At Disrupt 2023, Sabio interviewed Leigh Hopwood, Chief Executive Officer, CCMA, on the importance of providing contact centre advisors with the right tools to do the job.
In this video, Leigh discusses getting CX ‘buy in’ from senior leaders, why organisations should be doing what they can for their people and the changing role of the advisor.
INVEST IN TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT YOUR ADVISORS
There are so many issues, and you know, if I start at the very top, the problem that contact centre leaders have when they want to improve that customer experience is they need that ‘buy in’ from senior leaders.
It’s happening; we are aware that there are 30% of Boards that do have someone responsible for customer experience sat on them, but it’s not enough and so there just needs to be more ‘buy-in’ from a senior level so that they get the investment, and they get the attention to be able to improve the customer experience. And then, once you’ve got that, there is just a raft of things you can do from investing in technology and making sure that you’re deploying the tech in the right way through to supporting your advisors on the front line, that, you know, really want to help the customer.
So, giving them the tools and the knowledge to be able to do that is going to be really, really critical. There’s lots of things that organisations can do.
ADVISORS NEED TO BE ARMED WITH THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGIES
You asked me the question, is it important for advisors to be armed with the most up to date technology? I challenge that a little because I think they need to be armed with the right technologies that might not be the most up to date piece of technology. They have to be armed with the right technologies that are designed in a way that’s going to enable them and support them to do their role.
What I think contact centre leaders can do is make sure that they are addressing the needs of people that are coming to work and that want to work – making sure they’re looked after including looking after their wellbeing and making sure they’ve got choices around where they work – and also making sure they’ve got the right technology so they’re not frustrated when they’re at work. So, there’s lots of things that organisations can do to really make sure that they are doing what they can for their people.
CHANGING ROLE OF THE ADVISOR
It is really interesting how we’ve seen the role of the advisor changing, you know (particularly) since COVID. We’ve talked about the changing role of the team leader, but actually the role of the advisor has changed. And that’s partly driven by COVID but lots of it has been driven by technology because technology can take away some of the easy stuff – but as a result – the advisors are left with the more complex stuff, the more sophisticated stuff. It’s great work, it’s challenging, it’s not mundane, but it does mean that they need to be given the time and the space to deal with those conversations.
If you’ve got someone that’s dealing in the complaints line and call after call after call is a difficult conversation, you need to be giving those advisors breaks so that they can overcome some of the difficulties in those conversations. And that’s one of the things I think we’ll see coming into the next 12 to 24 months; really thinking about how that changing role of the advisor means that people have got to manage it differently.
About Sabio Group
Sabio Group is a global digital customer experience (CX) transformation specialist with major operations in the UK (England and Scotland), Spain, France, Netherlands, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa and India.
The Group, which includes ‘makepositive’, delivers solutions and services that seamlessly combine digital and human interactions to support outstanding customer experiences.
Through its own technology, and that of world-class technology leaders such as Amazon Connect, Avaya, Genesys, Google Cloud, Salesforce, Twilio and Verint, Sabio helps organisations optimise their customer journeys by making better decisions across their multiple contact channels.
The Group works with major brands worldwide, including Aegon, AXA Assistance, BBVA, BGL, Caixabank, DHL, loveholidays, Marks & Spencer, Rentokil, Essent, GovTech, HomeServe, Saga, Sainsbury’s Argos, Telefónica and Transcom Worldwide.
