Hello and welcome today’s to today’s session where we’re going to be exploring strategies for dealing with complex contact center operations I’m Lee hawkwood CEO here at the ccma and I’m joined by colleagues from across the industry uh we have Ryan razi who is head of assisted sales and early life
Care at Vodafone and he was also winner of contact center leader of the year in 2021 at the UK National contact center Awards so delighted to have you on board and kther NES who is the VP of customer experience at masimo consumer and also Spencer Brooks one of the co-founders of
Tkg the knowledge group now we know that contact center operations are more complex now than they have ever been before and certainly in the 30-year history of the C and and it’s compounded more and more by channels and the more reasons to contact and I mean there’s so many things that
Influence just how complex the contact center operation is over the course of the next hour we’re going to be exploring what makes the contact center so complex it’s not just about channels it’s not just about reasons to contact there’s so much more and we’ve got a This brilliant panel of Industry leaders
That are going to explore some of the strategies that people like yourselves can take back to your operation to make sure that the operation doesn’t get out of control that you’re able to um keep a a good Management on your operation if you’ve got any comments or
Views that you’d like to share please do use the uh chat which you can hopefully see on screen and if you’ve got any questions please put those in the Q&A and I will be putting those questions to our panel as much as I possibly can throughout the course of the next hour
So let’s start with a poll so what makes your contact center operation complex so hopefully that poll is going to appear on screen now there you go so what makes your contact center operation complex so please take all that apply I’m going to Rattle through them while you’re making up your minds
As to which ones you’re going to take so multiple channels many different customer segments multiple Brands range of products and services offered your language requirements operation is split across different geographies you might have complex customer vulnerab abilities um you might have multiple technologies that are causing that complexity uh
Maybe call or contact length lack of self-service options working patterns with hybrid working and the number of metrics that are monitored and I think there is another one on there as well that’s just out off screen to me please do place your votes okay some interesting complexities
There no wonder contact center is so complex so Spencer there’s a lot there isn’t there it’s definitely starting to fill up from um people’s responses yeah a lot there so should we have a look at the results yeah okay let’s have a look at the results there we go
Spencer I’m going to come to you to get your view on what you can see in those results so it it it looks like that range of products and services is is pretty high up there multiple technologies that doesn’t really surprise us and uh multiple channels not
Just because it’s top of the list but uh we know that that is a challenge um let’s leave those that poll result result on screen for the moment and Spencer talk us through what your interpretation of those findings are well I think it it reflects kind of
What we’ve seen in 2023 and and before that you know we do a lot of activity either with in-house operations or a lot of um sourcing events you know that’s what we do as a business in terms of people looking to Source activities and complexity C comes into that it’s it’s
Kind of complicated I mean there’s individual Parts but looking at some of those things and how they kind of fit together is quite interesting in terms of the trends that we see so you know customer channels of choice as we kind of see there is multiple channels is definitely
A complex part of the world that we live in now so how do you deal with customers who are surfing between channels to basically get their either products ordered or Services understood or complaints completed know H how are you dealing in a consistent message across those kind of channels and that is still
The Utopia that everyone is still trying to deal with and as soon as you’ve sold one channel there’s another one yeah so as we’ve move forward and forward you know whatsapps become more prevalent you know Messengers become more prevalent and suddenly you’re kind of dealing not
Only with a different Channel but also a different system to kind of deal with it which is where I think Technologies and channels kind of come together because the outside world is evolving in Channel but the inside world of technology Within corporations can be slower so the the disconnect between dealing with a
Single view of the customer with technology internally but seeing all your customers connecting in different ways they’re kind of becoming broader and broader and further and further apart so customer Channel Choice definitely on the poll but also from what we see interestingly I think that languages looks quite low here in the
Poll and that might be a representation to people that have joined but in in the global market that we are now actually um language is a biggest complexity that we’re seeing with with customers you know it’s very difficult to think that you’re going to launch products now in
One geog geography so just thinking it’s going to be only in the UK only in English speaking and then what comes with that is only one regulator to deal with that doesn’t really that isn’t really reality the reality is that you’ve got one product that might be slightly different in different markets
And those products and services have different regulatory requirements they might have a different brand you know having a brand called hair in the UK might not resonate right in Scandinavia so you’ve got different brand different product different service different language requirement and therefore different terms and conditions and regulatory requirements
So geographical Market is definitely a big complexity when we’re dealing with with people and so with all those things when you put everything into the Melting Pot we find organizations are really kind of what what are the things in your service that have to be in place because
You can’t have everything and I’m sure we’ll have the conversation with Katherine and Ryan that are dealing with these kind of complexities you can’t have everything because if we wanted a person in a country to answer the phone with a product with a brand with a service and all the
Regulatory we would have infinite budgets well we don’t have that so we have to compromise somewhere and is that in language is that in product is that in service you know in cost because in a commercial world we got to make we got to make the books B balance and
