This blog post will explore some best practices for maintaining security for remote employees, with a focus on data security and workplace privacy. We will also touch on cutting-edge approaches and emerging technologies that enable organizations to enhance security while delivering exceptional customer experience.

What Is a Culture of Security?

Having a culture of security within an organization refers to an environment and mindset in which security is a top priority and ingrained into the core values, practices, and behaviors of everyone involved. It goes beyond simply implementing security measures and policies; it involves fostering a collective responsibility and commitment to protect the organization’s information, assets, and stakeholders from potential threats.

A culture of security encompasses the following key aspects:

• Awareness and Education: Employees are educated about the importance of security and the potential risks faced by the organization. Regular training programs and awareness campaigns help employees understand their role in maintaining a secure environment.
• Proactive Mindset: A culture of security encourages proactive measures to identify and mitigate security risks. It involves implementing security controls, conducting risk assessments, and regularly monitoring and updating security measures to stay ahead of potential threats.
• Policies and Procedures: Clear security policies and procedures are established, outlining the expected behaviors, security protocols, and responsibilities of employees. These policies cover areas such as data protection, access controls, incident response, and secure communication practices.
• Accountability: Individuals within the organization are held accountable for their security-related responsibilities. This includes adhering to security policies, promptly reporting potential security incidents, and taking necessary steps to prevent and mitigate security breaches.
• Collaboration and Communication: A culture of security promotes collaboration and communication across departments and levels of the organization. It encourages sharing security best practices, lessons learned, and information about emerging threats. This collective effort helps create a more resilient security posture.
• Continuous Improvement: The culture emphasizes the need for ongoing improvement in security practices. Regular evaluations, audits, and feedback loops are established to identify areas of improvement, address vulnerabilities, and adapt security measures to changing technologies and threat landscapes.
• Leadership Support: Leadership plays a crucial role in fostering a culture of security. When executives and managers prioritize security, allocate resources, and lead by example, it reinforces the importance of security throughout the organization.

These days, businesses are exploring new horizons, embracing managed service providers, cloud services, and SaaS platforms. It’s a logical move, especially when employees can access company data from anywhere. It gives businesses the flexibility to decide how much on-premises infrastructure they really need while minimizing the hassle of managing access. It’s the best of both worlds.

However, there’s a tiny glitch in this grand plan. You see, the access controls that work seamlessly in an office environment don’t quite cut it when it comes to supporting remote workers. It’s like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

To grant remote access to your business network, you need to open up holes in your firewall (typically through a VPN). Suddenly, the devices accessing the network are outside the protective confines of your firewall, beyond the watchful eyes of your IT staff. It’s like leaving your front door wide open to the world, hoping for the best.

Naturally, this increased exposure to potential data breaches makes the risk grow exponentially. So, how can organizations support remote workers without sacrificing data security?

Manage Risk and Move Forward with Confidence

According to McKinsey, brandsneed to secure their digital channels against malicious attackers—without creating a negative experience for their customers.

Educate and Empower Employees

In addition to traditional cybersecurity training, organizations can adopt cutting-edge approaches such as gamified learning and interactive modules to make the training process engaging and memorable. Utilizing emerging technologies like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) can create immersive training experiences that simulate real-world security scenarios. Encourage employees to stay up to date with the latest security trends and provide resources like blogs, webinars, and security awareness newsletters.

Implement Third-Party Security Validation

To ensure the highest level of security, organizations can consider third-party security validation services. These services provide independent assessments of an organization’s security infrastructure, policies, and practices. By partnering with trusted security firms, organizations can gain valuable insights and recommendations to strengthen their security posture while maintaining a customer-centric approach. Regularly review and update security policies and procedures based on the findings from these assessments.

Embrace Zero Trust Architecture

Zero Trust Architecture is an emerging security model that assumes no trust, even within the organization’s internal network. It requires strict identity verification and authentication for all users and devices, regardless of their location. By implementing a Zero Trust approach, organizations can enhance security by consistently verifying user identities, validating device security, and controlling access to resources based on the principle of least privilege. Deploy technologies such as identity and access management (IAM) solutions, network segmentation, and micro-segmentation to enforce Zero Trust principles.

Leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML)

AI and ML technologies have immense potential in bolstering security measures. Organizations can leverage AI and ML algorithms to analyze large datasets and identify patterns indicative of potential security threats. These technologies can proactively detect anomalies, flag suspicious activities, and generate real-time alerts, enabling swift responses to mitigate security risks.

Implement AI-powered security solutions such as behavioral analytics, user behavior monitoring, and anomaly detection to augment your security capabilities.

Enhance Endpoint Security

As remote work becomes more prevalent, organizations must prioritize endpoint security. Advanced endpoint protection solutions that utilize behavioral analysis, threat intelligence, and real-time monitoring can help detect and mitigate sophisticated attacks. Additionally, organizations can explore innovative technologies such as hardware-based security keys and biometric authentication to strengthen user authentication and prevent unauthorized access. Implement comprehensive endpoint security solutions that include antivirus, firewall, intrusion detection/prevention systems, and regular vulnerability scanning.

