This overview is for administrators. If you're an agent, see the Real-Time Interaction Guidance help page for MAX,Agent for Salesforce, CXone Agent, or CXone Agent Integrated. If you're a supervisor, see the page about using RTIG with CXone Supervisor.
Real-Time Interaction Guidance (RTIG) is like a coach who's always available and ready to help. It can provide agents with suggestions at the exact time it can make a difference. RTIG uses NICE Enlighten AI
A comprehensive AI framework for customer engagement, with models trained on billions of real-life consumer interactions. to provide real time suggestions for how agents can improve each call.
RTIG can offer agents two types of guidance:
- Phrase-based guidance—Listens for certain words or phrases during the conversation. It offers suggestions based on words that are said (or not said) during the interaction. It can listen to the agent, the contact, or both.
- Behavior and sentiment guidance—Measures soft-skill behaviors such as empathy and rapport building. It scores the agent's performance in real-time for each behavior. It can show alerts to agents when their score falls below the level you configure. This feature requires a separate license.
Each type of guidance is customizable. You can choose the behaviors to monitor and specify the words and phrases to listen for. You can also define the suggestions and alert messages agents see. You can use the same behaviors and phrases for all agents in your organization. Or you can monitor different behaviors or phrases for certain teams.
Guidance appears in a separate panel in the agent application. RTIG supports MAX and Agent for Salesforce (Lightning agent). Using RTIG in Agent for Salesforce requires additional setup steps. Supervisors can see RTIG scores and guidance for their agents with CXone Supervisor, if your organization uses it.
Real-Time Interaction Guidance supports both inbound and automated outbound (Personal Connection) voice interactions.
Classics, Inc. has decided to use Real-Time Interaction Guidance in its call center to increase the coaching its agents receive. Classics, Inc. management likes that:
- With RTIG they can help their agents focus on important soft-skill behaviors.
- Phrase-based guidance can help ensure script compliance.
- They can advise agents who are handling tricky situations. By adding alerts for phrases such as I'm frustrated or cancel my account, Classics, Inc. can help support its agents.
- Supervisors can observe agents using CXone Supervisor to see how they're using the prescribed behaviors. This will let them offer coaching during a call when it can be immediately helpful, instead of just after the call.
Anne Shirley is the CXone administrator for Classics, Inc. She creates RTIG profiles for the Support, Sales, and Customer Service teams. She sets all three profiles to offer guidance for three behaviors: empathy, speech velocity, and building rapport. For the Support and Customer Service teams, she adds the Promote Self-Service behavior. The plan is to change the behaviors each month so agents can focus on building their skills over time.
Anne configures different words and phrases for each team. She ensures that the words and phrases are in line with the scripts that each team follows. She also adds words and phrases specific to the types of situations that each team handles. For example, she adds cancel my account to the Customer Service and Support team profiles. She adds take me off your list to the Sales team profile.
Newer versions of Google Chrome introduce security settings that block cookies in incognito mode. If you use incognito mode when configuring RTIG in CXone, you must first configure Chrome to allow cookies. In your Chrome browser, access the Privacy and Security section under Settings. Locate the setting to allow all cookies and select it.
Multiple Profiles and Spoken Language Support
RTIG supports multiple profiles for teams. This allows you to customize the kind of guidance and alerts that each team receives. Each RTIG profile requires a separate script in Studio.
RTIG supports different spoken languages. When you add an RTIG profile, it defaults to the appropriate language based on your CXone region. RTIG currently supports North American English and International English. Sales Effectiveness currently supports North American English only.
Phrase-Based Guidance
RTIG can listen to interactions and offer alerts based on what is said or not said during the call. You can configure many sets of words and phrases for each RTIG profile. Each set of words and phrases can have its own alert message.
You can also configure the conditions for when RTIG shows each alert message. The conditions can include:
- Words or phrases spoken by the agent, the contact, or both.
- Words or phrases that the agent should have said but didn't.
- Words or phrases said or not said at any point during a call.
- Words or phrases said or not said within a configurable number of seconds from the start of the call.
Each set of words and phrases can have only one set of conditions. If you want the same set of words to have a second set of conditions, create an additional set.
Anne Shirley is the administrator of the Classics, Inc. contact center. She wants to ensure that agents are following the script. In particular, she wants to remind them to include certain statements at the beginning of every call. She configures RTIG to listen for two phrases that are part of the required script. The phrases are we're happy you chose Classics, Inc., and this call may be monitored or recorded. She configures it so that if the agent doesn't say the phrases within the first 30 seconds of a call, RTIG displays an alert.
