Most contact centre requests are small enough for an AI agent to settle; the approver authority matrix decides which are not. For each request it sets whether the agent completes it, drafts it for an adviser or holds it for a team leader, and up to what value, with goodwill credits, cancellations and complaints as the key rows.
What makes contact centre approvals distinctive?
Volume and variety. A contact centre handles thousands of requests a day, most of them small: a bill explanation, a payment date change, a credit for a missed appointment. Agents are well suited to that work, and many centres let them complete routine requests at depth 3 within limits. The risk is in the long tail: the request that looks routine but is not, such as a cancellation from a customer who is in fact a victim of fraud, or a credit request that is part of a pattern.
The matrix must be simple enough for advisers to use mid-call and precise enough to stop drift. It sets depth and limit per action, names who approves held items, and lists the conditions that force a hold. Utilities and telecoms centres add specific duties, as the briefs on training contact centre managers in utilities in Australia and training contact centre managers in telecoms in the US show.
How do you fill it in?
- List the twenty or so requests that make up most of your volume, then add the rare but costly ones.
- For each, decide the agent's depth: 2 if an adviser should send it, 3 if the agent may complete it within limits.
- Set the agent's limit and the approver's limit separately.
- Add a hold condition: one fact that always sends the request to a person.
- Record the certificate approvers must hold, if your centre ties approval rights to certification.
The template
| Customer request | Agent depth | Agent limit | Approver for held items | Approver limit | Always held if | Certificate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Explain a bill | ||||||
| Change payment date | ||||||
| Goodwill credit | ||||||
| Refund of an overpayment | ||||||
| Change account holder or address | ||||||
| Cancel a contract | ||||||
| Retention offer | ||||||
| Resolve a complaint |
A worked example
A hypothetical energy supplier's contact centre: 120 advisers, twelve team leaders, three contact centre managers. Values are illustrative.
| Request | Agent depth | Agent limit | Approver | Approver limit | Always held if | Certificate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Explain a bill | 3 | n/a | n/a | n/a | Customer disputes a reading | Foundations |
| Change payment date | 3 | Once a year | Adviser | Any date | Account in arrears | Foundations |
| Goodwill credit | 3 | 25 | Adviser | 100 | Third credit in a year | Operator |
| Refund overpayment | 4, held | n/a | Team leader | 1,000 | New bank account | Operator |
| Change holder or address | 2 | n/a | Adviser | All | Change of holder | Operator |
| Cancel contract | 2 | n/a | Adviser | All | Customer mentions pressure or fraud | Operator |
| Retention offer | 2 | n/a | Team leader | Approved offers only | Customer is vulnerable | Operator |
| Resolve complaint | 2 | n/a | Team leader | 250 redress | Complaint about the agent | Operator |
Goodwill credits show the layering. The agent may issue up to 25 at depth 3. Above that it drafts the credit and an adviser approves up to 100. A third credit for the same customer in a year is always held, because repeated small credits are how both genuine service failures and gaming hide.
Complaints about the agent itself are always held. A customer who says the agent gave wrong information needs a person to review the record, decide redress, and log the correction so the agent's owner can fix the cause.
If a goodwill-credit agent's certificate lapses after 90 days, credits under 25 return to advisers until it is recertified. The centre should know the date and plan cover. Limits that touch account credit can be checked against the approver authority matrix for the credit team, and the detailed thresholds against the approver rule for the contact centre.
Where the Academy fits
Pryme Intelligence Academy offers a free readiness assessment for teams of up to 25 people, a practical starting point for a team leader group: the team takes the Foundations test set in its industry and sees its gaps by concept. Advisers who approve held credits can then take the Operator track.
Questions people ask
Should advisers approve refunds to customers?
Small goodwill credits, yes. Refunds of overpayments move money out and should sit with team leaders, especially where bank details are new. Each role's skills are mapped in AI agent skills by role.
Who approves retention offers?
Team leaders, from an approved list. Offers to vulnerable customers are held, because a discount can keep a customer on a deal that does not suit them.
How does the risk team view these limits?
As appetite. The approver authority matrix for the risk team covers who in the second line agrees changes to the agent's limits.