Stay One Step Ahead on Security and Workplace Privacy

As organizations strive to maintain data security and workplace privacy for remote employees, it is essential to embrace cutting-edge approaches and emerging technologies. Third-party security validation, Zero Trust Architecture, AI and ML, enhanced endpoint security, and blockchain technology are just a few examples of how organizations can enhance security while delivering exceptional customer experiences.

By staying informed about the latest advancements and leveraging these technologies strategically, organizations can build a robust security culture that safeguards sensitive data and instills confidence in both employees and customers. Remember, security is an ongoing journey, and by embracing innovation, we can stay one step ahead of evolving threats while ensuring a seamless and secure work environment.

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Gone are the days of long wait times, repetitive processes, and frustrating customer experiences. Today, AI is paving the way for personalized, efficient, and engaging interactions that leave customers delighted and businesses thriving. According to a Gartner report, one in 10 agent interactions will be automated by 2026, an increase from an estimated 1.6% of interactions today that are automated using AI.

Let’s explore the transformative power of AI in call centers, uncovering how it is reshaping the way businesses interact with their customers.

AI Is a Top Destination for Investment

In our CX Leaders Trends & Insights: 2022 Corporate Edition, we discovered that 61% of organizations have either applied the use of AI to their contact center organizations or expect to soon. Although this number is up from 57% in 2021, it is still down substantially from 2020 when 71% of organizations had deployed (or planned to deploy) AI. AI continues to be a top destination for investment (page 70), but brands are also investing in technologies that enable AI, like Text/Voice Analytics, Big Data Utilization, and Predictive Analytics.

AI Application and Channel Deployment

Customer-facing solutions remain the most popular use of AI, occurring among 69% of those organizations currently deploying AI. This is followed by Agent-Assisting AI solutions, which occurs in an area (Agent-Assist Technologies) that saw a modest bump in investment year-over-year, as indicated on page 70. It remains to be seen how budgetary pressures might affect investments in AI in the near-term, yet it is certain investment will continue to flow toward AI in the future, especially as the possible applications of AI continue to broaden.

Objectives for AI

Several trends continue to offer promise when CX leaders were asked to identify which objectives they are primarily trying to accomplish with their use of AI. First, “Improve the Customer Experience” has further stretched its lead against other objectives, while use of AI to reduce costs and divert contacts continues to fall. AI best serves customers when it is used to simplify, expedite, or in some other way enhance the customer care experience, particularly in its application toward things like unassisted solutions. On the flip side, reducing cost and reducing human-assisted contacts are not customer-centric objectives and shouldn’t be the primary drivers of AI’s use.

Enhancing Customer Interactions

AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants are taking customer interactions to new heights. These intelligent systems are equipped with Natural Language Processing (NLP) capabilities, allowing them to understand and respond to customer queries in real time. Say goodbye to scripted conversations and hello to dynamic, contextual interactions. With AI, call center agents can focus on complex issues that require a human touch, while AI handles routine inquiries with precision and efficiency.

Empowering Call Center Self-Service

Customers no longer need to rely solely on call center agents for support. AI has empowered self-service options, enabling customers to find solutions to their problems quickly and independently. Through intelligent chatbots integrated into websites and mobile apps, customers can access instant support, receive product recommendations, and resolve common issues on their own terms. This self-service capability not only boosts customer satisfaction but also reduces call volumes, allowing call center agents to dedicate their time to more complex and value-added tasks.

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Predictive Analytics for Personalized Experiences

AI-driven analytics is unlocking a wealth of customer insights, enabling call centers to deliver personalized experiences. By analyzing vast amounts of data, AI algorithms can predict customer behavior, preferences, and needs. Armed with this knowledge, call center agents can tailor their interactions, offering relevant recommendations and solutions that resonate with each customer. Through AI-powered analytics, businesses can foster stronger customer relationships, boost loyalty, and drive long-term success.

Streamlining Call Routing and Prioritization

Gone are the days of customers being passed from one agent to another, frustratingly repeating their issue multiple times. AI algorithms now analyze and classify customer queries in real-time, ensuring they are routed to the most suitable agent with the necessary expertise to handle the specific issue. This intelligent call routing saves time, reduces customer frustration, and increases first-call resolution rates. It empowers agents to focus on their strengths, leading to improved efficiency and overall customer satisfaction.

Continuous Learning and Improvement

AI never stops learning. Call centers are leveraging AI technologies to capture and analyze customer interactions, gaining valuable insights for ongoing improvement. Through sentiment analysis, AI can understand customer emotions and detect potential issues or areas of improvement. This data-driven feedback loop allows call centers to optimize their processes, refine agent training programs, and proactively address customer pain points. By harnessing the power of AI, call centers can evolve into customer-centric hubs of excellence.

From a Reactive to a Proactive Call Center 

The call center landscape is undergoing a remarkable transformation powered by AI. With intelligent chatbots, personalized experiences, efficient call routing, and continuous learning, businesses can provide unparalleled customer experiences that set them apart from the competition. The days of long wait times and frustrating interactions are becoming a thing of the past. It’s time to embrace AI and leverage its potential to elevate your call center into a customer-centric powerhouse.

