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Work-at-Home Benefits: A Primer for the Move to a Remote CX Workforce

As COVID-19 spreads and impacts work around the globe, work-from-home options become more enticing to keep contact center business continuity customer operations running smoothly. To help prepare an organization for the shift to an at-home workforce to ensure business continuity and employee health, we’ve outlined key benefits of using home-based contact center agents for some or all of your customer sales and support.

Business continuity

When a crisis hits, geography can be the deciding factor if your business succeeds. Moving work to an at-home model reduces geographical risk of an on-premise contact center. A remote workforce is especially crucial during pandemics like COVID-19, where close contact among large groups of people is discouraged, and in some places banned. Moreover, if unforeseen regional macro challenges occur in offshore contact centers, e.g. ISP failures, remote workforces in more stable regions can offer a viable contingency plan.

Significant cost savings

A home-based model provides much more value to a business (and customers) than traditional contact centers, both in terms of cost savings and the quality of the customer experience. Low operational costs make it an attractive onshore option for companies looking to move back to the U.S., and the highly skilled and trained associates provide a higher standard of service.

When moving to a home-based model from a complete brick-and-mortar contact center operation, TTEC clients typically see real estate and equipment costs shrink by 70% and 25%, respectively. At the same time, employee retention increases by 65%, and performance management efficiencies increase by 20%.

A broader (and deeper) talent pool

Recruiting for home-based associates isn’t limited by geography, so the quality and volume of the talent pool automatically rises. Companies can find the best employees for both part- and full-time work from anywhere. And with an average age of 40 and an average work experience of 11 years, at-home associates bring professional and life experience to a client program, along with higher educational backgrounds.

Keeping data safe and secure

Information security is the number one concern when it comes to the at-home model. Often, fear of data breaches prevents companies from implementing home-based associates. TTEC takes data security very seriously, whether our agents work at home or in our brick-and-mortar sites. We have been operating an at-home environment for different industries for almost five years and can rapidly stand up PCI, HIPAA, HITRUST and GDPR complaint at-home solutions. Our on-going investment in best practices, into training, and vulnaribiity testing positions our clients for success when they use our at-home platform.

Playing the long game

Forward-looking businesses recognize the benefits of flexible staffing far outweigh sticking with a static, traditional work environment. When it comes to meeting customer expectations and maintaining productivity, the more flexibility companies have in ramping up or down quickly with a variety of dispersed staff; the better organizations will be at meeting service levels and delivering a great customer experience—regardless of what comes next.

Getty Images: The Secret to Impactful Images is Thinking Consumer First

Chinese, migrant, queer, femme, first generation, Gu Zheng player, artist, friend, roommate, spiritual, Relaxed, curious, joyful, sleepy, caring, capable, self-assured, comfortable, committed, driven

What insights can be found in the many photos, images, and other visual content that brands use to convey messages to customers? In a survey of more than 10,000 consumers and professionals across 26 countries conducted in partnership with the market research firm YouGov, Getty Images set out to understand the trends underlying the visual content that marketers and creative professionals select from its enormous database and what resonates with consumers.

As part of the survey, respondents were asked about their personal values, likes, dislikes, and the responses were analyzed alongside Getty Images’ search and sales data, internal findings from its creative visual team, and other market research data. The learnings included recommendations on what to consider when selecting images for popular areas such as technology, wellness, sustainability, and realness.

For example, when looking to visualize technology, Getty Images recommends showing technology as the “center of the action” and using “graphic illustrations that represent the connections that technology enables” for greater impact. We also reached out to Dr. Rebecca Swift, global head of creative insights at Getty Images, for a deeper dive into the key insights that marketers and creative professionals should consider when making decisions about visual content:


When selecting images for content, how should businesses balance gut-based decisions with decisions that are based on A/B testing and other data-driven methods? Is there still room for gut-based decisions?

Imagery is such an emotionally driven decision that unless there is an implicit understanding about how all the elements work together in the frame, it is difficult to determine image choice. Machine learning can do so much but it cannot predict the response to content when the elements do not create an emotional connection. (The reasons are multitudinal – visual memory/seen as cliched/color palette doesn’t work/seems inauthentic etc).

We have found that data can point us in the right direction but there needs to be a sentient being involved in the final decision-making process. We can predict what is most likely to work but we are also continually testing what will work best next by imbibing creative ideas into the content and analyzing how our customers react to it.

What is the key takeaway for companies that want to select images that resonate with their customers?

You must take the time to unearth understandings about what matters most to your key consumer groups—specifically, what impacts their decision-making. Luckily, we’ve done the legwork here. While the audience for each brand is different, our data identifies several points for consideration among four key Forces. 

In terms of realness, consumers resonate most with brands who come across as transparent, honest and real with their imagery and messaging. Not a surprise, per se, but an understanding brands can feel better about now that we’ve got the data to back it up. 

For wellness, we found that consumers value physical health and mental health equally, and place a high value on both–suggesting that brands should consistently concern themselves with visualizing both in an effort to better reach consumers. 

When it comes to Technology, we’ve found that visuals related to the “hottest” and “newest” devices are all well and fine, but consumers are most concerned with their relationships with technology, both good and bad. For instance, 97% of consumers say technology makes them feel more connected, but 41% say that technology has damaged their relationships, too. It’s a push/pull dynamic and one brands should concern themselves with. For that reason, and based on our findings, brands should emphasize visuals which highlight the positive aspects of technology and the interconnectedness it enables. 

