Introduction

In a rapidly evolving digital landscape, AI-powered customer experience (CX) solutions are becoming indispensable as companies seek to strengthen customer loyalty, streamline support, and scale personalized interactions. With AI-driven insights, organizations can unlock new levels of efficiency and customer satisfaction, paving the way for future growth. Yet, challenges such as data security, integration complexities, and the need for seamless self-service options are pushing companies to adopt innovative strategies that enhance customer interactions while safeguarding sensitive information.

Frost & Sullivan’s December 2024 CX Think Tank webinar,  Unlocking Growth with AI-Powered Customer Experience, explored the future of AI-powered contact center solutions. Moderator Alpa Shah, Global VP of CX, led a diverse panel of CX thought leaders from Frost & Sullivan (Bernardin Arnason, Research Director; Nancy Jamison, Research Director, Sebastian Menutti, Research Director; Ankita Singh, Senior Analyst), Genesys (Brett Weigl, Senior Vice President, Genesys), SuccessKPI (Erin Stewart, Senior Director of Sales), and Teleperformance (Joao Cardoso, Chief Innovation & Digital Officer, Teleperformance) who highlighted key opportunities in customer experience, including:

• AI-Driven Personalization: Enhances customer loyalty by delivering interactions tailored to individual needs and preferences
• Agent Optimization Tools: Empowers support teams with AI insights, improving productivity and driving revenue growth through faster, more effective service
• Self-Service AI Enhancements: Refines automated support options, offering seamless, intuitive solutions that reduce the need for direct agent involvement

This stellar panel shared valuable insights into the evolving landscape of AI technology in various industries. Their comments highlighted significant trends, successful use cases, and the importance of adapting metrics to support both customer and employee satisfaction.

AI Products and Features that Moved the Needle on Adoption

There has been a lot of hype and uncertainty around implementing AI in CX solutions in 2023. This year, companies buckled down and focused on customer needs, use cases, and providing value with AI capabilities to meet real needs.

Cardoso kicked off the conversation by emphasizing the successful deployment of AI in the collections industry. He noted “We deployed a solution called Teleperformance (TP) Recommender, which prioritizes delinquents and identifies the highest probability of payment. This has increased the liquidation rate by more than 11%, which is a game changer for the bank.” Cardoso also illustrated the impact of AI on sales, sharing specific improvements realized by clients. “For a multinational food and beverage company, we achieved an 11% increase in sales and a 27% rise in the average sales ticket using our TP interact solution, which analyzes interactions through generative AI.” His commentary underscores the trend of using AI not solely as a replacement for human agents, but as a tool to enhance existing services and support customer interactions, stating, “We are seeing outstanding cases with great value created for clients, focusing on augmenting the customer experience rather than replacing it.”

Shah pointed to the necessity of adapting measurement metrics as AI implementation changes customer needs and agent performance requirements. She stated, “I see that with AI, metrics must change, and businesses are not often getting that. What does it mean to incorporate AI and still value the agent and the supervisor?” This highlights the challenge businesses face in transforming their traditional measurement systems to ensure they accurately reflect the impact of AI while keeping workforce morale intact. Shah’s inquiry calls attention to the critical balance organizations must strike as they integrate AI—ensuring that employees feel supported and valued amidst technological changes.

Weigl further emphasized the focus on AI designed for enhancing user experience, noting the trend towards self-service and automation. “We think of it very much as AI for the end user, which often leads to more self-service applications and automation. Everybody is very excited about generative AI chatbots.” He noted that organizations are progressively setting ambitious goals for AI containment rates, moving from historical rates of 20 to 30% to expectations of 60 to 70%. He highlighted the growing need for AI tools that empower agents, mentioning, “Our co-pilot solutions are growing incredibly quickly…we’re putting more into it so that agents don’t have to hunt around in the desktop with all different panes of glass.” His remarks emphasized the importance of AI not just in improving customer interactions but in streamlining workflows for employees as well.

Stewart emphasized the importance of the human element in the AI transition. She says “It’s crucial that we don’t lose sight of the human connection. Customers still want personalized interactions, and that’s where trained employees are irreplaceable.” She suggested that AI should be seen as a complement to human effort rather than a full replacement.

Jamison added her perspective by highlighting the necessity of trust in AI systems. She said “For many clients, the fear of the unknown drives hesitation in adopting AI solutions. We need to build trust through transparency in how these systems operate and reassure clients about data security and the ethical use of AI.” Her comments emphasize the ethical considerations necessary for successful AI implementation.

The aim is to create value without displacing the human touch, showing that AI can be a powerful ally in improving both business outcomes and employee satisfaction. Joao suggested, “reduce or eliminate rote work, save valuable time during interactions, and provide more contextual feedback so that you can get to the next best action.”

Arnason discussed the challenges organizations face in integrating AI, particularly concerning data integration. He stated “One of the biggest hurdles we encounter is the siloing of data. For AI to drive meaningful insights, organizations must ensure their data is harmonized and accessible across platforms.” This speaks to the technical infrastructure essential for successful AI applications.

Singh then highlighted the evolving customer expectations influenced by AI technologies. She added “Customers are becoming more accustomed to immediate responses and personalized recommendations. The expectation is that AI will deliver these seamlessly, and businesses must adapt rapidly to meet this demand.” This underscores the pressure on organizations to maintain pace with technological advancements.

Menutti concluded with a forward-looking perspective, suggesting that businesses should proactively adapt to AI changes. He says, “The future isn’t about whether to adopt AI but how to integrate it meaningfully into the existing workflows while keeping a focus on employee and customer satisfaction,” he said. “Organizations must embrace the disruption that AI brings and leverage it to redefine their service models.”

Shah discussed the importance of developing AI based on use cases so that businesses can overcome their biggest hurdles and more rapidly attain a return on their investment. Stewart agreed and added, “We really need to focus on use cases that drive value. In the past, businesses were not measuring these transformations. Businesses stuck their necks out to implement AI capabilities and found that they didn’t see the results they wanted. Now, it is important to contact center leaders to see the impact of AI on the customer and agent experience and the changes in the business outcome, and then continue to look at that loop of feedback on both experiences.”

Conclusion

In summary, the panelists collectively highlighted a multi-faceted approach to AI integration, where the emphasis remains on enhancing customer experience while supporting employees through adaptive metrics, improved tools, and ethical considerations.

The insights shared paint a picture of a shifting landscape where AI and human effort collaboratively work to create value, illustrating that the pursuit of enhanced customer satisfaction and operational efficiency can coexist harmoniously.