Looking to gain more insights into CX technology and AI? Check out our CX Leaders Trends & Insights: 2022 Corporate Edition report (pages 72-77) or you can watch our recent CX Leaders Webinar, “How Generative AI, Gig, and Traditional Support Are Shaping the Future of the Call Center” on demand.

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In the competitive digital market, companies that satisfy and surpass customer expectations have a higher chance of succeeding, whereas those that fail to do so are at risk of losing their customers and market share.

The end-to-end (E2E) customer journey, starting from the first encounter to the purchase, follow-up assistance, and continuous engagement, is now table stakes and plays a crucial role in establishing trust, loyalty, and advocacy.

We heard from three CX leaders in Austin, TX, during Customer Response Summit (CRS): Bit Rambusch, Vice President, Professional Services and Delivery at Phillips; Monte Tomasino, Vice President, Digital Enablement & Engagement at Dell Technologies, and Carlos Castano, Senior Director, Customer Experience and Success at Microsoft, each of whom shared their own unique journeys as it relates to delighting customers across the digital experience.

Alongside panel moderator Sid Victor, Head of Support Services at Movate, they spoke about navigating the process, what worked (and what didn’t), and how brands can deliver personalization across multiple, sometimes intersecting, customer personas, bringing employees along on the transformation journey, and driving collaboration across the organization to converse on a common architecture.

How Does Personalization Work Hand in Hand with Driving Efficiency?

Personalization matters more than ever, and the value of getting it right cannot be overstated. These days, consumers don’t just want personalization, they demand it.

“It’s important we don’t forget with personalization that the development side of things don’t interfere with the delivery side,” Tomasino said. “As an organization, you have to rationalize around a common architecture and those personalization capabilities.”

Personalization drives performance and better outcomes. It is especially effective at driving repeat engagement and loyalty over time.

Businesses that excel in personalization have a unique approach. Instead of perceiving personalization as a mere marketing or analytics issue, they regard it as an opportunity that spans across the entire organization. Moreover, these companies do not solely concentrate on immediate benefits; they search for long-term growth drivers and prioritize customer lifetime value.

“Simplifying around a common architecture is unbelievably important. With a common architecture, you’ll create conflicts within those channels,” explained Rambusch. “We get so siloed as to how to approach common ways of working together and governing to drive efficiencies. How are you thinking about the customer lifecycle journey as it relates to managing the lifetime value of that customer?”

As consumers continue to demand more from customer support organizations, brands can focus myopically across the customer experience to decrease friction.

“A well-designed efficiency with the customer in mind will translate into a great customer experience,” added Castano. “As leaders, we are always under pressure to cut costs. When you simplify processes and workflow, you simplify your delivery experience. It may be difficult to get to a common architecture. If you’re a brand that has been in the business for 30 plus years, you’re going to have a lot of legacy systems.”

What Role Does Employee Experience (EX) Play in Personalization Strategies?

The experience of employees plays a crucial role in the success of a company’s customer personalization strategies. When employees are engaged, motivated, and feel valued, they are more likely to deliver personalized experiences that exceed customer expectations.

“You have to be deliberate about the culture you create across your organization. You must model behavior and bring employees along on the transformation journey. Make curriculum and certification available to high-aptitude employees,” Tomasino said. “From a partner perspective, if you want them to be partners, you have to treat them that way. How can you strike a balance between what your employees or partners are trying to achieve versus what your brand is trying to achieve?”

Victor added that brands should take the feedback, analyze it, and then implement what their employees are saying. You should:

• Know your customers and employees
• Understand their needs
• Personalize service offerings on the front end and tie that into the support they get on the back end.

“To make the employee experience of support professionals as easy as possible to satisfy customers,” said Castano. “How do you remove the barriers so customers never have to call in?”

Before the panel discussion wrapped up, there was an audience Q&A where Alice Sesay Pope from Amazon shared what the brand is doing to delight across the digital experience.

“At Amazon, there’s one thing that’s very clear to everyone and it’s that

customer interaction is a defect. Every year, we’re deliberate about eliminating customer contact. When you think about customer effort, how many steps are there? We are constantly challenging ourselves from the customer’s perspective. How do we proactively detect the customer has a problem before the customer even knows it?”

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Despite staggering inflation, consumer spending has hardly let up. Global e-commerce sales reached $4.9 trillion in 2021 and are expected to increase to $7.4 trillion in 2025. With this already massive and increasing spending by consumers, global brands will need to ensure they have the proper resources to support increased customer volume.

Before we dive in, let’s take a look at how companies are managing their customer support operations today and how it compares to how customers want to be supported.  

Today, most companies still communicate with their customers using traditional tools and processes from over 20 years ago — by investing in complex contact center operations primarily focused on voice calls. It’s a reality many of us have come face-to-face with at some point. You’re one of the lucky ones if you’ve never called a toll-free support line and subjected yourself to static hold music for an undetermined amount of time.

Not only is this approach expensive and operationally challenging, but it’s not what customers want. Customers want to engage with international brands in the same way they engage with family and friends — through the messaging platforms they use every day in their native language – SMS, email, WhatsApp, and social media.

Because of customers’ desire and lower total costs of ownership, Gartner predicts by 2025 we will see 80 percent of customer service operations embracing messaging channels.