And lastly, while people claim to value sustainability across the board, their actions don’t consistently line up. Specifically, half of consumers say they only buy products from brands that try to be eco-friendly, but roughly just as many (48%) also say that convenience is more important. There’s an opportunity for brands to help consumers shift their actions to mirror their attitudes.

What was most surprising about the survey responses in relation to the 4 categories or forces that were identified as most popular among companies?

One of the most surprising takeaways arguably came from our sustainability findings, through which we found that sustainability is important to consumers of all ages, across generations, continents and cultures. One might assume that sustainability is something favored only by younger generations, but that’s likely not the case–which means there’s a veritable opportunity for brands to better reach consumers across all groups by embracing sustainability-forward visuals.  We’ve also identified a missed opportunity stemming from a lack of older generations being depicted in imagery. For instance, our findings show that the percentage of Gen X’ers and Baby Boomers that value overall wellness, wellbeing and “living by one’s principles” is greater than that of younger generations, and yet most visuals depicting wellness show Gen Z and millennials. As we see it, there’s a clear correlation between the importance of wellness and age, and brands should take note.

How sustainability is reshaping relationships with consumers and clients

On Feb. 17, Jeff Bezos announced the “Bezos Earth Fund,” pledging $10 billion against what he deemed Earth’s biggest threat, climate change. “It’s going to take collective action from big companies, small companies, nation states, global organizations, and individuals,” posted Bezos on Instagram.

Sustainability, and consequently climate change, have become an intense area of conversation as organizations and experts fear drastic tipping points. In his 2020 Letter to CEOs, Larry Fink, the CEO of the global investment manager BlackRock, cited climate change as a leading factor that may shape the long-term profits of companies and the planet.

The letter represents not only wider acknowledgement of the forces shaping the planet, but also the urgent sense of responsibility and action that the current and next generation will face in the marketplace. As Fink wrote, “a company cannot achieve long-term profits without embracing purpose and considering the needs of a broad range of stakeholders.”

A healthy planet is good for business

Recent findings from ING, stressed the repercussions of organizations who turn a blind eye to the market’s growing environmental concerns. Their report, “Learning from consumers: How shifting demands are shaping companies circular economy transition,” stated that 61 percent of consumers would be less likely to buy from companies with poor environmental practices and less than half under the age of 34 would boycott food companies that fail to address environmental concerns.

BlackRock’s Letter to Clients stated sustainability as the new standard for investment, and with this proclamation came both an assurance to help clients adjust to environmental standards and a word of warning to those teetering or tampering with negative environmental actions. One example is its pledge to further evaluate, and potentially exit, sectors it deems to be at high environmental risk such as thermal coal producers.

One of the biggest promises in terms of sustainability is Microsoft’s effort to combat carbon emissions, a factor in climate change. Microsoft pledged to be carbon negative by 2030 and by 2050 it will remove the entirety of its carbon emissions since its founding in 1975.

These drastic calls to action from some of the world’s highest-ranking CEOs exemplify the power of large corporations to shape the market and world with their capitol and resources, as well as their will to adapt to new expectations of the public.

Going beyond purpose

In late 2019 when I interviewed Jeff Fromm, a speaker and writer on consumer trends, we discussed what it meant to be purpose driven, Fromm stated, “it’s purpose in combination with other factors.” Unless you are the Amazons or Microsofts of the world, it’s going to take a lot more than saying you promise to do good.

In 2020 organizations may continue to make pledges to positively impact or right the wrongs that are important to their customers and clients, and subsequently the world, but what will truly drive exceptional moments of authenticity is their ability to drive change with innovation to stand out and survive in a changing marketplace.

Redefining Disruption

Photo taken in Berlin, Germany

When Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed his company’s internal motto was to “move fast and break things” back in 2009, it perfectly encapsulated the nature of disruptive companies. Disrupting an industry meant figuring out how to get a product or service to customers faster and more cheaply than competitors. However, companies today are being asked to redefine what it means to be disruptive.

Disrupting disruption 
In some ways, it’s easier to be a disruptive company than ever before, says Suman Sarkar, a partner with Three S Consulting and author of the book, Customer-driven Disruption: Five Strategies to Stay Ahead of the Curve. “So much information and technology is readily available that anyone with an idea could start a business,” he says. 

But there’s a growing disconnect between businesses and the customer, Sarkar notes, that’s only going to get worse unless businesses take a different path. “The more time I spend in business, the more I realize that business leaders are focused on the wrong things when they should be focused on the customer and other stakeholders,” he says.

Consider disruptive giants like Uber, WeWork, and Instacart, which a few years ago were heralded for introducing services that emphasized convenience for the customer. Today, many of those companies are facing worker strikes, lawsuits, and increasing government scrutiny. What went wrong? 

In the race to disrupt markets and deliver customer innovation, companies failed to acknowledge other people who are affected, such as the workers providing those services and even the environment, Sarkar says. “Companies need to do the right thing and work with all their stakeholders, which is why we’re now seeing a backlash.”

As corporations face rising discontent over dismal working conditions, harmful products, and income inequality, some business leaders are calling for a redefinition of business goals. 

Salesforce founder and co-CEO Marc Benioff told Fortune that businesses need to move to a “new capitalism” based on equality, fairness, and sustainability for both stakeholders and shareholders. 
The core of Benioff’s new capitalism is the idea that “values are creating value.” He pointed to Salesforce’s “1-1-1 model” of giving 1 percent of product, equity, and employee time to philanthropic causes as an example of how a company could operationalize its values. 

