Image – Jason Howie, Flickr (CC license)
For many contact centres today, the transition to digitised and highly automated systems and processes happen in a piecemeal fashion – with the underlying belief that certain business sectors and industries have varying requirements when it comes to digitisation and compliance. The contact centre of a utility provider may place less emphasis on the digital experience than a contact centre servicing the retail sector, for example. Yet such an approach is fundamentally flawed: as consumers become used to seamless, mobile and self-service methods of interacting within one sphere of life (e.g. banking), they expect a very similar convenient – and highly digitised – experience when interacting with other businesses and providers from other industries (including utilities, medical providers, insurance etc.).
In other words, today’s contact centres have to embrace digital services and look to provide an experience that meets the expectations of every stakeholder within this dynamic landscape. This includes internal stakeholders (employees) as well as external stakeholders (customers, third party providers, and industry peers).
A radically different workforce
One of the key drivers of change globally is the young workforce – with ambitious new entrants into the workplace bringing with them very different values and expectations. This affects how contact centres should not only run their businesses internally, but should also shape the tone and style of the services they offer. Notably, a Deloitte study revealed that “Gen Y [Millennials] are 95 million strong across the world today and will comprise 75% of the global workforce by 2025”.
According to current research, Millennials or Gen Y professionals are in search of meaningful work, and value purpose-driven careers over financial rewards and recognition. These workers also move around more actively in search of the right fit, and turnover rates are twice as high as those pertaining to older generations. For contact centres employing Millennials or interested in attracting Millennial talent, it is important to recognise that the Millennial worker values work-life balance and flexibility – and wants to improve society by the work they do.