And, it appears Gartner is not alone in their prediction. The Verint 2022 State of Digital Customer Experience Report shows a growing preference for interacting with companies through social and private messaging channels.

What Does This Mean for Service Delivery Teams for Retail Brands?

Radial predicts customers will start filling their shopping carts earlier in 2022, with Black Friday sales starting as soon as October. Early holiday deals will drive customers to extend their holiday shopping experience, forcing accelerated customer service wait times to accommodate demand. 

Extended shopping seasons can put a strain on an already struggling contact center. The Harvard Business Review cites turnover being as high as 45 percent and a 2022 NICE WEM Global Survey research shows that this number grows to 50 percent when companies have more than 5,000 support agents. 

For most companies, the instinctive response is to post seasonal job listings and hope for the best. Lead time for new hires can take nearly six weeks and can be even longer when hiring bilingual agents or native speakers. And, while this strategy helps to bring in new faces, it can take up to 30 days for new agents to learn the systems. When you factor in the time it takes to close a new hire, it could be nearly three months until your seasonal agents are ready to roll.

Innovative companies have been down that road one too many times and have found ways to leverage technology to make the holiday seasons more manageable. 

Goodbye Voice; Hello Chat

Progressive companies that are in tune with customer preferences are making digital channels their primary means of customer communication; using voice to handle the less frequent, more challenging issues. The switch to a digital dominant strategy helps promote a consistent, omnichannel experience for customers (and agents). What’s more: digital channels make it easier for agents to handle multiple customer inquiries at once. 

The icing on the cake? Companies save upwards of 33 percent when switching from voice to digital.

• Seasonal fluctuations are more manageable: We are all well acquainted with the challenges of Black Friday – cash is often left on the table due to poor customer service. Brands that offer real-time chat and messaging will ensure their customers feel supported quickly in these important moments, driving loyalty and encouraging future purchases.
• Your team will be more efficient: Experienced support experts can effectively handle multiple conversations at once. By leveraging AI in the right ways, your teams will be able to delight more customers at the same time. Let’s face it, it’s virtually impossible to successfully manage separate voice conversations simultaneously (much less in multiple languages). 
• Customers prefer it: No one wants to “wait on hold,” so why make your customers suffer through it? Asynchronous messaging channels allow your customers to post a question and then divert their attention rather than anxiously waiting for the on-hold music to stop.

Make Global Customer Support Manageable

For companies with global customers, utilizing digital channels is a no-brainer. The scarcity and cost associated with sourcing native speakers to support customers seems to grow by the month. Digital channels enable companies to use existing agents to circumnavigate language barriers. 

In fact, a study from the European Commission found that one-third of employers have difficulties filling positions due to applicants lacking foreign language competencies. 

Visionaries who grasp the importance of digital channels also know the necessity of providing native-language support. Real-time multilingual customer support allows for hyper-personalization, building customer loyalty, and retention. The use of translation technology coupled with immaculate customer service skills leads to five customer reviews and customers coming back for more.

Those that have made the move to digital multilingual support are already seeing these benefits:

• Reduced costs: Every agent can deliver high-quality, technical customer experiences in your customers’ preferred languages. Redesign your recruiting strategy with a focus on superior service skills rather than expensive language skills, and re-invest the savings in delivering higher-quality engagement. Optimizing your recruiting strategy is particularly meaningful when handling seasonal spikes.
• Greater reach to potential customers: Customers are drawn to companies that offer the products, services, and support best suited to them in their native language. Multilingual technology allows businesses to reach customers in markets that weren’t possible before.
• Improved customer experience: Offering native language support is proven to drive customer loyalty and retention as well as increase NPS and reduce agent handle time – it’s a win-win for everyone!

The holidays are upon us. And the bottom line is that companies risk losing $1.6 trillion yearly due to poor customer service. 

Don’t be a part of that statistic. 

Consider the use of digital channels to introduce greater flexibility into your customer service operations and hiring strategy. The best part: consumers spend nearly 60 percent more with companies that utilize live chat and digital channels for support. This flexibility allows you to quickly offer unparalleled multilingual support, regardless of the peaks or valleys your business experiences during holidays or off-seasons. 

To learn more about multilingual customer support, visit www.chatlingual.com

Guest blog post written by ChatLingual. To learn more about this topic and others, visit the events page to check out all of our upcoming events.

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However, one thing has become a clear trend in the wake of the pandemic (can we say wake yet?): assisted service has a distinctly digital path forward. The long-standing love/hate relationship with live chat seems to be in a love phase once again. Customers and service organizations are increasingly utilizing the channel, fueled by a desire amongst younger generations to communicate in non-voice mediums. Live chat as a stand-alone is, however, becoming rapidly obsolete, being replaced with messaging that supports a variety of digital communications. How humans connect has also changed, by the end of 2021 over 90 percent of the global internet population use a mobile device to go online according to Statista.

This move toward digital communication has put a feeling of disconnection in the relationship between brands and their customers at a time when they’re critical to growth objectives. This relationship is increasingly at risk as costs of switching brands continue to decline. So how can you keep connected with customers in this digital-first age?

