Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been engaged in three specific projects, all with a common thread. To increase efficiency and reduce headcount. All three are well-established, mature contact centre operations with super capable management teams. All three are seeking to refresh the customer engagement component of their technology stack and replace their IVR led customer engagement and contact centre operational applications. Instead, they are identifying omnichannel customer engagement platforms with a ‘digital assistant’ sitting at the front end, from which to drive self-service transformation of the ‘easier’ use cases.
The other key thing that each project has in common is the transition from a ‘voice dominant’ customer engagement environment, to a ‘digital dominant’ environment. Across these three examples, we will see voice reducing from around 60%-70% of contacts, down to 30%-40% over a 36-60 month contract term. Judging from the client coffee table conversations I’m having this is not an uncommon aspiration. The scenario reminded me of the classic children’s story “The Wizard of Oz” – where Dorothy is swept out of her comfort zone, finding herself in a new magical world in which promises can be delivered……sounds familiar?
The scarecrow without a brain, the tin man without a heart and the cowardly lion. All now actors in our contact journey, down the yellow brick road and the promise of fulfilment of our deepest desires.
Yet at its core, “The Wizard of Oz” is a story about self-discovery and the importance of inner strength and courage. Each of the characters that Dorothy meets on her journey is searching for something that they believe will make them whole, but they eventually come to realise that they already possess the qualities they were seeking all along. Dorothy represents our need to feel safe and loved, the scarecrow symbolises our desire for intellectual capability, the pursuit of knowledge and value of critical thinking. The tin man represents the emotional and compassionate aspects of humanity, his journey symbolising the importance of empathy and the emotional connections that make life meaningful. Whilst the lion represents the physical and moral courage that we must all cultivate to overcome our fears and achieve our goals. All equally represented in our own yellow brick road.
So, what of the Wizard? The giver, the transformer and deliverer of our desires. On our own yellow brick road, we too see the wizardry that is technology. The technology sold to us as a powerful and magical thing. Well, to quote the Wizard himself speaking to the scarecrow “I think I’ll miss you most of all.” A quote that ChatGPT tells me “shows that even though the Wizard may not have had real magical powers, he was still able to give hope and support.”
So don’t let your Wicked Witch from the West disrupt and hinder your journey. Have faith, don’t fret and let us share our journeys along our own yellow brick road.
