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The Future of Contact Centres in Metaverse

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The rise of the metaverse is fast becoming one of the top business strategy conversations for contact centres, with many corporations scrambling to get on board and meet their customers wherever they may choose to reside.

Contact centres are pivotal to the metaverse as they can provide customer support and assist in resolving issues for the users within on alternative universe. For many companies that are sitting on the sidelines, what has become most apparent is that early adopters are the big winners in gaining customer loyalty, keeping agents happy and driving better business outcomes.

The metaverse is expected to be worth around $1 trillion by 2030. With over 4.7 billion people using the internet globally, the metaverse is set to become the next big thing. Companies are investing heavily in the metaverse, and many businesses are looking at ways to set up their contact centres in the virtual world.

Contact centres in the metaverse can be set up to provide real-time support to customers. The virtual world can offer an immersive experience where users can interact with agents through avatars. It can also provide a more personalised experience for customers as agents can access customer information in real-time, providing a more customised experience.

At the recent Big Data and AI World in Singapore, I spoke on the ability for customers to experience-set with contact centres, choosing who they want to speak to, in what tone of voice and language. This is revolutionary for customers and doable for contact centres seeking to heighten the experience of customers and improve agent attrition rates.

One of the biggest advantages of contact centres in the metaverse is the ability to provide support across different platforms. Users can access the metaverse through various devices, including mobile phones, computers and gaming consoles. By having contact centres set up in the metaverse, customers can receive support no matter which platform they are using, and at what time of the day they choose.

Companies like Amazon and Facebook have already started investing in the metaverse, and it’s only a matter of time before others follow suit. Amazon recently announced its plan to build its own metaverse, which it calls “New World”. The company plans to use this virtual world to provide a more immersive shopping experience for its customers.

The metaverse can also provide a more efficient way of handling customer inquiries. Agents can use the virtual world to provide customers with visual demonstrations, making it easier to explain complex issues. This can lead to faster resolution times and improve customer satisfaction rates.

In addition to customer support, the metaverse can also be used for employee training and development. Companies can create virtual training environments to teach new hires about the company’s products, services, and policies. This can lead to a more engaged workforce and can improve overall productivity.

The challenges of setting up in the metaverse

Setting up a contact centre in the metaverse is not without its challenges. Companies will need to invest in the necessary technology and infrastructure to ensure that they can provide real-time support to customers. They will also need to train their agents to work in a virtual environment and develop new policies and procedures to ensure that they are providing the best possible support.

The scarcity of IT coders needed to transform a company’s contact centre and create a new environment is yet another burden for contact centres setting up in the metaverse.

As companies navigate their metaverse strategy, early adopters are spending millions on setting up to become major players. This cost is set to come down as new, easy to use technology platforms allow for fast deployment of contact centres in the metaverse.

6 Steps Every Contact Centre Needs To Take

To set up a contact centre in the metaverse, the following steps should be taken:

  1. Determine the type of metaverse platform to use: The first step to setting up a contact centre in the metaverse is to choose a platform that fits the needs of the business. Platforms like Second Life, VRChat, and Sansar are popular choices for businesses looking to set up a presence in the metaverse. Each platform has its own unique features and target audience, so it’s important to do research to determine which platform is best suited for the business.
  2. Build a virtual space: Once a platform is chosen, the next step is to build a virtual space for the contact centre. This space should be designed to provide a comfortable and visually appealing environment for customers to interact with agents. Virtual spaces can be built using in-platform building tools or by hiring a team of designers to create a custom space.
  3. Hire and train agents: Agents who will be interacting with customers in the virtual space must be hired and trained to use the platform and to provide exceptional customer service. Agents must be able to respond to inquiries and provide assistance in real-time while maintaining a professional demeanor.
  4. Integrate with existing systems: Contact centres that are already using customer relationship management (CRM) software and other tools must integrate those systems with the metaverse platform. This will ensure that agents have access to customer data and can provide seamless service.
  5. Advertise the presence in the metaverse: Once the virtual space is built and agents are trained, the contact centre must advertise its presence in the metaverse. This can be done through social media, email campaigns and advertising within the metaverse platform itself.
  6. Monitor performance and adjust as needed: As with any new business venture, it’s important to monitor performance and adjust as needed. Contact centres in the metaverse should track metrics like customer satisfaction, response time, and ticket resolution rate. This data can be used to make adjustments and improvements to the virtual space and customer experience.

Customer experience: Uniquely transformable

Customer experience in the metaverse is a new and unique experience that is different from traditional customer service interactions. In the metaverse, customers can interact with agents in a virtual space using avatars, which can create a more personalised and immersive experience.

One advantage of the metaverse is that it allows customers to receive support from anywhere in the world, without the need for travel. Customers can also receive support at any time, as contact centres in the metaverse operate 24/7. –which in itself is game changing.

In the metaverse, customers can receive support through a range of channels including voice, text chat and video chat. These channels allow customers to choose the channel that they are most comfortable with, and agents can tailor their communication to match the customer’s preference.

Additionally, the metaverse can provide a more visual and interactive experience. For example, agents can use virtual objects to illustrate points or to demonstrate how to use a product or service. This can help customers to better understand complex issues and increase their confidence in the company’s products and services.