If customer service is to transform from “necessary but unsightly cost-center” to “center stage in the company growth strategy” we must be willing to embrace digital-first connection and focus on creating continuous conversations which are driven by contextual data. In order to fulfill our potential as a growth lever, service leaders must harness these four approaches to deliver value to customers in the digital world:

1. Pursue a Human-Centric Technology Strategy

Technology has always existed to enable humans to achieve outcomes faster and easier. At some point, we diverged from this mission and many in the service industry sought to replace humans with technology. Nowhere has this been more apparent than in the application of chatbots and virtual assistants. While these technologies hold immense potential to improve our organizations, that will be achieved through reduction of redundant and low-value tasks and enablement of better human-to-human connections. The next phase of improvements should begin from the inside-out, focusing investments on the agent experience and identifying the roadblocks that get in the way of your agents building or deepening relationships with your customers. Begin by observing agent workflows and noting when they’re focused on the screen/system/tab instead of the customer. For many customers, that interaction with your agent could be the only time they truly engage with your company, and you want your agent’s attention to be entirely on the customer.

2. Put Your Data into Action

It’s no secret that an experience which feels tailored to the customer’s needs is better. When companies are able to show customers that they understand their situation and educate them on the ROI of being a customer, not only is the experience lower effort but it’s also higher value to the customer (and company).

To create personalized experiences brands must be able to acknowledge past contacts, reference context on their relationship and recommend relevant next steps; in other words it needs to be driven by data. But even more importantly, customer data needs to be presented to agents in ways they can actually use. Information such as a timeline of recent contacts (with access to notes), the last few purchases and overall customer spend, must be embedded within your agent interface to be useful. But data should not just flow into customer conversations, each interaction presents an opportunity to learn insights which can be used well beyond customer service. Analysis of customer intents should lead other parts of the business to investigate root causes and make fixes. Changes in customer sentiment or perceived personal ROI should be used to create more effective Marketing messages. And customer frustrations with products or policies should lead to changes. When brands put their data into action, using insights to teach customers how to maximize the value they get from the products or services on offer, customer trust and confidence grows. When customers trust your brand, they stay longer, spend more and happily tell others about your brand, the trifecta of customer loyalty.

3. Create a Dialogue

In the digital-first world, service cannot be transactional, and customers do not appreciate when they’re treated as tickets (really, they never have). As new means of communication have been introduced into the market customers have tried, and will continue to try, each and every way of connecting with a company. Unfortunately, as new channels have been added, they’ve often been added as “bolt-ons” creating silos in both our customer and agent experiences. Customers using many different channels is not necessarily a bad thing, it only becomes a high-effort experience when it feels fractured, with customers frequently stopping and starting (over) on their journey to resolution. Leaders must embrace this journey and view their contacts as an ongoing dialogue, the simple back-and-forth which happens in any other type of relationship. Humans today communicate in fluid ways. Imagine texting a friend, getting to a point in the conversation where it just makes more sense to give them a call, but when you do, they have no idea what you were texting about. That’s often what it feels like to customers who need (for a multitude of reasons) to “pick resolution up” at a later time. Perhaps the issue required some investigation on your part. Or the customer had to go pickup their child from school during the middle of a chat conversation. Creating an ongoing conversation means that customers & agents must be able to flow between channels without losing a step. Taking a channel-agnostic view of your customers is a good start to avoiding siloed contacts. This will allow your organization agility in workflows and workforce – quickly able to meet shifting customer needs and transition conversations from one channel to another. Such an approach should also focus on easily adjustable customer flow builders, options for “same agent” routing and embedded contextual information to make conversations personal.

 4. Get Proactive!

Though customers may not be asking for you to reach out to them, they value proactive service when they get it. Proactive outreach puts the company in the driver’s seat, giving leaders control over the conversation and potential avenues to engage with customers. In line with approach #2 above, service leaders should be utilizing their customer data platform to identify opportunities to engage customers with service agents. The best use cases for proactive contact will not be surprising: solving problems customers are not yet aware of (or where they have not taken any action) and teaching customers to appreciate unused aspects of your products. In both cases, an initial digital outreach is the most logical first step. Leaders should have predefined, and measurable, actions which they would like to achieve through proactive contact. This should include both a company-preferred channel path which can be self-service, assisted or some combination of both. Company outreach should be triggered by some type of action, or inaction, by the customer. For example, you’re a meal-box delivery service, and begin noticing a spike in contacts about an ingredient in your latest box; let’s say it was an unfamiliar ingredient. Despite the spike in volume, it’s more likely that you’re not hearing from even half the customers experiencing this issue. Adding an automated email to “impacted” customers, with assurances on the ingredient, and a clear pathway for the customer to take action (such as a replacement ingredient) will build customer confidence, even if no action is taken.

While many customer service norms have changed in the transition to a digital-first world, one thing has remained constant. Great service is built on a foundation of clear communication, helpful humans, and easy resolution. Keeping these principles at the forefront of your strategy will help you to build long-lasting relationships with your customers, no matter what new technological advancements come next.

……………..

Guest blog post written by Dixa. To learn more about this topic and others, visit our events page to check out upcoming events.

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These strategic decisions will be driven by two meta-trends that impact all facets of the contact center, including your tactical decisions – digital transformation and artificial intelligence (AI). While these trends are inter-related – and are occurring across the organization, not just in the contact center – they should be considered separately when formulating your strategic plans. This post will focus on digital transformation.