Profitability so it’s not an unsurprised around Channel I’m slightly surprised around the language bit because I thought that would be kind of more up the up the tree in terms of in terms of answers thank you Spencer um so let’s move on and Katherine I’d like to bring you into
The conversation here so you are the VP of customer experiencer mimo consumer and for anyone that has maybe not come across mimo um you are a global audio and medical devices company and you are known for some of the world’s best audio equipment and I believe that you’re now
Bringing to Market some of the most fascinating consumer health and wearable devices to support Health at home um that’s a whole another conversation but just just before Christmas we were in a debate about the complexities of the contact center and how you can’t necessarily find a one-size fits-all strategy industrywide because of those
Complexities please can you share your experiences and thoughts on the complexities you have come across and what you’re aware of in the contact centers you’ve worked in yeah no certainly thanks lean thanks for having me here and just looking at the poll and obviously what Spencer has said it all
Just resonates with me I mean I’ve been in customer service and operations for a long long time and it’s got increasingly more complex um you could also add more interesting as well but certainly more complex I mean just looking at masimo we’ve got you know seven high-end audio
Brands and then we’ve got all the help products on top of that but within even the audio products you know the range of products within each brand is complex the the different customer segments price points expectations and obviously Tech technology um again talking back to what Spencer says you know we’re Global we’ve
Got operations in the UK right across Europe North America APAC um we’ve got in terms of our support we’re both inhouse and we use a lot of Outsource Partners um we like to make it even more difficult for ourselves in the sense that even with our own team we’ve got
People that are off a space full-time we’ve also got people that are remote Technologies obviously trying to you know grow the customer experience that means we’re laying on top Technologies but we’ve also got like Legacy Technologies we’ve come together as a portfolio of Brands but that means
That’s a result of Mer mergers and acquisition so there’s lots of Legacy technologies that we’re dealing with there and then very much in line with what Spencer was saying you know multiple Brands multiple languages but also often we don’t have the contact volume that warrants us having you know
As Spencer said one person managing one kind of like contact use case um so that there’s compromises we’re asking a lot of our agents to kind of you know deliver the brand expectation the the customer expectation and maintain that um brand reputation which is is you know fundamental to us within the premium
Brands that we’re dealing with and I think through the the pandemic customer expectations have risen a lot and also have has our agents expectations so yeah it’s certainly more complex I think than ever before and you know what it’s interesting what you you talked about your call volumes there and that
Actually so we we’ll um come to Ryan at Vodafone in a moment who I’m sure your call volumes are on a on a different level to Asimo Asimo being um mainly btb and some BTC but I I guess that does bring in a complexity we didn’t put on
The poll was that actually if you’ve got less call volumes but more complexity that yes the the Reliance you have on your front line is so much greater yeah you know and we’re certainly probably more B Toc than B2B but we definitely don’t have the volumes that phone have
Yet yeah no interesting and hey for you guys that are listening into the conversation if you’ve got any uh comments anything that you want to share from your experiences please do feel free to put them in the chat um so given um that we’ve got this complex environment and Katherine you’ve
Um lovely um articulated what you’re experiencing what does this mean to the contact center operation what do we need to be able to handle these different requirements Spencer I’m going to come back to you what what do we need what are the things that we should be thinking
About so is that me or Ryan sorry Lee back to you and then I’ll bring in Ry in a moment okay um well the interface between customer consumer is is vital and the assistant like I think Katherine pointed out we’re asking a lot of agents to now deal with multiple things so
Assisting agents with technology whether that be interfacing with customers in in an easier way understanding and getting hold of knowledge in a better way that is at the Forefront of what needs to happen because you just can’t you just can’t stretch someone that much you know
Is that kind of elastic band or kind of kind of principle that you’re going to break it at some point so the ability to stretch someone further has to be through either AI or assisted kind of Technologies for the agent there’s obviously assistance for the customer
But the customer is so much um in control of what they want to do and they’re going to move that you could try and move yourself with where they’re going that that’s kind of that’s just going to be Evolution but what control what you can this point about immovable
Objects you’ve got to kind of control where you are uh and especially as we look at things like there’s definitely a lot more movement around in the nonvoice space around using technology to convert um text and messaging into one language yeah so that that allows you to
Hopefully you know scale in one language but to deal with multiple languages or to deal with multiple products so the filtering between consumer and agent is definitely kind of a a move forward not not completely tested you know not even not even um language ivrs are as good as
They they kind of play out to be but the text conversion and you know you can see it with the evolution of chat GTP you know those things are becoming more and more and we’re seeing a lot more of that activity where people are either using lowcost locations or using single
Locations to be able to deliver um scale of volume in terms of multiple linguals so that’s definitely um a movement towards it so technology is one you know Outsourcing brings expertise but I wouldn’t necessarily say it brings expertise in in what the product is you know we should we should
Be really really clear that they’re really really good at expertise in efficiency and Effectiveness and when combined with an internal knowledge around product and service can bring some different flexibilities and obviously economies a scale to Katherine’s point you know if you haven’t got the the scale in a
Particular country it could be quite cost prohibitive to scale something up on a small size for a small market so you know Outsourcing can kind of bring that kind of dynamic as a as a blend of In-House and Outsource um but you know be careful with the handing over