*** For more details on the future of AI in the world of CX, please check out the entire video below. It’s chock full of valuable information as we head into 2025!

https://frost.zoom.us/rec/share/qm99t0_-M-WkREkCzsddKPrJmelbYCFG902uWEucTWAsJ0G5K_u0leXraJfjmzb_.CkX3RKjQG5IlyR0j

Alpa Shah, Global Vice President at Frost & Sullivan, has vast professional and volunteer experience in developing business and organization strategies; analyzing product, regional, and vertical markets; planning and executing events; sales and marketing; writing growth opportunity insights; and, most importantly, creating and inspiring teams to be best in class. Her current area of focus is on CX; she has also worked on projects covering technologies such as UC and mobile and wireless.

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Understanding Luxury in Contact Centers
Personalized, seamless, and efficient customer interactions characterize luxury in contact centers. It’s about exceeding customer expectations through high-quality service, advanced technology, and a human touch that leaves a lasting impression. Here’s how to achieve this:

Personalization: The Heart of Luxury
Customers today expect personalized experiences. According to a report by Salesforce 84% of customers say being treated like a person, not a number, is very important to winning their business. Personalization involves understanding customer preferences, history, and behaviors to provide tailored solutions.

Example: Using CRM systems to track customer interactions and preferences enables agents to offer relevant solutions quickly, enhancing the sense of luxury.

Seamless Omnichannel Experience
Luxury is also about convenience and accessibility. Customers should be able to switch between communication channels—phone, email, chat, social media—without repeating themselves. A study by Aberdeen Group found that companies with robust omnichannel strategies retain 89% of their customers compared to 33% for those with weak strategies.

Example: Integrating all communication channels into a unified system allows for smooth transitions and consistent experiences, which customers perceive as luxurious.

Proactive Service
Providing proactive service is another hallmark of luxury. It involves anticipating customer needs and addressing issues before they become problems. According to Gartner, proactive customer service can increase customer satisfaction and net promoter scores by an entire percentage point.

Example: Using predictive analytics to identify potential issues and reach out to customers with solutions before they contact support demonstrates a high level of care and attentiveness.

Empowered and Skilled Agents
Luxury service relies heavily on the capabilities of contact center agents. Well-trained and empowered agents can deliver superior service, resolving issues quickly and effectively. Research by McKinsey shows that empowered frontline employees improve customer satisfaction by up to 30% and reduce costs by up to 20%.

Example: Investing in continuous training and providing agents with the right tools and information enables them to handle complex inquiries efficiently, reflecting a luxurious level of service.

Leveraging Advanced Technologies
Adopting advanced technologies such as AI, chatbots, and voice recognition can enhance the luxury experience by making interactions faster and more efficient. According to IBM, businesses using AI have seen a 20% improvement in customer satisfaction.

Example: AI-powered chatbots can handle routine inquiries swiftly, freeing up human agents to focus on more complex issues, thus elevating the overall customer experience.

Conclusion
Defining luxury in a contact center environment goes beyond offering premium products or services; it’s creating exceptional customer experiences. Businesses can redefine luxury and exceed customer expectations by focusing on personalization, seamless omnichannel interactions, proactive service, empowered agents, and advanced technologies.

As customer expectations continue to rise, redefining luxury in contact centers will be essential for businesses striving to differentiate themselves in a competitive market.

Chad has over 25 years of experience in the contact center industry, excelling in developing and managing high-performing teams. His deep knowledge of efficient customer service strategies and innovative technologies has consistently increased customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. Chad’s dedication to continuous improvement and exceptional results makes him a trusted expert in contact center management.

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Prioritization: Setting The Goals You Need to Succeed

You’ve probably attended a training or workshop focusing on OKR (objectives and key results), MBO (management by objectives) or SMART goals. Prioritization strategies and tools abound and are easily accessible, yet we’re still not prioritizing properly. The problem then is clearly in the doing, not in the knowing. This happens because we overlook an integral component of prioritization: It’s impossible to prioritize if a clear goal is not present.

You may feel constrained to wait for leadership initiatives to trickle down and set your goals for you. In the meantime, you still have responsibilities to manage and goals to meet. In the absence of clarity from above, step into the leadership void with your vision and set your goals accordingly, then adjust as you gain additional feedback/insight.

Compartmentalization: Sectioning Your Life and Avoiding Distraction

While prioritization is touted as a critical skill even as it’s undermined, compartmentalization is just as important a skill and can be even more challenging to develop. To be blunt, if we don’t compartmentalize, we are not going to make it.

Stress, fatigue and burnout are inevitable in the current work environment. We continue to see boundaries broken down year after year, with the tumult of the past year demolishing any remaining pretense of separation between our work and personal lives.

If the biggest challenge for prioritization is a lack of clear goals, what’s the biggest challenge for compartmentalization? Overcoming distraction.

The Impact Distraction Has on Our Ability to Compartmentalize

We talk often about the external distractions that leave us half-present in conversations and relationships — constant push notifications, chats, texts, status updates and so on. We would be best served to turn those off at specific intervals and times of the day so we can be more productive and satisfied.

In her book, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking, Susan Cain recounts findings from the famous Coding War Games, a study designed to identify the characteristics of the best and worst computer programmers. Researchers found that “top performers overwhelmingly worked for companies that gave their workers the most privacy, personal space, control over their physical environments, and freedom from interruption.” These insights can be applied to other industries, too. When your mind races at 2 a.m., you half-listen to your child or have a nagging feeling that there is something else you should be doing, it’s because you’ve broken down the muscle of attention.

The idea of multitasking is lauded by many business leaders, but it’s really just another version of distraction and it’s destructive because it requires a constant shifting of attention, a perpetual re-orienting of your work efforts.

People believe they can or that they should be able to multitask. When participants in our training sessions are asked whether it’s a critical skill, they all say yes. When the same participants who valued multitasking are asked whether they’re good at it, they all admit they’re not. And they’re not meant to be, even though our work culture ingrains this concept into all of us. We are moving so fast we rarely pause long enough to see if the skills we are attempting are even skills that build either capacity or efficiency.

Multitasking isn’t some elusive skill. It’s really just fast and frequent context switching, which lowers your ability to produce good work or to truly evaluate your efforts. Studies show multitasking is ineffective, promotes anxiety, trains the muscle of distraction and dumbs us down.

Compartmentalization, then, is handling each task in its own time with increased focus and minimal distraction. Then, when you’ve successfully handled it, let go so you can dedicate yourself to your next area of responsibility.

