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For years, marketers like myself have long espoused the benefits of cloud platforms to help businesses gain agility. Over the past 10 months, the pandemic has accelerated cloud contact center adoption, which is a win for consumers where expectations for exceptional customer experience (CX) continue to rise. Throughout this year, many of our routines have been disrupted and re-engineered as we adopt to a new normal, we are connecting with each other more often via digital channels.

The current trend in business, according to Forbes, is to replace the annual performance review with real-time feedback. In fact, 95% of managers are dissatisfied with the formal annual performance review process, according to SHRM, with an increasing number of organizations leaning toward more frequent feedback to drive sustainable improvements.

Call center leaders can’t hide behind bluster. The performance data doesn’t let them. Everything about an inbound call center – from expenditures to service levels to customer satisfaction – can be measured and those results reflect directly on the leaders. It’s pretty clear when a customer service manager is or isn’t producing results. Just look at the KPIs.

Now that work-at-home (WAH) agents are a “thing” for many contact centers, leaders are looking for practices to enable them to achieve their goals. It’s a two-sided opportunity – contact center leaders and supervisors are looking for practices that will empower their agents to deliver an outstanding customer experience (CX). At the same time, management needs practices that will keep their agents up-to-date and engaged, even though they are working from their homes.

The coronavirus pandemic has undoubtedly put a strain on the workforce, and many organisations are reviewing their current strategies to ensure business continuity as the crisis continues.

If CX is the king, then an interactive voice response (IVR) system is the butler that greets the castle visitors. A well-designed IVR, just like a competent butler, cordially greets guests, assesses the reason for their visit, and makes sure they reach their destination. This interaction sets the tone for the rest of the “visit.”

When COVID-19 first necessitated a work from anywhere approach, most contact centres were concerned with the basics: connecting remote contact centre agents to essential systems; redirecting customers to digital channels to lighten the load on contact centre agents; and trying to deliver a consistent experience under the circumstances.