What 2023 Lessons Will Drive 2024 Success? Hint: It’s Still about People
Let’s reflect together for a few minutes on the adventures of the past year and what’s on tap for 2024.
HEADLINES IN 2024
Simple Generative AI Applications will Penetrate First
Especially interesting has been the focus on discussing AI everything, with many organizations not doing any more than playing with some of the toys to get a feel for the power. There is enormous discussion of implications for how work is performed whether it’s marketing, customer service, or IT and beyond.
In 2024, the simple use cases – led off by the integration of generative AI into browsers and office applications – are ready to use. Meeting summaries, call notes, and guided recommendations for the next step will become routine. The ability to analyze all calls or all recordings instead of a ten percent sample will drive increased knowledge about customer and employee behavior. This will deliver new transparency to both process and outcomes. Whether you lead a contact center or any organization, these basic applications will become routine.
Customer-Facing Organizations Will Use Generative AI Where It Makes Sense…and Where They Can Balance Risk and Return
Last year I wrote that technology alone isn’t the answer and now, this is truer than ever. What is on display now is the organizational hemming and hawing over risk and what a company is willing to tolerate. How does the return-on-investment look? What about the risk of technology-driven mistakes that incur liabilities? How about labor backlash? Will a mistake by a bot be treated equally as a mistake by a person? What about the availability of skills to define the new roles that need to be created?
In the coming year, people will stop talking about AI as ending the world as we know it and leaders will get down to the business of using AI-enabled applications where it makes sense. Organizations will focus more on what changes in skills, technology and attitudes they will need in order to provide the best possible experience at the optimal cost. The wild card is figuring out how to integrate the technology in a way that suits their customers and desired customer experience while leveraging and supporting employees through change. The definition of roles and the number of people needed by role will shift – that is certain. It is also certain that people who can keep up with the pace of change even if they are not technical in nature will be in high demand.
Continuous Improvement Has Never Been So Continuous – Nor Have the Challenges Facing People Acquiring New Knowledge and Skills
The cycles to implement keep getting shorter, and winners deliver with vision to help accelerate the learning curves of people. Operational excellence will continue as the top topic with a new twist – how leaders approach supporting everyone on their teams to ingest, digest and become proficient at new ways of delivering for the customer will be the new benchmark of progress.
In every area of business, people are overwhelmed with the promise that new technology brings. Customer service agents are bombarded with new technology tools and applications to improve how they service customers. They are aware that adopting these may mean significant changes to their roles, and whether they have a role at all. The need for people in customer service (and IT, another rapidly changing area) isn’t going away. The nature of work is shifting rapidly. Soft skills like people handling, the ability to de-escalate, and problem solving will increase; more traditional skills like ability to perform complex searches, summarize calls or answers, and swivel among multiple systems and sources will decrease in value as technology makes those tasks less relevant. Training and knowledge solutions remain essential in moving initiatives forward.
Effective leaders are the ones that can bring the organization with them and deliver flexibility for peoples’ needs, along with short cycles to implement new ways of working.
Think Big and Start Small
We will not see big bang implementations – we will see pilots and sandboxes filled with trials that can be adopted quickly. One of the most effective ways to learn how enhanced chat bots or virtual assistants can deliver for an organization, customers, and employees is to carve out a focused area to start. Leaders will also have to pick and choose carefully where new processes and platforms will have the greatest impact. Winners will do this with vision beyond band-aids and bubble gum; slow finishers will be those waiting for the complete strategy. Thoughtful change management will be the glue that holds it together and ensures adoption.
There are lessons here from the world of business agility that can move these projects forward quickly – clear goals, flexibility on the path, agency with the organization, and small teams of dedicated resources. The organizations that are quickest to empower and support the frontline will win in trust and reputation. People love having a hand in future success. Workplace culture is going to trump strategy every time, so finding ways to make change manageable and allow teams to own the change will take organizations far in exchange for betting on agility.
Digital First Does Not Mean Digital Only
Omni-channel may truly have a moment in 2024. This has been talked about for well over 10 years, and it is still easy-to-say-hard-to-do. Self-service will continue to improve and to appeal to more people – as long as it gets the query done. Traditional channels are required for the things that can still go haywire. As sophistication grows around understanding how to blend assisted and unassisted service, the holistic approach becomes more attainable. It is not either self-service or human support. The best strategies align product or service positioning, customer needs and organizational capabilities. Generative AI will play an essential role here in its ability to summarize information, understand both content and context, and collapse cycle times – whether enabling customers directly or enabling agents to serve customers.
We see the biggest gains (always) when we focus on what it takes to make it easy for employees and customers. It is about meeting the customer where and when he/she/they are, amped up in the way the customer wants to engage. The newest technology solutions can spot emotion, recommend next steps, and help employees to solve the toughest situations. The newest digital-first strategies offer an experience across channels that starts with ways customers want to engage, and incorporates or peels back quickly to connect more dynamically with people.
If any of this resonates with you or your organization, take a moment to share this newsletter with your colleagues who may be struggling with similar challenges.
Blue Orbit Consulting guides you through methods that will transform your IT team and contact center’s operations into a world-class experience.
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I founded Blue Orbit Consulting in 2014 after running staff organizations in contact centers and building consulting practices in customer service, process improvement, complex program management, and channel operations. My approach – and my firm’s approach – is fundamentally pragmatic, and our clients often achieve benefits in excess of 10x their investment. We develop and deliver world-class customer interactions for our clients, whether it is troubleshooting and optimizing what they already have in place or creating strategic transformations to deliver outstanding customer interactions every time.