Even Virtual Agents are Working from Home

[dangrady510]

As we all start to get more comfortable (or uncomfortable) with the realities of working from home, our needs from a Virtual Agent perspective are going to change.

This evolution is likely going to mirror what we are seeing with public-facing chatbots that were initially automating the process of self-assessment for COVID-19, but now have transitioned to more action-oriented conversations that automate the next steps - like maybe scheduling a telehealth appointment.

In the beginning most employees were likely just looking for information about their organizations' policies and procedures as the COVID-19 situation unfolded, but now as they settle in to the "new normal" (or abnormal) their needs are going to become more action-oriented.

Simple information is no longer going to be enough, they are going to need access to services to stay productive.

Service centers everywhere are doing their best to meet the moment, but increased volumes combined with what can often be erratic work from home schedule can become overwhelming.

Virtual Agents are here to help relieve some of the burden live agents are experiencing during these times and offer an additional channel where employees can easily interact and not just get information but expose workflows that automate the fulfillment of tasks.

This post is meant to be a reminder to not only continually evolve what Virtual Agent is offering your employees, but to assess and augment the existing workflows you've already put in place.

Let's look at some common work from home scenarios.

Many people initially left the office not being aware that they weren't going to be allowed back in the near future.  They are now setting up their new home offices and are going to potentially need some peripherals to help stay productive.  Virtual Agents can help people order monitors, a wireless mouse, keyboards, headsets - maybe even that essential red stapler.

There will also be a large population of employees that will be working from home for the first time and will need VPN Access.

More people will need access (in addition to support) to popular teleconferencing and collaboration tools and capabilities to support their virtual Happy Hours(or actual work).  If you've already automated the ability to request these things in your service catalog be sure to make them available (and promote) via Virtual Agent.

We'll all use this additional time at home in different ways.  Some of us might use the time to binge watch TV shows on Netflix like The Tiger King, others might look to use the time to enhance their skills.  You may think about using Virtual Agent to promote internal educational offerings by allowing them to registers for courses/classes, or allowing employees to submit tuition reimbursement requests.

For many employees the what and why of their day to day activities isn't changing, but the where and how is.

The same will likely be true from a support and service perspective - a lot of what customer/employees need to be productive will be similar.  You may already have the catalog items and workflows built out - Virtual Agent can play a role and be an additional "where" for employees and customers to take action an get what they need to say productive.

Stay safe and sane everyone.

Other Virtual Agent posts:

Hidden Now Intelligence Gems in the Paris Release

How the Virtual Agent can Help Us with Emergency Response Situations

Furloughing Employees - Managing difficult times during a crisis with empathy

Democratizing the Chatbot: the Fastest Path to Value