The Connection Between Prioritization and Compartmentalization

We need to prioritize to understand what’s truly important and meaningful. We need to compartmentalize to keep the important items we’ve identified from bleeding over into each other, preventing us from ever truly regenerating or recharging. Here are a few tips for doing so:

• As you rank priorities, communicate them to your team. Ensure your team members know which tasks are most important but also that their well-being and energy reserves are just as critical as any specific task/item on your list.
•  Normalize boundaries. Encourage your team members to also set boundaries, so everyone has the same opportunity for compartmentalization.
• Don’t overwhelm your team members with technology. Choose one tool that works for everyone, then reduce the mental workload that comes from context switching between platforms.
• Model the behavior you want to see. If you want your team members to compartmentalize and recharge outside of work, don’t email them at 11 p.m. If you want them to talk about issues they’re facing, set an example by sharing your own challenges and asking for the help/support you need.

As you lead your team, you need to acknowledge reality: You are working in one of the most difficult work eras in history. Your time is precious and finite. Your energy (and the energy of your team) needs to be allocated to the things that matter — that’s work, but that’s also relationships and health. If you agree with that core premise, getting really good at organizing your work and letting go of it will separate you as a true leader regardless of your position and will serve you anywhere

Andrew Deutscher is the founder and CEO of Regenerate. For over a decade, he has worked with a variety of high-performance disciplines from professional athletes to the US Air Force, translating cutting edge strategies for sustained energy and performance to applicable life strategies for high pressure career professionals. In a world of rising demands and increased obligations, he’s helped thousands of managers, leaders, and executives shift from reactive to proactive to recapture their days and win back their lives.

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Newsflash! This year’s 20th Anniversary Annual Contact West: A Frost & Sullivan Executive MindXchange, was recently held at the JW Marriott Starr Pass in Tucson. It was a unique meeting of innovative, enthusiastic and collaborative minds.

The event consisted of inspiring keynotes, breakout sessions, interactive panels, the ‘solutions wheel’ and casual hallway discussions – all taking place under one roof. Each participant and solution partner offered a plethora of perspectives, commentary and information, freely shared. This insight paper provides highlights and essential takeaways from a select number of sessions held during the event.

Predictions: Navigating A Bold, Boundless…and Bumpy Future!

In her keynote address, Christina “CK” Kerley, talked about an “Era of Mind-Blowing Progress at Jaw-Dropping Speed and Scale.” She outlined a compelling look at a CX fast-forward future that promises to be:

• Automated
• Skills-led
• Accelerated
• Demanding
• Messy

CK maintains that acceleration isn’t really the issue at hand. She points out that it‘s the lack of preparation that is the real culprit.

The author and futurist warned CX leaders in the audience to not focus on the shiny new AI tools, but rather on what solutions can do to improve, enhance and solve problems for customers. She believes that the skillset of the future will be made of emotional intelligence, adaptability, collaboration and critical thinking. CK concluded by noting that while our CX future promises to be fraught with disruption, there is a tremendous opportunity window in chaotic times.

Key Take-away:
The future – while uncertain, accelerated, and messy – offers great opportunities for business and professional growth if we Re-alize, Re-structure and Re-prioritize.

Prioritizing Objectives and Modernizing Your Technology

Susan Weaver, Chief Customer Officer at Slavic401k presented her views on the importance of:

1. Defining and Aligning Objectives
2. Prioritizing Projects
3. Conducting a Cost-Benefit Analysis
4. Implementing Data-Driven Decision Making

Susan’s advice is that new technology investment must be tempered with:

• Assessing current technology in-place
• Examining trends in tech modernization
• Fostering a customer-centric environment
• Selecting the right mix of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies

Key Take-away:

Prioritizing the right projects with data-driven decision making will offer better chances of success and yield greater benefits when seeking new, modern technology investments.

Come Together and Take a Holistic, Agile Approach To Customer Experience

Scott Campbell, Chief Client Experience Officer at American National, is an expert on agility and business strategies.  Scott has over 20 years of experience in marketing, communications, and brand management, spanning multiple product lines and distribution channels in the insurance industry. He shared valuable insight on the importance of building fast and seamless client interactions through digital platforms. He noted how leaner, high-quality internal teams can better focus on handling high-complexity, high-touch calls.

Key Take-aways:

• Consolidate contact center/self-service platform strategies
• Establish a unified set of KPIs to align teams around common goals and success metrics
• Pursue Agile development to increase speed to market and drive results

Culture by Design

Do you ever wonder what employee engagement really entails? Kevin Gober, MBA, Senior Director, Arena Talent Experience, Miami Heat, shared his definition with Customer Contact West participants in this way:

Employee Engagement: The extent to which employees feel passionate about their roles, are committed to the team/organization and put discretionary effort into their work {into winning}.

Kevin believes that organizational culture must be clearly defined and cemented into the hearts and minds of every team member. In this way companies can retain top-tier talent, maintain productivity and drive revenue and growth, Kevin says, “Our culture is our true north. Tells us what to do, how to do it, and how to recover. In sports, it’s about championships – that is, a culture of winning.”

“Employee engagement is not what we {leaders} say it is, it’s what they {our people} say it is.”

-Kevin Gober

Key Take-Aways

Make employees feel valued by supporting their thoughts, ideas and efforts – while being fair and consistent. Involve employees in the development of new processes and celebrate the outcomes with them. Learning from mistakes develops and encourages employee growth and demonstrates concern for everyone’s mental health.

Panel Perspectives: Ask the Experts
Do This, Not That: How We’re Using AI and How It’s Working Out

The thought leaders listed below graciously served as panelists to share their company’s unique use cases and the key stages of their AI journey—from initial planning and deployment to ongoing optimization. They shared effective strategies, the pitfalls to avoid, and how AI is transforming operations in real-world scenarios.

Moderator: Cippy Seidler, Director, Consumer Care Center, Banner Health

Panelists: Heather Arthur, Vice President, Canada Contact Centres, Scotiabank
Jeff Grant, Senior Technology Consultant, Enterprise Contact Center, Southwest Airlines
Andy Lisk, Vice President, Global Head of Customer Service, StockX

A sampling of panelist comments:
“We just started to use conversational AI this week. We needed to have consistent answers for customers and have agents available to work on more complex issues.”

“We are 2 years into a 5-year plan. There is a lot of work to do to clean up documentation and policies to make them simple for chatbots and agents to use.”  

“Give the tech to agents first. Then get immediate feedback. When agents talk to others about the benefits AI, that builds enthusiasm for the process.”

“Get the budget approved. Start today. Train agents to be digital adopters; to learn, process, and master AI automation tools.”

“So far, the response from customers has been positive – at least for simple issues. We are finding that we have to keep training AI, as processes and procedures change.”

Key Take-aways:

• The data and its source are very, very important. Ensure that the data is clean and uncorrupted
• Get front-line agents involved in the development and implementation of AI solutions early on. This will drive engagement, adoption and advocacy for the use of AI technology.
• Invest in continual AI coaching and training to help employees work better, faster, and with more confidence
• Where to start with AI? Email is great place to begin. Then progressively, apply it to repetitive, mundane tasks

THE FIX – Crowdsourcing Tactical Solutions to Our Most Vexing Challenges
Is Remote Work the New Normal?

