Administrators can enable and manage the Real-Time Assist feature for agents, helping improve communication efficiency, agent performance, and customer satisfaction.

Real-Time Assist is an AI Assistant feature in Webex Contact Center that enhances agent productivity and customer satisfaction. This feature leverages advanced artificial intelligence (AI) to provide contextual guidance to human agents during both inbound and outbound voice interactions and inbound digital customer interactions, supporting both voice and digital channels. Real-Time Assist aims to transform the agent experience by offering timely, relevant suggestions on what to say and what actions to take directly within the Agent Desktop. This proactive assistance streamlines workflows, reduces response times, and ensures consistent, high-quality service delivery.

As a Webex Contact Center administrator, you can enable and manage the Real-Time Assist feature for your organization. This process involves ensuring your system meets the necessary prerequisites and activating the feature within Control Hub. Once enabled, you can configure AI Assistant skills to tailor the suggestions provided to your agents.

Before enabling Real-Time Assist, ensure that your Webex Contact Center organization meets the following requirements:

• Webex Contact Center Flex 3.0: Your contact center must be running on the Flex 3.0 platform.

• AI Assistant add-on SKU: Your organization must have purchased the A-FLEX-AI-ASST add-on SKU. This entitlement grants access to all AI Assistant features, including Real-Time Assist. For information on managing your subscription and usage, refer to the Usage and Billing Documentation.

• Media forking for voice interactions: For voice interactions, media forking must be enabled in Flow Designer for the relevant queues. See the Enabling media streaming for specific queues article.

• Webex Connect enabled: Enable Webex Connect to create actions and automate workflows.

• Required user permissions: You must have the necessary Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) privileges to access and modify contact center settings in the Control Hub. Specifically, your role should include access to Real-Time Assist. For more information, see the Manage user profiles in Webex Contact Center article.

Real-Time Assist is useful for the following stakeholders:

• Agents: Benefit from real-time contextual suggestions, reducing the effort required to find information and improving response accuracy.

• Administrators: Manage and configure Real-Time Assist settings at the organization and queue levels, create and optimize AI Assistant skills, test and debug configurations, monitor performance, and continuously optimize the feature for their contact center.

Implementing Real-Time Assist delivers significant benefits across your contact center:

• Enhanced agent efficiency: Agents spend less time searching for information or consulting colleagues, leading to quicker resolutions and improved productivity.

• Reduced handle times: Immediate, accurate suggestions help agents resolve queries faster, directly impacting Average Handle Time (AHT).

• Consistent customer experience: Ensures all agents, regardless of experience, provide accurate and consistent information, enhancing the overall customer experience.

• Reduced after-call work: Agents can complete necessary actions and documentation during the interaction, minimizing post-call tasks.

• Improved first contact resolution: With immediate access to relevant information and actions, agents are better equipped to resolve customer issues on the first contact.

• Reduce onboarding times for new hires: New agents gain confidence and proficiency faster with real-time AI guidance.

• Scalability: Supports your growing contact center by enabling agents to handle higher volumes of interactions more effectively.

• Dual-channel capability: Supports both inbound and outbound voice calls, as well as inbound digital interactions, providing real-time suggestions whether agents engage with customers through phone calls or digital channels like chat or email.

Real-Time Assist integrates seamlessly into your contact center operations through the following high-level flow:

1. Interaction begins: A customer initiates a voice or digital interaction that is routed to an agent through a configured queue, or an agent initiates an outbound voice interaction.

2. Real-time transcription: For voice interactions, the conversation is transcribed in real-time. For digital interactions, text is captured.

3. Agent receives suggestions:

   To request support, agents must open the AI Assistant and click Get Assistance.

   Agents can select Get Assistance any time at the start of a call or during the conversation, whenever they require help.

   After clicking Get Assistance, the AI Assistant can continue to provide suggestions and guidance throughout the remainder of the call.

   If agents choose to activate Get Assistance midway through a call, the AI Assistant uses the full context of the call, including information from the beginning, to generate relevant suggestions.

   Agents can minimize the AI Assistant panel at any time and reopen it as needed, without losing access to ongoing assistance.

   When you enable notifications, you receive alerts whenever new suggestions are available from the AI Assistant. Administrators are encouraged to advise agents to keep notifications enabled to maximize the benefits of real-time guidance.

4. AI Assistant skill processes: The AI Assistant skill, linked to the specific queue and powered by its knowledge base and defined actions, analyzes the real-time conversation (transcript for voice, text for digital).

5. Suggestions generated: The AI Assistant skill generates relevant text suggestions for replies or proposes actions based on the customer's query.

6. Agent reviews and acts: The agent reviews the suggestions and chooses to use them as-is, modify them, or execute the suggested actions.

7. Continuous support: Suggestions continue to be provided throughout the interaction, adapting to the evolving conversation.

The Real-Time Assist feature requires careful management to ensure ethical use and enhance communication. As an administrator, you are responsible for informing agents about the feature's enablement and its AI-powered nature.

For more detailed information on usage guidelines and privacy, refer to the AI Transparency Note.