While digital transformation in the contact centre continues to bring new levels of convenience to customers and employees alike, the actual experience of interacting with technology frequently lags behind. According to the NTT Global Customer Experience Benchmarking Report 2021, 52% of customers report channels are failing due to limited capabilities. A further 47% report that their queries are being misunderstood or are unable to be resolved. 38% would rather forego the hassle altogether and simply speak to a human being.
Reacting to that perception was the subject of a recent webinar hosted by Calabrio’s Product Evangelist, Dave Hoekstra, and featuring Clare Muscutt, Founder of CMXperience and Women in CX. The webinar was entitled Enhancing Customer and Employee Experiences Through Human-Centred Design.
There is a fundamental disconnect between consumer and business perception of the customer experience. The aforementioned research showed that 75% of businesses are happy with the customer experience of digital channels, compared to the 35% of consumers. A poll conducted during the course of the webinar found that 62% of those attending believed it is now harder to get queries resolved as a result of digital customer service. What are the mistakes being made leading to this mismatch?
After-effects of the Pandemic
Clare Muscutt believes the Pandemic forced organisations to make quick decisions which have resulted
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Clare Muscutt[/caption]
in awkward compromises. This has led to a gap between corporate and human expectations.
While the digital transformation efforts companies made in response to the pandemic may have decreased costs and increased profitability, they have frequently left customers and employees behind. According to Muscutt, “Customer and employee experiences that, on paper, look really good, in reality, aren't hitting the mark. The question we should be asking is: ‘how can we add more value and deliver great results by finding win-wins for customers and employees that have a positive business impact as well?’” Indeed, another poll conducted during the webinar found that only 8% consider themselves to have undergone a successful CX digital transformation - with 43% saying their digital transformation was facing problems.
Human-Centred Design
Muscutt champions human-centred digital transformation design as the solution to this quandary. “We can unify the business around customer and employee experiences that break down the barriers and silos between teams, then create a new future where everything works really well for everybody - including the business.”
The human-centred design encourages collaboration and involves listening to stakeholders and involving them in the process to create a shared vision for the whole business about what customer experience should look like. By involving all stakeholders at an early stage, the aim should be to build systems that work for everybody.
“The goal is to try to find something that makes employees' lives easier while making what customers need to achieve simpler, easier and faster. This will mean, less cost and better efficiency at the same time. What we're looking for is low-cost, low-complexity, quick-win ideas that have a high impact,” continues Muscutt.