Customer Service
Key Ways To Stimulate Workforce Connectedness And Electrify Employee And Customer Experience
85% of respondents to an IDC survey felt that an improved employee experience (EX) has a direct connect to better customer experience (CX). CX is considered a crucial differentiator and delivering exceptional experience leads to great success for companies. Employees are in direct contact with the customers and, therefore, play a pivotal role in shaping the customer experience. Employees who are engaged and motivated are the most prepared to deliver an outstanding CX. Organisations need to focus on designing an EX that is equipped to deliver an optimal CX. An employee experience and customer experience that are in alignment will enable excellence, productivity, customer and employee satisfaction and organisational growth.
AI analytics solutions utilising multimodal big data can generate personalised customer behavioural profiles and product recommendations. This information can elevate customer service as it allows employees to understand customer needs and provide tailored service to them. Providing employees with the tools and information necessary for them to be competent at their jobs might seem a basic organisational function. But when the accuracy and customisation provided by the tools and data elevate the customer service, the employee experience is also improved considerably. When employees have ready access to dashboards with all the required information, it boosts employee engagement, productivity, and performance.
The pandemic spawned a digital transformation of customer contact centre systems to enable a seamless transition to remote and hybrid working. Cloud-based solutions for omnichannel customer service made uninterrupted support of customers and businesses viable during the Covid years. In the post-pandemic world, flexible work options are vital to employee morale and loyalty. It is necessary that employers continue to leverage technology to provide employees the flexibility to choose their mode of work. Digital solutions are gaining depth in supporting a connected, collaborative remote work environment. The resultant boost to employee engagement and motivation will be central to delivering an optimal CX. The significant positive impact on quality of life and work-life balance that comes with the ability to choose the location of work has become a key parameter when choosing jobs and measuring employee satisfaction.
High call volumes and difficult customers can result in burnout, lower productivity, and higher attrition rates. Improving employee engagement through genuine, meaningful connections is possible using gamification. Gamification involves the application of gaming design and elements into the customer service centre environment to improve connection and commitment around a common theme. The gamification may be based on sports, quests, adventures, or other themed leagues. Game elements like points, badges, leaderboards, challenges, and rewards make the environment more engaging, spirited, and interesting. Senior and executive leaders also become active participants, and the competitive teams set up ease the process of connecting, mentoring, and coaching. These solutions provide actionable data and insights and can, with the use of prescriptive analytics, provide targeted engagement strategies or tailored development plans. KPIs for senior and executive leadership like team performance, attrition, leader engagement, and employee satisfaction can be incorporated within the gaming theme setting.
Integrating CX within EX is vital to ensuring the success of the organisation's CX mission. Similar to customer journey maps that help clarify and elaborate the customer experience, employee journey mapping helps identify tools and resources to support employees and align their tasks with the CX. The organisation's CX goals and values should be communicated at every stage beginning from job postings and interviews. Employee onboarding should have sessions dedicated to the company's CX vision and assign CX champions as mentors. CX should also be a part of training and coaching. Feedback sessions should be scheduled periodically to collect firsthand opinions which will prove invaluable in optimising processes and customer interactions. A cross-functional CX panel with representation from people at all levels will help align CX with daily activities across the organisation and provide diverse inputs into enhancing the CX.
Performance management tools for a customer service centre encompass optimisation at all levels from employee performance to customer satisfaction and overall efficiency. AI-powered tools allow for a holistic approach to tracking and analysing performance and scoring KPIs. Intelligent solutions transcend the elementary KPIs like average call time or calls per hour, providing insights like customer sentiment, agent efficiency, and operational hitches. Real-time speech analytics can analyse tones, emotions, and keywords to provide inferences that employees can access in real time. This information can be utilised for customised training, enhancing scripts, and highlighting issues. Performance data identifies areas of improvement for individual employees and the necessary targeted support, boosting employee performance in minimal time.
Organisations should invest in improving employee engagement, empowerment, and commitment. Cultivating the employee experience is the key to positive customer outcomes and, consequently, organisational growth. The employee experience is definitely the central driver of CX and organisations need to keep working on affirming the alignment between the two.
How can Infosys BPM help?
At Infosys Customer Service BPM, we transform the end-to-end customer experience through digital capabilities, offering integrated omnichannel support solutions. We focus on delivering customised value and fostering strong client partnerships.