Something that you haven’t got full control of yourself and adding the extra complexity of managing a third party you you’ve got to have your own house in order understand exactly what’s happening at a local level and it’s not just in people’s heads because if you put it to somebody else and that
Knowledge doesn’t transfer over then that kind of just kind of can make it even worse of a situation you are so knowing what you do and knowing what you’re good at and what you need help for is is basically the the kind of mix but technology definitely and expertise
In certain areas is is useful thank you Spencer and um in a moment there’s a there’s a um question in the chat that I am going to uh put to yourself Katherine actually around um advice for public sector um and there is a comment uh just in response to your um
Your technology uh conversation there Spencer AI another technology that is used to communicate with the consumer easier needs to seamlessly integrate with the overall CRM system and also support the staff handling the customer queries so as not to disrupt the overall customer journey I think that’s a very
Good point made so so Ryan I I want to bring you into the conversation if I may um now you’ve been at Voda foone for 20 years it is a large and a very complex business we know that it outsources and it also has a lot inhouse um and during
That time you’ve headed up all sorts of different functional areas from product to channels to commercial operations and retention can you share a little bit more around the complexities of the vone operation what you can um and um and also in the context of the poll that we
Had a moment ago um and the impact these factors have on your operation yeah sure afternoon everyone um yes so it’s it’s really interesed actually looking at that poll um it was probably easier actually to tick the things that don’t apply than that do apply I think um and and then listen to
Kther because what I’ve found in our industry is we all have the same um pressures if you want problems uh objectives that we’re all trying to do and it’s just different scales depending on different comp as you said before um so yeah as you
Said vone the bit of vone I work in now is the consumer side of things um and that alone we’ve got almost 9,000 people in our front line teams um spread across various sales teams and service teams um some really specialized teams and then um one of the things we’re trying to do
Is um almost simplify so I think again we’re talking about a lot of complex complexities complex a lot of these complexities we tend to find we are unfortunately the our own kind of worst enemy I as you said I’ve looked in lots of different bits of vone um and I’ve
Probably caused a lot of the complexity for the front line in some of my previous roles where I might have been designing products and services and and doing things like that um and I think to put it into perspective when I moved into the area
I’m in just now let’s go back two years ago um we had over 40 individual campaigns right which is complex and so and that just happened kind of over time B phones now 40 years old so you almost evolve and you grow um and that’s just
One of the complexity to deal with lay layer on top of that systems um you know um customer products changing customer needs changing and before you know it you can end up in a really difficult situation where um you know as we talked about before you really have to look at
It as a business decide what is the priority here what are we going to tackle first and how are we going to tackle it so yeah lots lots of different things and I think going back to your questioning about the list um and I have all the same things I’ve
Got um in-house um front line I’ve got an Outsource um I’ve got four different time zones three different countries multiple systems and knowledge tools um sales and service can be well are very very different as a as a call type as well um and how you deal with them and
And what pressures they might bring to your operation as well can be extra complexity so yeah I think I’m sure we’ll get into the conversations we go on but um yeah how we try to simplify and control the bits that we can control is is huge I think if you’re going to
Actually uh make things better ultimately deliver a a better customer experience at the end of it which is essentially what we’re all here to do isn’t it absolutely and and you’re right ran I am going to come back to you a bit later about how you’re managing those
Complexities um but Katherine if I can put the question to you that um is in the chat and I know that there are a few more in there now but um public sector organizations tend to think that complexity in operations is limited to them what would your advice be to public
Sector and NGO organizations where the budgets are tight but the demand for contact is increasing and I’m leaning into your um your your your um experience around actually relatively small but complex operations and being able to align to to what that question is asking okay I mean for us
There’s all the kind of hygiene factors that you would expect me to say around people making sure that you’ve got the right strategies in in place there big thing around communication Clear Vision so everybody knows where that where they’re going when we start to think about small volume rigorous planning and
Really knowing where your contacts are coming from what what are the reasons for contact you know measuring your mate your metrics and whatever but then it’s Knowledge Management um and and not only having your knowledge you know as Spencer said you know there’s a tendency in smaller
Organizations to have a lot of tribal knowledge but actually making sure that we we kind of capture that knowledge making it usable easily digestable and in the FL the conversations and more and more I mean we’re not there yet but certainly you know trying to get better
And better with agent assist um because it is just complex but having that core knowledge and longer term and obviously there’s you know there’s budget implications for that but but looking at the technologies that eliminate some of those complexities and for us that is you know around language um and how we
Can you know as Spenser with saying think about that kind of like managing it in a core language but being able to respond and service the customer in multiple languages I think it’s interesting you know 50 50% of the work that we do is in the public sector either either you know
Supporting or actually helping inside and I Echo those points with Katherine you know going back to that immovable object thing there’s some different complexity challenges within public sector operations that are removable and I think you’ve got to deal with those and make sure you actually understand the constraints of those within how
Efficient you can fundamentally be and I think that that’s a really good thing place to start with the with the constraints you’ve got around uh shift working patterns you know there might be unionization and those kind of stuff there is no way that you are ever going