Benioff’s message of business transformation echoes the Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs that issued a statement about “the purpose of a corporation.” The statement maintains that companies should no longer advance only the interests of shareholders. Instead, they must also invest in their employees, protect the environment, and deal fairly and ethically with their suppliers. Yet it remains to be seen whether companies will make any impactful changes to the way they do business. 

A good indication that a company is likely to transform its business is if it has a clear understanding of its future customer, according to Charlene Li, principal analyst at Altimeter, a Prophet company. 
“I think it’s interesting that the number one characteristic of disruptive organizations is that they focus very hard on future customers, building the right experience, and basing decisions around them,” says Li, who recently wrote about disruption in her book, The Disruption Mindset: Why Some Businesses Transform While Others Fail. “And yet when I ask most organizations, do you know what your future customer looks like, they’re still trying to figure out what the customer looks like today.” 

What does the future customer look like? Research shows that Millennials and their younger cohort, Generation Z, are calling for values-driven companies—and they’re not the only ones. Today, four in 10 of those ages 50 to 59 consider company values when making a purchase, along with a third of those ages 60 to 70, according to Forrester. 

In other words, “More than a fleeting trend or an advertising tactic to attract Millennials, committing to company values has emerged as an imperative for corporate success,” writes Anjali Lai, senior Forrester analyst, in Forbes.

Giving customers what they want
Lemonade, a five-year-old property and casualty startup, is focused on simplifying the process of purchasing homeowners and renters insurance and paying out claims quickly. As per its website, its value proposition is, “zero paperwork and instant everything by replacing brokers and bureaucracy with bots and machine learning.” 

Customers can start the process on the web or mobile and are guided by a chatbot named Maya. Maya asks customers questions about their insurance needs, and based on the responses, serves up a policy that fits their answers. The company charges a monthly subscription fee starting at $5 for renters insurance and $25 for homeowners insurance. Once the policy is in effect, policyholders can manage the policy and file claims on the Lemonade app. 

In addition to convenience, the company also highlights its “giveback” program. Policyholders select a nonprofit to donate to when buying insurance through Lemonade. The monthly payments are pooled with those of other policyholders and after paying expenses and claims, the company gives any money left over to the customers’ charities.

The company’s target customers are people who aren’t looking for highly customized coverage and have a preference for user-friendly, digital-first insurance. Lemonade co-founder Daniel Schreiber tells eConsultancy that the company “appeals to an underserved market” and the “evidence” of that is that 87 percent of its customers are first-time insurance buyers. 

Another way that Lemonade tries to distinguish itself is by attempting to be transparent about how it handles claims. 

In a blog titled, “The Secret Behind Lemonade’s Instant Insurance,” co-founder Shai Wininger outlines the role algorithms play: “As smart as algorithms may be, they aren’t always perfect. This is why we only use our claim algorithms to help us reach one single decision: should a claim be handled automatically or not. AI Jim will either pay claims instantly or call in human Jim to take charge.”

Venture capitalists like what they see about Lemonade. Last year, the fintech startup, which is backed by VCs such as Sequoia, General Catalyst, and Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures, raised $300 million in a funding round that valued the four-year-old company at more than $2 billion.

Of course, Lemonade also has its share of disadvantages. Its rates are still affected by factors such as location, value of the home, and potential risks. And if you want to speak face to face with an insurance agent at Lemonade, you’re out of luck.

Industry experts have also pointed out that Lemonade’s business model isn’t revolutionary and is, in fact, similar to other insurers. So, is Lemonade truly an innovative customer-driven company? 
“The real KPIs are retention, combined ratios, and customer satisfaction,” insurance expert Nick Lamparelli writes on InsNerds.com. “Those will take years to sort out. Are they [Lemonade] truly in it for the customer, do they really want to revolutionize the business model or is the exit strategy already in place? The world is watching.”

Costco’s strategy for beating Amazon
Companies don’t have to be startups to be disruptive. Costco, which is known for its loyal customers and employees, has a long track record of strong financial performance and is regularly listed at the top of best employer and customer service lists. 

The nearly 40-year-old retailer’s strategy of selling merchandise at low prices in a treasure hunt model, combined with its strong employee culture and attention to customer experience—in stores and online—continues to give the company incredible momentum.

In 2019, Costco even knocked Amazon down to second place for online shopper customer satisfaction in the American Customer Satisfaction Index; Amazon had held the top spot since 2010. What did Costco do better than Amazon?  

“What takes it to the next level is the customer experience,” writes customer experience expert Blake Morgan in Forbes. “The combination of value, technology, and a human touch puts Costco in the top spot for customer satisfaction. While Costco doesn’t have the amazing quantity of items like Amazon, it excels in personal and convenient service. And apparently, that matters with customers enough to give Costco the edge.”

Redefining customer obsession
A cardinal rule for business growth is customer obsession. Companies that understand their customers and keep up with their ever-changing needs will avoid disruption. While consumers still crave convenience and affordability, they also value worker fairness and environmental sustainability. Transforming a business into one that upholds these values and more requires immense disruption to existing business models, but the companies that don’t will soon find that they have fallen behind. 

Enter a New Reality of Employee Training

selective focus of smiling multicultural students using vr headsets

When virtual reality (VR) technology first came out it was a novelty primarily seen as an innovative way for gamers to dive into a digital world. It has grown into something so much more—a collaborative and interactive application that is a key tool in any modern workplace’s arsenal. Organizations that want to meet the expectations of the millennial and Gen Z workforce need to understand the types of technology they prefer to use, both for personal and professional use.