Among the most popular, yet challenging sessions was “THE FIX.” It consisted of four themed brainstorming sessions designed to uncover solutions to some of the most common operational issues that contact centers and their leaders face today.

Here are just a few of the ideas generated during these rapid-fire 15- minute sessions:

During The Fix on Adapting to Remote as the Norm, led by Chad Anderson, Vendor Manager of Customer Care Operations Mercedes-Benz USA, participants identified these top 10 challenges when working remotely:

1. Maintaining high productivity
2. Agent morale and future lack of engagement
3. Training and acculturation
4. Remote performance management competence and trust
5. Work-life balance for agents and managers
6. Ways to make a better human connection among team
7. “Mastering the game.” Employees look like they are working, but they are not.
8. Lack of collaborative problem-solving opportunities
9. Supervision: Coaching element gets more difficult
10. Communicating a central message to everyone that is understood and acknowledged

Participant commentary and ideas to build morale and engagement among remote agents included:
“We conduct virtual company-wide activities, such as Jeopardy, we laugh, we do yoga. It’s about creating connections in a way that isn’t a formal meeting.”

“Our team meets for a “Happy Hour” virtual event where we pick a topic, and we share about ourselves”

“Our business brings agents(both remote and in-person) into the office for appreciation gifts. In some cases, we pay to fly them in.”

“While it’s a challenge to see how agents are feeling, we like to check in once an hour to capture sentiment, and then post a reply to that agent. In some cases, it makes sense to  allow people time off the phone for a bit.”

“We’ve created a break room with Microsoft Teams where employees can chill out, listen to music, have an ad-hoc conversation or even send emojis.”

“At our center we celebrate customer service week, involving pictures, team activities, and points & rewards – all of this with people rotating in and out of the office.”

Key Take-aways:

• There are many challenges with a remote workforce. Companies can meet those challenges head-on by promoting an inclusive company culture, providing more human interactions like mentoring and intentional collaboration
• Focus on reassuring agents when discussing AI. Getting their buy-in is a major challenge. It’s critical to ensure that employees understand the complexity, benefits and value.
• Communication with remote employees can be improved by documenting processes and creating benchmarks. Introduce changes in small digestible units versuswholesale change management
• Consider having regular, virtual “town halls” to drive consistent communication and transparency

Analyst Corner: The Last Word

In the current era of unbelievably rapid technological change, digitization and the promises of AI are fundamentally altering how businesses go about caring for customers. A massive acceleration of consumers adopting artificial intelligence and digital channels in the last two years has put pressure on customer operations to support increasingly demanding consumers.

Among the many challenges discussed by participants, contact center practitioners and thought leaders at the event reported the following:

• Striking the right balance between CX technology (AI, CCaaS, LLM,NLU, bots, automation)and live agents
• Finding ways to re-engineer contact center culture and agent engagement
• How to better utilize workforce management solutions for agent recruiting, hiring, training and attrition reduction
• Creating future strategies to improve employee engagement and retention
• Understanding the complexity in contact center AI security and compliance
• Examining how to combine empathy and technology to drive higher levels of customer and employee satisfaction

The unprecedented speed of change presents significant personal and professional challenges for many of us. Those who seize this opportunity to thoroughly and holistically reformulate the customer experience will achieve a significant competitive advantage. As a result, many organizations today view the customer experience differently. Countless companies look to transform only the operational side of the business. Frost & Sullivan believes that it is now time to transform an entire industry mindset using an end-to-end view to thrive in a volatile, ever-changing business environment.

Michael DeSalles has extensive experience covering a broad range of sectors, leveraging long-standing working relationships with leading industry participants and senior executives in the CX industry. His areas of focus include customer care outsourcing, skills-based routing, BPO nearshore deployment, home-based agents and contact center security.

Frost & Sullivan, a leader in Growth, Innovation and Leadership for over 60 years, has rigorously tracked the CX industry for the last decade.

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Strategic Imperatives

• Embracing Remote Work and Cloud Technology: Amidst geopolitical chaos, strategies are actively transitioning to work-at-home (WAH) models and embracing cloud-based contact center-as-a-service (CCaaS) solutions. This transformation is enhancing operational flexibility and scalability, adjusting to the evolving demands of the workplace.
• Aligning Customer Experience (CX) with Corporate Goals: Ensuring that investments in customer experience enhancements are closely aligned with broader corporate objectives is a powerful strategy for coherent growth and achieving strategic milestones. This approach underscores the importance of integrating CX initiatives within the overall strategic framework of the organization, ensuring that efforts to improve customer interactions directly contribute to the achievement of corporate ambitions and long-term success.
• Integrating AI and Automating Processes: The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into contact centers and the automation of business processes are ongoing. These efforts help in streamlining operations and bolstering digital transformation initiatives, with a mindful adoption of generative AI technologies to balance innovation with caution. The careful and mindful adoption of generative AI technologies indicates a strategic balance between innovation and caution, ensuring that advancements in AI contribute positively to both customer experiences and operational efficiencies.

How well is your organization is positioned to capitalize on emerging growth opportunities in your industry?

Top Growth Opportunities:
A. Aligning AI, Automation, and Personalization with Evolving Customer Expectations
In the evolving landscape of contact centers, leaders are prioritizing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation to revolutionize both operational efficiency and customer engagement. Integral to this effort is the seamless integration of IT architectures with these applications, alongside enhancing self-service channels through conversational AI, FAQs, and translations to meet current consumer expectations. There’s a parallel need to evolve key performance indicators (KPIs), requiring businesses to redefine metrics of success and adapt measurements to ensure employees meet the increasingly complex queries and diverse expectations across different cultures.

How are your teams harnessing AI and automation to align growth with personalized service and flexible KPIs?

B. Enhancing Workforce Optimization (WFO) and Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) for Super Agents and Superior Experiences
Workforce Optimization (WFO) is a strategic approach that harmonizes various workforce applications in contact centers, monitors and analyzes customer and agent interactions, and automates processes for optimal resource efficiency. There’s a growing demand for ‘super agents’ who benefit from ongoing training and career development. At the heart of Employee Experience (EX) is the goal to empower employees, boost productivity, provide a sense of purpose, and enhance performance. By adopting AI-powered Workforce Engagement Management (WEM) tools, companies integrate coaching and training that not only increases expertise and confidence but also introduces advanced process automation through agent-assist bots and knowledge management systems.

How is your team leveraging AI-powered WEM and WFO to cultivate ‘super agents’ and deliver superior customer experiences?

