When you assemble a room of people with extensive levels of contact centre experience, as we did for our event hosted at Sutherland Labs, you know from the noise levels over coffee there are going to be some great conversations! Add some fantastic speakers from our outsource and technology networks to share their views of the market and a lively, open dialogue around challenges and opportunities (new and old) will follow.

We are looking forward to continuing these conversations and scheduling another event.  But in the meantime, how do we bring so much collective experience together in a short article that does justice to the quality of the conversations?

Navigating Business Decisions in a Rapidly Evolving Landscape

In the current environment, companies face a range of critical decisions, from implementing new technologies to fostering employee engagement. Despite knowing what needs to be done, many organisations struggle to translate that knowledge into actionable outcomes. This disconnect is often a result of inadequate systems, outdated training and coaching models, and an inability to adapt to change. 

In our recent L&D survey it was apparent that there is a clear gap between knowing and doing.  Results show that while employees understand their roles, there’s a significant disconnect between knowledge and execution. This is particularly evident in how businesses approach training, often relying on outdated, “once-and-done” programmes that fail to evolve alongside the changing work environment. As companies shift to remote work, many are noticing a reduction in employee loyalty and engagement, partially because of the lack of in-person interaction and relationship-building.

Addressing the Changing Needs: Evolving Training and Technology

To bridge this gap, organisations must rethink how they train their employees, particularly if they are to continue with a work from home or hybrid working model. Has enough been done to redesign training and refresher modules that better fit a virtual environment? Equally, more needs to be done to focus on continuous education rather than static, one-time courses which tick a box for compliance. Furthermore, conversational AI can be a powerful tool in reshaping learning; allowing employees to ask dynamic, evolving questions rather than relying on predefined solutions.

AI offers the potential to unlock the true capabilities of people and data, but as we have said before is not a silver bullet. It can revolutionise business processes by supporting employees in their roles, reducing friction, and enhancing decision-making. AI can also help agents manage customer queries more efficiently, giving them access to foundational knowledge in real-time. However, the challenge lies in positioning AI correctly: not as a threat to jobs, but as a tool for augmenting human capabilities.

For example, AI’s ability to analyse customer intent and apply insights to guide agents through complex interactions can dramatically improve customer experience (CX). By properly integrating AI into business workflows, companies could potentially resolve the eternal challenge of moving from being seen as a cost centre to profit centre, unlocking new value opportunities across the customer journey.

Location strategy is still a consideration as the global market evolves. The outsourcing industry, particularly in sectors like fintech, IT support, and healthcare, appears poised for significant growth.  We know countries such as South Africa have already emerged as strategic hubs for business services, offering talent and capabilities that align with the growing demand for multilingual and technologically adept service providers. Whilst there are valid concerns as to the capacity that remains available, with 33% unemployment in South Africa (60% for young people) as well as the wider continent opening for business, then combined with the capabilities of technology great opportunities remain available.

Overcoming Challenges in AI Adoption

While AI presents numerous opportunities, it also comes with significant challenges. Many process owners may be hesitant to adopt AI due to concerns about how it will impact their workforce and customer relationships. Meanwhile, senior leadership may be focused more heavily on the potential cost saving benefits.  There’s a widespread misconception that AI will replace jobs, particularly in customer service. However, AI’s true value lies in assisting and enhancing human roles, not replacing them.

For businesses to adopt AI successfully, they need to:

• Align AI with company goals and culture: AI should be seen not as a technology investment, but as a strategic asset that drives both customer and employee experience.
• Shift from a cost-saving mindset to a value-driven approach: Technology shouldn’t be about cutting costs; it should unlock value, address problems at their root cause and improve service quality.
• Build the right business case: Secure buy-in from different budget owners by emphasising how AI can enhance outcomes across the organisation.

Aligning Metrics and Culture for the AI-Driven World

To fully leverage AI’s potential, cultural and operational changes are required. Business leaders need to:

• Align metrics with an automated world: Ensure that technology handles routine tasks, allowing people to focus on complex, human-centric work.
• Redefine the agent role: The agents of the future will need to deliver more value and possess different skills compared to traditional customer service roles.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement: Embrace ongoing evolution, where AI serves to complement human skills and free up time for higher-value tasks.
• Focus on proactive engagement: Let technology handle the repetitive, allowing people to engage with customers in a more meaningful way.
• Encourage bravery in decision-making: Leaders must support bold decisions around AI investment to drive long-term success.

Irrespective of delivery location, the future of CX delivery will increasingly rely on AI and automation to enhance customer journeys, optimise operations, and drive sustainable growth.

Transformation is never-ending. Businesses must approach AI and automation not as one-time projects but as ongoing evolutions. This requires understanding the unique challenges they face, aligning technology with business goals, and ensuring that AI enhances rather than replaces the human element.