The state of VR
VR is gaining traction in immersing users and overlaying digital content on top of the physical world to enhance the traditional training environment in many industries. According to SuperData, 71 percent of organizations have access to VR are using it for training.

Fortune 500 companies are now taking a blended learning approach with VR technology to appeal to a new generation of workers and provide real-time experiences.

In 2019 UPS deployed a VR program that replicated a roadway to create opportunities for drivers to learn road culture and safety education to help prevent accidents in the real world. And Walmart uses VR headsets to test employee knowledge of the store layout, product information, and how to deal with customers.

VR adoption is growing. Zion Market Research estimates that the global augmented and virtual reality market will be valued at $814.7 billion by 2025. For companies focused on employee and customer experience, VR capabilities can help shape the workforce of the future.

4 best practices for VR/AR employee training
It’s time to let Walter go. In your office the two of you talk. It’s a tough discussion, but in the end, Walter understands and shakes your hand. The screen goes dark, you take off your VR headset, and your co-worker takes the tool for a spin. This is the new reality of training.

The beauty of VR technology is that it gives employees the opportunity to perfect training scenarios, such as difficult customer interactions or complicated product instructions, in a safe and responsive environment on their own time, while also enjoying an increasingly relevant and fun technology.

VR technology is not a one-size-fits-all approach to training, however, and it cannot replace everything learned in a traditional training environment. Rather, think of it as an enhancement to immerse employees into key scenarios that will be present in the workplace.

VR capabilities need to be deployed as part of a blended learning strategy that can be incorporated into classroom activities. Here are some best uses of VR for employee training:

1. Conversational training: This is the “Walter” example from the beginning of our story. With VR technology using headsets and joysticks, employees can create incredibly interactive environments to interact with digital characters to converse about situations that would be otherwise difficult or awkward to have with an employee or fellow trainee. Furthermore, it gamifies the experience with video game elements by giving feedback and scores that can be compared with others.

2. Process-based training: VR is becoming more than just “seeing” another world. The controllers that come with most headsets (usually held in each hand) let employees interact and move objects and products that encompass their daily work life. Electricians can learn a protocol for changing faulty wiring several times over without putting themselves in danger, for example, letting them identify the intricacy of their task stress-free. Many programs also offer “randomizer” options, which can create multiple unique scenarios, such as different house floorplans or customer moods.

3. Object-based training: Another hands-on approach, object-based training lets users virtually deconstruct or pick apart their organization’s products to get an in-depth feel for what they are working on. For automotive workers, this is a fantastic method to peel away at the layers of a car to see the extent of damage and how each piece affects another.

4. Collaborative training: A growing field in augmented reality (AR) technology, VR’s cousin, is the ability to connect two smart devices to let workers and “customers” see the same scenario together on one screen. Shared screens can allow multiple trainees to interact on a virtual task together, showing real-time updates, directions, and advice to users while they watch their colleagues’ “digital” hands get to work. This type of training is especially useful in group training, such as classes of customer service employees.

Virtual means = real outcomes
Despite its steady growth, VR is still a fairly new technology. Here are some examples of how companies are realizing various benefits from VR: 

Safety: VR training isn’t just practical, it can save lives. Verizon is taking VR to the next level by placing employees in one of life’s most dangerous situations: an armed robbery. As reported in a recent NPR article, “Virtual Reality Goes to Work, Helping Train Employees,” Verizon employees enter a simulated environment where they are held at gunpoint to learn various techniques to ensure the safety of themselves and others. Those who have experienced such situations in real life reflected on the accuracy of the simulation in the article.

Manufacturing environments are also using simulated learning to replicate disasters such as faulty equipment or hazardous scenarios. Platforms can allow them to practice on virtual equipment that replicates the real thing. This can instill a sense of repetition and confidence before they hop onto live production.

There are also the literal safety implications that are developing as well. Geo-fencing capabilities within a VR environment can identify if the user is stepping out bounds and can quickly exit to reveal their actual surroundings. No more wandering into walls or unsuspecting co-workers.

Preparation: Holiday seasons are incredibly taxing for both new and seasoned retail employees. That’s why VR tools can be incredibly useful for critical mass times such as Black Friday. A Vox article highlighted how Walmart is utilizing Oculus Go headsets to replicate the sensory overload that is Black Friday by incorporating large volumes of people in their crowded hallway to create “situational awareness before the big day.”

VR is an excellent application to get employees comfortable with what they may experience during the holidays and to practice improving the soft skills (empathy) needed to communicate with frantic and frustrated customers. “There is not historically a widely accessible safe place to fail when trying to improve your soft skills,” says Kyle Jackson, CEO of Talespin, an augmented and virtual reality technology company (and TTEC partner). “Roleplay is typically reserved for smaller groups of employees and when done in front of a group, it greatly diminishes the learning outcome.”

Reduced costs: VR is very much meant as a tool for people to engage with one another. It also reduces training and enrollment costs. According to SuperData, enterprises that adopt XR training technology will save $13.5 billion that would otherwise have been spent on traditional training that includes instructors, dedicated learning spaces, and travel.

Traditionally, the cost of VR technology has been a barrier to entry. In a 2018 survey, YouGov found that 55 percent of participants saw price as their biggest obstacle. This barrier is lowering, however. We’ve already seen prices dip as the technology continues to improve, with platforms like Oculus Quest coming in at a lower price point and not requiring a separate computer to operate it.

“Products like this make hardware costs associated with adoption and the logistics to get trainees into XR training programs much lower,” says Stephen Fromkin, chief content officer at Talespin. “One of the best ways to go about addressing these issues is by educating industries on how the tech can easily be adopted, lowering the barrier to entry to recognizing ROI.”

