The Impact of Robotic Process Automation on Help Desk
What is Robotic Process Automation?
An average knowledge employee working on the backend processes has a lot of repetitive and mundane tasks. Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is a type of software that mimics human actions in carrying out these tasks in the absence of a human agent. It can do repetitive stuff more quickly and accurately without getting tired. RPA frees up the human agents to focus on other processes at hand which require human strengths such as reasoning, emotional intelligence.
The emergence of robotic process automation (RPA) technology has created cost savings and scalability advantages that appeal to almost any business. However, the robotic software delivers particularly valuable benefits to help desk contact centers by providing solutions to service, process, and technology challenges which are common across the industry.
The impact of robotic process automation on a help desk operations and competitive positioning is significant on many fronts. It plays an integral role in increasing employee efficiency, ensuring optimal customer satisfaction and improving operational profitability.
Before RPA:
When a customer calls a service representative, the first step usually is asking the customer for initial information. The agent then tries to retrieve the associated transaction or ticket information from company systems.
This first step itself presents a service challenge to the help desk agent. While speaking with the customer, the agent has to shuffle between systems–looking for basic customer profile information, current ticket status, old tickets, pending and/or support tickets.
This shifting between the systems affects customer responsiveness. Moreover, less experienced employees simply can’t navigate systems as proficiently as their more knowledgeable counterparts. Whether the obstacle is: different logins; different tools; copy/pasting from one screen to another; scrambling to refer to manuals/training notes, the result is the same – the customer on the line is the one who suffers.
After RPA:
RPA delivers a real customer service center benefit by empowering the service agent to integrate data into fields across all associated systems with only one entry. This benefit disposes of two of the biggest complaints heard from contact center customers, “Why are you asking for that information again? I already provided it” and “Don’t you keep notes in your system?”.
Benefits of RPA are:
Decreased costs- Cost savings of approximately 80-90% can be achieved when a business process performed by a full-time agent is replaced by an AI Bot.
Freeing up staff for higher-value tasks- Automation of repetitive and time-consuming processes frees up your staff to make a more value-add contribution.
Increased employee engagement- When your help desk agents can focus on high-value tasks they often feel more invested in the work they are completing. When implementing RPA projects, we often see staff engaging in repetitive activities e.g. copying data between 10 different systems while completing a single customer request, with RPA they can serve an additional 3 clients instead.
Reduced operational risk- RPA reduces the rate of errors because robots make fewer mistakes. Avoiding purely human mistakes, such as those made while tired, or deviating from the process, means better operational efficiency.
So, besides increasing your employees’ efficiency, improving the operational processes and reducing the risks, integration of RPA in a help desk provides a significant ROI.
Anthony Banford is an esteemed executive with 19 years of experience in technology, consulting, and education. He begins his latest chapter as Chief Revenue Officer at BlackBeltHelp, aiming to innovate in the higher education support industry. His move follows a successful stint as Head of Revenue at StudentBridge since March 2023, where he significantly contributed to the company’s merger with Full Measure Education, enhancing its service offerings.
Todd Hollrah joins BlackBeltHelp bringing 25+ years of experience managing service delivery operations for several Fortune 500 clients around the globe. After a distinguished career as an executive in the BPO industry, Todd will provide critical insight into building an exceptional customer experience combining both live voice and automated solutions.
Inspired by a family computer that always needed fixing, Chris Uthe has submerged himself in business and technology for the last 20 years. His first company, a PC repair and networking business, was started at just 16 and successfully fueled a deep interest in solving problems as he helped business customers throughout his hometown adopt technology into their business. He would go on to successfully run a media & managed IT company before joining the Ed Tech industry with a successful 13-year tenure within an ERP/SIS company leading the Student Portal & Learning Management division. His last startup, EdSolio, helped to fuel the winds of competency-based education by providing a comprehensive view of a student’s work and achievements. Chris is now focused on creating successful learners by ensuring the highest quality help and support through the use of AI backed toolsets spending the last 3 years in the student engagement and support markets.
Quaiser Absar is the Chief Technology Officer and Director of Institutional Computing at Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia.
Bringing in over 2 decades of experience with him, Manish has ensured seamless operations in terms of client delivery, reporting & analytics, quality, training, and transitions with a special focus on technical integrations to help reduce costs and improve the bottom-line.
Anthony has served higher education in diverse, leadership roles for over 30 years and has helped organizations thrive through his expertise in developing, analyzing, and executing growth strategies. Prior to joining BlackBeltHelp, he served in College Administration as well as in leadership roles within Blackboard Student Services and Ellucian, Inc.
Accomplished IT Specialist and Manager with extensive experience in a higher education setting and demonstrated abilities to effectively manage both student and professional staff. Self-motivated problem solver, who is skilled in managing many issues and prioritizing their importance to find resolutions in a timely and effective manner. Possesses strong abilities to adapt to new technologies by extrapolating from existing experience. Possess first-rate communication and collaboration skills to work with diverse groups effectively.
Lila Buytendorp has been serving as the Director of User Services at Moraine Park Technical College (MPTC) since 2000. In this role she is responsible for staff & lab desktop computing and end user support. She guides and supports technology based on the curriculum needs and ensures technology is implemented to support the emerging needs of the college. She builds and supports integrated systems to improve efficiencies and uses technologies to support data-driven decision making. Lila is a member of the Capital Projects Planning and Design Committee to ensure new or remodeled facilities have appropriate technology.