Over the past couple of years in my blogs and in the two books I have co-authored, I have talked a lot about how GigCX is not designed to replace traditional Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). Since the early days of GigCX there has been a lingering sense that this is a new way of managing BPO – the old methods will be swept aside by GigCX.
This isn’t true.
If you manage a contact center internally then GigCX can be layered on top of what you are already doing – to create a flexible buffer ready to handle night shifts and difficult periods, like the run up to Black Friday. If you work with a BPO to manage your customer service processes then the BPO can do exactly the same – add a GigCX layer that flexibly allows them to offer you a better service.
GigCX is about augmentation. It’s not about to replace the BPO and contact center processes we all know. It’s just designed to make them better and more flexible.
There are also many new opportunities with GigCX that are difficult to explore with a traditional contact center. Think about the entire customer journey as it spans several decades, from the time before your customer every buys a product until long after the first purchase – when they are a lifelong fan. There are many potential customer touchpoint before and after a purchase that don’t fit into the traditional contact center framework. Engagement today isn’t always a post-purchase phone call.
What about interacting with fans of your brand on social media? This can be useful before a purchase, someone commenting on fashion or automobiles has an interest, but may not yet be ready to make a purchase. They can start to be engaged in conversation though. This also applies to the account management process long after a sales has been made. Staying in touch and promoting loyalty.
It’s also easier to hire GigCX agents with a very specific interest in the brand or products that they will be supporting. Professor Joe Fuller of Harvard Business School believes that many lower income jobs have an assumption of high turnover baked into the job itself – people are expected to leave quickly. You can reverse this idea if the agents are coming onto the GigCX platform to support brands they love – gamers supporting other gamers for example. They are also able to earn a lot more than they would in a traditional BPO role, so they are less likely to quit for several reasons.
Using a GigCX layer in your customer service team also allows you to offer more flexible working times and locations. The Harvard Business Review recently noted: “The forced experiment with remote work over the past two years has shown some organizations the upside of approaches to work they would never have otherwise considered. It also showed workers that they aren’t as locked into the traditional, in-office 9-5 at one company as they might have thought. For both, there’s no going back.”
There is no going back.
Yes, some of your team still wants to work Monday to Friday. Yes, some of your team wants to work 8-hour shifts. Yes, some of your team wants a regular monthly pay check that’s always the same amount. But this is far from universal now. More and more employees want greater flexibility over their hours and the ability to work from home.
Adding a GigCX layer to your BPO agreement or your internal contact center allows you to accommodate all needs. For those who want to be in the office with regular hours, they can stay in the core team covering the main customer service hours. For those who want more flexibility, they can go home and work more flexibly.
For the employer, it adds more resilience to your customer service operation. For the employees, there is more flexibility on offer. The more traditional roles are not replaced by GigCX, it enhances what everyone does and makes the solution better for your agents and better for your customers.
What do you think? Please leave a comment here or get in touch directly via my LinkedIn.
CC Photo by Diego Jimenez