To be at the maximum opportunity of efficiency so where can you get to within the constraints of where you are is a really good starting point as a building block for I can only ever be this efficient therefore to Katherine’s Point how do I then take volume out how
Do I deflect how do I doose something else but taking it from the ground up is a really good place to start thank you go on Katherine yeah and then you know the other key component there for us has been like you know insight and analytics really getting to
Know at a granular level and I think that also enables you to to Outsource um and scale So yeah thank you and in fact that leads us quite nicely on to another question that’s in the chat that Spencer I’m going to put to yourself um initially anyway um do you
Have any experience of client constraints around UK based operations only impacting the ability to scale cost effectively any tips on other ways to be cost efficient yeah I mean it’s a really like in the moment thing isn’t it you know the the labor market in in the UK
Now is cons is so massively constrained you know um I was talking to someone know the other you know the other week you know 10 15 years ago there were plenty of jobs and plenty of labor market for it now we have the opposite you know there is still loads of
Vacancies but not the labor market to support it and the ability to shift from one job to another is so much more easier now you know the fact that before if you lived in a 30 m Drive time of where you work that’s your catchment for work with hybrid working and virtual
Working your your ability to work is across the whole of the country you know you don’t have those constraints anymore so the ability for per someone to say I don’t want to work here and I want to work there and that might be based in Thor and then suddenly based in Dundee
That that ability to transition between those roles is so much more simpler so the constraints around the labor market is massive what we’ve found is um and it again you know we we come from the side of actually pockets of smaller organizations have actually gone back to creating home hybrid working
Within a kind of hours drive time so they actually do collect and get to a population closer to where they are so bringing your operations into a hub and spoke model across the UK with different partners that can bring in sizable teams within their location and then not cannibalizing other locations is a
Really way of getting labor and actually is quite efficient because smaller organizations don’t have the same economics as big plc’s and margin return so sometimes you can find that it’s almost like skipping the temporary labor market and kind of going into the outso market still on a temporary basis and
Kind of scattering work across the country um because they they can give you the same economies of scale as big organizations so that that’s what what we’ve seen but it’s definitely a challenge La labor market in the UK for so and that’s why I think you’ll see I
Think coming up this year with the change in government potentially you know with with more work you know the government stepping in and wanting more work in in in the in the population that’s going to make that constraint even bigger you know there’s work going out at the moment which is being uh
Looked at you know that could take a large population the market again it’s going to make it even more tighter for a peripheral organization interesting thank you um in a moment Katherine I’m going to come back to you about the strategies that you’ve put in place to deal with the
Complexities that you’re facing but Ryan I’d like to put one of the questions um that has arrived to you if I may um I’d be interested in any insight into how we can map out role complexity for Frontline staff with all of these complications impacting our staff how do
We know when the cognitive load is too high I’m hoping that you might have had a moment to think about that one having seen it come in um do you do you have views on that no I think it’s it’s really important because it can be too
Easy to I guess breach that threshold of you go too far almost one of the things um talking from experience that we’ve tried to do um to help with efficiencies but also to help with our front line um deliver a better services to almost consolidate The Specialist roles that we
Accumulated over time um now to do that though we’re asking an individual to to adapt and almost take on additional responsibilities learn about multiple products instead of just one maybe look at multiple elements of a product or a customer life cycle instead of just one and and exactly as the person’s asked
This is extra knowledge extra load um and it’s how do you get that right so the way that we do it it sounds really simple I guess the main way that we do it there’s a few other different techniques but the main way is is just to really constantly talk and listen to
The feedback that we get um you know our people are effectively the you know the cheapest Consultants we could ever have because they will tell us you know when things aren’t right they will tell us what needs changed and and if if you can instill a confidence amongst your people
That um you want to hear their feedback and you’re willing to act upon it then um getting feedback from the front line to you will never be a problem again um they are so willing to share um because ultimately they just want to make things better not only for themselves but
Ultimately for for the the customers as well because nobody wants to be in a position where you feel like you could do a better job so I think yeah always keep those lines of communication channels of communication open and uh I guess accept any feedback um in a
Positive way and and they really really try to act upon it and demonstrate to to your front line teams that you know change you’re willing to make the change if they can feedback and I think that’s what we’ve done and that’s that’s the best uh the best way of you known when
Uh you’ve went too far and there’s too much road if you want on your front line and it’s interesting how um we uh from the feedback we’re getting from Members is the complexity of the front line is growing and therefore keeping that that an eye on that complexity and like you
Say that feedback loop so so important Katherine I want to come back to you and ask you about the kind of strategies that you’ve deployed to deal with some of the complexity that you’ve got um is there anything you can share yeah I mean I think a number of them we’ve touched
On already around you know the Knowledge Management piece I think that’s key um you know I think I I’ve spoke about that quite a bit but also the whole kind of data analytics and insight again with what Ryan was saying you know really understanding what’s going on but both
