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A force for future growth Navigating the COVID-19 crisis has been challenging for customer service organisations of all sizes, industries and staffing levels. In a short period of time, online enquiries and demand for non-contact services increased, and with them came a rise in customer expectations. Here we talk with Salesforce Regional Vice President of Service in Australia Belinda Burgess about how Salesforce helped businesses pivot their operations to navigate the pandemic with tailored contact centre and digital solutions for changed markets.
Many businesses had to rethink the way they operate over the past 18 months. What were the biggest challenges your customers and clients faced? The pandemic’s impact was not felt evenly across all industries; many service heavy industries such as retail faced significant challenges as customer behaviour changed on an almost weekly basis. While manufacturers who previously had little end-customer contact found new opportunities to go direct, building new digital first capabilities. Overall 81% of decision makers said they accelerated digital initiatives.
How can Salesforce help organisations navigate these challenges with contact centre and digital solutions? Accelerate digital transformation – Move voice channels to cloud-based digital platforms for greater agility and improve agent effectiveness. Also, bring online chat and messaging powered by bots and backed with robust knowledge management capabilities. Deploy automation and AI – Automate simple service enquiries to reduce caseload, easing cost pressure and making time for agents to deliver better experience in the moments that matter
to increase satisfaction. Make the chatbots available 24/7 as 83% of customers still expect to interact immediately. Evolve the workforce – As customer behaviour shifts so does the availability of skilled resources and the desire for flexibility. Use tech to forecast and optimise resourcing levels and drip feed onthe-job training to ensure you have the right skills. Unleash teams – Customers hate handoffs. Utilise collaborative service delivery to bring in expertise while retaining continuity. Swarm as incidents emerge bringing in departments and partners to the process. Act on Insight – As channels come together analyse signals together to detect systemic problems emerging. See trends and opportunities for continuous improvement and close the loop back into sales and marketing.
How important is the need for workplaces to be agile and flexible, and for employees to be open to reskilling? The skills required of agents are becoming broader and more complex than those traditionally associated with the role. Hard skills such as product knowledge and digital literacy are highly valued, agents act as trusted advisors with .
