Tips To Make Your Customer Service Recession Proof!
The world economy has experienced four global recessions over the past seven decades: in 1975, 1982, 1991, and 2009: Source – Global Recessions by M. Ayhan Kose, Naotaka Sugawara, Marco E. Terrones
“Almost two-thirds of chief economists believe a global recession is likely in 2023; of which 18% consider it extremely likely – more than twice as many as in the previous survey conducted in September 2022,
These challenges are expected to lead multinational businesses to cut costs, with many chief economists expecting firms to reduce operational expenses (86%), lay off workers (78%) and optimize supply chains (77%).As reported by the World Economic Forum.”
Not so much as a whisper but seemingly coming to pass, economists predicted this year would be the year of recession. Some corporations have begun experiencing recessions. As reported by The Star news portal, Singapore’s retrenchments have doubled towards the end of 2022.
Building resilient business with an Omnichannel in place, gives SMEs a head start, firm foundation, agility and the flexibility in growing even through tough times. Here are three reasons why Omnichannel is great for businesses:
1. You are able to take control of your CX and marketing reach.
By deploying chatbots, or WhatsApp chatbots, that can be linked directly to your social media, you are indirectly cutting down requirements for human presence. It’s a brilliant first implementation towards automation.
Allow these miracle workers to ask qualifying questions, troubleshoot or even solve simple customer’s issues with just a few clicks. Assisting your CX agents to dive right-in and resolve the matter professionally, allowing more time for the soft skills side of customer relationship retention strategies, with small talks, leading to promoting the latest product or services. A great conversationalist creates a happy experience for customers, and in-return customer loyalty!
The Marketing team too is able to benefit with an Omnichannel linked CRM system. Live inventory reporting made possible. The team is able to track live, what are the products which are not moving, and immediately come-up with a marketing solution. Capitalizing on time, and disposal of un-movable inventory capitalizing on the return-of-investment (ROI).
2. You are able to control your flexibility with Cloud Deployment.
BNM has assured fellow Malaysians, especially SMEs who make-up 98% of businesses in Malaysia, that we will weather through this recession. But, it’s always best to have some strategy and preparedness ahead that can help towards laying a strong foundation.
Many businesses in Malaysia are still hesitant to invest in an Omnichannel with reservations that it requires a hefty investment. With Accordia’s Omnichannel, an option to have it Cloud based is possible. As it’s much more cost effective, by subscription basis therefore cheaper as compared to fully owned, and the great news is that it’s scalable to your business size.
Allow the Omnichannel to grow with your company, while you maintain the cost of investment. Or if you have the means, adopt a fully owned solution. The government of Malaysia also has different initiatives headed by Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), and grants in encouraging businesses to adopt digitization and automation.
3. You are able to integrate with your preferred CRM Partner.
Tapping on the strength of partners, and vice versa is crucial for business growth. In such challenging times human capital management is crucial to take care of your company’s hiring and training cost.
An Omnichannel contact centre helps to address these needs by a seamless integration to your preferred CRM Partner. Allowing multiple teams of Agents a unified 360 view of customer’s data, enabling confidence in solving the customers issue. In directly promoting high customer satisfaction and retention. With the system in place you can also limit the access of customer’s information, should you be worried about PDPA, and generate real-time tracking reports.
One should not wait when times are good, don’t get caught should recession hit instead be well prepared. As we’ve recently experienced the uncertainties back in the blip years of the year 2020 Covid19 era. SMEs who had digitized their businesses could survive better and excel. Lay your foundation for the future. We can’t deny digitization is the way to go. Hence, why not start now with an Omnichannel, building the platform and expanding further when your business grows.