Behavior Guidance and Sentiment
RTIG measures two types of behaviors, customer satisfaction and sales effectiveness. For customer satisfaction, you can choose from 11 behaviors. For sales effectiveness, you can choose up to eight behaviors. Each RTIG profile can support only one type of behavior set. It shows agents their current scores for each behavior. You can configure as many or as few behaviors as you want for each RTIG profile. Choose the behaviors that make sense for each team. During an interaction, RTIG tracks and scores the agent's performance for the behaviors you select. When a behavior's score reaches a certain level, RTIG displays the alert message. You can define the scores that trigger alert messages for each behavior.
Customer Satisfaction Behaviors
|
Customer Satisfaction Behavior |
how agents can display the Behavior |
|---|---|
| Acknowledge Loyalty | Acknowledge the contact's history with your organization. Show appreciation for their loyalty. |
|
Active Listening |
Respond in the conversation and don't ask the contact to repeat themselves. |
| Be Empathetic | Acknowledge stated issues and how they impact the contact. |
| Build Rapport |
Acknowledge the contact's request. Actively respond in the conversation and don't ask the contact to repeat themselves. |
| Demonstrate Ownership | Reassure the contact that the agent understands the issue and is ready and able to help. |
| Effective Questioning | Ask meaningful questions to explore the contact's experience, issues, or opportunities. |
| Inappropriate Action |
Deny a contact's request to transfer, use inappropriate language, or other offensive acts. While all other behaviors are positive, this is a negative behavior. The |
| Interruption | Don't talk at the same time as the contact. |
| Promote Self-Service | Promote the availability of self-service options (such as a website or app). |
| Set Expectations | Summarize actions and next steps. Inform the contact of what to expect or what to do next. |
| Speech Velocity |
Speak slowly enough to be understood. |
Sales Effectiveness Behaviors
|
Sales effectiveness Behavior |
how agents can display the Behavior |
|---|---|
| Acknowledge Request | Show your willingness and readiness to assist the customer beyond the greeting. |
|
Ask for the Sale |
End the conversation with a statement that will encourage a transaction. |
| Demonstrate Empathy | Express interest, concern, and care when contacts have concerns. |
| Make a Connection |
Establish a rapport with the contact by relating and taking a genuine interest in them. |
| Overcome Objections | Address objections with specific benefits to move the sale forward. |
| Presumptive selling | Ask meaningful questions to know more about the contact's experience, issues, or opportunities. |
| Uncover Needs |
Ask questions to understand the contact's needs, lifestyle, challenges, buying reasons, and buying triggers. |
| Demonstrate Ownership | Reassure the contact that you are aware of the problem and are prepared to assist. |
Sentiment
RTIG shows the current sentiment score, which indicates the agent's overall performance. It can also indicate the contact's satisfaction with the interaction. All of the scores update in real time as the interaction progresses.
The overall sentiment score is visible on the Interactions tab in CXone Supervisor. It appears as a smiley icon 
beside the phone number in the Contact column.
Alerts
Alerts provide guidance when an agent's performance starts to falter. Both measured behaviors and sets of words and phrases can generate alerts. You can use alerts to provide reminders, positive reinforcement, and even scripted statements.
For measured behaviors, you can configure the performance scale. The scale allows you to customize the acceptable scores for each behavior. The scale defines three categories that the scores fall into: successful, neutral, and needs improvement. The gauges agents see in the RTIG panel in the agent applications change based on the scores you assign to each category.
Classics, Inc., has recently launched a new loyalty rewards program. The contact center administrator adds an alert to all profiles for the Acknowledge Loyalty behavior. It reminds agents to thank contacts for their business. It also reminds agents to ask if contacts would like to be signed up for loyalty rewards.
Agent Experience with RTIG
RTIG works in MAX and Agent for Salesforce. It displays information on a slide-out panel in the agent application. Agents cannot interact with the panel. It only provides suggestions to agents on improving their performance during calls.
The panel shows:
- Overall Sentiment Score—The live sentiment score for the interaction. This indicates the agent's overall performance. It can indicate the contact's satisfaction as the interaction progresses.
- Suggestion Summary—The current guidance alerts triggered by the agent's performance during the interaction. This includes alerts for measured behaviors and phrase-based guidance.
- Guidance Scores—A set of gauges that show the live scores for each of the measured behaviors, if your organization uses this feature. The gauges help the agent stay on track during the conversation.
Agents using MAX can collapse the panel if they want to. RTIG continues monitoring the interaction even when the panel is collapsed.
