5 Tech-Driven CX Insights to Pair With Live Support to Delight Your Customers [Part 2]

5 Tech-Driven CX Insights to Pair With Live Support to Delight Your Customers is our three-part series on how new customer experience technology trends and how they're affecting one of the oldest aspects of business - client care. Go back and read part one to catch up and come back for part three next week.

Last week, Personiv's own Vishal Bora delivered valuable insights on what customer support providers can do to derive the most value from automation and other types of new CX technology without neglecting traditional avenues like voice and email. This week, we asked him to share his thoughts on how data collected on customers and how technology is also impacting customer experience outsourcing behind the scenes.

How to Use Tech & Data Collection to Enhance CX

Data collected from consumers is something of a double-edged sword, and that seems especially prescient lately. New privacy concerns seem to crop up daily with major online players who ostensibly hope to provide bespoke digital experiences to their audience but struggle with balance; they overlook or underestimate potential bad actors, fail to anticipate security shortfalls or just don’t operate with the transparency consumers deserve and expect.

The bad reputation those oversights give data collection is unfortunate. The truth is, we can use data to improve CX. Our Gurugram site head imagines a future of customer experience where his team will be able to provide quality, tailor-made support interactions in ways that weren't possible before — all through data collection.

"Most consumers are happy to share personal data, but only if it leads to a more personalized experience that doesn’t cost them their privacy."

"In the past," he says, "customer’s expectations revolved around experiencing quality service and fair pricing." Not so, he continues, in today’s market: "the modern-day consumer has much higher expectations. They want personalized interactions, proactive service, innovation and seamless cross-channel interconnectivity."

More: Everywhere & Always On: How Tech Support is Changing

Recalling a case study he recently had the opportunity to observe, Bora described how "the company deployed user-experience assessments and consumer tests, then used those findings to make changes as simple as the color of a single interactive element on a webpage — like a button — to improve interaction and usability."

From that, Bora discovered that "Data analytics present organizations with a way to improve on traditional support methods — we have analytical tools and data sources at our disposal that give us the unprecedented opportunity to diagnose problems at the root and anticipate what our customers want or expect next — and then provide it for them."

There’s a major caveat, though. Customers don’t just want a chatbot that remembers their name, and they certainly won’t — and shouldn’t have to — sacrifice digital security to get it. "The modern-day consumer also expects data privacy," Bora says of the responsibility to protect user information, going on to explain that transparency is key.

In fact, he reminds us, being straightforward about what you're collecting and why is easy when your goal is to improve and provide customer-focused service. "Most consumers are happy to share personal data," Bora explains, "but only if it leads to a more personalized experience that doesn’t cost them their privacy. If you’re adopting a data-driven CX strategy, use it to provide superior, anticipatory experiences — and keep customers in the loop!"

It's a strategy that's spot on: with around 75 percent of consumers wary but willing to share their personal information for better experiences with businesses, new research suggests that being open about what you collect and why sets you apart in a positive way from a consumer's point of view.

Tech-Driven CX Insight #2:

Data collection, analysis and implementation are how companies will meet their consumers where those consumers want to be. They’re tools that enable companies to anticipate customer needs and behavior, and organizations hoping to offer next-level service should add them to their support strategies. Like all tools, though, there is a right and a wrong way to use them, which is why Vishal's advice to leaders is to always err on the side of the customer’s best interest and ensure through professional development that your support team is on board.

Build a Customer-Focused Culture by Implementing Tech-Driven CX Changes Behind the Scenes, Too

With that sentiment as a springboard, we wanted to know Bora’s thoughts on the other major party in the consumer-provider dynamic: his employees. We hear a lot about the role these technological advancements play in the customer’s experience, but we were also curious to get his insight on employee-facing challenges. Implementing new technology often comes with a learning curve, after all.

We wanted to know: has all this innovation affected the way leaders are managing the people who man the phones, chat windows and email inboxes that allow them to connect with customers all across the world?

The reply was instantaneous and emphatic: "Absolutely!"

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Let’s kick start “Amazing August” with exquisite client experience #servantleadership #personivproud #personiv

A post shared by Vishal Bora (@vishalbora29) on Aug 2, 2019 at 4:34am PDT

In fact, it affects them at practically every level, beginning with hiring and managing new talent and spilling over into how that talent provides consumer support experiences.

Bora used onboarding new CX agents as an example: "Present-day organizations are getting pretty aggressive when it comes to deploying technology-enabled solutions across the employee lifecycle. Artificial Intelligence and RPI have transformed the onboarding and training experience and can save companies and employees valuable time. Take standard, time-consuming and frankly, boring joining formalities, for instance. Nowadays, self-managed applications and mobile computing allow new employees to complete these tasks quickly, remotely and easily."

Where technology has proven to be a real boon, however, is in the training arena, especially for the newest incoming class of customer service representatives and CX staff.

"Our Generation Zs prefer that 'on the go-anywhere-anytime' format of accessibility, and they certainly prefer it over a traditional classroom or meeting room setting. AI allows employers to offer virtual training that simulates real-life agent-to-consumer interactions. Now, we even have chatbots that engage our learners the way a human would, and concepts like gamification to incentivize day-one high performance. It’s really changed training processes for the better, and upped the ante in that regard."

More: [Infographic] Leading Gen Z In The Workplace

Technology's spillover into backend operations doesn't just stop with new hires, though. The same technology that helps consumers reach Bora’s team for help can also help Bora’s team reach their boss. In essence, these channels have one purpose, no matter who the user is, and that’s better communication.

"At Personiv we want our employees to be able to know they can depend on us as much as our customers depend on them. After all, customer delight is really only possible if you’re taking care of the people that are taking care of your clients," the site head said of in-house initiatives that allow employees to communicate freely with leadership.

This is where tech has a unique role to play on the back end of a customer service operation: "When we apply what we learn from implementing tech-driven CX strategies to inter-organization communication, we’re actively facilitating an atmosphere where our team members are encouraged to think big, share their ideas and concerns without hesitation and know they’ll be appreciated for speaking up about what’s right."

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My People: My Pride, My Honor, My Passion!

A post shared by Vishal Bora (@vishalbora29) on Apr 6, 2019 at 1:31am PDT

Tech-Driven CX Insight #3:

Leveraging technology to foster open communication makes for a better support experience starting from within. "Implementing omnichannel delivery for employee engagement makes communication open and easy," concludes Bora, "which makes employees confident, which in turn empowers them to advocate for the consumer because they already know what’s right."

5 Tech-Driven CX Insights to Pair With Live Support to Delight Your Customers is our three-part series on how new customer experience technology trends and how they're affecting one of the oldest aspects of business - client care.Go back and read part one to catch up and come back for part three next week.

Want more CX Insights? Take a look at our whitepaper, Tech-Driven CX + Live Support: 4 Ways to Get it Right to learn how to master the art of providing exceptional customer care, then head to our Customer Care Page to learn about Personiv’s unique process for providing businesses with second-to-none CX talent.

See Personiv's unique process and mindset for yourself with this explainer video on the solutions and services we offer, and the culture we've built around taking care of our client's customers.

Vishal Bora is Personiv's EVP and Site Head in Gurugram, India. Vishal brings over 20 years of extensive experience and deep domain expertise in the areas of sales, business development, customer experience, and global operations to the role. When he’s not working hard for Personiv’s clients, you’ll find him watching suspense and action movies, playing games with his two sons, and reading project management books.

You can connect with Vishal on LinkedIn, or on Twitter at @BoraVishal.