What do today’s most successful companies have in common?

An agile mindset.

To succeed in today’s fast-changing world, businesses must be prepared to pivot and adapt.

In 2020, Amazon, Facebook and L’Oréal didn’t make the top 100 companies to prosper during the pandemic because they carried on with business as usual [1]. They succeeded because they were quick to respond and adapt to new threats and opportunities in the market.

Amazon invested billions into safety gear for its workers and built its own COVID-19 testing capability to ensure its deliveries could carry on safely. Facebook announced it would permanently embrace remote working – a dramatic shift away from its trademark office-driven culture. And L’Oréal ramped up its e-commerce and launched new digital tools, such as virtual makeup filters, to help customers try on and purchase products at home.

This agility earned them billions in revenue and priceless reputational value that will stick with them for years to come.

Are you running an agile contact centre?

Part 1| Evolution of the Contact Centre revealed that when lockdown was announced in the UK in March 2020, very few contact centres were prepared. While flexible working and omnichannel capability had been high on the list of priorities for some time, it was only when the pandemic hit that decision-makers really shifted into gear.

Contact centres using cloud technology gained the first-mover advantage when it came to remote working, with some able to transition in just a few days. Others were slowed down by heavy on-prem infrastructure that had to be disassembled, secured and distributed to workers’ homes.

Those already using omnichannel contact centre solutions and serving customers via digital channels were also better prepared for the influx of demand.

The experience was a real learning curve for many customer service leaders. “Because we had to do it, we found a way to do it, and if we were doing this in BAU we’d still be sitting here trying to figure out how to get people to work from home. We’re not letting perfection get in the way of pragmatism and that’s been a big unlock for us,” Jon Bowen, Customer Director at Paymentshield, told the Call Centre Management Association (CCMA).

How can you support your contact centre?

Contact centres are now actively working to improve agility by adopting a business agile mindset, investing in more agile technology, and establishing more flexible working policies.

To adopt a business agile mindset, Gartner suggests focusing on six key principles. They are embracing uncertainty, engaging with your customers, recognising the value of your team, sharing responsibilities, and striving to deliver continuous value [2].

• Leadership teams can encourage agility by supporting creativity and test and learn environments where teams are empowered to try new ideas without fear of failure. Leaders should also engage with all levels of their business to identify rigid, inflexible processes that are holding teams back.
• Contact centre managers can engage with customers, working with them to find the best solutions to achieve their goals. When making changes, contact centre managers should also set clear goals and communicate the results regularly to agents and senior leaders.
• IT managers can look for future-proof solutions that will grow and scale with their business. As contact centres become more agile, they will need technology that is flexible, scalable and customisable.

For more information on how Puzzel can help you boost your contact centre’s agility, visit our Why Puzzel page.

[1] https://www.ft.com/content/844ed28c-8074-4856-bde0-20f3bf4cd8f0

[2] https://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/how-to-shift-to-a-business-agile-mindset/