Your digital transformation strategy should focus on ongoing change and the transformational shift from analog to digital. Legacy, premise-based contact centers have many analog elements, and while they still serve their intended purpose well, they cannot fully adapt to the way contact centers will need to operate in 2022.

The same goes for being able to provide the kinds of experiences and interactions your customers are expecting today. Addressing these gaps may seem highly disruptive for legacy-based contact centers, and you will need some degree of digital transformation to get there. That said, the path forward will be more manageable with a strategic approach to digital transformation. Here are two factors to consider.

Digital transformation will be an ongoing part of your long-term strategy.

Regardless of how far you are on the digital path, your digital transformation will not be complete in 2022. This will be an ongoing process to digitize analog operations and adopt new digital capabilities. There is a lot of promising innovation in this space and all of it is digital.

This isn’t to say you need to make a wholesale switch to digital. Digital technologies are more flexible and adaptable than analog technologies, making new integrations and configurations easier. These capabilities help lower the barrier to adopting new technology, allowing contact center leaders to think of digital technology as enhancements rather than replacements for what’s already in place.

As such, your digital transformation strategy should be viewed as asset protection, where you can continue deriving value from analog solutions and go digital at your own pace, much like you can do with cloud migration. This does not have to be a rip-and-replace scenario where you must go all-in with digital to realize the benefits. No matter how far or fast you move with digital transformation, it is really never finished so the strategy needs to shift from the fixed-life model for premise-based equipment to one where the evolution of digital technologies is ongoing.

Think about CX becoming digital CX.

The state of CX in 2022 is no different than what goes on inside your contact center operations in terms of becoming digital. Digital natives, especially Gen Z, are now a major economic force and, for them, CX needs to be digital CX. According to a report from Oxford Economics for Snap Inc., Gen Z will play a huge role in the labour and economic markets in the coming decades, accounting for 11% of household spending across Australia, France, Germany, The Netherlands, the UK and the US.

Part of your digital transformation strategy should include understanding what constitutes “digital” CX, and how contact centers must adapt, not just to provide digital CX now but to enhance it for the future. Nobody knows what comes next, but CX will certainly evolve, and you’ll need digital operations to keep pace. The strategy should not be about trying to fully define digital CX, but to understand the basic drivers and build out your contact center to support that.

For your customers, digital CX will mean using digital channels to engage with agents and do business with your company. They will prefer messaging to voice, mobility to fixed lines, synchronous to asynchronous, always-on to being on-demand, virtual to in-person, and even bots to humans. As the world becomes more digitized, more variations like this will emerge. For 2022, digital CX remains a work in progress and contact centers still have time to catch up.

Contact centers will also have to keep in mind that personalization is another aspect of digital CX, and every customer will have their own mix of preferences for digital engagement. No contact center can catalog all these preferences with analog tools but with a core set of digital capabilities, agents can at least provide a consistent experience for all customers. As noted earlier, digital transformation is an ongoing process – both for customers and contact centers – and to provide digital CX, you’ll need to start with a basic set of digital tools.

Learn more about Upstream Works’ digital solutions here.

Guest post written by Upstream Works. To learn more about this and other critical CX topics, register for Execs In The Know’s Customer Response Summit Clearwater .

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Let’s talk more about the front-and-center transformation that the majority of people are exposed to, the customer experience side. The customer experience is usually the lowest hanging fruit that can provide the most substantial return on your investment.

Why is customer experience (CX) a critical piece of digital transformation?

All businesses have some sort of customer that they need to please and delight to ensure revenue is generated and the business is staying healthy. When speaking to consumers, 95% indicated that customer service is important when choosing which brand to purchase from. Everyone wants to be able to trust whomever they are giving money to. And, if someone has a bad experience, you better believe they are taking their dollars elsewhere. In fact, a Dimensional Research study stated that 59% of consumers will actually stop buying from the business after a negative impression.

Where should you start when it comes to digital CX transformation?

Figuring out where to start is really up to your organization to analyze and prioritize based on where your customer metrics are lacking. More than likely, you already have data to uncover some of this “low-hanging fruit” to get these optimizations started so it’s best to have that as the primary step when going through this transformation.

Another key component to this process is focus. If your analysis uncovers multiple areas that are underperforming, it’s best to tackle the biggest issue and then move onto the next one to ensure you’re fixing a real problem in the process and not pushing out a half-baked experience that seems disconnected (which could end up being worse than it was before!). An analogy that comes to mind in relation to focusing is “a 100-watt light bulb can light up an entire room, but a 100-watt laser can cut through metal”. Focusing can help you cut through your issues.

Even though where to start your digital CX transformation depends on your organization’s specific requirements, there are some key areas our customers have seen success with. Here are just a few of those solutions:

• Automated enrollment and paper form digitization – Believe it or not, some companies are still using paper forms for sign ups and approvals. Digitizing these forms and utilizing mobile collection of documents is fast and transparent which also helps businesses lower costs. Handling things electronically has become the new norm and opens up the path to digital self-service for your customers. Currently, 81% of consumers across industries use self-service before even trying to talk to a live agent.

