How Videos Can Help with Contact Center Training

Written by KOVA Corp

We’ve all seen bad employee training videos—you know, the dated, grainy, cheesy ones that show up everywhere from low-level retail job training sessions to expensive multi-day trainings for corporate managers.

The hair is big, the clothes are boxy, and the message is all but pounded into our heads. Don’t steal—you’ll go to jail (cue the slamming jail cell sound effect). Don’t be a jerk—your employees won’t want to work for you (cue the rotund insensitive man in a tie making an off-color joke in front of his team).

Thankfully, however, training videos are no longer almost uniformly bad. Today, training videos can not only be interesting and sophisticated, but incredibly effective. At least, that’s according to major, global companies like Microsoft and NYSE Euronext, which both use videos extensively throughout their operations.

Like many other organizations, contact centers can benefit greatly from using videos to help train their employees. And that doesn’t mean you have to create your own. Many are available for free on YouTube or through training consultancy groups.

Whether you decide to use those free resources or hire a production team to make your own company videos, here are a few of the easiest, most effective ways to use video in your contact center training. It goes without saying, however, that video should not be a replacement for in-person training. Instead, it can enhance the training process, allowing managers more time to train agents on more in-depth or complex processes.

Make onboarding easier and more efficient. When it comes to some of the most basic workplace functions, like clocking in and out for breaks, how to file a report, or even how to log on to a central database, videos can be an excellent resource.

Instead of a manager or supervisor taking the time to explain the basics for each new hire—and at a contact center, there is nearly always a large group of new hires—new employees can watch a few quick videos instead. One additional benefit to using a video for training like this is the employees will feel comfortable stopping it whenever they wish to try the task themselves. That’s not always the case when a manager is giving the information in person.

This is not to say that managers should take themselves out of the early training process entirely. On the contrary, using videos to get the basics out of the way will give managers more time to get to know each new hire and provide him with more individualized training. This can improve performance as well as morale.

Make ongoing and informal training more accessible. Since videos can be offered on-demand, agents who feel like they need some more help in a specific area can get that help with a simple click. There’s no waiting for a scheduled group training, or flagging down a busy manager who may not have the time to devote to training right then. Managers can also request that agents watch a specific video or videos to improve a certain skill set.

Use as a discussion starter for a formal training session. If you’re planning on a formal classroom training for your agents, sending them a video to watch beforehand can help jump-start the session. Request that agents come prepared with a couple of questions or discussion points to bring up. This will make the training more interactive (and therefore more enjoyable) and it may also give you ideas of things to cover that you wouldn’t have thought of on your own.

Is the agent training process something you’d like to improve at your contact center? KOVA’s Verint Media Recorder Workforce Optimization Suite is an all-in-one software solution that can automate training and performance management, in addition to a host of other capabilities. To learn more about Verint Media Recorder, contact KOVA today!

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