C. Other Growth Opportunities Identified for Contact Centers:

• Leveraging Employee Engagement for Enhanced Customer Loyalty
• Adapting Leadership for the Evolving Contact Center Ecosystem
• Harnessing Generative AI to Elevate Virtual Agent Capabilities
• Investing in Conversational AI for Deeper Customer Connections
• Expanding the Customer Journey Through Digital Innovation
• Embracing Hybrid Work and Collaboration Models
• Strengthening Security and Governance in Digital Interactions
• Advancing Environmental, Sustainability, and Governance (ESG) Initiatives

To learn more about Growth Opportunities for Contact Center Solutions, Click here

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About Frost & Sullivan:
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Let us coach you on your transformational journey, while we actively support you in fostering collaborative initiatives within your industry’s ecosystem. This journey is fueled by four powerful components, ensuring your success in navigating dynamic business and industry landscapes.

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Sneha is strong writer with a passion for storytelling; her experience includes articles, interviews, social media campaigns and other texts aimed at a specific target audience. Sneha is skilled in Content Management Systems (CMS), Market Research, Leadership, and Social Media. She has worked for Groupon, Red Bull, Litwork and other notable organizations.

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The reality is that no matter what industry you’re in, your customers are (likely) humans. And humans can have simple needs—but generally their expectations are not so simple.

One of my favorite CX-related quotes is by Bridget van Kralingen: “The last best experience that anyone has anywhere becomes the minimum expectation for the experience they want everywhere.” It’s something that builds over time— Adobe found that over 70 percent of marketers say their customers now expect “much better experiences.”  How does one quantify not just better but “much better”?

This means that a customer’s baseline can potentially shift higher (or even *much* higher) with every new experience—even if the experiences aren’t really comparable. A customer may secretly desire the Ritz Carlton experience when they show up at a Marriott Courtyard. Even worse, they also may wish Hilton would recognize their Marriott Bonvoy Platinum status and treat them with the same regard (despite their marked lack of loyalty to Hilton). Is that fair or even realistic? No…but it is reality.

With CX, we have to provide a framework to continually elevate a customer’s experience by considering – and raising the bar on – not only what that customer has experienced with our organization but also what a customer may have experienced with a competitor or with some other organization in no way related to our industry. How many times have you heard a customer reference wanting the “Amazon experience” when they want a convenient, customized, and seamless experience – even if your business is not retail or retail adjacent?

Digital innovation and AI have further raised customer expectations for faster (as in immediate) service and hyper-personalization. And that’s not going away. A survey for Infobip found that more than 50% of adults believe AI will improve customer service in the future (including 24/7 support and zero wait times). AI is now a part of many of our everyday lives – whether we know it or not. This was not the case at this time last year. Yes, we enjoy the immediacy of and simplicity of information and insights that are served up. And, yes, we expect that level of convenience, efficiency, and enhanced productivity wherever we go.

Customers expect that a company that “knows” them will proactively serve up answers to questions that they may have or immediately address issues that they have. CX enables us to understand our customers motivations and needs and empathize with them. When partnered with Marketing, Digital, and Customer Service, CX can highly personalize the customer’s journey, proactively resolve potential issues, minimize inconvenience, and deliver the right message, content, or service at the right time to strengthen and maintain the relationship with the customer and maintain a loyal customer base.

This curated, proactive experience doesn’t happen everywhere, but it’s occurring more and more frequently…and continually raising the bar. Fortunately, the CX discipline is ready to respond. We’re all constantly working to further optimize experiences and remove friction and inconvenience for customers—all the while evolving to meet their ever-changing needs and expectations. CX also innovates, creating entirely new ways to serve customers and achieve (or exceed) business goals.

Miya has practiced Customer Experience across the healthcare ecosystem in large and small(er) organizations for 20+ years. She believes that CX is a team sport, and, in order to be successful, the customer has to be part of the team – providing input and insights to shape new experiences. As a CX leader, Miya is focused on introducing new and innovative CX capabilities that will positively impact customers as well as add value for internal stakeholders.

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Cultivating a customer centric contact center starts from the top and requires leadership to lead by example.  Living by customer centric values and visibility in supporting interactions with customers are essential for leaders to model for their people.  The behaviors demonstrated by the leadership team set the tone for the entire organization and demonstrates what good customer experiences should look like.  By prioritizing customer needs and empowering their teams, leaders can drive improvements in customer satisfaction and loyalty as well as promote a culture that places the customer at the center of everything they do.

Customer expectations, in conjunction with the company’s strategic goals, help set the performance standards that a customer-first culture is based upon.  Reinforcing this culture requires leaders to create departmental and associate goals and objectives that not only support positive customer experiences, but also recognizes and rewards these behaviors when they are demonstrated.

Employee morale and the customer experience are intertwined.  Organizations that value exceptional client experiences recognize they must promote positive employee morale and create a sense of purpose that is aligned with the work they do.  The happier employees are, the more motivated they are to promote positive customer interactions because they feel valued and care about the organization they work for.  Establishing processes and goals that demonstrate leadership prioritizes both the needs and experiences of their people, and their customers, are key to creating a culture that embraces customer satisfaction prioritization.

So how can leaders ensure that they are setting the proper example for their people outside of leading by example?

The following are just a few strategies that have been put in place by leadership within companies that prioritize fostering customer centric cultures:

Defining Clear Goals and Leveraging Customer Feedback: 

• Demonstrate and articulate goals to define what exceptional customer experiences should look like.
• Embed customer experience standards, like Customer Satisfaction Scores (CSAT) and Net Promoter Scores (NPS), into conversations so that everyone understands their importance and what impacts these standards both positively and negatively.
• Set customer experience and satisfaction targets to promote accountability at all levels within the company.
• Ensure that a mechanism is in place to gather Voice of the Customer (VOC), and that the data is analyzed and reviewed to identify strengths and opportunities for improving customer satisfaction. Be sure to communicate and share these findings throughout the organization.

Empower Associates by Investing in Learning

• Ensure that training standards not only emphasize the importance of the customer experience, but also empowers them with the tools to promote these experiences themselves.
• Provide opportunities for development that support customer service skills to promote empathy, patience, problem resolution, and understanding the human need versus the business need.
• Create consistent opportunities for enhancing skills that are tailored to each associate’s strengths and areas of opportunity to ensure that training and coaching development opportunities are not one size fits all.
• Empower associates to be engaged in their own development by having them identify areas in which they are confident in their skills and areas in which they would like more coaching, training, or education.

Reward Behaviors and Outcomes Through Aligned Incentives

• Celebrate the wins! When someone is demonstrating customer centric behaviors, create opportunities to privately and publicly celebrate.
• Link performance metrics that align with customer experience goals to incentives that reward those that go above and beyond.
• Create recognition programs that are employee driven that motivate others to reinforce the organization’s commitment to both employee and customer centricity.
• Provide opportunities for associates that excel and are recognized as role models to coach and mentor others so that they can share their expertise, to promote peer to peer support, and to create leadership pipelines.

