time to understanding customers’ needs, and less time navigating a complex user interface.

“In these times of economic uncertainty, employee morale and customer satisfaction is of critical importance,” said Kenny Bain, chief executive of Sword Ciboodle in Europe, Middle East and Africa. “When agents use contact centre software they are uncomfortable with, customer interactions are significantly less effective and duly more frustrating for contact centre staff. By partnering with CapGemini, we have developed an intelligent system that allows agents to choose an interface that works best for them. Through the new Love Your Agent offering, we not only create a contact centre with improved customer relations, but an environment with happier employees.”

Happier customer services

“Capgemini and Sword Ciboodle both recognised that agent experience is intrinsically linked to customer experience, but many call centre environments are unintuitive and utilise difficult to navigate desktop interfaces,” added Patrick James, UK and global head of marketing, sales and services at Capgemini. “If agents are struggling with counter-intuitive systems, it’s impossible for them to be wholly focused on providing high-quality customer service. The ‘love your agent’ theme came out of the idea that happy agents equal happy customers; your agents are at the heart of good customer service, so making sure that they are appeased is vital.”

“User Interfaces for Contact Centre agents are one of the most critical issues for retention and effectiveness”, said Esteban Kolsky, president of customer strategies advisory firm, ThinkJar, “Agents who have to endure poorly built interfaces burn out quicker and their performance suffers when compared to peers with better built application interfaces. This new model of dynamic, flexible, and adaptable interfaces that take account of each user’s learning styles heralds the next generation of user interfaces for agents. It will surely make the job of retaining employees far easier, and the issues that come with training, effectiveness, and efficiency virtually disappear.”