Improved decision making and learning: When an employee completes a process, whether it be a repair or a safety walk around a manufacturing floor, the more times they do it the more they understand it. E-learning and classroom lectures have their place, but just think about throwing the perfect pitch in baseball. You can read all you want on it, but it won’t make a difference until you get outside and practice.

Research from the National Training Laboratory shows that learning retention rates for VR are around 75 percent compared to only 5 percent for lectures. That’s because leaders are giving their employees the opportunity to build muscle memory by running them through scenarios that mirror real life.

“Immersive technologies like VR are extremely effective in rapidly transferring knowledge and skills to support employee performance and learning retention,” says Jackson. “This makes it a game-changer for workforce training. Employees can practice key skills for a specialized role, roleplay challenging workplace conversations, or train for emergency situations in a much more realistic, immersive way in comparison to traditional training methodologies.”

And simply put, VR training is more fun than traditional methods. Individual ownership of VR devices is still quite low, resting at just over 10 percent, according to the YouGov study. For many employees it’ll be their first opportunity to test out an unfamiliar but incredibly engaging tool. If given the choice between sitting in a classroom or putting on goggles to be transported to a digital experience, I think many will choose the latter.

It’s time to make VR a reality
This tool isn’t the end all, be all solution for employee training. But it is a step toward reinventing the small ways we engage in an increasingly digital world. If you want to invest in this technology for your employees I suggest you do it slowly, seeing how your workforce adapts to something many might not be familiar with. But I assure you, once they step into this world it’ll be hard to go back to the way things were before.

Behind the Scenes of Dow Jones’ Customer Care

At its core, excellent customer support is about making your customers feel understood and appreciated by your business. And while customer support is rarely the first thing that readers associate with Dow Jones, parent company to The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, and MarketWatch, it’s a critical part of the news and publishing firm’s success. 
Thom San Filippo, vice president of customer service and experience design at Dow Jones, explains what it takes to make a global, tech-savvy audience feel appreciated and why the company is doubling down on contact center training and development in a digital-first era.

What is a typical day on the job like for you?
Thom San Filippo: I’ve been at Dow Jones now for 20 years. The last 13 I’ve been in the customer service department and I like to say that I’ve never had the same day twice. Part of that is because we’re a news organization. We’re 24/7 and things change every day. Currently I have 500 staff and we’re in eight different locations supporting 11 different languages.

How data-driven is your organization?
TSF: We have KPIs and service levels, like all other companies. One of the ones that we push on and folks argue with us all the time about, might be AHT on a part of my business. For Wall Street Journal customers, for example, we’ve come to find out that our customers want speed on their calls and they want it to be easy.
And we’ve been able to show the staff that we’re not doing it to make them work faster or harder or get more work. We actually just showed them numbers in the last six months. As we took 30 seconds off phone calls, we were able to drive Net Promoter up seven points. So clearly our customers want it to be faster and easier. 

How does this insight translate to creating a good online user experience?
TSF: We have an entire reporting team that works in my department and they’re pushing almost on a daily basis. Some customers like real-time feedback. So it could be, “Hey, today we logged a [complaint about] an ad covering the page,” and we’ll know that early in the day so the group in the advertising department will quickly get on that. 
Or it’ll just be something that’s a slow burn and takes a long time for folks to figure out like, “Hey, your page takes a lot longer than x, y, or z news organization’s page takes. What are you doing about that?” And those two examples are actually real ones that our tech folks have been working on for the last two years.

What’s an example of a recent customer experience improvement you’ve made? 
TSF: One of the simple and most logical ones was mobile optimization for our self-service websites. And we introduced a chatbot. We have volumes [of data] on how many people come to our site on mobile or desktop and we have an iPad edition as well. 
We never had a mobile-optimized website for our customer service. So, we introduced that and we went from zero—because the desktop site didn’t work very well—to almost 18 percent of all of our self-service now being done on the mobile application. So that was a big win for us.

Do you find it easier to make changes on the B2B side of the business versus B2C?
TSF: No, actually, because so many more people are involved in the impact. So if you worked for one company and you asked for or requested a change, and I was about to make that change, we have to alert and work with some of the other companies to see if that would impact them. 

What do you find gets overlooked in creating a customer-centric organization?
TSF: I would say the customer. I think it’s really a balance. We always try to give the customer everything they want. And that’s really not practical and sometimes we have to pull ourselves back on that. There needs to be a balance of what’s right for the customer versus what’s right for the business. And I think that’s actually a healthy conflict. For example, we have experience architects that we embed in product designs and rollouts. And I think that conflict that they bring to the room actually is healthy in that it spurs new ideas.

How do you balance data decision-making with the human side of customer experience?
TSF: I have an entire reporting department in my group that presents volume metrics as well as the complete voice of the customer. Over time, Dow Jones has built out an entire data organization that can do everything from socio-economic situations to overall utilization. If a customer exhibits certain behavior—download an app,  read two stories in the newsletter—maybe their propensity to churn is different. So, we bring that data to bear. 

But nothing hits home like just listening to a call. And recently we’ve been providing our CEO with calls that he listens to, as well as bringing more calls into various meetings or presentations. If you read a chat transcript or you read an email or you listen to a call, that definitely hits home for a lot of people.

How are you approaching AI and automation?
TSF: Both [technology and humans] play a role and neither one should get overlooked at this point. You know, AI at this point is probably one of the biggest buzzwords and everybody wants to bring it in and I agree. It’s the next best thing. But I think what people will find out is the better you get at that, what you’re left with are high-touch work where the skills that are necessary to manage it in a call center or a contact center are a lot harder. So you have to reinvest in the staff, the people that actually communicate our brand out to our customers.