Wherever you are in your journey towards creating a culture of customer centricity within your organization, always remember to lead by example.  Leadership plays a crucial role in the process and sets the tone for the entire organization.  Evaluating whether your leadership team is empowered to engage, set goals, and implement strategies that prioritize customer satisfaction will create a starting point when assessing your current landscape.  Creating a culture that defines, empowers, and rewards for modeling customer centric behaviors and outcomes provides accountability and incentives for going above and beyond.  Allow leaders to do what they do best, transform culture to help drive the change you want to see one customer experience at a time.

Susan’s career progression over the past 25+ years from a front-line processor and call center representative to Chief Customer Officer has been a profound and rewarding learning experience. Her innovative approach to contact center operations and relationship management has redefined the importance of the customer experience at Slavic401k. By consistently placing the customer at the heart of every decision, Susan has fostered a culture of empathy, accountability, and excellence, achieving outstanding results for both the business and the customers they serve.

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This shift requires a fundamental change in how we approach customer interactions. Customers no longer tolerate being part of a customer service assembly line approach where the company’s focus is to simply resolve their issues quickly and cheaply. Customers have come to expect personalized, empathetic service that acknowledges and aligns with their needs and provides value beyond basic assistance.

To address this need, I developed The 5 A’s of Successful Customer Engagement, a framework designed to help businesses create exceptional customer experiences that drive tangible business results. This framework, implemented successfully at companies like Sunbasket (a meal-kit delivery company) and Paxful (a crypto exchange enterprise) has been shown to significantly improve customer satisfaction, reduce effort, improve employee retention, and increase customer and employee loyalty.

The Problem: A Legacy of Efficiency Over Experience

The rise of contact centers in the 1960s prioritized efficiency over service quality. Interactions were seen as transactions, with a focus on minimizing costs and handling calls as quickly as possible. This approach often led to impersonal and frustrating experiences for customers.

While the rise of the subscription economy in the 2010s highlighted the importance of customer retention and loyalty, many companies still struggle to move beyond the cost-center mindset. They invest in technology and automation to reduce costs but fail to address the human element of customer service.

The Solution: The 5 A’s Framework

The 5 A’s framework provides a practical blueprint for transforming customer service interactions into valuable engagements. It emphasizes the importance of building relationships, understanding customer needs, and providing personalized support.

1. Acknowledge:

The first step is to acknowledge the customer, their relationship with the company, the issue they are facing, and, when provided, any desired solution they may request in their opening description of their situation. This means going beyond a simple greeting and demonstrating genuine empathy, understanding, and reassurance. Succinctly acknowledging the customer’s frustration, inconvenience, or concern addresses their emotion needs needs setting the foundation for a positive interaction and allowing them to move to the logical elements of their concern.

Why is acknowledgment so crucial?

• Builds trust and loyalty: Customers are more likely to trust and remain loyal to companies that make them feel heard and understood.
• Humanizes the brand: Acknowledgment transforms transactions into personalized, meaningful connections, creating a more positive perception of the company.
• Drives customer satisfaction: Feeling acknowledged, valued, and reassured significantly increases customer satisfaction.

2. Align:

Once you’ve acknowledged the customer’s situation, the next step is to align on the specifics of their issue and their desired outcome(s). This involves active listening, asking clarifying questions, and confirming that you understand their needs.

The alignment phase in customer service has several key objectives:

1. Confirm Understanding: It’s crucial for agents to confirm that they have accurately understood the customer’s initial explanation. This ensures that both parties are on the same page regarding the nature of the issue.
2. Gather Details: By gathering more details, agents can obtain a holistic understanding of the issue. This is essential for providing solutions that are not only effective but also personalized.
3. Address Proposed Solutions: Customers often suggest solutions when they describe their problems. It’s important for agents to address these suggestions without immediately committing to them, as further discussion might reveal better alternatives.
4. Identify Desired Outcomes: Customers might express their needs through suggested solutions, such as requesting a refund. However, the underlying desire might be to quickly regain their purchasing power. Identifying this true desire allows agents to offer more apt solutions, like immediate account credits instead of delayed refunds.

Alignment ensures that both the customer and the agent are on the same page, working collaboratively towards a solution. It also helps identify the underlying needs and motivations behind the customer’s request, allowing for more personalized and effective assistance.

When agents skillfully acknowledge the customer, their relationship, and their unique challenges and then seamlessly align on the customer’s desired outcome(s), it revolutionizes the customer-agent dynamic. This approach transitions the interaction from a confrontational “customer versus agent and the problem” to a collaborative “customer and agent united against the problem” model. This shift fosters a stronger bond between the customer and the company and effectively positions the agent as an ally in solving the customer’s issue.

3. Assist:

The Assist stage is where you provide the optimal solution(s) to the customer’s problem. This should be based on their specific situation and desired outcome, as identified in the Align stage.

Where possible, providing customers with an option of relevant solutions to achieve their desired outcome, with recommended guidance to “a best choice” increases resolution acceptance and reduces escalations and call backs.

Effective assistance goes beyond simply resolving the immediate issue. It involves providing clear explanations, offering proactive solutions, and ensuring the customer feels supported throughout the process.

When this is achieved, you enhance customer experience and build loyalty.

If a company chooses to stop here, following the first 3 A’s of the framework will enable them to operate as an effective cost center, creating improvements across customer effort or satisfaction scores, resolution rates (the percentage of customers who agree that their issue was resolved), contacts to resolution, and cost per contact.

However, this choice leaves value on the table for your customers and organization. To transition beyond a transactional cost-center focus into the realm of a value center, extend the engagement framework to include the following two additional components:

4. Advise:

To truly transform customer service into a value center, companies need to go beyond basic assistance to address the immediate issue and provide customers personalized, relevant, and proactive guidance, valuable advice, and insights based on future needs. Focusing on the long-term success of customers adds significant value to their experience and positions the agent, and by extension the company, as a trusted advisor.

This advice should be relevant to where your customers are in their journey stage. Depending on the specific situation, it can range from raising awareness of an unused portion of a service offering, resources available to increase their expertise with a product, how to avoid a repeat of the problem, or how to avoid a potential future problem that similar customers have experienced.

By delivering thoughtful and forward-thinking advice, businesses demonstrate their expertise and commitment to customer welfare and solidify customer relationships. This approach enhances customer loyalty and establishes a reciprocal dynamic where customers are more likely to engage, advocate, and remain loyal to the brand.

5. Ask:

The final stage of the framework involves making targeted requests that enhance mutual value and deepen customer loyalty.

