It’s easy for customers to feel a lack of control given the current situation businesses – and society in general – have found themselves in. Enduring lockdown after lockdown as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic not only has an effect on the economy, but also the consumers at the very heart of it. Customers are battling an array of different emotions such as anger, frustration and anxiety while attempting to juggle their own lives, whether that be working remotely in a demanding role while home schooling children or maintaining relationships.
Customers are reaching out to organisations in whatever ways suit their personal circumstances. This is fantastic because it shows businesses are using the power of omni-channels to offer hyper-personalised customer experiences. But many businesses are still playing a game of catch-up with their CX solutions and as a result of the adoption of new tech being catapulted some five years into the future due to the pandemic, many contact centre agents and their supervisors feel their work life in general has become an act of plate spinning.
With that in mind, CX Today introduces leading call management software provider Akixi’s Colin Gill, Head of Product and Solutions, and Hilary King, Head of Marketing, who in an exclusive interview reveal what they believe 2021 has in store for the CX world and their roadmap designed to offer businesses that all-important stability at a time when life is anything but.
Roadmap to Success
“We’ve always focussed on giving customers the freedom to do what they want to do with the product. I’ve always viewed it as a big bag of Lego, in that it’s not canned reports it’s a ‘build what you want’ solution, which is fine if you know how to build Lego,’ Gill explains.
“But now, we’re saying ‘you’ve got your Lego but here are some extra models to help get you going’ and make them your own just to give customers a better starting point.”
It’s hard not to share Gill’s passion for the Akixi Roadmap. The model aims product enhancements coming this year will aim to make it simpler for customers to build and maintain data useful to them using the Report templates and Wizard functions. The enhancements were designed with one word in mind – relatability – and uses functions such as natural language to improve the flow of communications. Another feature is self-billing, which again puts control in the hands of the users.
King explains: “It’s all about making it better out the box. At Akixi, we’ve always been proud about the fact that we’ve had over 400 different metrics in the Akixi platform, which is fantastic and because it’s completely customisable, and people our customers don’t just buy an analytics platform and are forced to deal with what they’re given. There’s lots of opportunity for them to customise the reports to suit their exact business requirements.
“But by that consequence it may be a little complicated perhaps for those who need to get up and running very quickly due to the pandemic. So that’s why we’ve looked at doing the more templated Reports and the Wizards to help people get the best start and get them moving along the way.”