As someone who’s always on the lookout for improving the customer experience, what contact center trends are you watching?
TSF: It’s funny, I’ve been to three different conferences in the last six months and everywhere is AI, AI and chatbots. That’s the next big thing that’s out there. I think very few people are doing a good job of those right now, but it’s just a matter of time before everybody gets better at it. And all that’s going to do is get rid of all the low-hanging fruit. It’s going to leave a higher-touch contact for the contact center to deal with. [Training is also a big trend we’re following.] We did the Apple News rollout and we found out about that project days before it went live. In 24 hours we had to train 400 agents across the globe. 

So, we are currently looking for better and easier and more dynamic ways to do training across the board and to get information out to folks as fast as possible. Our typical training on either B2B or B2C right now is mostly modules and the old-fashioned stand up with a presenter in front of the room. As we look toward better web-based training and online training, we’re also looking for gamification in that world. So putting out little snippets every day for people to get better and to continually learn and improve over time.

Is that because you are hiring more agents and thinking more in terms of scale, or is it that they need to gain more skills faster?
TSF: It’s a little of both. This year [2019] we, for the first time, insourced a small portion of our team. So we outsourced 80 percent of our work with teams in five locations [plus our insource team]. So, as you try to train across multiple locations 24/7, some of the speed is needed to get folks to learn these things. And yes, we are also increasing the need for our folks [to have specialties].

Do you have advice for companies on preparing for the future of CX?
TSF: Try things, fail quickly, and start all over again. Back to the chatbots, we worked with a company in the beginning of the year and they showed us two or three iterations that they had done for some pretty big-name companies. All of them got scrapped within the first six months and they went back to the drawing board. 

We put it out there and then we found out weeks later, oh, you know, this gives a rise to email or satisfaction works on this transaction but not that transaction. So, we were able to make some adjustments and now we’re doing a whole big phase two on the things we’ve learned. By getting it out there faster, the things that weren’t working were discontinued very quickly and the things that were working are moving forward and being enhanced.

So, either you’ve got to try quickly and cheaply and see if it works and pull it back or step back a little bit and see what else works in the marketplace for a similar business like your own. 

Decoding RPA and Intelligent Automation in the Contact Center

Today’s customers are fast. The rise of messaging apps and smart phones have enabled them to reach whomever they want, wherever they want, whenever they want. That’s why your contact center associates need to be faster and better prepared to handle increasing demands while delivering superior service.

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) and Robotic Desktop Automation (RDA) are emerging software that contact center leaders are deploying to tackle the mundane tasks that burden associates.

Research has indicated that while over 40 percent of employees reported better experiences because of automation, almost the same amount claimed they are spending more time than expected on this technology.

Before your organization invests in RPA/RDA, here is a quick guide to help you better understand the technology in general, as well as the differences between the two.

RPA (Robotic Process Automation)

What is RPA:

RPA is unattended software with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) that handles common, high-volume, repetitive tasks. By unattended, we mean that once the program is running, no further human interaction is required. It runs on a virtual machine and can complete several tasks simultaneously for a wide array of associates – even when the office is closed.

Who is using RPA:

Because there is no human involvement in RPA deployment, organizations leverage this automation technology in their back office, operations, and are even outsourcing work in customer care, finance, HR, supply chain, and IT.

When is RPA used:

RPA is changing the way organizations do their daily business. Workflows that can be laid out step-by-step and executed without human manipulation are ripe for RPA intervention. Your organization may already have several of these opportunities:

  • Data entry is a manual process – leading to errors, delays, and fatigue
  • Information comes from disparate sources – like paper, fax, scanned documents, email, messaging, and voice calls
  • Legacy systems are not performing optimally to meet the new demands of customers
  • Accessing and retrieving data is challenging
  • Ensuring regulatory compliance is met

RPA has really revolutionized end-to-end process completion.

Where does RPA fit in:

Short answer, everywhere.

RPA solutions have been incorporated into desktop, web, mainframe, Java, .Net, cloud/SaaS, Citric, virtualized applications, and legacy or custom applications with or without APIs

Why use RPA:

RPA solutions help associates process back office work quicker and with minimal errors. Specifically, case classification, queries, calculations, and basic maintenance of records and transactions are automatically kept current, freeing your human workforce to hit the ground running with every client interaction, every time.

RPA does not require access to source codes or APIs, and there are no changes to underlying applications.

RDA (Robotic Desktop Automation)

What is RDA:

RDA refers to attended automated solutions that help associates work faster and more efficiently by simplifying and automating business processes and transactions on their desktops. This is freeing the associate up for more meaningful tasks. It is akin to giving all your employees an executive assistant to make it easier for them to consistently WOW your customers.

Who is using RDA:

Front-line associates, particularly in the contact center and retail space, who need to deliver personalized service and input in situations that require empathy

When is RDA used when:

IT environments are stable (i.e. legacy systems are in place)

There are highly manual processes across different applications

Stakeholders are all onboard to cut busy work

Where does RDA fit in:

Due to its attended nature, RDA needs to run on an individual associate’s desktop.

Why use RDA:

It streamlines workflows and optimizes application navigation on associates’ desktops. This reduces rework and the costs associated with errors, and frees them to focus more on higher value, strategic activities such as engaging with customers, problem solving, and decision making that can only be solved by a human.

What does automation have in store for you?

