Category: Customer Experience

All about Customer Experiences that you ever wanted to know

  • Contact Centers Can Benefit from SD-WANs: Here’s How

    Contact centers benefit from software-defined wide area networks (SD-WANs) in a myriad of ways, from simplifying network architecture and reducing costs to enhancing the customer experience. Knowing what’s driving the old call center model replacement is key to understanding how SD-WAN works and how it’s enabling contact centers to better-meet current application, performance, connectivity, scalability, and reliability requirements while driving down costs.
    Digital Transformation Fuels Call Center Transformation
    Multichannel Contact Centers
    Continued Demand for Predictability, Reliability, Cost Improvement
    Changes in Scope and Customer Expectations
    SD-WAN Solves Issues for Contact Centers, Simplifies Network Administration
    SD-WAN Supports Virtual Contact Centers
    Scalable, Secure Cloud and Multi-Cloud Connectivity
    Future Flexibility, Scalability
    Full Article: https://www.nojitter.com/contact-center-customer-experience/contact-centers-can-benefit-sd-wans-heres-how
    submitted by /u/vesuvitas [link] [comments]

  • The Broken Promises of ‘Cloud Native Omnichannel’

    The post The Broken Promises of ‘Cloud Native Omnichannel’ appeared first on UJET.

  • The Impact of COVID on Contact Centers: from the Experts

    As part of our State of the Contact Center in 2020 Industry Report, we asked industry leaders and influencers what surprised them the most about the pandemic.
    We were surprised at the similarities between each of their responses. The pandemic has forced a rapid change in an industry that has been long dragging its feet.
    Here’s how COVID-19 impacted contact centers — and the CX industry as a whole — as told by the experts:

    Read the Full Report, FREE:
    Download The State of the Contact Center in 2020 Industry Report

    Contact centers pivoted practically overnight…

    “What has been most surprising has been how quickly contact centers have managed to pivot toward a more virtualized delivery model in a short period. My view is that the home-working model has been latently gaining steam over the past few years, but the pandemic has thrust it into the limelight. That so many CX professionals have been able to incorporate this approach into their operations is impressive, to say the least.”
    — Peter Ryan, Ryan Strategic Advisory

     
     

    “When looking back at it, we only had about ten days to get all the hundreds of our call center associates home. The speed that we had to operate to stay viable was pretty surprising. I was also surprised by how many call centers were unprepared for the move to work from home. I don’t want to make light of a difficult situation, but for all the managers and executives that for years pushed back on moving to the cloud, found themselves in a really tough place.”
    — Thomas Laird, CEO, Expivia

    Whether they were prepared for it or not…
     
    “Organizations had planned on years of eventual transformation to become more customer-centric but were able to dedicate resources to do so in months or even weeks. Once the need was pronounced, brands could meet customers’ needs and saw the impact immediately. Creating digital ordering, delivering hybrid experiences, and revamping their organizational charts suddenly weren’t obstacles; they were opportunities to serve customers better.”
    — Jeannie Walters, CX Expert & Speaker, CEO of Experience Investigators

     
     
    “COVID-19 brought about a “perfect storm”—a surge in service requests coupled with a shift to a remote workforce—that forced businesses to rethink their entire approach to their contact centers. What surprised me most is how quickly they responded. Contact centers that have been hesitating on technology upgrades for years transformed their operations in a matter of weeks because it was a matter of survival. COVID-19 was a wakeup call for organizations that had been pushing back upgrades to their contact center technology.”
    — Travis Jones, SVP North America at Logic20/20

     

    Those that were prepared, thrived…
     
    “The pandemic forced many customer service organizations to handle an exponential increase in call volumes while doing so across a distributed base of agents. Companies who had invested in migrating to more flexible applications — and who had the foresight to deploy technology that enabled them to process large call spikes — thrived. And those who did not found themselves scrambling or unable to provide the level of support to meet their customer’s expectations.”
    — Rod Rodier, VP Sales, Lightyear.ai

     
     