These Asks can be tailored to specific customer engagement needs or contribute to the objectives of other departments within your organization, helping them achieve their key performance indicators (KPIs). There are four distinct types of Asks that, when appropriately applied, can generate mutual value and strengthen customer loyalty for any business:

Ask for Revenue

Direct revenue Asks play a pivotal role in many customer engagement strategies today, often manifesting as upsells, cross-sells, retentions, or renewals. These Asks can significantly enhance revenue streams by encouraging customers to upgrade to premium services or continue their subscriptions.

Ask for Action

Within any product or service, there are actions that customers take that are indicators of their likelihood of them becoming a customer with high customer lifetime value (HCLV). These actions will vary by the product or service you are offering, but some common actions include downloading and actively using your company’s app, downloading a white paper, using/paying for an add-on product or service, writing a product review, and participating in a customer feedback session.

Ask for Information

Nearly every department in a company is seeking, and often investing in obtaining, information from customers. Marketing departments look for feedback on programs launched or indications on what programs to launch. Product development teams want to understand what new features are most desirable to customers. Logistics teams want to understand what delivery days and times are most optimal. The list goes on.

This information is of value to the organization to create more value for customers. Tapping into the existing customer engagements can augment or even replace the mechanisms other organizations invest in, lowering the total cost to the company.

Ask to Create Awareness

The fourth Ask of creating awareness can be used both as an extension of the advocate role described in the Advise stage by asking questions that educate customers about product features and functionality that can bring value to their specific situation, or, bring attention to an event or relevant activity that is happening in the future to build better engagement with that event, for example, a special announcement coming in next month’s newsletter.

Effective “Asks” are those that are relevant to the customer’s experience and provide clear value in exchange for their participation. They should be presented in a way that feels natural and collaborative, further strengthening the customer relationship.

Implementing the 5 A’s: Key Considerations

Successfully implementing the 5 A’s requires a commitment to customer-centricity and a willingness to invest in training and development. Companies need to empower their employees to go above and beyond in their interactions with customers, fostering a culture of empathy, problem-solving, and value creation.

Conclusion

The 5 A’s of Successful Customer Engagement provide a practical and effective framework for transforming customer service from a cost center to a value center. By focusing on acknowledgment, alignment, assistance, advice, and asking, companies can create exceptional customer experiences that drive business growth and profitability.

Brett Frazer has invested the past 26 years of his professional work dedicated to understanding and advancing customer and employee experiences across multinational organizations Microsoft, Adobe, and now Intuit, in startup environments with Sunbasket and Hamsa, as well as through co-founding Service Matters, LLC.

Through every chapter of his career, Brett Frazer has not just advocated for but actively shaped a future where service truly matters. His work inspires a new generation of professionals and businesses to place customer engagement at the heart of their strategy, proving that exceptional service is the cornerstone of success.

For more information and to purchase the Amazon Best Seller: Your Hidden Profit Center, Mastering the 5 A’s of Successful Customer Engagement, visit www.thefiveas.com

Copyright © 2024, Brett Frazer. Illustrator Kirana Moore  All rights reserved.

The post From Cost Center to Value Center: The 5 A’s of Successful Customer Engagement appeared first on CustomerContactMindXchange.

ABSTRACT

AI has the potential to transform customer experience by revolutionizing how businesses engage with their customers, but it’s still a mystery to some on how to use it effectively. With extensive experience in proven and successful AI implementations, Gutierrez guided members through actionable steps and critical factors to unlock AI’s potential in the organization.

INTRODUCTION AND OPENING QUESTION

Colloquially and respectfully known as “the AI Guy,” Mariano Gutierrez opened the brainstorming session by asking members: What’s the biggest challenge in your call center operations that AI could help solve effectively? Responses included:

• Writing knowledge articles and leveraging them during calls with customers; making them more user friendly for customers (popular answer)
• Helping clients w/self-service; deflecting tickets and getting questions answered before a call is needed (popular answer)
• Capturing and summarizing meetings
• Using AI to help agents be more empathetic and to improve the quality of their interactions
• Improving chat quality; improving coaching tools
• Using AI for training apps internally and externally
• Using AI to gather and analyze data
• Summarizing emails and providing suggestions for responses

Noting that he helped companies leverage AI to solve complex problems with the end goal of driving growth, Gutierrez shared some key strategies to consider when implementing AI:

• Train AI to do the mundane tasks – so others can do complex work
• But don’t forget the human touch or importance of empathy
• Drive efficiency gains – use AI to do tasks faster and reduce costs
• Aim to accelerate personalized content delivery at scale

He also outlined some common challenges when it comes to getting started with AI. Different departments don’t always collaborate or communicate as effectively or efficiently as they might, which can result in duplicative efforts and wasted resources and money. Adhering to regulatory requirements can also create distinct challenges and slow progress.

As underscored, enterprises – and their leadership – should, first and foremost, think about the business challenge(s) or problems to be solved when implementing AI. There is nothing inherently wrong with experimenting with the technology and its applications, and it’s often necessary, especially at beginning stages. But the focus should be on improving customer service or solving business problems.

Several AI business applications were discussed, including:

• Using a conversational intelligence solution to increase call center empathy and customer loyalty. AI tools can help agents:
• • Understand the customer in real time (RT conversation analysis)
  • Route calls more efficiently
  • Improve the customer experience

Concrete examples of how this might work include the tool sending a message to an agent via pulse, such as “slow down” or “stop talking and listen to the customer.” Using AI capabilities that identify the next best action for an insurance claim is another example.

• Using GenAI solutions like Canva (a free online graphic design tool) to increase speed to market, cut costs, and improve customer satisfaction
  • This tool can quickly create and deploy assets such as social media graphics, ad creatives, open enrollment materials, and internal communications
  • It’s useful for streamlining the creative process and personalizing content
  • Makes collaborating with other departments and partners easier

Whatever AI solution organizations choose to implement, it’s important to test and experiment to determine what’s best for customers and/or brings the best results. An important overall goal is to offer the right content to the right customer at the right time.

MEMBER Q & A

As the session continued, members asked questions, as highlighted below:

Q: What about governance? How to effectively introduce AI tools into the organization and oversee usage?

Stakeholder management is critical. Be transparent. Reassure senior staff. Put safeguards in place and communicate them clearly.

Here are three key things to consider:

1. Speed. Move fast. Fail quickly and learn. Ensure your proprietary knowledge model is protected. Create a “safe sandbox” to play in. Own the data and protect it.
2. Documentation. This step is critical. It can be time consuming but it’s entirely necessary.
3. 3. Be proactive internally. Learn from others. In one example Mariano shared, the IT dept didn’t know about what he’d already built. Communication across the organization is key.

It’s always critical to ask: What business result am I driving? “I’m doing x with AI…how will it drive revenue?”