RPA and RDA are two very intelligent automation applications that can cross-off time-consuming, repetitive tasks from your associates ’to-do’ list in both the front and back end of business. But it these ‘helpful bots’ are still relatively new to organizations. Progressive CX leaders who understand the extreme benefits of RPA and RDA are already using them to simplify the path to exceptional employee and customers experiences.

Join us for future blogs as we continue to dive deeper into these exciting uses for automation in the contact center.

Say I Do to Customer Service

Co-founders of jewelry startup Marke NYC share their customer service lessons learned.
Co-founders of jewelry startup Marke NYC share their customer service lessons learned.

New York City is a hub of startups. One subway ride reveals a rich tapestry of companies looking to disrupt nearly every industry. Being innovative is tough work and not every organization survives in the big city. According to the Small Business Association, over a quarter of new businesses fail during their first two years.

So, what does it take for a startup to thrive as a hypergrowth success story? Now entering their second year, brothers Daniel and Ben Mardkha are aiming to make their direct-to-consumer men’s wedding band service Marke NYC just as much about customer service as the product. 

They’ve learned that showing they care for customers has a big influence on differentiating their business as a digitally native brand. We sat down with Daniel and Ben to discuss this and other customer service lessons learned that apply to businesses large and small.  

What were some of the initial challenges of going direct to consumer (D2C)? 
Daniel: The challenge obviously in any direct to consumer online-only business is trying to figure out a way to convince customers to buy your product online even though they can’t see, touch, or feel your item. 

The first way we address that is with our home try-on kit, which is pretty much as close as we can get to bringing  the in-store experience into someone’s living room. And thankfully we’ve had tremendous success with that kit. 

The other hurdle is, and this was something that we’ve benefited from with our first business, is getting customer feedback. We have a nice review system and email marketing in place to capture as much feedback as we can. But there’s still frankly nothing quite like being able to stand across the counter in whatever business you’re in and get that instant feedback, then take that reaction and apply it to improve your overall brand experience. 

We’re just over a year into business and we are constantly tinkering and experimenting with new approaches to improve our overall brand experience. But it’s still a little bit of a challenge to get those improvements out in time without having that instant feedback.

And we do our best; we work with a partner who’s been tremendous in helping us capture customer reviews and we’ve applied a lot of customer feedback directly into products, assortments, packaging, and our website. So that’s been helpful. But I guess if I had to list a couple of challenges with this model that would fall under that category.

It sounds like being a successful D2C brand is about balancing digital and human capabilities in customer service. 
Daniel: We started playing around with live chat, chatbots, and sending customers a template message when they arrive to a certain page, so on and so forth. It’s been helpful and in some instances we’re able to anticipate what some customers might have challenges with. But on the other hand, there’s a little bit of a robotic feel behind the bot. It’s very easy to send a message that even if it’s a little off base, might really turn off your customer so when they read it they feel like, “Oh hey, I’m just another ant in the shoe box here.” That’s been the challenge with bots. 


For our email marketing platform, we use Mailchimp, and we have it tailored pretty down to our system. Our customers receive a very specific type of email. When they order a home try-on kit, they receive another very specific type of email throughout the purchase process. So we’ve had a lot more success and value extracted from email marketing than from bots or from chat so far.

How do you manage helping customers through something as stressful as marriage?  
Daniel: With weddings comes timelines, due dates, deadlines, and things like that. From a brand perspective, even if some customer requests go against your usual policy for certain things at a certain degree you have to have a human element to your customer service. You need to be able to cater to a customer whose ring doesn’t fit and swap it out for them as many times as you can. And even though it’s against your policy, you feel like it’s the right thing to do because it’s their wedding next week. 

When it comes to the human element with our brand, you don’t want to be a brand that lets somebody down. 
We’ve had to encounter a few customers that even if their request or comment was invalid or inconsistent with our Marke policies online, whether it be shipping, durability, or timing of the warranty, we’ve learned the hard way how the customer is always right to deal with situations like that. And us not having, quite frankly, any previous customer service experience and dealing with those customers directly one-on-one has played a part in creating some memorable moments over email. 

We’ve also done a few popups in our Bryant Park [New York City] showroom and have taken in some appointments here at the HQ. Seeing some customers interact face-to-face has also created some interesting memories.

A pattern that we’ve established during those appointments is that whether the guy’s coming in with his partner, fiancé, or friend, they’re always looking for some confirmation, some support, and some advice from whomever they’re bringing in here to the office. What do they think looks good, what do they think doesn’t look good? Should I go with the yellow gold band? Should I go with the matte finish? Should I get a thinner band? So it definitely established a pattern where guys really do seek out help from whomever they feel is close to them.

What customer service lessons have you learned to share with other hypergrowth companies?
Daniel: The biggest customer service lesson that we’ve learned is patience. Especially if you’re a co-founder or part of the founding team members like Ben and I are, it’s very easy to kind of approach customer service as an afterthought. But you must realize that your customers are honestly going to turn into potential brand ambassadors someday.

This is especially true if you happen to be in the wedding business, because a lot of people have friends who are usually getting married at around the same time that you’re getting married. So it’s super important to leave a good impression on them, even during instances where you think they’re wrong because like I said, they’re going to potentially end up being brand ambassadors and there’s no more ideal visitor to come to your site than a referral.

What piece of advice would you give startups to create meaningful moments?
Ben: I think for startups in particular to make [customer service] meaningful to your customers is for the founders of that startup to actually spend some time and doing it themselves. A reason why I say that is because from personal experience there’s nothing like emailing somebody and trying to present the brand the way that you envisioned. 