    We saw rapid innovation across the board…
     
    “We’ve all heard the saying, ‘Necessity is the mother of invention,’ but it’s also at the heart of innovation and ingenuity. We’ve seen virtual service and self-service technologies quickly implemented due to limited in-person service options. Many companies have optimized case routing, service calls, and can now handle common service calls through virtual methods. These significantly reduce customer service costs and improve time to resolution, leading to better customer experiences.”
    — Flavio Martins, Sr. Product Manager, CX Expert, and Author at winthecustomer.com

     
     
    But some things haven’t changed…
     
    “Consumers’ buying habits have changed almost overnight, forcing companies to pivot to new ways of doing business, like working remotely, offering delivery, adopting new technology, and finding new ways to offer customer support. But some things haven’t changed: customers are still doing business with companies even if the way they do business has changed. If they have a problem or a question, they still want the solution as quickly as possible, and in the way they want it.”
    — Shep Hyken, CS & CX Expert, Keynote Speaker, and NYT Bestselling Author at hyken.com

     
    How Has COVID Changed the Contact Center?
    We’ll be diving into the future of contact centers and the path ahead for the CX industry in much more detail over the coming weeks, as part of our comprehensive Contact Center Trends 2021 Industry Report.
    We don’t want to reveal all the juicy bits just yet. However, we repeatedly heard one theme that we want to share: the COVID crisis has created a more ‘human’ and ‘empathetic’ contact center for both employees and customers. And long may it continue!
     
    “I believe COVID will have a human empathic impact on the CX industry and contact centers. As people who have been touched or have known personally someone affected by COVID. Support matters may be looked at more sincerely and authentically with a true “Walk in the customer shoes” mentality.”
    — David Beaumont, Customer Service and CX-Expert at The Customer Service Experience

     
     
     

    “Two things stood out to me. The first is how many CX professionals got laid off at the outset of the pandemic — and then how quickly they were hired elsewhere! Suddenly, customer insights became the golden ticket! The second is the realization by so many businesses that change is possible!
    The hope is that the following are lasting: (1) the employee experience will be top of mind for CEOs and executives; (2) customer insights remain the most-sought-after information by the C-suite, which means that customers are also top of mind; and (3) change remains a real possibility, i.e., stop fighting change because you can; it’s possible, and it’s more often than not necessary for survival.”
    — Annette Franz, CEO at CXJourney Inc., Keynote Speaker and Official Forbes Coach

     
     
    “The COVID-19 global pandemic has challenged contact centers in ways that other crises have not. Contact center agents had to up their listening and their empathy beyond what they had ever faced before. I predict that all the leaders, managers, team leaders, and agents will look back and realize how much they grew from the empathy and compassion they gave and how it helped their customers — their fellow human beings.”
    — Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach™, Author, CX Expert & Leadership Coach

     
     
    The post The Impact of COVID on Contact Centers: from the Experts first appeared on Fonolo.

  • How AI Solutions Can Help Contact Centers Succeed in the Pandemic Economy

    The post How AI Solutions Can Help Contact Centers Succeed in the Pandemic Economy appeared first on UJET.

  • UC Trends 2021 – Contact Center Roundtable

    The post UC Trends 2021 – Contact Center Roundtable appeared first on UJET.

  • 7 Huge Trends Retailers Need to Know for Holiday 2020

    Of all the years in recent memory, 2020 will stand out as one the most challenging and unexpected. Industries worldwide have risen to meet their new realities and adapted admirably. 

    But it’s not over yet. With the holiday season around the corner, retailers are feeling the pressure as they navigate one of the most demanding periods in a post-COVID world. 

    For this reason, we’ve put together some insightful trends and predictions from industry experts that can help you prepare your business for the shopping season and not just survive but thrive!

    A Complete Guide to Customer Perception

    The shopping season will start earlier

    Amazon’s decision to host Prime Day in October will kickstart the holiday shopping period sooner. According to Salesforce, With Prime Day and Cyber Week so close together (only 50 days apart), consumers will likely begin their shopping earlier to take advantage of the deals!

    Radial’s consumer insights survey indicated that 39% of shoppers intend to start their holiday shopping in October and early November, while 30% say they will begin on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. 

