Does Your Contact Center Support Your Unique Customer & Employee Experience Visions?

No customer experience leader would claim that their company is precisely the same as any other organization. They would instead argue that they have specific needs to meet in pursuit of their unique vision.

No customer experience leader, moreover, would claim that their company will remain the same as it is right now. The priorities and goals on yesterday’s radar are not there today, and the one’s on today’s radar will not be there tomorrow.

Indeed, businesses are all different, and their specific focuses are always changing. Why, then, does the customer contact industry so often trumpet one-size-fits-all solutions? Why does the solution marketplace consistently offer generic answers to specific problems?

Unique CX Needs Warrant Unique Contact Center Solutions

Aiming to break from this mold, Frontline tailors its contact center outsourcing model to the unique, ever-changing realities facing its clients and their customers.

The effort begins by understanding the client’s unique needs and ambitions. Whereas many outsourcing providers impose a solution, Frontline customizes its plan to deliver what matters most to the client right now – and what will matter most down the road.

“We take the time to truly vet what your needs are versus your budget,” explains Sarah Wesen of Frontline. “For example: ‘You’re growing, [and] you know it’s time to outsource your customer care or your tech support. You have a limited budget. By talking through what the support need is, we can help determine if it will suit your needs better to have more customized care during business hours vs. more generalized support 24/7.”

Putting the customer first will generally yield favorable business results down the road, but focusing only on the business does not always yield a favorable customer experience (or, ironically enough, favorable business results).

The traditional IVR perfectly embodies this notion; companies that are simply using their IVR to deflect customers and reduce call cost end up building poor self-service experiences. Customers either become so frustrated that they abandon the interaction or end up escalating to an agent anyway, thereby negating the entire call deflection effort.

Many outsourcing companies have gone down the same ill-advised path, pitching a blanket set of services that will generate a lucrative upfront contract, even if those services are not tailormade for the client they are courting.

The Frontline model breaks from this mold by offering a legitimately client-centric partnership. It devises a support solution based on what the client actually needs and wants as opposed to what would be most impressive to “sell.”

“A larger contact center may not provide the kind of growth guidance needed, whereas a more boutique contact center can curate a solution that moves at a pace that moves for your business, as opposed to a larger contact center that will fit you into their set model,” adds Wesen. “This is why it’s crucial that you have clarity on why the outsourced need is there, because that’s going to decide what your support needs are and which partner will fit you best.”

Agent Needs Are Also Unique - And More Important Than Ever

Tailoring an outsourcing solution to a client is not, however, simply about reviewing a request-for-proposal or taking careful notes when decision makers detail their needs and challenges. It is also about understanding the nuances that go into a successful contact center in a specific industry, with a specific business goal, or at a specific point on the growth journey.

Specifically, it involves identifying the best type of agents for the specific client engagement and what that specific demographic of personnel seeks in a day-to-day work experience.

“The key requirement is to really understand the industry you’re supporting and the demographics that make up your support talent,” offers Wesen. “Most companies will focus heavily on one of these, but not the other, and yet both are being equally impacted in our time. We have to be paying attention to both.”

By placing such emphasis on the agent experience, Frontline guarantees preparation for a changing customer contact landscape. Customers are already expecting a high degree of knowledge and empathy from contact center agents, and that need will only grow as self-service gains traction. As customers routinely solve simple issues on their own, they will only seek agent assistance with highly unique, intimately personal, or other high-stakes or high-complexity interactions.

Agents that are precisely suitable for the company and its clients, and content with their day-to-day work experience, will be able to rise to the challenge and give these customers what they need. Random agents who were hired simply to read scripts in accordance with a certain price or volume quota, on the other hand, will prove ineffective in the new normal.

A Model of Flexibility

Just as business needs change, so too will agent needs and preferences. That is why Frontline makes flexibility the centerpiece of everything it does – from the personnel it staffs, to the strategies it builds for clients, to the technology it deploys for contact center users.

“If you are not able to be flexible with your clients as they change, you’re not providing an adequate solution,” declares Wesen.

Offering blended or dedicated agents with experience in numerous industries, Frontline is regardless of whether a company is looking to scale its support operation or increase the quality of its customer interactions. Through its new Connect solution, the company is also transforming the contact center technology landscape by unifying experiences at a time when customer demands are less predictable and agent workstations are less centralized.

For more details on the Frontline experience, and to see a snapshot of existing and satisfied clients, check out the company’s official website.

Supportive of industry knowledge and thought leadership, Frontline also offers numerous valuable resources about the state of customer contact:

Key Trends in Customer Service and Support

5 Tips To Improve Call Center Productivity

The Exciting Evolution of Virtual Healthcare