In October, Execs In The Know held its Fall 2021 Customer Response Summit (CRS) event featuring nearly two dozen online, virtual sessions including engaging panels, a featured case study, highly informative Shop Talks, and five powerful keynote presentations.
If you have yet to tune in to the Fall 2021 CRS virtual event, you can watch many sessions on-demand. Registration is simple, free, and it takes only a minute to get immediate online access to this insightful content.
Earlier this month, we shared some powerful insights from the event’s five keynote presentations as a part of a five-part blog series. Now we add to those valuable insights with the following highlights from the event’s six inspiring panel discussions and one intriguing case study.
…………………………………………………..
Creating Empathy and Eliminating Frustration on the Path from Automation to Live Engagement
Moderator:
Andy Bird, Concentrix
Panelists:
Vas Alli, Verizon
Peter Andrews, Expedia
Backoffice task and process automation within CX operations have been a godsend on many fronts. From greater efficiency to lower costs, automation has ramped up from infancy to essential in short order and has only become more entrenched due to the COVID-19 pandemic. And while what happens behind the scenes is often invisible to customers, customer-facing automation is now front-and-center in the form of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered applications, knowledge databases, IVRs, and more.
With an explosion in the prevalence of these customer-facing tools, new friction points have emerged. During this panel, Vas, Peter, and Andy discuss how brands can create a positive experience for consumers as they navigate these tools, especially when the need arises to transition from automated to live engagement.
Here are five key highlights from the conversation:
1) It’s very difficult to successfully implement automation, or digitize more broadly, without first establishing the purpose and value of the effort.
2) When putting automation into place, there needs to be a balance between the use cases and the vision the project; end-to-end design thinking is critical with an aim of building in cross-channel consistency.
3) Start with the big questions: What is the customer need? How can we address the need with as little friction as possible? Make sure User Testing (UT) agrees with any assumptions.
4) Implement automation in a way that anticipates what else the customer might need.
5) Don’t overengineer a solution; keep it simple and convenient because easy and fast is why your customer is using an automated solution in the first place.
View this session now (quick and free registration required).
…………………………………………………..
Building Your CX Technology Stack
Moderator:
Arushi Jain, Airkit
Panelists:
James Glover, CHEP
Heather Anderson, Bosch
Thomas Siebert, FinishMaster
If employees are the lifeblood of a CX organization, then that organization’s technology stack is its plumbing (i.e., circulatory system). The digitalization of CX operations has only accelerated over the proceeding 18 months, and although many such investments are urgent and essential, brands must be careful their decisions aren’t purely reactive in nature. Aside from the financial considerations, there is the customer experience to be considered which means every project and implementation needs to be planned and executed with the customer as the top consideration.
Small friction points can have a big impact on the customer experience. Listen in as James, Heather, Thomas, and Arushi discuss the implication of such impacts, as well as best practices for achieving success when expanding the CX technology stack.
Here are five key highlights from the conversation:
1) Digital adoption is not slowing, nor is it merely a byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic. But digital adoption initiatives can only be successful if backed by an appropriate technology stack.
2) Long-term trends favor businesses that can execute a seamless digital experience. Strong internal support and healthy investment in a capable technology stack are key.
3) A primary benefit of implementing self-service is the ability to save agent resources for more complex issues. For this to work, things must be seamless — for both customers and agents.
4) Know the needs and capabilities of your customers. Understanding things like abandonment rate and channel shift can reveal gaps and pain points — the first step in fixing critical issues.
5) Effectively managing change is critical to a successful rollout; when making a big change, communicate plans and get feedback from all levels within the organization.
View this session now (quick and free registration required).
…………………………………………………..
Personalization as a Differentiator: Using AI to Stand Out In a “Sea of Sameness”
Moderator:
Seb Reeve, Nuance
Panelists:
Bit Rambusch, Dell Technologies
Erik Powers, Humana
Simon Marchand, Nuance
Personalization done right can have a radical effect on the customer experience. From the customer’s perspective, personalization can reduce effort, reveal new opportunities, and strengthen brand loyalty. To truly add value, successful deployment of personalization within the CX space requires careful planning, testing, and rollout.
During this lively panel, Bit, Erik, Simon, and Seb discuss the benefits, risks, and other top considerations of building AI-powered personalization into the customer journey – including spotlighting their own experiences and learnings.
Here are five key highlights from the conversation:
1) Personalization is an appreciation of the individual. More practically, personalization means getting the right information to the right person with the least amount of effort within the journey.
2) When done successfully, personalization almost always results in increased NPS and CSAT scores.
3) When designing a personalization project, start with the desired outcomes and keep these ideas in mind:
- Develop one strategy
- Be aligned internally on the architecture
- Understand your foundational capabilities
- Build for exceptional governance and compliance
4) Not every project has to be massive … if need be, start small and establish proof of concept on specific use cases.
5) Involve all parts of the organization from the beginning to reduce surprises; especially take the time to involve your Fraud and Compliance team early on.
View this session now (quick and free registration required).
…………………………………………………..
How Comcast is Maximizing Productivity with Intelligent Automation
Moderator:
Jennifer Lee, Intradiem
Guest Speaker:
Mike Stalker, Comcast
Automation is all about maximizing resources and boosting productivity, allowing your people to focus on what matters most. One area where automation can have a big impact is workforce management, from scheduling and monitoring to coaching and delighting.
Join Mike, along with Jennifer, for this special Comcast Case Study and learn how this leading telecommunications conglomerate has used intelligent automation to reshape the Comcast agent experience, drive greater efficiencies, and ultimately improve the experience of Comcast customers.
Here are five key highlights from the conversation:
1) By 2024, organizations will lower operational costs 30% by combining hyper-automation technologies with redesigned operational processes.
2) If companies don’t begin or extend automation services, they’ll be at a distinct disadvantage.
3) Change management is a critical aspect of the successful implementation of automation, requiring careful planning.
4) Using automation to support the agent can take many forms including task management, training scheduling, agent surprise and delight activities, survey distribution, and coaching assistance.
5) Implementing automation usually goes beyond “one and done” — having executive buy-in from the start is a key component for avoiding roadblocks and expanding on initial gains.
View this session now (quick and free registration required).
…………………………………………………..
Do you enjoy this type of CX-related content? If so, consider joining us for our return to a live and in-person event during Customer Response Summit in sunny Clearwater, Florida — March 28-30, 2022. Registration is open now! Learn More