    FACT:
    In response to the Black Lives Matter campaign, 21% of shoppers will shop at either black-owned businesses or brands that have expressed support for the movement. — 2020 Holiday Shopping Trends Report, Tinuiti

    Holiday spending on gifts will decrease

    With the pandemic still looming overhead, consumers are widely mixed in their financial concerns for the holiday season. In a report by Morning Consult, only 20% explicitly expressed worry regarding finances during this period, and 67% say they plan to reduce their general spending for their holiday shopping.

    According to @MorningConsult, 67% of shoppers plan to reduce their general holiday spending in 2020. How is your store preparing for this year’s shopping season? #retail2020 #trends #retailtrendsClick To Tweet

    Furthermore, the same report states one-third of respondents intend to reduce their spending over the holidays, while almost one-quarter (24%) say they will have a budget for purchasing gifts. 

    E-commerce shopping will increase

    Unsurprisingly, COVID-19 has made online shopping more popular than ever. In May of this past year, Criteo produced a study stating that 88% of surveyed US consumers planned to shop for gifts online and send them to recipients. 

    How to Prepare your Call Center for Cyber Monday and Black Friday

    Following suit, Salesforce predicts that “up to 30% of global retail sales will be made through digital channels this upcoming holiday season.” It’s no question that having a strong digital presence will be critical for retailers in the coming months!

    FACT:
    51% of US survey respondents say they plan to explore new brands during the holiday shopping season, rather than relying on their go-to brands. — Morning Consult

    Digital channels are the new consumer destination

    With consumers avoiding brick-and-mortar shops, many have turned to apps to browse and make purchases. Criteo states that 51% of survey respondents downloaded at least one shopping app during the COVID-19 outbreak. Furthermore, 33% say they use one or more shopping apps multiple times a week!

    It seems that having an omnichannel presence will be more advantageous than ever for retailers — and personalized customer experiences will play a big part! Salesforce predicts that 10% of mobile orders will be through social media channels, which factors in personalization and localization.

    Expect more delivery delays this year

    It’s been a tough year for most industries, but few were hit as hard as delivery services. And with the shopping season around the corner, Salesforce predicts that potentially 700 million gifts and parcels are at risk of not arriving in time for the holidays. That will likely be caused by traditional delivery providers exceeding capacity by 5% worldwide between Cyber Week and Boxing Day.

    Why Active Listening is the Best Customer Service Skill

    Holiday gatherings and travel are at a low

    To no one’s surprise, 2020 will continue to see stunted travel trends throughout the holiday season. Morning Consult states that 68% of US respondents will be travelling less this holiday season, and only 53% say they expect their family gatherings to happen as planned.

    Furthermore, Criteo says that 62% of study respondents are looking forward to travelling again, while 64% say they “will be wary of planes and trains for some time.”

    Consumers are exploring new brands

    To end on a positive note, consumers seem more open than ever to new products and brands! This is likely due to the pandemic interrupting their regular shopping habits, forcing them to consider other alternatives. 

    According to Criteo, 33% of respondents discovered small merchants they didn’t previously know about, and 83% intend to continue purchasing from new stores they’ve found.
    The post 7 Huge Trends Retailers Need to Know for Holiday 2020 first appeared on Fonolo.

  • The State of the Contact Center in 2020 | Industry Report

    Shrinking budgets, growing attrition, and a scramble to deliver safe and secure working environments. The State of the Contact Center in 2020 is a far cry from where we expected it to be this time last year.
    Do you remember back in March when we were all going around saying, “When this is all over…?” And everyone had a weekend booked full of pub quizzes on Zoom?
    Good times.

