George Bernard Shaw once said, “England and America are two countries separated by the same language.”
Despite all our similarities, we in the United Kingdom (U.K.) tend to do things differently, and customer service is no exception.
The U.K. customer service score has fallen, according to our CX Tech Leaders Council – Autumn 2023 report, yet the U.S.A.’s score not only started higher, but it also rose considerably.
Why is this when the U.K. also has endless possibilities offered through technology to improve the experience for customers? The world is teeming with technological possibilities and the perception of customer service is complicated and multi-faceted.
Despite the creation of innovative solutions, there is a growing perception (and many surveys that validate this) that customer service quality is on the decline in the U.K.
According to KPMG, 2023 saw the fastest collapse in “customer experience excellence” (or how happy consumers are with the service they receive from companies they spend money with) in a decade. In addition, “The UK Customer Experience Decision-Makers’ Guide 2022-23” from Contact Babel shows that the percentage of calls that are complaints is at a 12-year high.
The decline of joined up and consistent customer service experiences seem to have worsened in the last few years. A contributor of that could be the consequence of customer service applications that were put in at speed for the pandemic.
These applications remain disjointed and are still causing disharmony. Joined up customer experiences (CXs) are falling through the gaps created because of throwing digital channels together in an ad hoc way.
Rising Agent Expectations
Throughout this tumult there has been a clear change in agent demographics. The traditional perception of contact center agents as order takers or complaints handlers is gradually fading.
Contact center agents have transformed into influential brand representatives who sit at the nexus where organizations and customers meet to do business.
Organizations must be very clear on their expectations before embarking on their journey to cloud-based solutions.
The agent’s job is to establish emotional connections with customers and offer consultative and proactive service across all the company’s channels. The profile of an agent is no longer those looking for part-time work or students but is now across a much broader age range for those looking for long-term careers.
There has also been at the same time a rise in agent expectations: for intuitive easy to use tools, flexibility in their working week, and the ability to work from home. This last one means geographic restrictions are no longer tying agents to a specific center in a specific town.
And the competition for good customer service agents is fierce. So the easier their experience the more likely businesses are to retain them and keep them engaged.
The Digital Shift
Digital transformation continues to reshape customer interactions’ focus and prioritization. The adoption of various digital technologies provides customers with diverse communication channels, from email to social media, creating a need for businesses to adapt.
Convenience is a key driver as customers seek faster and more efficient interactions through 24/7 accessible channels. Multichannel and omnichannel experiences are now crucial, offering a seamless journey across platforms, and self-service adoption.
Digital Shift as a Cost Cutting Priority
Reducing the cost to serve is a primary focus of channel shift initiatives, but caution is urged to avoid the pitfalls of past industry shifts.
The move to offshoring customer service teams in the early 2000s saw a reduction in headcount costs of 50% plus. But businesses raced to nearshore or homeshore when the CX was hit to such a degree it was impacting retention and satisfaction rates.
The challenge lies in finding the right balance between cost-cutting objectives without compromising customer satisfaction.
Businesses must ensure that technology aligns with the personal channel preferences and the understood intention of the customer.
Technology can support the delivery of channel shift initiatives. But there is a need for businesses to understand that the technology alone will not deliver this objective – it is the “CX road system” – so they must provide signposting. Say if you want to offer a human agent at any point during the call. Then your artificial intelligence (AI) model needs to accommodate options for this at any point during the customer journey.
Cloud Implementation and Cost Efficiency
Migration to the cloud is a prevalent trend, driven by expectations of cost reduction and the advancement of technical capability. However, achieving cost efficiencies in the cloud requires careful planning, resource optimization, and leveraging appropriate services.
Simply moving old workflows and processes and trying to retrofit them into a new cloud solution will not work.
Look at, for example, the challenges faced at Birmingham City Council, the largest local authority in Europe, which has declared itself in financial distress after troubled Oracle project costs ballooned from £20 million to around £100 million ($125.5 million).
Organizations must be very clear on their expectations before embarking on their journey to cloud-based solutions.
By evaluating the alignment of cloud solutions with their specific goals, whether it be cost savings, increased NPS, or CSAT there is a much greater opportunity to unburden yourself from tech debt and legacy processes and deliver an ROI.
The CX Tech and Contact Center Vendor Landscape
Ultimately the CX is impacted by the effectiveness of your customer service. Outsourcing can lead to a significant enhancement of this crucial aspect of your business.
From substantial cost savings and access to specialized talent, to scalability and enhanced focus on core competencies, outsourced customer services can connect your business to new opportunities and competencies.
However, with more players than ever across the contact center tech stack many buyers refer to - or in some cases fully rely on - the top analyst firms to determine which vendor to invest in. Many of these include Gartner, Frost & Sullivan, and Forrester.
The diligence put into the assessment of vendors by these analyst firms is very comprehensive. However, some are more focused on different aspects and not always useful to the solution you may require.
Being named in the Gartner Leaders quadrant is a significant achievement, but it doesn’t guarantee that a company is the best fit for every organization’s specific needs. Different companies may prioritize different aspects of CX, and what works for one may not work for another.
Therefore, it’s essential for organizations to carefully evaluate their own requirements and goals when choosing a CX solution or partner, rather than solely relying on the positioning from analysts’ firms.