Learn About Service Cloud for Agents
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- Explain how agents use Service Cloud.
- Describe how agents benefit from Service Cloud.
What Is the Service Cloud Experience for Agents?
Ursa Major Solar is in the process of rolling out its new Service Cloud implementation to its service agents. To prepare for a successful adoption of Service Cloud at its contact center in Phoenix, Arizona, Ryan De Lyon is tasked with training his team of agents.
The training is simple: Explain to agents how they can use and experience Service Cloud to deliver incredible customer service every day, from any location, on any device. Ryan starts by introducing agents to their new best friend, Service Console. The console is a help-desk application that enables agents to do two things like rock stars.
- Create and manage customer cases from multiple digital channels simultaneously—email, voice calls, chatbots, web chat, social media, online communities, SMS messaging, and more.
- Boost productivity and simplify processes with a variety of tools, automatic workflows, and artificial intelligence (AI)—case assignment rules, omni-channel routing, skills-based routing, suggested knowledge base articles, recommended next-best actions, case classification, and more.
Ryan tells his team that the console gives service agents the ability to spend less time navigating various systems and technologies and more time focusing on the customer.
The console is customizable to fit your business needs. Ursa Major’s Salesforce admin, Maria Jimenez, can gather agent feedback and customize the console—or create multiple consoles—to solve an assortment of service, business, or team needs. For example, Maria can create a console for Platinum Support that includes access to all digital engagement tools, and she can create a console for Basic Support that only includes access to email and phone channels. Each console may appear slightly different or have some tools and digital channels available, while other consoles may not have those items configured.
Note: Your admin can customize many aspects of a console app, including logo, color, layout, sidebar components, third-party integrations, and more. The console you see here may not resemble your console.
Out of the box, the console provides a primary experience for agents: a 360-degree view of each customer and their service requests. The console lets anyone on your service team, or anyone at your company, get a personalized view of each customer and their case, alongside any digital conversations, interactions, or related records. And that positions everyone to deliver a better customer experience. Agents use the console to review captured customer data from a variety of channels, and they use the data to answer customers' questions, on any channel.
A standard, preconfigured Service Console makes life easier for agents by putting the most important information on one page, which minimizes clicks and scrolling.
- Split view shows a list view at the same time as workspace tabs and subtabs, letting agents work on multiple cases on a single screen.
- In the first column, case details, contact details, and related cases for the account are displayed in Related Record and Related List components.
- The second column includes a highlights panel that shows agents key information at a glance, such as case subject or priority.
- A compact case feed lets agents quickly see more case updates, interactions, or changes in case status, assignment, escalation, and more.
- The third column includes related lists and any knowledge base articles relevant to helping agents close the case.
- The utility bar provides immediate access to tools, such as History and Notes. Admins can add other tools to the utility bar like Macros, Omni-Channel, and the Open CTI softphone.
Whether agents work off of a queue of unassigned cases from a list view, or are automatically routed work items in the Omni-Channel widget in the utility bar, they review the incoming information in its prioritized order and respond to the case to close it. Ryan knows that doesn’t sound terribly exciting, so he points out these additional benefits to his team.
Service Cloud Benefits for Agents
Along with the benefits already mentioned about Service Cloud for agents, Ryan points out these perks to his team.
| Benefit |
Description |
|---|---|
| Productivity workspaces |
Work with many records simultaneously across tabs and subtabs to reduce clicks, clutter, and too many open windows. Put productivity tools like macros, bookmarks, pinned tabs, keyboard shortcuts, and ready-to-use templates along with a 360-degree view of each customer. |
| Streamlined case management |
Resolve cases faster by quickly spotting a variety of support processes and service level agreements (SLAs) with easy access to the full details, context, and history of every case and customer interaction. Track customers’ assets, orders, and sentiments for a complete view of their activity. |
| Automatic processes and routing |
Receive case assignments based on your skills, caseload, and access to specific channels. Maximize case resolutions with AI-powered predictions, recommended knowledge articles, and next-best actions tailored for each case and customer. |
| Virtual collaboration and camaraderie |
Post internal messages and collaborate with teammates on Slack no matter where they are. Create Slack channels outside of cases to track information for specific projects and to reduce email and distractions. Improve morale by using Slack for more than daily work updates—post virtual music playlists, scavenger hunts, or daily questions for people to get to know each other better when they work from home. |
After learning about all of these benefits for agents, Ada Balewa, service agent extraordinaire, lets Ryan know that she is ready to log in to the console and take it for a test drive.