• Digital deflection to voice and chat bots – Sometimes you have to show your customers where to go so they can help themselves with common recurring issues that other customers have had. For example, calling into your contact center to hear the status of an order that can easily be handled by “Where is my order?” (WISMO) tracking. Or a patient calling their insurance provider to check on a claims status. These are the opportune moments to deflect to self-service and free up your live agents to take care of larger, more important problems that have arisen. Digital deflection can span across a lot of different use cases and can push customers to automated voice responses or even chat bots, whichever your business prefers.

• Digital appointment scheduling – Your contact center can be overloaded at certain times, so what happens if someone is trying to schedule an appointment but can’t reach anyone? Enter digital scheduling. Just like the previous self-service options, digital scheduling frees up your agents’ workload by letting the customer schedule a time to speak with a representative that’s convenient for everyone. Allowing scheduling to be self-service can boost connect rates and improve sales/service efficiency. This keeps the customer happy, doesn’t overload your agents, and doesn’t waste anyone’s time.

How can these pieces of digital CX transformation be accomplished?

That is the burning question! Most companies will try to build these capabilities themselves, leveraging internal resources and pieced-together point solutions. One brand we spoke to had been trying to build digital deflection and automated onboarding for over 20 years! The project had failed 3 times with internal builds and they just couldn’t get the experiences working properly. The solution was to outsource the build of the capabilities and they finally achieved what they were looking for in under a year. Cue the job promotion music, because that leader looks like a genius now.

That is just one story on how buying rather than building helped a large company with their digital transformation efforts. There are plenty of stellar companies out there that can make sure this buy versus build works for you.

In order to build true omnichannel experiences for your customers, you must be able to connect that precious customer data that may sit in your CRM, ERP, or another home-grown system to the connection point where your customer is attempting to take action. This allows companies to more easily create experiences their customers will love. Just having contact center technology isn’t enough anymore, you need to personalize your digital experiences across every channel to make interactions as frictionless as possible.

The beauty of improving your digital customer experience is that this will inevitably improve your other digital transformation projects. Improving the digital experience for your customers can make your operational efficiencies better, make your workforce more productive, and also help integrate much of your customer-facing technologies. All of this is why the time for digital CX transformation is now.

It’s better to start somewhere than to not start at all.

Daniel Henderson, Digital Marketing @ Airkit

To learn more about Digital CX Transformation go to: www.airkit.com

“Airkit simplifies how real-time customer experiences are made, with a CX Automation Platform that integrates with existing systems. This turns any team into builders of digital journeys that truly engage customers.”

Guest post written by: Airkit. To learn more about this and other critical CX topics, register for Execs In The Know’s Customer Response Summit Clearwater .

The post Digital CX Transformation in 2022 appeared first on Execs In The Know.

Even when the pandemic eventually ends, it’s likely that many CX agents will prefer to continue some sort of remote or hybrid work arrangement. To accommodate this reality and manage CX workflows in a distributed workforce, companies have increased their reliance on SaaS applications. In its 2021 Business at Work report, Okta found that larger companies now deploy an average of 175 apps.

CX operations are becoming more complex, but most companies have little visibility into their CX workflows. This lack of transparency complicates PCI compliance and makes it harder for companies to make data-driven decisions on improving the CX efficiency and productivity.

Executives looking for ways to improve performance and efficiency of their customer operations should consider whether they have enough data to answer these four questions:

1. Which metrics are most significant for high-performing CX teams?
2. How are customer operations teams inadvertently sabotaging team productivity and undermining customer value?
3. What impact do various processes and technology really have on agent productivity?
4. What are the biggest untapped opportunities to make customer operations and CX teams more productive?

Providing key insights to growing CX teams

Fin’s CX Insider Report: Customer Operations Benchmarks for 2022 shows that many companies are missing out on massive opportunities to improve the productivity of their CX teams, reduce costs, and deliver better customer experiences. This report contains detailed findings based on an analysis of tens of millions of hours of real-world data collected through Fin’s Work Insights Platform, a lightweight browser plugin that enables leaders to collect the data they need to improve productivity and performance on CX and operations teams.

Fin’s turnkey solution reveals how agents work across any number of SaaS applications, helping leaders boost productivity by improving capacity planning, reducing distractions, and streamlining SaaS workflows. Fin’s Work Insights Platform also lets leaders drill deep into CX data to identify top agents and see which processes and tools those agents use to excel in their roles.

CX leaders can then assess their own CX performance against industry norms by comparing their internal findings against the data in the CX Insider Report: Customer Operations Benchmarks for 2022. The Report goes far beyond CSAT (customer satisfaction) scores to reveal industry standards around other key metrics including handle time, data loss, agent utilization, and policy adherence. For example, the Report shows that:

• Average CX employee spends only 66% of their day actively working to resolve cases or tickets.
• 26% of cases require 5 or more human touchpoints.
• A majority of cases require at least 4 unique applications to solve.
• A clear correlation exists between slower page load times and lower agent utilization.

By combining insights generated through Fin’s Work Insights Platform with the industry data in the Report, customer operations leaders can benchmark their own CX performance and identify high-priority areas where they have the greatest room for improvement.

