Focusing on Employee Wellbeing & Customer Retention through Investment in EX Technologies.
“No company, small or large, can win over the long run without energized employees who believe in the mission and understand how to achieve it. – Jack Welch, former CEO of GE”
CX (Customer Experience), EX (Employee Experience), and XM (Experience Management) are some of the most important abbreviations for not only business owners or stakeholders today, but very much so for middle management, and C-Level management.
Striking a balance for all three of the above is truly a feat one doesn’t just master in a day or a decade for that matter. Be it in the ’70s, ’80s, or the early ’90s till today in the year 2024, the employee’s behavior and morales do have direct impact on customers’ experiences, satisfaction, and growth. Hence, this boils down to the truth of the matter, Experience management (XM) is crucial in managing successful Employee experience (EX) to retain and grow Customer experience (CX).
Hence the challenge for many Human Resource associates of today is Employee Retention, before Customer Retention can take place. What’s the Winning Formula for EX? The Millennials and Gen Z of today’s workforce do not only rely on the “reward” system of their predecessors. The hard-working generation of the ’70s, ’80s, or early ’90s will “sacrifice personal or family time” for the good of the company. The tagline of treating your workplace as your “home” might not work in today’s generation. It’s a whole different approach and companies, especially SMEs who are on the verge of exponential growth should take note.
“For us, the focus around employee experience is on creating a seamless experience around the things somebody needs to do as an employee while allowing them to focus on the business we hired them for—development, sales, leading new products [and so on]. We’ve actually created a VP level role to strictly focus on the employee experience. – Adam Khraling, VP of Global HRIS, American Express”
The war on Employee talents has never been more fierce, after having rebounded and in the exponential growth factor. Businesses, especially SMEs having to compete with Corporate MNCs, are experiencing a hiring and employee retention crisis. With more jobs due to economic growth, there’s a fight for human capital and poaching. How high will one want to offer to poach and is this a sustainable approach? Millennials and Gen Z also want to have a say and they’re not shy to voice out their opinions. They truly expect to be treated as “top-classed internal customers”, where their needs in employment are met from a holistic point of view. This volatility of talent war can lead to operation, service, or product delivery pipeline, and ultimately customer experience disruptions. How can businesses protect themselves from these situations or lessen the impact should they face such situations?
AUTOMATION is the only way to move forward. How to automate? By implementing technological processes. This does not mean EX is no longer important. It’s even more needed now so than ever. With these technologies in place, it helps effective enhancement for the processes of CX and EX, and enabling XM smoothly.
OMNICHANNEL TOOL: Implementation of the right technology that can communicate with both fronts such as taking care of the Customer Experience end, at the same time internal customers who are your Employees’ can also tap into the same platform. Accordia’s Omnichannel platforms can provide both functions. How does it work? Let us provide a clearer picture, on how these channels interact with each other, providing speedier feedback with accuracy of customers information.
DEEP-DIVING INTO OMNICHANNEL FUNCTIONS
Omnichannel cloud contact centers and chatbots provide significant benefits to employees across various roles within an organization. Here’s a detailed overview of their contributions:
1. Streamlining Communication and Workflows
Centralized Interface: Omnichannel cloud contact centers integrate various communication channels (phone, email, chat, social media) into a single platform. This allows employees to manage interactions from one interface, reducing the need to switch between different tools.
Efficient Routing: Advanced routing capabilities ensure that customer inquiries are directed to the most appropriate department or agent, improving response times and reducing workload for employees.
2. Enhanced Customer Service
Consistent Customer Experience: With all customer interactions available in one place, employees have access to complete interaction histories. This enables them to provide more personalized and consistent service.
Faster Response Times: Chatbots can handle routine inquiries and simple tasks, allowing employees to focus on more complex issues that require human intervention. This improves overall service efficiency and customer satisfaction.
3. Increased Productivity and Efficiency
Automation of Repetitive Tasks: Chatbots can automate routine tasks such as answering frequently asked questions, booking appointments, or processing simple transactions. This reduces the workload on employees and allows them to focus on more value-added activities.
24/7 Availability: Chatbots provide round-the-clock support, which means customers can get help anytime, reducing the burden on human agents to handle off-hour queries.