    Read the Full Report, FREE:
    Download The State of the Contact Center in 2020 Industry Report

    Now that seasons 3 & 4 of ‘The Pandemic’ is all but confirmed, we thought we’d give you the chance to slip out of your ‘work’ sweatpants early, add a splash of brandy to that afternoon coffee, and cozy up to our latest CX industry report: The State of the Contact Center in 2020. You can download the complete report for free here.
    We sought out industry experts and leaders far and wide and asked them how Contact Centers — and the CX industry as a whole — fared in the first few months facing COVID-19.
    Here’s what we found.
    Contact Centers Adapted Fast
    The overarching theme that emerged from our research was the staggering changes made due to the pandemic. Contact centers look very different today than they did at the beginning of the year.
    In last year’s Contact Center Trends 2020 report, we predicted that there would be a mass migration to the cloud over the coming years. The crisis accelerated this trend, as Senior Analyst of Ryan Advisory, Peter Ryan, told us,
    “My view is that the home-working model has been latently gaining steam over the past few years, but the pandemic has thrust it into the limelight. That so many CX professionals have been able to incorporate this approach into their operations is impressive, to say the least.”— Peter Ryan, Snr. Advisor Ryan Strategic Advisory
    In ‘unprecedented times’ (buzzword of the year), businesses must act in unprecedented ways to survive. And the customer support industry has outdone itself in this regard. Especially if you consider the ‘unprecedented’ contact volume that many were experiencing.
    Some fared better than others.
    “Companies who had invested in migrating to more flexible applications and architectures and who had the foresight to deploy technologies that enabled them to process large spikes in calls thrived — while those who did not, found themselves scrambling or unable to provide the level of support to meet their customer’s expectations.”— Rod Rodier, VP of Sales, Lightyear.ai
    Contact Center Budgets Are Shrinking
    In stark contrast to recent years, many of the contact center executives we spoke to were not very optimistic about their budgets.
    One of the most positive trends we identified in the last few years was that contact center and CX budgets were rising. Sadly, this seems to have halted.

    The State of the Contact Center Industry Report:
    Read The State of the Contact Center 2020 Now

    Although North American CX executives seemed to be more optimistic than their European counterparts, it wasn’t by much.
    As bleak as this news may sound for the industry, we like to look for the silver linings.
    “We’ve all heard the saying “necessity is the mother of invention.” It’s also at the heart of innovation and ingenuity. Many companies have been able to streamline and optimize case routing, service calls, and even handle common service calls through virtual methods that greatly reduce costs and improves resolution time, which all leads to better customer experiences.”— Flavio Martins, CS & CX Expert, winthecustomer.com
    Perhaps, now that budgets are tighter than ever, we will finally see companies start to treat CX like the revenue driver it is.
    Data Security Issues a Pressing Concern
    Another central theme in our conversations was a real concern with data security. The shift to remote working created a swathe of new infrastructure issues for contact centers, with data security heading that list.

    The State of the Contact Center Industry Report:
    Get The State of the Contact Center 2020 Report 

    It appears that this situation will not reverse entirely if and when ‘this is all over.’
    “60-80% of agents moved to work at home during shelter in place, and ~30% will continue to stay home once there is a vaccine.”— Sheila McGee-Smith, President,  McGee-Smith Analytics
    That’s one of the more conservative predictions we heard. Many more people believe that we’re likely to see more than half of agents continuing to work remotely.
    The rapid shift to remote working compounded many of the data security issues that contact centers were facing, primarily related to legislation like GDPR & CCPA. Many of the contact center managers we spoke to are expecting more legislation like this in the coming years.
    Agent Attrition Woes Worsen
    Another trend that we saw bucked by the pandemic was agent attrition and turnover. We noticed one major issue: how quickly executives forgot the importance of CX in a crisis…
    “Two things stood out to me: How many CX professionals got laid off at the outset of the pandemic – and then how quickly they were hired elsewhere. Suddenly, customer insights became the golden ticket! The hope is that the following are lasting: (1) the employee experience will be top of mind for CEOs and executives; (2) customer insights remain the most-sought-after information by the C-suite, which means that customers are also top of mind.”— Annette Franz, CEO, CXJourney.
    Previous years indicated that agent attrition issues were (albeit gradually) fading. But most, if not all, contact center executives reported that recruitment and turnover were both a serious challenge and an investment priority in the coming months.