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Download Fin’s CX Insider Report: Customer Operations Benchmarks for 2022 now to discover industry averages and best practices, along with suggestions for improving training, processes, and technology to boost CX productivity and deliver superior customer outcomes.

Guest post written by: FIN for Customer Response Summit Virtual. To learn more about this and other critical CX topics, register for Execs In The Know’s Customer Response Summit Clearwater.

The post Leveraging Performance Benchmarks to Improve CX Workflows appeared first on Execs In The Know.

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.

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The Rise of the CCO

Moderator:
Mike McCarron, Gladly

Panelists:
Radha Penekelapati, YouTube
Dan Allen, Union Bank
Deana Perrin, Blue Shield of California

It’s great for a CX program to have the support of the C-suite, but it’s even better when CX has its very own seat at the table. The Chief Customer Officer (CCO) role isn’t exactly new, but it has never been more essential in cultivating CX excellence. CCOs can help champion plans and initiatives that are designed to do one thing — improve the customer experience.

During this panel discussion, Radha, Dann, Deana, and Mike share their thoughts about how the CCO role has evolved, and why is has never been more critical than today, especially as consumers have more options than ever, and brand loyalty is on the wane.

Here are five key highlights from the conversation:

1) As a company’s CX journey matures, the structure of its C-suite must also evolve.

2) A Chief Customer Officer (CCO) is responsible for raising the voice of the customer, but also establishing internal partnerships to make sure the organization is unified behind the mission of improving CX.

3) An ongoing challenge with the CCO role is they often have the insights and knowledge to know what needs fixing, but they often don’t have the budget authority to execute. To make a real difference, a CCO must be empowered.

4) Shared goals, especially tangible goals, are critical in unifying an organization behind customer-centric efforts; put the customer at the center, but don’t neglect the overarching goals of stakeholders.

5) Doing many small- or medium-sized projects sometimes creates a bigger impact than doing one or a very few large projects. It is important to understand the outcome and impact of every effort, big or small.

View this session now (quick and free registration required).

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Getting Ready for What Comes Next: Key Trends Driving Your Data Strategy

Moderator:
Sav Khetan, Tealium

Panelists:
Melody Blumenschein, General Motors
Rick Clark, Balsam Brands
Matt Beckwith, Clark Pest Control

A lot has changed in the last 18 months. From how consumers behave to the way businesses conduct their service and delivery operations, the COVID-19 pandemic has sent out many ripples. How companies have and will continue to respond to the ongoing crisis (both proactively and reactively) will chart their future course, and effective use of data is a key part of the equation for many organizations.

During this panel, Melody, Rick, Matt, and Sav engage in a wide-ranging discussion about the overall state of the industry, highlighting current challenges, while also sharing how they are addressing some of these challenges with innovative CX data solutions and strategies.

Here are five key highlights from the conversation:

1) In the last 18 months, over 80% of consumers have tried out a new brand or mode of delivery, and many prefer these new experiences; loyalty is on the wane.

2) The high cost of acquiring new customers has only increased during the pandemic.

3) Consumers are far more tolerant of service lapses and wait time than they were before the pandemic, but they are also checking out the competition more than ever before.

4) Frontline staff have valuable knowledge about the business and the customer, so be sure to tap their expertise by opening lines of communication and taking the time to ask.

5) There is power in understanding this one simple but age-old essential insight — happy agents make for happy customers. It is a good reminder to tap into the data that lets you know if your organization is succeeding in this area.

View this session now (quick and free registration required).

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Data Protection: Creating Secure and Successful At-Home Workspaces

Moderator:
Leslie Loofbourow, 24-7 Intouch

Panelists:
Jim Gallagher, Nordstrom
Jeff Lilleskare, Microsoft
Thom McDaniel, Marriott

Work-from-home is here to stay. That means maintaining employee engagement and protecting customer data is going to remain top-of-mind for CX leaders. Luckily, there is no shortage of new and innovative tools and technology design to accomplish exactly this.

During this insightful and timely panel, Jim, Jeff, Thom, and Leslie share how they have helped devise secure remote work environments, leading to more protection for both customers and agents, while also making sure their teams stay connected and engaged.

Here are five key highlights from the conversation:

1) Data protection and secure workspaces start with empowering employees. That said, trust but always verify.

2) Hiring and recruiting best practices are critical for adoption and compliance starting with a workforce well aligned to the values of the organization; shared values equate to high levels of compliance.

3) Have a solid plan for work-from-home departures. Close the loop on getting back equipment, shutting down system access, etc.

4) It’s important to find the balance between getting the information agents need to service customers, while also maintaining tight control of the data available to agents.

5) Many companies have gone through many hiring cycles to the point where a lot of employees are unfamiliar with the in-office workspace … but agents need to be connected and included. Consider creating a virtual watercooler space for agents to drive engagement and connectedness.

View this session now (quick and free registration required).

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If you haven’t already done so, be sure to check out Part 1 of this two-part series.

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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

The post CRS Virtual October 2021: Key Case Study and Panel Highlights — Part 2 appeared first on Execs In The Know.

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.

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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).

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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).

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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).

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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).

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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

The post CRS Virtual October 2021: Key Case Study and Panel Highlights — Part 1 appeared first on Execs In The Know.