4. Improved Data and Analytics
Real-Time Insights: Cloud contact centers offer advanced analytics and reporting tools. Employees can access real-time data on customer interactions, performance metrics, and other key indicators. This helps in making informed decisions and improving overall service quality.
Customer Feedback: Automated systems can gather and analyze customer feedback more efficiently, helping employees to understand customer needs and preferences better.
5. Better Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing
Unified Communication Platform: Omnichannel systems facilitate better collaboration among team members by providing a unified communication platform. Employees can easily share information, collaborate on solving customer issues, and provide seamless service.
Knowledge Bases: Chatbots and cloud contact centers often include integrated knowledge bases that employees can use to quickly find information and solutions to customer problems.
6. Scalability and Flexibility
Adaptability: Cloud-based systems are scalable and can adapt to the changing needs of the business. This flexibility ensures that employees always have the necessary tools and resources to handle increasing workloads or seasonal spikes in customer inquiries.
Remote Work Support: Cloud contact centers enable remote work by allowing employees to access the system from anywhere. This flexibility can lead to increased job satisfaction and productivity.
7. Enhanced Training and Development
Training Modules: Many cloud contact centers offer built-in training modules and resources that help employees stay updated on the latest tools, technologies, and best practices.
Performance Tracking: With detailed performance metrics, managers can identify areas where employees need additional training or support, ensuring continuous improvement.
Omnichannel cloud contact centers and chatbots enhance employee experiences by streamlining workflows, improving customer service, increasing productivity, providing valuable insights.
Here are some proven facts on how Businesses have benefited, due to positive employee experience throughout their tenure with a company.
Here are some proven facts on how Businesses have benefited, due to positive employee experience throughout their tenure with a company.
“Organizations that invest significantly in Employee Experience (EX) are:
– 11.5 times more likely to be listed in Glassdoor’s Best Places to Work.
– 4.4 times more likely to appear on LinkedIn’s list of North America’s Most In-Demand Employers.
– 2.1 times more likely to be featured on the Forbes list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies.
– 2 times more likely to rank in the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Source: Jacob Morgan.”
These data are important proving that your employee experience is very much tied to your customers’ experience and overall brand and business growth in the long run. Especially for Front-Line-Employee such as CX agents, Retail associates, and door-to-door sales personnel.
Three consistent patterns where frontline employee experiences are most strongly linked to customer experience outcomes:
🤝🏼 Demonstrating a connection to the organization’s vision, values, and purpose, or pride in the company’s products and services.
🤝🏼 Experiencing a sense of safety, respect, care, and equitable treatment.
🤝🏼 Being empowered, supported, and rewarded for providing excellent customer service.
The key findings to the above points by Qualtrics XM Institute are that the customer achieved the highest satisfaction, prompting them to word-of-mouth promotion of that service or brand to fellow friends is when the employees understand their needs. These employees can give such positive service when there’s a clear goal of the vision mission supported by a clear line of leadership and a fast response to a problem that requires help from a manager’s decision. This conveys a feeling of being cared for by the company as a whole, automatically translating to a high level of confidence when dealing with problem-solving for customers.
Understanding Omnichannel functions on a deeper level – benefits for both EX & CX!
Omnichannel functions by enabling the organization to draw on the information required with speed and accuracy to help solve the customer’s problem.
Our core expertise is in Contact Center solutions, offering both Cloud and on-premise options. Our comprehensive suite includes Accordia’s Voice (telephony), Chat (chatbot and live chat), Desk (ticketing and CRM), and Social (Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter) channels. We aim to exceed customer expectations by providing seamless interactions across all platforms in a unified view.
Additionally, our team integrates the contact center with leading CRM platforms such as Zoho, Zendesk, Freshworks, Salesforce, and others. This integration streamlines operations, automates processes, and enhances efficiency. The best marriage between Omnichannel powered with Gen-ai and contact center solutions.
With this in place, systems such as Accordia Global can help your business in delivering robust business solutions, empowering your businesses to collect and analyze real-time data. These valuable insights facilitate informed decision-making and foster meaningful customer relationships between employees, and management and ultimately benefit the customer and stakeholders.
It’s mid-2024, don’t wait any longer to jump on the technology bandwagon. Call for DEMO today!
