Nothing quite defines the future of customer service than customer experience agility. Agility, in terms of physiology, is defined as an ability to change the body’s position efficiently and requires the integration of isolated movement skills using a combination of balance, coordination, speed, reflexes, strength, and endurance. Transposing this to the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry terms, customer experience (CX) agility is the ability of the service provider to swiftly mobilize tactics and adapt to the volatile and ever-changing customer environment.
Customers nowadays expect the same degree of flexibility they already get from leading tech companies like Google, Amazon, and Apple. The ability to change, grow and innovate – at speed – to keep up with today’s consumers is a requirement, or organizations risk drowning under the weight of their legacy.
The arrival of a global pandemic only complicates things even more for the customer experience industry. In this situation, several businesses that were not able to anticipate the worst changes have suffered and were forced to close down, but only the organizations and entities with the best laid and well-executed plans are the ones to make it through.
When a viral pandemic coerced most companies to modify their structures, VXI was able to recognize the significance of the threat, thanks to our strong presence throughout China (10 locations). VXI executives formed emergency task forces and began building contingency plans for what was to become a crisis facing the modern world of epic proportions. A singular mission was developed to focus on just two priorities: Employee Safety and Business Continuity. VXI’s goal was to ensure employee health and wellness and maintain their source of income. VXI housed 11,300 Philippine employees in hotels for nearly three months so they could continue working in office environments while operating a “bubble” environment. In another unprecedented move, in less than 90 days, VXI’s IT and Operations teams shifted 50% of VXI employees to Work-At-Home (WAH) or hybrid remote working environments.
The Power of Customer Experience Agility As the present times have revealed, customer experience agility is necessary not only to meet the ever-changing demands of your customers but also for the survival of your company in critical times. Here are some ideas on how to achieve CX agility and become ready for the drastic changes to come.
Investing in Technology The BPO industry, being the most adaptable and resilient out of all businesses, utilizes the latest and best that technology and innovation have to offer. Choose the right tools that encourage communication and collaboration for your employees as well as inspire instruction and learning. VXI, through its technology and innovation arm Symbio, was able to revolutionize the BPO process via a suite of technology products that can transform customer experience – leading to improved customer interactions, greater operational efficiencies, and better business outcomes. The VXI Training Simulator™ is an innovative instructional tool that recreates real-life scenarios to optimize advisor performances, improves specific KPIs, and delivers improvement feedback to advisors. The Performance Pro 360™ is a VXI coaching tool that tracks advisor performance, develops personalized coaching, and produces individual agent performance reports for clients.
Robust Work-at-Home (WAH) Structure When VXI shifted half of its employees to a Work-at-Home environment, VXI did not only guarantee the sustainability of the physical aspect of the move (connectivity, hardware, software) but the human aspect also was reinforced. A WAH environment provides employees with a certain level of independence which is free from the usual environmental stresses that an office atmosphere presents.
Working-at-home also provides CX agility by giving employees a new perspective in making decisions away from an office setting. Having teams in a different setting can encourage employees to over-communicate and inspire teamwork and also helps leaders to focus on team members’ contributions to reward good performance.
Team Empowerment There are two effective ways to empower employees: through regular team huddles and by encouraging calculated risks. Regular team huddles are critical in making sure that your employees are up to speed on the changes that happen on a day-to-day basis. At this point, accept nothing less than transparency and the full participation of each member. Daily team meetings also inspire employees to share thoughts about issues and also allow them to reveal any problems that they might be having that your leaders can help them with.
Give your agents the chance to take calculated risks. By instructing them to use good judgment, permit them to make decisions on how to best handle customers. As in the game of chess, allow them to think two to three steps ahead in delighting their customer. Doing so will empower your agent to think for themselves more and give them leeway in building better relationships with their customers.
Data is the lifeblood of innovation Data is vital. It is critical that customer behavior in all channels is captured and translated into the actionable insight that determines future direction. Your ability to gather data is only as good as your capacity to transform data into practical application. The data you gather from customer surveys, employee surveys, training merits, coaching scores, and more are opportunities to create a roadmap of how to deliver the best customer experience. Remember that the best laid and well-executed plan is the cornerstone of an impregnable customer care unit.
With two decades of continuous innovation of our tools and technical capabilities for customer service agility, VXI can help you engage, delight, and retain your customers. If you need help transforming your customer experience, contact us , and let VXI deliver to you the customer experience agility that you need.