From your you know your customer point of view but also from your agent point of view and what they’re seeing so kind of augmenting some of that like outside in viw with the you know the Inside Out View and and making sure that you really understand all of your your people
Strategies are so important because without the the people and really getting them engaged with the brands and the products that you’re supporting and the services you know so we do lots of exp you know experiential things so people can you know the agents can experience our products understand you
Know the loyalties that fans have and whatever so that they they really engaged um you know another component for us has been you know the the digital first and trying to motivate that because that enables Technologies for us and then you know again I go back to Outsourcing you know for scale removing
Some of the complexities but also allowing us to really concentrate on those Foundation stones and you know that that’s knowledge and whatever and then enabling that agent assist through technology I I completely con that that point that Katherine made right at the end there which is you
Know Outsourcing can help you get focus on your own complexities to leave them with the less complex is is absolutely a kind of Golden Rule of you know if you can’t do it then you know you probably be struggling some else to do it so once
You once you’ve got hold got a hold of it and somebody else can do the scale bit for you you can focus on the bits that are kind of really comp completely kind of it’s such a a trip over that people do thinking that they can just
Push it out there and and so sold the dream of you know we do it for insurance for 20 other people well what do you really do do you know what I mean it’s kind of getting under the skin of that and Spence what what else from um C what
Katherine’s just shared um what what what other things have you seen um you’re talking to contact centers all the time um in your role and and and with what tkg does and you’re always looking at um their operations and and how they can uh better manage them and Outsourcing being a potential solution
Um what have you seen the organizations are doing to help manage those complexities so I think so complexity of In-House what they do what organizations definitely doing is is getting their internal structures right because the complexity and Katherine and Ryan jump in with this it’s it’s not just managing
Your operations it’s managing your other stakeholders whether it be products whether it be marketing whether it be technology and that kind of stuff so that that liaison between not being done to but being collaborative is fundamentally important within within the organization otherwise you know operations just become a cost Center
Therefore a reduction in cost is needed as opposed to kind of like it you know it’s a it’s a brand external it’s the shot window and it’s it’s also Revenue isn’t it whether it be direct Revenue at the time or ongoing reoccurring so I think internally we’re seeing that as a
Big Focus area to make sure that the links between the operation and what happens within the peripheral stakeholders is is done is done well in terms of the in terms of how that looks externally and how you’re dealing with external operations I think introduction or sorry trying to get certain roles that have
Got experience to help support managing an outsourcer is quite difficult when you’ve got small scale when you’ve got large scale you know you can afford to bring in one or two people that need to deal with certain specialisms that might be uh resource planning it might be
Vendor management it might be Ops or whatever and that kind of stuff but when you got smaller Outsource scales so it might be in the hundreds or multiple hundreds organizations are definitely struggling to find some key expertise that they need to help support the management of the outsourcer because
Some might come into an organization and think well that’s the only job I’m May going to have you know as opposed to being like a grow to that role and do something else and do something else so that that’s definitely a challenge to find services that can help you manage a
Third party or even internally it’s the same Principle as internally if you’ve only got atft how can you get a full how can you justify a full-time resource planner how can you justify you know a full-time you know op Ops director and that so fractional people is quite a
Challenge I think in dealing with small subscale and then when you add geography that’s even worse you know how do you deal with subscale across multiple geographies um so dealing with dealing with managing either internal governance or external governs with expertise is is definitely a challenge in bringing those
In and you know you want to have people that can add value rather than deliver PowerPoint and tell somebody else how to do it so practical advice is is a real challenge to kind of get hold on thank you and and actually I want to pick up on um something else that Katherine
Talked about and that is around the people and and getting the the right people and given Spencer what you were saying around the labor market looking after the people that are working on the front line is now more important than never training them empowering them engaging them Ryan I’m really pleased
That you’re nodding your head because I’m going to ask you that question what are the kinds of things that you’re doing to help what the strategies you’re taking to help keep the front line engaged and empowered and able to deliver um the the customer experience when things are so complex for them yeah
Sure um so again repeat my point from before is listening to them I think if if you feel like you’re not being listened to then it’s really easy to disengage and um and care less about what we’re doing I think key is involvement in all in all
Senses so I think as As Leaders we need to be really clear what it is we’re trying to do whether that’s simplification whether that’s to be more efficient be better commercially whatever they may be we need to decide on what our strategy is ultimately I
Think then we need to decide on what we need to do to get to our objective and then that’s where I think we start to involve our people I think you need to communicate what your strategy is help them understand why we’re doing it and
What that means for them um and I mean you almost need to be repetitive and Relentless in terms of how you communicate things communicating everything the good things that’s happening the benefits that we started to see all of the plus points because you really need your front Lan to be
Bought into things because if they’re not bought in then you have no chance of achieving what you’re doing and I think that’s what we tried to do over the last couple of years which is where we’ve been pretty succcessful and and lots of the stuff that we’ve done done with the