    Get Your FREE Copy of the Full Report:
    The State of the Contact Center in 2020

    This surprised us at first. Undoubtedly, many of the typical ‘agent woes’ may have been mitigated by remote working. But the impact of the COVID-19  would have been felt more acutely by many of them, for far more human reasons.
    “Contact center agents had to up their listening and their empathy beyond what they had ever faced before. Thus, COVID-19 tasked the agents to sustain others while they were likely worried about their own safety and families. All those who have suffered personal losses may find themselves questioning if they want to stay in the contact center industry.”— Kate Nasser, The People Skills Coach, katenasser.com
    That said, it’s clear that contact center executives are well aware of the issues they face staffing their contact centers. Almost all managers identified it as a priority issue and were very vocal about investing in solutions, such as providing better training and growth opportunities, improving benefits, and increasing flexibility with working arrangements.
    What Next for Contact Centers?
    Quite rightly, many of our industry-experts and analysts were wary of concrete predictions for the future; the last year has made any predictions for the next year seem futile.
    We will, however, still do our best to help you plan for the year ahead.

    Read All the Experts’ Insights Here:
    The State of the Contact Center in 2020 Report

    This State of the Contact Center report intends to help you understand how the industry responded to the crisis and what it looks like as a result. You can download the full report here.
    Next month, we will build on these insights in our annual Contact Center Trends Report for 2021. We may not be sure about the future, but we will certainly take an educated guess.
    And if you download this report today, we’ll put you on a priority list to receive the 2021 Trends Report before anybody else.
    The post The State of the Contact Center in 2020 | Industry Report first appeared on Fonolo.

  • Modernizing Customer Experience (CX) for a Mobile-First World

    The post Modernizing Customer Experience (CX) for a Mobile-First World appeared first on UJET.

  • UJET Unveils Next-Generation Virtual Agent for Less Robotic Interactions

    Conversational AI Provides Enterprises with Intelligent Automation for Better Customer Experience and ROI
    SAN FRANCISCO, CA – October 13, 2020 – UJET Inc., the ultra-modern cloud contact center platform for customer-centric enterprises, today announced the general availability of its Virtual Agent, a new solution powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and UJET’s highly sophisticated next-generation customer experience platform. Unlike other virtual solutions that are optimized to offload agents, the UJET Virtual Agent is designed to truly improve the customer experience. With UJET’s Virtual Agent, businesses can leverage prior interactions to deliver personalized and effective assistance via a natural interaction while improving customer satisfaction and enhancing contact center efficiencies.
    Businesses are steadily turning to conversational AI solutions as a means to improve customer experience, provide 24/7 customer service, personalize interactions, and intelligently manage their contact center operations, including measuring start-to-finish resolutions or agent deflections. According to Gartner’s Predicts 2019: CRM Customer Service and Support, by 2025, customer service organizations that deploy AI in their customer engagement center platforms will increase their operational efficiency by 25%. While a recent study from UJET and Canam Research found that 50% of customer service professionals surveyed said they are planning on implementing a chatbot into their contact center within the next 12 months, and that contact center professionals are predominately looking to leverage AI to reduce repetitive tasks (48%), improve customer experience (CX) (46%), and lower costs (40%).
    “The adoption of intelligence, automation, and self-service capabilities are fueling the evolution of the contact center and customer service. Yet while the positive impacts of intelligence and automation have been felt by contact center agents, the digital experience for customers is still largely fragmented,” said Omer Minkara, Vice President and Principal Analyst, Contact Center and Customer Experience Management, Aberdeen. “With functionality such as intelligent routing and the ability to add multiple specialized Virtual Agents, UJET takes a flexible and modern approach to transforming customer experiences, streamlining operations, and ensuring that companies can get the most out of their virtual agents.”
    “Virtual assistance has rapidly become an intricate component of modern contact center operations. But so many of the solutions we’ve seen in the marketplace have been too heavily focused on offloading demand from agents without addressing or improving the actual customer experience. It was important for us to leverage intelligence and automation as a way to not only provide better service and experiences for our customers but also to empower our agents and improve contact center operations as well,” said Ivar Sköldvall, Customer Experience Operations Manager, iZettle, a PayPal Service. “UJET’s Virtual Agent is not just cutting-edge technology, they are a partner in ensuring that we are building, testing, and delivering the best virtual experience possible.”
    The UJET Virtual Agent provides proactive start-to-finish conversational AI support aimed at gathering intent, processing the situation, and either resolving the issues automatically or handing off to an agent. With an emphasis on empowering both customers and contact center operations through next-generation virtual assistance and conversational AI, some of the key aspects of UJET’s Virtual Agent include:

    Creation of Generalists or Specialized Virtual Agents: As an optional configuration, contact center leaders can add multiple Virtual Agents to the support experience, creating the flexibility needed for faster and more accurate virtual conversations, less maintenance, and more effective Virtual Agents. Configure Virtual Agents for more general interactions or finely tune them to handle specific responsibilities.