Q: Where do we begin? What’s a good starting point for implementing AI capabilities?

Writing knowledge articles is a great place to start. Then customers can find many answers themselves. AI can also be used to create better summaries, to continuously update them and keep them relevant.

Writers can be trained to use these AI tools and to oversee them.  AI can also be used to generate ideas. Starting with a small task was recommended, i.e. writing about an industry event or happening first. Then, once a good, vetted process is in place, you can scale it.

Q: How do we align better with marketing, especially when it comes to customer issues and finding solutions?

The conversation about AI solutions should start with your customers. Avoid thinking about it from a purely internal or departmental perspective. Within the organization, ask: who – or what other departments – can benefit from the tool? How can it help them better understand and serve the customer? Often the answer to the question is the marketing department.

It pays to explore financial incentives and opportunities within the organization. Consider partnering with a call center department that doesn’t have the budget for an AI tool by themselves. As you implement successful solutions and see time or cost savings, (or both) make sure you document that and tie it back to a metric to show leadership. Remember to show how customers benefit too. Finally, as one member shared, aligning efforts and solutions with other departments can often lead to better customer retention, a win for all.

CONCLUSION

These are just some of the pointers shared and discussed at this timely virtual event. Gutierrez encouraged members to visit platforms like LinkedIn to stay informed about how other companies and their leaders are starting to implement AI capabilities. As noted, if you haven’t already started, now is the time to unlock AI’s potential in your organization – or risk being left behind.

Mariano Gutierrez is a thought leader in Generative AI, Marketing and Transformation. He most recently led MetLife’s marketing transformation program, which included moving the entire global organization into agile, standing up a Generative AI practice and overhauling marketing data operations in the US.

 

Prior responsibilities included risk, financial and marketing operations for marketing worldwide supporting life, accident and health insurance, retirement and savings products. Mariano also led the Business Planning and Governance organization for MetLife’s $22 billion U.S. Group Benefits business, which serves over 50,000 group insurance customers covering more than 41 million employees and their families.

 

Prior to MetLife, Gutierrez held positions in the public and private sectors in Mexico City, Paris and New York

 

Feel free to reach out to Mariano on LinkedIn for further discussions on Gen AI implementation in your organization.

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The Fix on Engaging Employees to Provide the Best Service in a Virtual Workplace

Moderated by Vanessa Neurohr, Vice President of Customer Success, MuckRack

To further engage employees, consider:

• Increasing the frequency of team meetings
• Asking employees to keep video on
• Conducting focus groups and skip level meetings (where direct managers don’t attend)
• Planning summer and holiday events
• Celebrating customer service week
• Having virtual coffee chats
• Experimenting with closing the call center for key team meetings
• Funding local meet ups (if there are at least 10 employees in a city)
• Giving out gifts, gift cards or other incentives to help employees feel valued
• Sending bi-weekly communications from management that don’t ask for anything in return
• Implementing real time training/shadowing/simulating

ACTION ITEMS

• Create committees composed of employees so they can take ownership
• Let employees take the lead in engaging and recruiting peers
• Make sure leaders are in regular communication with employees
• Get to know your employees, ask how they are doing
• Build relationships, listen and make sure the employees can ask questions, too

The Fix on CX Surveys with Actionable Impact

Moderated by Pamela Fusting, Director of Operations, CX, State of Tennessee Department of Human Services

Participants addressed the following three questions:

1. What are the some of the ways surveys can garner insights?

• Survey at multiple, discrete customer touchpoints include different channels, focus groups and community forums
• Keep questions concise and surveys short to combat survey fatigue
• Minimize rating scale confusion (3 point like versus 5, happy face/sad face)
• Be sure to survey a broad/diverse customer base
• Survey in timely fashion … but not TOO soon (perhaps 24-hour turn-around)
• Get insights from your complaint management process (open-ended comments, sentiment analysis)
• Don’t forget social media monitoring and call recordings
• Consider using targeted invites and incentives to increase response rate

2. Once gathered, how do you prioritize your insights for action?

• Include prioritization questions in the survey itself
• For example, ask customers, “What is most important?”
• Prepare a regular analytics report – cadence is critical
• Prioritize action based on high volume response rate and low NPS
• Prioritize impact to business case/return on equity (ROE)
• Find quick wins based on low Level of Effort (LOE), high impact
• Consider actions requested by your key customers
• Consider compliance first
• LOE question: Is it fixable in-house? Or will you need outside support for solution?

3. Once gathered and prioritized, how do you translate those actionable insights into completed actions taken?

• Tell the story to all your stakeholders – what’s in it for them?
• Engage experts/partners to help implement; change management is key
• Establish a customer experience community to bridge between CX and programs
• Make sure your analysts are embedded in the area they support
• They should understand the program area so they can better assess the goals, metrics and feedback
• Building stakeholder partnerships is key to helping create shared goals and customer-centric metrics
• Try an online community of focus groups with monthly topics and provide an immediate results summary
• Define your hypotheses, define your scope, and communicate/visualize findings
• Implement action and validate results; re-measure!

Types of feedback include:

• Unstructured comments (Don’t do this too much, but it’s good to allow customers a chance to use their own words sometimes)
• Yes/no questions
• Scale (1-10) (1-5)
• Prioritization questions
• Community forums

The Fix on Leadership Development

Moderated by Karen Mitchell, Senior Director – Product Management, Marriott International

Leadership development challenges often include:

• Lack of drive
• Lack of opportunity
• Lack of strategic thinking
• Lack of critical thinking
• Lack of leadership
• Lack of investment in employees
• Working across silos
• Prioritizing internal leaders
• Lack of professionalism
• Lack of ability to self-assess
• Alternative development paths

Leadership development fixes:

• Create detailed definitions of the type of professionalism expected
• Define what good leadership is in your organization
• Challenge your employees according to their capacity and needs
• Create leveling guides and career paths
• Build a coaching/mentoring program to develop talent
• Be aware of cultural and generational differences
• Listen
• Offer professional development opportunities:
• LinkedIn Learning
• Book and audible reimbursement
• Courses

KEY TAKE-AWAYS
Effective leadership development typically requires addressing several key issues, including:
a lack of strategic thinking, delegated authority, and investment in internal leadership. It’s crucial to be open to change and to understand generational differences. Providing flexibility and finding common ground among different generations is essential.

ACTION ITEMS  
Organizations should consider conducting self-assessments to identify leadership gaps and develop alternative development paths. Investing in internal talent and offering leadership training across all levels can address issues like poor strategic thinking and decision-making. Fostering transparency and delegated authority can empower leaders at all levels.

FINAL THOUGHTS
Encouraging cross-functional collaboration and greater transparency can foster a more empowered leadership culture.

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