Ccma is you know we built a culture that wasn’t there before we actually um luckily I’ve got a really easy job I don’t really have to drive my front line to get involved in things and become engaged and to to tell me when things AR right they do it for themselves and and
It’s almost like self-propelling in the way they do it and it’s um it’s really nice to see actually that people aren’t just turning up to do their shift to go home again they really really care about it and they see it as part and part of
What they do so I think it’s it’s all about how do you find that lovely balance between involving people um enough to for them to feel involved but also to use their brilliant brilliant like expertise and feedback um because I think to Spencer’s Point all too often
Certainly in vone we’ve been the victims of things being created in maybe an HQ environment and almost delivered to the front line or or done to the front line and I think um making sure that we are really part and parcel everything from almost new product conception to to
Execution um is key for everyone involved not just um employees but also customers thank you Ryan and I’m going to stay with you f May because there’s a few questions that have come in around technology and in particular use of AI um and although I’m I’m not necessarily
Going to go through each of them um PC mail and we will look to come back to um answering them pcem mail and there are a couple I’d like to pull out um Ryan I think this one is probably going to be best suited for yourself um in this
Person’s organization we are currently struggling with managing chat performance how do you um how do your product support how does your product support Frontline teams how do you deal on the front line with duel um triple um concurrency and do you think this improves performance what how are you dealing with with that
Multiple CH yeah so it’s something that we look at um again and again because I think finding the balance and so many things we talked about already today it seems like it’s all about finding that balance between different things and this is another one in terms of current
Charts I think it depends on the type of um chat that that agent is taking if it’s a service chat you may be able to do multiple concurrent chats if it’s sales that’s a little bit more difficult um um it tends to be sales charts are longer um and there’s terms of
Conditions involved and there’s obviously an element there of payment um details need to be taken so you need to be a bit more exact and but also what you tend to find is and we’ve been on this journey that you can um increase the concurrent chats and there becomes a
Point where it actually becomes less efficient again because we’re asking people to spend too many plates at the same time so I think it’s just about again being clear about what you would deem need to be um I guess good operational output kpis for that type of of of work that
That someone’s doing and then to monitor them as you effectively increase the the concurrency and increase the the ask of your front line um there is never a right or a wrong answer and I think some of the AI technologies that we are now starting to hear about um and in some
Cases maybe even experience will certainly help in space um I personally I don’t ever see AI shortterm talking you know short to medium term replacing maybe a Frontline agent I think they can definitely support them to do to make their job easier and and and make sure that we
Give a better ultimate end experience um so yeah I think it’s really interesting some of the AI stuff you’re hear about it’s kind be quite uh scary but really interesting in terms of the opportunities and how we utilize this technology because it feels like yeah it’s definitely Happening Now isn’t it
We’re right in the thick of it and it’s starting to become a bigger bigger talking point in the lots of these types of sessions that that you look at and see no I think there’s definitely I think T Ryan’s point you know the original view of chat being massively
Concurrent and that kind of stuff is definitely kind of those those Utopias have moved away I think the other thing as well is that you know fundamentally it’s still an inbound channel so you still have to deal with the you know the basic planning comp complication of the
Fact that you’ve got people waiting around for a chat to come there’s a lot more technology now and it’s has to be for the right service environment where chats are displaced into segments of when people can do it so rather than you chat automatically you leave a chat and
Then someone will say you’ll get something back in the next couple of hours and then that becomes the automated chat so the ability to take chat away from an inbound Channel and displace it into a flat profile can actually mitigate the need that you need
To do two or three at the same time so but it’s all different depending on what you’re trying to serve if you want something serving now needs to be concurrent chat if it’s something that can wait over six hours 24 hours then you can move things around and around
And that that’s that’s actually quite a good customer experience and technology is allowing that to happen yes and Katherine I was going to ask you um if if you’re Le into AI at all to help manage your operation your complexities certainly starting to look at it you know for for agent assist and
How we can kind of like you know get more data in from our quality analysis into agent assess to populate then our knowledge so that it goes but also yeah I think they’re probably the main areas that we’re looking at now also looking in in terms of deflection
And AI in terms of language pieces and removing some of that complexity um so it’s definitely on our agenda but we’re not you know yeah we’re on the journey we’re not we haven’t completed it by any stretch and and do you use chatbots Katherine i’ there’s been a little flurry of questions around
The use of chatbots and and revisiting them and how do you manage them do you use chatbots Catherine we’ve started we use self-service in a number of areas um and we’re starting to look at chatbot but we’re still very much on on the beginning of that journey and it’s not
The Utopia you know what I mean so I think a lot of it is around data and understanding really understanding everything at the granular level and thinking about you know when we were talking there about concurrent chats but again you know what are what are the areas you know the contact reasons that
You can put onto concurrency others that need dedicated what can you self serve what can you automate but it again it’s no s you know no one siiz fits all but I do think Ai and technology is a key component um I also think you know in
Using it to help you surface your knowledge is also going to be key yeah I agree that that kind of tre I think someone’s kind of put in that that kind of use of it as a triage in order to technically using it like a like a um an
