Uninterrupted CX as the ‘New Normal’

By Denis Lucey, Vice-President EMEA Support Services and Site Leader, Dell Technologies Ireland

Navigating our ‘new normal’ during the global pandemic has been challenging. From a family perspective, many parents continue to juggle childcare commitments while continuing to work from home. At a company level, many have had to rethink how they do business in order to survive.

The pandemic has also put the customer experience firmly under the spotlight. As a relationship built over time with insights gained over many years, the success of customer experience has ultimately depended on human touch.

From working behind the family bar in west Cork to leading a global team at Dell Technologies, I’ve learnt the importance of connecting one-on-one with customers. By listening first-hand, you come to understand not only what their current needs are, but also what will shape their behaviour into the future.

However, suddenly and without warning, these connections came under question. Businesses and their support teams were forced to physically separate from those they serve. Customers have also had to go online to get the supports they need.

Despite these new, unforeseen obstacles, Customer Experience (CX) leaders have risen to the challenge and the results have been truly remarkable.

Technology has enabled entire work-forces to transition to remote working within a matter of days. Teams can work anywhere, anytime and on any device so they can remain connected with their customers. Not only is this possible, it has proven to be successful and productive.

Having first introduced our Connected Workplace programme in 2009, our teams were able to make the move to remote working practically overnight. Lessons we’ve learned over that decade have proven invaluable not only in supporting our customers to embrace new ways of working but also in ensuring Dell Technologies provides a cutting-edge virtual technical support experience.

But I’ve been thinking about the long-term impacts of our recent experience. How will CX evolve and how can businesses become more agile in times of uncertainty?

I firmly believe we’re entering an era of uninterrupted CX. Where recent transformations in the way we work, in how we support one another and engage with customers will only accelerate.

Firstly, flexible working will become a permanent feature of lives – with many team members supporting the customer along every step of their journey from the safety of their home. It provides employees with the flexibility they need during these times while also empowering them to do their best work. Businesses will benefit from the increased agility provided by a blended workforce.

In our ‘new normal’, leaders will need to be more proactive and forward-thinking to anticipate customer needs and expectations. Those businesses connecting AI and BI data analytics to deliver exceptional experiences are likely to be the next CX leaders.

New technology will also help us to bring the human touch back to the customer experience by using collaborative tools, like Zoom and Microsoft Teams. By using Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, we can create new, immersive experiences where customers have near human-life interactions with a company and its team.

Above all, digital transformation will empower customer support teams. We can expand across locations and tap into capabilities and skillsets to ensure a distributed workforce is enabled to rapidly mobilise to address unexpected challenges, to scale to meet increased levels of demand, and to provide the flexibility to meet the ever-evolving needs of customers.

The pandemic has made one thing clear – resilience and agility are key to business success. Thanks to technology we navigate our new normal and ensure that the customer experience remains uninterrupted.

I am interested to know your thoughts on how the customer experience will evolve over the coming months as we create a stronger, more resilient future.