With a recession looming, many businesses pause customer experience investments due to uncertainty.
But little do these companies realize, these investments can actually help during times of tightened budgets.
According to McKinsey, digital channels perform similarly or slightly better than traditional channels and are typically more cost effective. For example, our client Vistra reached their payback goals in just 40 days. Not to mention, they save more than $750,000 in IT costs and more than $200,000 in cost avoidance per year.
After more than 17 years of helping the world’s leading enterprises scale their contact centers, we’ve learned a thing or two. Here’s our best practices when it comes to achieving financial stability with CX agility.
Evaluate the Current State of Agility
Through customer journey mapping, organizations can understand what is already in place to support agility in the contact center, as well as the gaps that need to be filled. By taking a zoomed-out look at the entire customer journey, it’s easier to spot the root cause of areas that are not currently scalable.
Modeling potential workforce reductions’ impact on the customer journey can show what areas may need technology to support. According to research by McKinsey, a better customer journey is “significantly more strongly correlated with business outcomes such as revenue, churn, and repeat purchase”. Learn more about customer journey mapping here.
Design with Scalability in Mind
Scalability comes in a lot of forms. It’s not just being able to ramp up when more customers need help, such as during peak seasons, but also about being able to keep CX steady with a reduced workforce. Solutions that are designed with this duality in mind, such as our Intelligent Virtual Assistant, reaps the largest benefits for both the customer and the company.
With our client SRP, one of the largest public power utilities in the US, customer self-service increased from 22-39% with our Intelligent Virtual Assistant (IVA). This means more customers can be served with less reliance on agents for a scalable contact center.
Seek Technology Vendors that have Success in Scaling
Saying a solution can scale is one thing. Actually being about to do it is another. Conversational AI and contact center technology vendors need proven success. When evaluating technology options, look for partners who have responded to a myriad of fluctuations with your industry and business size. See our client success stories here.
Keep the Customer in Mind
At its core, a business needs to keep customers coming in and coming back. Designing solutions that work for both costumes and the business is vital. Technology, especially customer-facing automation solutions, need to provide a similar if not better experience than a customer could get with a human agent.
To learn more about leveraging technology for agile CX strategies, check out our guide on labor optimization.
