Unfortunately, highly skilled agents are not easy to find and even harder to replace. The best agents deliver because of a thoughtful approach to recruitment, onboarding and professional development.
Even when this condition impacts all industries, it’s more pronounced within the technology sector, which boasts the highest staff turnover rate of all, with IT executives placing talent shortage as the most significant adoption barrier for emerging technologies,22 a subsector that grew 16-fold during 2021,21 opening an unprecedented demand for qualified tech support agents and subject matter experts.
of tech business leaders agree that tech support agents play a viral role in customer retention
of tech support agents feel empowered to do their jobs
Often this attrition can be linked back to outdated and poorly aligned recruitment profiles. But in the case of disruptors and fast-growth startups, agents and other support staff cannot keep up with the rate of expansion and ultimately burn out. Little wonder that while 85% of tech business leaders agree that they play a vital role in customer retention, just 27% of tech support agents feel empowered to do their jobs well.24
Given the accelerated growth the industry is experiencing and evolving skill requirements to handle disruptive technologies, companies need to rethink their hiring and talent management practices.
Keeping your CX team up to speed with the latest technology advances, technical and soft skill training promotes faster resolution, better relatability and a deeper connection with your customers.
Things you can do to develop your teams:
1 - Maintain a continuous education program for your teams.
Support a robust learning ecosystem that incorporates the latest learning management technology and development strategy to keep your groups and leaders on the cutting edge.
2 - Have the proper tech support subject matter experts in place.
Build a solid backbone of technical experts to champion your operation and expedite resolutions, building confidence in your products, support and brand.
3 - Double-up your soft skills training for empathy and leadership.
Boost your technical expertise with the soft skills you need to humanize technology, enhance conversations and grow customer relationships.
22 - Gartner, “Gartner survey reveals talent shortages as biggest barrier to emerging technologies adoption.”
23 - Gartner, “2021-2023 emerging technology roadmap for large enterprises.”
24 - Zendesk, “CX trends 2022.”