It’s one thing to have a customer service team member that you hire and you can train them to represent the brand in such a way. But I really feel like there’s nothing like a founder themselves talking to a potential customer just because there’s no better way to kind of cater to what that customer needs and to present the brand in any different way other than that.

Daniel: Hearing from the co-founders is something that customers have really kind of been attracted to. And what Ben and I have done has been to send out a personal email to past customers and ask their opinion and critique if they didn’t end up buying a wedding band, asking, “Hey guys, why not?” And we were shocked with how much feedback we got from those responses. And we’ve even made some plans to expand our assortment based on some customer replies.

It’s very easy to not care about one-time customers and to belittle the value of that, but we definitely feel otherwise. 

A First Look at 2020 Retail at NRF’s “Big Show”

New decade, new retail. At National Retail Federation (NRF) “Big Show” conference in New York City, business leaders defined what will make for exceptional customer experiences in 2020. For some it was a fight to make robotics a coworker, not the be-all-end-all stealer of jobs, for others it was about creating more memorable in-store experiences.

But above all, these leaders recognized that times were changing, and they need to adapt. Here is the 1to1 Media team’s first glimpse of a new decade of retail.

CEOs remember the importance of basic human connections

While some retailers are using automation and AI to reduce human input, other retailers are using technology to enable and enhance human connections. 

“It’s about finding ways to help humans find more time to be human. It’s not about robots that replace baristas,” said Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson. “It’s about tech that frees up baristas to be better and connect with customers.”

Helena Foulkes, CEO of Hudson’s Bay Company, which owns high-end retailer Saks added, “We have 4,500 stylists across Saks—many with their own followers. Our job is to empower them with more data and tools to invite customers back to stores and close deals.”

And Ben Silbermann, co-founder and CEO of Pinterest, said he wants his website to be a source of inspiration for consumers, as well as a collaborative and safe environment. In addition to encouraging manual verification to identify legitimate online sellers, Pinterest is interacting with medical experts to help build a platform to make it easy for users to access self-help or emergency lines. “If you care about the wellbeing of your users you need to care about the content,” he said.

Experiential retail is king

People plus experiences equal engagement, advocacy and emotional loyalty. The concept was put to life at Intel’s “Giving Retail the Edge” booth, a labyrinth of multiple tech demonstrations. The wall of the booth was designed by the artist TRAV to be a mural of flowing colors that when touched activated a musical tune. Various rhythms could be made by gliding one’s hand along the wall.

It was a representation of the experiential moments retailers are trying to create for customers as brick-in-mortar establishments seek to create memorable and tangible moments.

“Today’s customers have high expectations of retailers,” said Jose Avalos, VP of IOTG and Vertical Markets General Manger, Intel. “They want immersive and engaging experiences while shopping. In fact, today’s teenagers and young adults prefer to discover new products in physical stores because they not only want to experience the brand, but also influence and shape it.”

Erik Nordstrom, co-president, described how Nordstrom includes a bar near the shoe section of its flagship store in NYC to create a fun vibe where customers can sit and take a break from shopping (or potentially chat about their love for footwear). “Stores need to be more experiential than before, it just can’t be about the convenience of picking up something,” he said.

Jennifer Parker, SVP of retail at Peloton, did not mention sales as an objective for its physical locations. Instead, her goal is for showroom to be a place for people to experience the brand and for those who simply want to touch and feel Peloton. “We want people connecting with the brand,” she said.

Robotics try to lose the ‘new guy’ label

Marty, a thin, rectangular bot that was built by Badger Technologies, moved with Roomba-like precision past a replica grocery store shelf line, pausing occasionally to complete what it was designed to do — manage store inventory and assess cleanliness. Marty was commissioned and named by Ahold Delhaize USA, the parent company of Stop & Shop and Giant Food Stores, where it can be found with googly eyes attached to its “head” at many of the company’s grocery stores.

This is the nature of work for robots in retail going into 2020. In a talk with Tim Rowland, CEO of Badger Technologies, the maker of Marty, he envisions a future where robotic coworkers fill in the mundane, time consuming tasks of daily activities, freeing up organizations for other initiatives that provide more value.

“People are beginning to realize there is something here that is scalable, so I think this year is going to be when a few people-we’ve seen Walmart talk about it, we’ve seen others talk about it- starting to put their toe in the water and that’ll bring credibility to the whole market and it’ll start to accelerate,” said Rowland.

Five generations, one workplace

For the first time, employees representing five generations will be sharing the same workplace. Organizations need to throw away stereotypes and focus on their life stages and personalizing their experience. “Anyone aiming to solve a multi-generational workforce issue by implementing diversity and inclusion initiatives is doing it for the wrong reasons, said Rachel Kreuter, Communications Specialist at Ceridian. “…All people want the same trust, power, and respect.”

Customer data: The competitive differentiator

Collecting and understanding customer data is at the crux of retail success. Customer data is essential to understanding customer wants, needs, and preferences. But more important than the volume of data is what companies do with their data.

“The retailers that are able to combine their data sources—demographic data, location data, CRM data, purchase data—in a way that lets them quickly determine that this person prefers sale items that are shipped overnight, for example, is what will set brands apart,” commented Diane Burley, VP of content at Lucidworks.

Data strategy will only yield results if initiatives are done with the end customer in mind. “Yes, data is important but without understanding your customers on a people level, it’s difficult to design meaningful experiences. You can’t average out experience,” said Alex Genov, manager of research, user experience at Zappos.com.

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