Welcome to our newest series here at CCW Digital, “Top Headlines In CX News This Week,” where we’ll be handpicking and highlighting the most interesting news stories in customer contact and business just for your learning pleasure. As an analyst and journalist with over a decade of experience in news and digital media, it’s second-nature for me to keep a finger on the pulse of trending and current events. And knowing our community here at Customer Contact Week, I hold a keen level of awareness that it’s top of mind for you, too.
Over the weeks, you can expect to read up current events, job market trends, social media viral moments, tech upturns and more. But for now, let’s start with the week ahead:
Putin’ On the Ritz: Hotels Are Having Their CX Moment
Both Entrepreneur and Reader’s Digest (RD) are highlighting hotel and concierge-style customer service in their reporting this week.
“Iconic, loyalty-building customer service occurs when you seek out and care for desires, needs and questions that a customer has left unexpressed,” writes Micah Solomon for Entrepreneur, highlighting his own experiences as an SME in the hospitality sector. Referencing examples from Disney Resorts, the Ritz Carlton, and the Five Star Pierre Hotel, Solomon offers seven actionable steps that leaders in any industry can take to leverage their CX strategy.
RD’s round-up of hotels with the best customer service right now come from two highly reputable sources: Newsweek‘s America’s Best Customer Service list and The American Customer Satisfaction Index Travel Report. Sorting through nearly 500 brands and over 150 retail categories, RD uses data from 20,000 U.S. customers evaluations to assess their 14 favorites. Did yours make the list?
Suggestions On Top CX Trends And Tools For 2024 Are Funneling In
As the end of the year approaches just as quickly as ChatGPT entered the customer contact world, you should have already been thinking about what your organization will look like in 2024. If you're behind, don’t worry: we’ve got plenty of content on contact centers of 2024 and beyond at ccwdigital.com. Forbes is following our lead and beginning their end-of-the year roundups as well. Fan favorites like generative AI, CRMs, omnichannel, cloud based contact centers make their list.
Groceries And Fast Food Are Getting An AI Makeover
NICE, who we all know well here at CCW Digital, teamed up with Business Insider to show a new side to generative AI: food brands from Krogers to Wingstop are becoming digital tech brands, and using predictive tools in their customer contact tech stack.
"Employees can focus on the guests in line, providing better quality and overall improved operations," the feature reads. “Since those employees don't have to focus on orders, they can give more attention to order times and help the staff in the back of the house fill orders."
With General Motors Workers On Strike, And Profits Are Plummeting
2023 has seemingly become the year of the strike–from the entertainment industry to food and beverage, travel and now automotives, it can feel like these days no industry is safe from feeling the social demand and financial pinch of picket lines.
The New York Times reports that The United Automobile Workers union shut down production at General Motors’ largest U.S. factory on Tuesday of this week, marking an $800 million deficit for the company so far. Following the Great Resignation, economic downturns, the dawn of digital and automation in all professional places of work, you can’t help but wonder what the lasting legacy of this moment in the job market will be.