What’s in Store for 2024? If the Benner market cycle and recent stock market buoyancy are reliable indicators, 2024 will be a year of non-linear growth, optimism, and spending by consumers and businesses.
Investment in AI and automation will continue to cause tidal waves (perhaps tsunamis) of change within many organizations, especially in the contact center. External factors, such as shifting demographics, climate change, and political/policy factors, may also alter the way people perceive and interact with brands.
Based on analyst research, economic forecasts, business headlines and trends, and the conversations VXI executives are having with clients, we’ve assembled our top CX predictions for 2024 and have suggested some realistic, achievable resolutions for any customer experience (CX) strategy team preparing to thrive.
Companies will re-evaluate customer engagement tactics and toolsets due to AI. As the use of AI continues to rise, new marketing techniques and regulations in the EU and the US will emphasize the protection of consumer data. CX leaders and marketers will yet again need to reengineer processes, channels, and tools for engaging with customers. As we settle into the fourth industrial era , labor-oriented organizations will be repositioning and reimagining their business models — many as IT-based companies — which will change goals and tactics for all departments, including their contact centers.
Suggested resolution for 2024: Design CX with meaning and purpose.
Technology has always been — and will always be — a human enabler. The best transformation decisions are based on human-centered design and fulfilling customer and employee needs. Respond successfully to forthcoming changes by grounding decisions in customer journey mapping, data-driven CX and marketing strategies, proven change management techniques, and design thinking.
Employee retention challenges will increase. AI will start to fundamentally alter the nature of an agent’s role, and the talent that knows how to effectively leverage AI will be in high demand. The demand for talent capable of effectively leveraging AI will soar, accelerated by an aging workforce, changing demographics, and the potential for agent burnout. Thus, retention will become a critical issue, making it an employee’s market, and contact center managers will need to work even harder to attract and retain the right agents. Optimizing the employee experience (EX) will become increasingly important, training needs will increase, and we could see significant innovation in HR.
Suggested resolution for 2024: Optimize your employee journey map.
From recruitment to onboarding to retention, having a compelling employee value proposition, clear employer brand, total rewards program, and shared employer-employee purpose will be critical. Increasing employee satisfaction will make you stand above your competitors for talent, as will providing long-term career coaching, AI-infused learning, and safe training simulation opportunities. CX and EX go together, and leaders must understand and address the obstacles that their employees face — or otherwise consider outsourcing these responsibilities to partner specialists.
Environmental social governance (ESG) will become a key deciding factor. As Baby Boomers and Gen X workers retire or reduce their working hours, Millennial and Gen Z values will factor more and more into everyday business and consumer decision-making. Corporate social responsibility, impact sourcing, minority businesses, and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives will transform from secondary purchasing considerations into primary ones. Companies will need to “walk the talk” on ESG promises or risk losing business and employees.
Suggested resolution for 2024: Outsource with purpose.
A quick way to start “walking the talk” is to gauge the diversity of your vendor roster (supply chain) and provide more procurement opportunities for underrepresented organizations. Create shared value with businesses that are at least 51% owned and operated by traditionally untapped, underestimated, or underserved minority-owned enterprises (MBEs), Indigenous- and veteran-owned businesses, woman-owned enterprises (WBEs), disability-owned business enterprises (DOBE), etc. They are ready to deliver.
Companies will prepare for the evolution of customer research and purchasing methods. The AI-enabled Google Search Generative Experience (SGE) and developing Answer Engine Optimization (AEO — for ChatGPT, Bard) techniques will begin to have an impact on customer product research approaches and, in turn, brands’ customer interfaces (e.g., websites, contact centers, kiosks, stores). As more people use gen AI as part of the purchasing process, there may even be a need to serve “machine customers” (or “custobots” — Gartner ) directly. Contact centers, marketers, and website developers must better anticipate customer questions, provide clear answers to FAQs online, and facilitate easy, compelling comparisons to other products.
Suggested resolution for 2024: Enhance and layer AI into your KMS.
Reliably and regularly populated with all the known questions and answers your customers have asked, contact center knowledge management systems (KMS) have for years been an invaluable resource for equipping agents with high-quality information and for enhancing self-service portals, chatbots, and intelligent IVR interfaces. Keeping your KMS well-structured and updated is going to become more important than ever. The intellectual property in your KMS will not only be used by agents but will form the basis of new content designed to compete in the age of SEO, AEO, and SGE.
Regardless of whether you’re committing to lofty goals and resolutions or planning to take smaller, baby steps in 2024, we sincerely admire your efforts to optimize the CX and your contact center performance. Taking initiative not only helps your team and brand but advances the call center industry as a whole.
Packed with insights from analysts and seasoned CX executives, the “Inspiring 2024 Resolutions for CX Leaders” Contact us