An i it’s like an ivr isn’t it using your chatbot to segment the reason and where that needs to go and kind of but again using a tool where you can segment it into a block of space for someone because it doesn’t have to be dealt with
Right now um but that’s I think it’s I think it’s on another Point saying you know how does it impact the customer experience that’s depending on the on the reason for the chat isn’t it so you know you’ve got to understand your CX your CX strategy of how do you deal with
Certain things that people are asking for because they are willing to wait if it’s the right answer at the time that they’re willing to have the conversation with as opposed to prime example in insurance first point uh first point of loss you know I crash my car I don’t
Want to be talking to a chat you know it’s kind of those kind of things you’ve got to deal with your CX experience at the point of Engagement definitely I was going to say that as well um it’s about using these tools at the right times and in the
Right situations because I think it’s as well um definitely in the in my industry um really competitive one it you know the interactions that you have with your customers could be the defining thing in terms of whether they are your customer for um a short time or a long time and I
Think although these tools that are emerging now um sound like they could revolutionize our industry for an efficiency perspective we probably need to be really careful about how quickly we employ some of them because it would be um it’ be wrong for us I think we’d
Be doing the the wrong thing by you know taking away some of that human interaction because actually that’s a lot of the part that some can make a an average or a bad um interaction with us into a great one just be the relationship that you build up on that
Chat or that call with with one of our Frontline people so I think that’s really important as well to remember that you know and in those kind of competitive type uh consumer markets anyway yeah and it’s always that balance isn’t it it’s that balance of human and technology and getting that right and
You know when I think about our performance metrics and whatever you know there was a point where you know we had three top level performance metrics that we were looking at now we’re looking at those by Channel by contact reason you know by geography so you by
Customer type you’re trying to get down to that granular level all the time to know what good looks like and and what you can serve where so that you give customers that best experience yeah there’s a question in there I think from someone who’s talking
Around how do you schedule it so how do you manage the schedule between chat and email and phone you know I think the idea of blending I don’t know whether you kind of agree Katherine right I think the idea of thinking that you can blend chat
Email and phone under one I think is a Utopia that isn’t there I think they you know depending on your size of operations you might be able to use an of infill but true blending between all those channels with the same agent I just don’t think he’s a is’s a feasible
Thing definitely on it own without without technology support so um they I think there’s some interesting Dynamics when you get into forums around planning and stuff around what’s what’s reality and what can actually be done mathematically yeah yeah I was going to say I think
Having an agent who can do all of those things and or rather are expected to potentially do all of those things on the same shift let’s say is is a step too far I think there’s elements here or opportunities where you could probably um cross an upskill agents to be able to
Do multiple um communication channels and therefore be comfortable interacting and using those and then it’s a case of um flexing your Workforce as a when you need to so you might know that you’re going to have a certain time where chat’s going to be much busier than your
Voice Channel and great you’ve got agents who can do both I think there’s opportunities for that especially if you’re looking after a smaller operation and it’s more difficult to size and scale up to your Peaks that you need to um I think that’s probably something that that everyone could look at um I’ve
Certainly looked at that as well I’ve got some teams that handle some more specialized things that have the ability to do voice um chat and uh social and they do all of them but not at the same time cuz I think that’s when we again it’s a step too far that’s when we’re
Asking someone just to spend too many plates I think on Katherine you wanted to add to the to the conversation on that too yeah you know it it’s the same for us I think multi-skilling is absolutely key and particularly for smaller operations but it but it’s a balance yeah you know it
It’s a different skill set and and not everybody can do it not everybody should do it um and it’s a daily balance saying act particularly in smaller organizations it’s interesting we we’ve got about um 10 minutes left and and there is another poll that I’d like to
Go to and then get um each of your views on what we discover on that poll um so if we can uh put the poll on screen that would be fabulous and what we want to ask is what strategies are you using today to manage the complex contact
Center environment in your operation so please do tick all that apply um what strategies are you deploying what are you doing um Clear Vision great communication strong collaboration maybe uh you’re using technology uh better that was obviously one of the U more um uh impactful uh complexities use of data and insights
We’ve heard um a lot about that which is obviously key focus on results rather than effort clear RS and responsibilities approaching projects systematically Outsourcing functions such as quality HR and IT outs in for people support um maybe using your own systems and Outsourcing the entire business unit what are you doing to
Manage your complex contact center environment so hopefully you’ve all had a chance to tick all that apply to you and let’s take a little look at the results shall we and Spencer I am going to come to you first um once we have the results on screen so it would appear
That use of data and insights is pretty high up there um and apologies if you didn’t get a chance to answer all of those um go through that uh with your answers but use of data and insights um strong collaboration is up there and obviously having a Clear Vision and
Direction so Spencer what’s your take on the results that you’ve seen there I think it I think it plays to what we’ve been saying you know in terms of in terms of things so Vision directional priorities you know I think falls under that that whole thing about CX strategy
And then you’ve got collaboration across teams we talked about that you know getting your ducks in a row and and working collabor either internally or on a racing model with with your third party is is key I think the data piece is interesting isn’t it you know it’s