With the right strategy, AI can unlock unprecedented opportunities for growth, helping companies stay competitive in a rapidly changing world. However, without the appropriate attention to employee experience, success will be illusory or limited.

Delivering the right experiences

At Customer Contact Panel we support organisations in delivering contact centres that match their ambitions. In a Deloitte Digital research articles from May 2024 it was cited that 55% of contact centre leaders reported that they didn’t meet their strategic goals in 2023 and 76% reported that their agents were overwhelmed by systems and information*.

If you are facing challenges meeting your strategic goals or fulfilling the ambitions you have for your people, customers or technology, we have the experience to support you. Just ask. 

*Balancing priorities in a new era of contact center transformation – Deloitte Digital

Reviewing the results there was a clear view that people know their roles, the different aspects of it, the impact of people development and appropriate investment in it and the importance of the ongoing development of people in contact centre environments.

We know why we are here and what we are supposed to do

This survey area scored strongly and aligns with wider miPerform research around front line staff and how they are engaged, there is no shortage of data at a senior level, however those who engage directly with customers are perhaps less likely to see the strategic objectives of an organisation.  There are still opportunities to unlock further value from customer conversations, ensuring people have the right skills and knowledge to engage in these.

I know what excellence looks like in my role

84.5% of participants in the survey believe that they know what excellence in their role looks like. However, the ability to demonstrate this to customers and to clients is something to be considered, how can we ensure that we are measuring and reporting the service that is being delivered?  Measures like CSAT are always considered, however the retention of both customers and critically employees, which could be the most significant metric as staff who are engaged, know their role, are confident in their delivery are happier in their work, they will not only delight customers but will be less likely to leave due to feeling undervalued. This results in unquestionable benefits the employee, customer and business.

The ability to deliver continuous feedback in the right way so that people feel supported and empowered is critical to people wanting to, and being able to share that knowledge with customers.

Staff development plays a huge role in brand reputation, perhaps as an output of increase productivity and delivery of service levels, with 94% suggesting a strong correlation to the impact on this.

However there was sometimes a clear disparity between the amount of time available for staff training and the recognised benefits equally there were times when the time available was much higher than expected. Another key theme was there was a gap between in knowledge about what specifically people needed to be trained on, to ensure that there is value in coaching there needs to be better analysis as to where the training is needed and what technology can be used in supporting this.

Ensuring that coaches and trainers have the right insights to direct training as effectively as possible can be supported by technology:

• Focusing efforts with support on the right subjects and with the appropriate delivery methods,
• These may be conversations within the operation, not necessarily removing people from the operation to sit in a training room
• Remote working needs to be considered in this context with the appropriate monitoring and support,
• Training still needs to be specific to the needs of the individual,
• Which enables us to think more about how we make training and coaching really count for the individual?

Tools like Cognexo as a micro learning solution can take as little as 2 minutes per day and be delivered through a channel aligned to the daily tasks of the staff member, therefore engagement levels are maintained above 91% as it is part of the daily routine.

Behaviour shifts are the result of the right conversations.

It isn’t always necessary to take people out of their day-to-day environment to change culture or behaviours and the role of the manager in ensuring that they are “walking the walk” being a visible leader, providing coaching and support, leading with the right insights ensures the most impact.

Managers must be able to understand their people as individuals, that the outcomes that need to be delivered for the customers require appropriate trust and autonomy due to the unique nature of customer interactions which is increasingly pertinent as AI and automation completes the easier tasks, we need to consider what measure and how we manage.  Whilst this may feel obvious, the shift to home working may make access to these skills harder for our next generation of Team Leaders.

We need to listen to the experiences of the front line staff, the roles are getting harder, but we need to ensure people are allowed to contribute to the process, to provide feedback about the processes and how things may be done differently, technology may be used for surveys with employees and to consolidate those responses, with a workflow to the management to ensure that all staff feedback is captured.   

“Managers need to ensure that they understand their people on a personal level”  

Enabling people to review their own performance and to track against the expected levels of delivery empowers them to properly understand where they are, how they are doing and where they may need support.

This can be used as a tool to support culture change, however, when time can be limited because of operational pressures so the subject matter and insight of what training or coaching is critical to get the right support to staff at the right time.

Budgets may not always be allocated to ongoing training and investment time may not always be scheduled as often as people may like, ROI models around attrition reduction benefits and how this filters through the business in other impacts, the role of ongoing personal development to retaining staff and supporting the growth of brand reputation,

In a world of AI we still need to ensure investment in people

A 1% increase in engagement can deliver a 2% increase in productivity, there are multiple benefits as a result, using coaching and learning to deliver contact centre culture is not achieved through pizza on a Friday, technology can be useful but we need to ensure that people within the organisation are considered in the mix, from agents and first line manager levels, who need to see that the insights are being used through to the senior team who may need stronger insights to drive strategic decision making.

If you’d like to talk further then please contact me directly and we can look at how we can help.