The Ancient Greek Philosopher Heraclitus tells us: “The only thing certain is change.” I went down a little rabbit hole reading about that quote and loved the drumbeat of how we all need to adapt to change, because it is coming at us all the time, whether we like it or not. And that is how it is in contact centers. The channels, customer expectations, employee needs, and where and how they work change.
All that change creates excitement AND difficulty. Let’s implement a bot (voice and chat) to help customers self-serve! We can use agent assist to shorten training and make agents more productive! We will lure staff back to the office with… well, mandates. None of that is easy.
My recommendations on how to deal with today’s changes while inevitably facing budget shortages follow themes that have appeared in past articles:
Build and pursue a strategy. Don’t go after tactical fixes or point solutions. You will fare much better if you have a vision and a path to get there, ideally with a thoughtful business case behind it. These changes aren’t a moment in time; they are part of a continuum (and constant!). And yes, you must be agile as you progress.
Remember it’s not about technology alone. Artificial intelligence and all the amazing capabilities vendors offer make it enticing to think, “if we could just buy X, we’d solve our problems.” Alas, it is never that simple. People, process, technology is still a meaningful mantra!
Implement with purpose. Design, configuration, testing, training, rollout, and tuning matter. Implementation takes time and resources to get things right and requires an open mind to do new and different things… and embrace change!
Apply Change Management. Whether new technology, processes, or organizational roles and responsibilities, projects impact people. If you help them on that journey, you will lower risks and reap greater rewards.
Never stop. Know that you won’t be finished when you go live with the latest technology, put a new process in place, or finally get enough staff, or the right staff. The journey continues with analysis, optimization, and adapting to the next change that comes along.