    Intelligent Routing: UJET’s intelligent routing engine is the first of its kind. Real-time and historical data can dynamically inform routing decisions to either a virtual or human agent based on the customer record, their journey, or predicted intent. If the Virtual Agent decides at any time to introduce a human agent, the agent is presented with this full context and a high-level summary of the customer journey, for a seamless handoff, more personalized service, and quicker resolution.

    Natural Language Processing (NLP): Read, decipher, and understand the intent of the customer and the issue at hand through modern, human-like interactions. Leverage context and sentiment to intelligently resolve issues or escalate to the appropriate queue.

    “Two significant trends impacting the digital transformation of customer service are the rising adoption of conversational AI and the generational shift towards digital and mobile native consumers.  We see these tools not only as a way to optimize operational efficiencies, but also to modernize customer communications,” said Anand Janefalkar, Founder & CEO, UJET. “UJET’s Virtual Agent showcases our customer-centric approach to delivering cutting-edge innovation that not only delivers a better bottom line for the contact center but does so by providing more natural, less robotic experiences for their customers.”
    To learn more about UJET’s Virtual Agent and to request a personalized demo visit https://www.ujet.co/virtual-agent
    *Gartner, Predicts 2019: CRM Customer Service and Support, December 2018.
    About UJETUJET offers the world’s most secure, scalable all-in-one cloud contact center platform, developed specifically to transform customer experiences for the digital economy and smartphone-era. The UJET Mobile SDK enables ultra-modern digital and in-app customer service, with seamless experiences and actionable data across voice, chat, email, and self-service channels. Deep CRM integrations and an amazingly intuitive administration support automated operations and provide consistent customer interactions across sales and support. UJET is trusted by innovative, customer-centric enterprises including Google Nest, Instacart, Wag!, and Atom Tickets.
    UJET is PCI-DSS, SOC I, II and III, HIPAA, GDPR, FINRA, ISO 27001, ISO 27018, and EU-US Privacy Shield compliant.
    Learn more at www.getujet.com.
    Media ContactsJason SophianHead of Communications, UJETjason@ujet.co
    Chad TorbinSpeakeasy Strategiesujet@speakeasystrategies.com
     
    The post UJET Unveils Next-Generation Virtual Agent for Less Robotic Interactions appeared first on UJET.

  • 3 Leaders Share How We Can Use Our Power As Individuals to Create Meaningful Change

    Have you been keeping up with me on my LinkedIn Live conversations? If not, what are you waiting for? As many of us continue to work from home and shift working styles due to the pandemic, I’ve been interviewing practitioners and thought leaders about how we can adapt and continue to show up as our best selves in our roles. I’ve spoken to leaders in a range of industries, and they all have had incredibly useful things to say about how they’ve been working through these uncertain times.
    Below, I’ve gathered key takeaways from my interviews with brilliant guests including Brian Solis, Simon T. Bailey, and Patti Phillips. I also encourage you to listen to the full interviews to discover more pearls of wisdom from these thoughtful leaders. Enjoy!
    Some of the quotes have been lightly edited for clarity.