It’s another it’s another buzzword that everyone says you know data versus Insight versus analytics um knitting together data from systems is still really really hard um but it is definitely there for I think top of the list because finding the root causes of problems I think lots of stuff around
Efficiencies and you know how do you know if agents don’t um are you know are saturated with what so that all comes from data we can’t sit and observe people day in and day out we can’t just look at things and think that looking at an operation for the day is a reflection
Of how it is on a on a on a life cycle so actually you know the use data and insights to really get under the skin of things or prove or disprove hypotheses that we have is important so I’m not surprised that’s top of the list thank
You and and Katherine what’s what’s your views on what what you’ve seen there and I know that obviously you’ve talked a little bit about knowledge and making sure that the knowledge is there um but what’s your views on what you’ve seen in the poll results there yeah again you
Know it makes absolute sense you know and when I think about communication and collaboration and you know often we think about communication within our own patch but that right across the whole organization is so important for two different reasons you know one for us to understand what everybody else is doing
So that we can service the customer well but the other thing is it gives us a better seat at the table and that’s where the the data and insight comes into it you know it allows us to understand our operation but also to inform the rest of the organization and
It also allows us to kind of think about what are the right strategies for us that are working whether that’s Outsourcing use of technology and whatever and then the other thing for me um which doesn’t really come up there but it’s that digital first piece um to
Allow us to Avail of of Technologies ability to scale um you know and and aied so and it’s interesting when you say about the um the digital piece there was a question earlier um the experience of what is your experience of using crm’s tooling to manage operations does
It truly get wor worse before it gets better how do we prepare our people for this and and I think it’s interesting that actually if you can um get the design of the technology well because you you know what all of your user Journeys are both employee and um
Customer Journeys then the technology can really make a big difference but you’ve got to put it give it the time to to to get it right Ryan what’s your take on what you can see in the poll um I’m really happy to see the top
Two come out as a top things I think they are definitely the ones that if you can do nothing else that you can focus on I think they almost go hand in hand I think with all of these things it’s about controlling the things that you can control talk about complexity a lot
Of the time that might be out of our hands right as operational leaders but being really clear about what things we can influence and what things we can do fall into a liit that we can make better and simplify almost and I think those top two are are by far the most
Important ones in terms of getting kickstarting something and to build that momentum I think our business is all about momentum and if you don’t have to talk to then you have no chance of building anything so I think yeah pleased to see those came at top allows
You to be razor sharp doesn’t it you know those two those top two absolutely allows you to focus on the things that matter and try not to get distracted by the things that matter as much it’s really hard isn’t it because I think um all of those those options if you like
All of those strategies have a part to play I guess it’s just how much you um lean on one two three four of them more than than others I guess um and and actually this brings me to the to the final question that I’m going to ask you
All I’m going to come to you first Katherine and Spencer I’ll come to you at the end is fundamentally 30 seconds what’s your key advice what would you want people who are listening into this conversation to really go away with Katherine if I can come to you first
Yeah I mean again it resonates with the poll it’s that communication collaboration you know technology is fantastic but just remember it’s people first and they’re the enabler for everything get your knowledge right use data um yeah and just keep iterating I think keep iterating and sometimes you
Do have to restart when we’re talking about techn IES you know you can you know you can be committed to systems but sometimes you know you’ve outgrown some of these systems and you do have to stop and rethink thank you Katherine thank you Ryan what’s your 30 second piece of
Advice I’d say um become obsessed with Gathering and listening to um both in front line but also your customers I think then it’s about um controlling the things that are controll able for you um and simplifying what you can do in in a complex world and then being really
Consistent and be consistent over a long period of time I’m talking 12 24 months it needs to be consistent in order to really make lasting change not just a short-term impact thank you Ryan Spencer what’s your final piece of advice that you’d like to share uh I would say don’t
Suffer in silence you know all the questions that have come on and everything I mean I think Katherine and Ry are examples of individuals that look beyond their internal organization whether that be through being part memberships of ccma and other organizations as well as they use outsourced Partners so my advice would
Be you know don’t suffer in silence you know reach out to organizations like like ccma you know ourselves you know knowledge is the part the title of the the company that we’ve got you know we’ve got knowledge and experience so don’t don’t suffer in silence there’s
Lots of help out there in order for you to learn from from other organizations to you know hopefully give you some clarity about what direction to go in thank you so much Spencer and and I’m going to just Echo that um you know we’re here to help that’s that’s you
Know why we exist so if um anyone has got any challenges that they want to talk through we can either help or Point them in the direction of others that might be going through simar challenges or have been through those challenges um or indeed some of our partners so thank
You guys so much Spencer Ryan and Katherine I really appreciate you giving us time to share um a little bit more about your world um thank you so much Spencer I also appreciate the knowledge group and the support you’re giving the ctma at the moment as well thank you
Guys so much and of course thank you for joining us today um I hope that’s been useful any questions we didn’t get to we will go back and address and we will share them as a article on the website so thank you guys so much for joining us
And we’ll see you again soon take care thanks everyone