    Brian Solis, Digital Anthropologist

    Brian and I had a great chat about the convergence of the digital world and humanity. We discussed the effects that an increase in technological use has on companies, their employees, and the customers they serve. Here are insights from Brian on what he calls, “the novel economy:”
    “The novel economy is something that was born at Salesforce. As I was looking through some of the work that I had to create for different organizations, and also different events that I was still speaking at (now virtually), and you think about digital transformation for customer experience at large, like we had been over the years … it just didn’t seem to really resonate at this moment. What was deeply impactful in my work, in my life was the understanding that here’s something that is deeply disruptive that’s affecting our entire world. The best we could give it was the new normal? That wasn’t really hitting.
    I wanted to take a very proactive, very positive approach to what we needed to do moving forward because otherwise, we’re going to get caught in a reactive cycle.
    So I wanted to break out the novel economy into three phases, which was: survive, alive, and thrive. Looking out between now and over the course of 18-24-36 months, and breaking out into different stages where of course, yes, we have to react, stabilize, ensure business continuity, but with COVID, instead of calling it a ‘new normal,’ it’s the interim normal, right? […] It’s an interim period, and it’s the time to think about business continuity. What’s next? What can I learn from all of this so that we thrive, so that we innovate, we iterate for the future, which gives us a sense of purpose.”

    What can I learn from all of this so that we thrive, so that we innovate, we iterate for the future, which gives us a sense of purpose. -@briansolis #leadership #innovationClick To Tweet

    Simon T. Bailey, Author, and Life Coach

    Daily Dose of Optimism with @SimonTBailey https://t.co/5UrZ51Eo0r

    — Jeanne Bliss (@JeanneBliss) August 3, 2020

    In this inspiring conversation with Simon T. Bailey, author of “Be the Spark,” we talk about customer and employee experience and recognizing the power that we have as individuals to make a difference. Simon says that to “be the spark” is “recognizing that men and women have the ability to transform the experience in the moment. And they recognize, ‘I’m not waiting for the tap on the shoulder for my leader. I have the ability to be the spark for this customer.’”
    Here’s a snippet from our conversation in which Simon shares how we can find those moments in which we can be the spark in our personal lives and go above and beyond for others:
    “I think we are experiencing what I would call moving from customer service to human service. And being a person of human service, it’s not so much what I can get from you, but it’s about what I can give to you. What can I do to be a better human being? How do I open the door for you? How do I say please, thank you? How do I practice physical distancing? Not social distancing, because we are social beings by nature.
    How do I respectfully engage you from afar in a way that lets you know, this is a human moment? So I’ll give you a prime example: I went to one of my favorite restaurants, and it’s Houston’s (which is Hillstone in some parts of the country), and I went to pick up takeout food. And it’s not might not be a big deal, but I’ve been going to the restaurant for 20 years. And do you know not only did they give me my food, but they gave me dessert for free and I didn’t know that. And they said, ‘How’s your family doing? How are you doing?’ I was like, that’s a human moment.”

    Be the spark! Recognize your ability to transform any experience at that particular moment. — @SimonTBailey #bethesparkClick To Tweet

    Patti Phillips, CEO

    In my interview with Patti Phillips, the CEO of Women Leaders in Sports, we spoke about the overall importance of women in leadership positions, and the impact it has in the sports industry—where it’s most certainly needed. When we started talking about COVID and its impact on Patti’s organization, here’s what she had to say:
    “I do believe there are systemic changes that we were even seeing with the COVID crisis, right, you know, and the demographics that it was hitting were worse than others and so there are changes we need to make. […] And so you know, we’ve been doing a lot with our organization. We’ve had a women of color initiative for years. We believe we position women of color in all of our programming. So it allowed us the space to double down even more now. And it’s not that other people aren’t doing ; we all need to do more. Quite frankly, what needs to happen now is a systemic change.
    I hope people will get involved in organizations working on systemic change. I say ‘systemic change’ but it’s long term. So as we’re working with women in the industry, that’s one piece. That’s only one system, right? There’s all these pieces that we’ve got to get at. Quite frankly, everyone has to commit to wanting to be part of the solution in the change. And I do think, I do think that is happening.”

    We all need to do more. Quite frankly, what needs to happen now is a systemic change —@PattiPhillips10, CEO @WomenLeadersCS #leadershipClick To Tweet

    I encourage you to follow me on LinkedIn so you can watch more interviews with industry top leaders, and if you don’t already follow my podcast, click on the link to get new episodes delivered right to your inbox!

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    The post 3 Leaders Share How We Can Use Our Power As Individuals to Create Meaningful Change appeared first on Customer Bliss.