Another advantage of the metaverse is that it allows for more personalised experiences. Contact centres can use customer data to tailor interactions to the individual customer’s needs and preferences. If a customer has previously contacted the company about a specific issue, the agent can quickly access that information and provide a more personalised response.

The metaverse is a new and innovative way for companies to provide customer support. By offering personalised and immersive experiences, contact centres in the metaverse can build stronger relationships with their customers and set themselves apart from their competitors.

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Revolutionise Your Contact Centre Recruitment with Airdeck

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The ever-changing world of contact centre recruitment demands that HR managers constantly seek innovative ways to attract and retain top talent. One platform that is disrupting the recruitment landscape is Airdeck.

Airdeck is not your ordinary HR tool – it is transforming how HR managers approach recruitment. With Airdeck, HR managers can create dynamic and engaging presentations that effectively promote their company and differentiate them from competitors. No more boring, text-heavy presentations that fail to capture the attention of potential candidates. Airdeck allows HR managers to create visually stunning presentations that showcase their company’s innovation, investment in candidate experience, and unique value proposition in a way that captivates and inspires candidates.

Imagine being able to provide candidates with a comprehensive overview of your company in one interactive presentation, reducing the need for lengthy and time-consuming in-person interviews. Airdeck makes that possible. It streamlines the recruitment process, saving valuable time and resources. Candidates can get a glimpse into the company’s history, culture, and values, creating a sense of connection even before they step through the doors. This not only helps HR managers identify the best fit for their company, but also creates a memorable candidate experience that leaves a lasting impression.

But that’s not all – Airdeck is also a game-changer for onboarding new employees. HR managers can create step-by-step presentations that facilitate understanding of job duties and expectations, making it particularly valuable for remote employees who may lack in-person training opportunities. This means that even remote employees can have a seamless onboarding experience that sets them up for success from day one. HR managers can include interactive elements such as videos, quizzes, and polls to make the onboarding process engaging and memorable, resulting in better retention and improved employee satisfaction.

Moreover, using Airdeck for onboarding enables HR managers to save time and resources by sharing the same presentation with all employees, ensuring consistent messaging across the organisation. This is particularly beneficial for companies with high employee turnover or frequent new hires, as it helps maintain a standardised onboarding process that delivers a consistent experience to all employees, regardless of their location or department.

Airdeck offers HR managers a robust platform packed with features that can streamline and optimise HR processes. Some key features that HR managers can leverage to elevate their HR operations include:

  1. Customisable branding:

    Airdeck enables HR managers to customise the branding of their presentations to align with their company’s logo and colours. This creates a cohesive and professional appearance that can impress candidates and new hires, reinforcing the company’s brand identity.

  2. Analytics:

    Airdeck provides detailed analytics on each presentation, giving HR managers insights into how candidates or new hires are engaging with the content. This data allows for identifying areas for improvement and tracking progress, helping HR managers to continuously refine their presentations.

  3. Collaborative editing:

    Airdeck supports collaborative editing, allowing multiple team members to work on a presentation simultaneously. This fosters teamwork, saves time, and ensures that all stakeholders are aligned, resulting in polished and cohesive presentations.

  4. Interactive elements:

    Airdeck offers a range of interactive elements such as quizzes, polls, and videos that can be seamlessly incorporated into presentations. These elements enhance engagement and memorability, helping candidates or new hires to retain information effectively.

  5. Mobile-friendly:

    Airdeck presentations are designed to be mobile-friendly, enabling candidates or new hires to conveniently view them on smartphones or tablets. This is particularly beneficial for remote employees or those who prefer accessing content on their mobile devices, enhancing accessibility and flexibility.

  6. Integration with other platforms:

    Airdeck integrates smoothly with popular platforms like Salesforce and Hubspot, making it effortless to incorporate Airdeck into existing HR processes. This seamless integration streamlines workflows and enhances productivity, without disrupting established HR operations.

Airdeck is a game-changing HR tool that is revolutionising the contact center recruitment landscape. Its dynamic and visually stunning presentations enable HR managers to effectively promote their company and create a memorable candidate experience that sets them apart from competitors. With streamlined recruitment processes, time and resource savings, and seamless onboarding for remote workers, Airdeck is a robust solution with customisable branding, analytics, collaborative editing, and interactive elements. As the contact center industry evolves, Airdeck provides HR managers with an innovative and powerful tool to attract, retain, and onboard the best talent.

Don’t wait – elevate your HR operations and stay ahead in the competitive talent market with Airdeck in 2023!

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MetTel and Talkdesk: The Perfect Partnership for Customer Experience Excellence

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The Perfect Partnership for Customer Experience Excellence

MetTel and Talkdesk join forces to offer the MetTel Cloud Contact Centre, a fully managed network service that leverages AI to optimise and prioritise critical customer service processes. This collaboration will allow MetTel to expand its portfolio of cloud and AI capabilities while offering Talkdesk‘s advanced contact centre technology to its customers.

According to Gartner, the contact centre market is expected to reach $34.6 billion by 2026, with AI-infused solutions representing a growing segment of the market. The adoption of cloud delivery and hybrid and remote work is accelerating this growth, with a projected 17.9% global CCaaS end-user spend CAGR through 2026.

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OpenAI Launches GPT-4: How It Will Change Customer Experience

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OpenAI, a tech company that specialises in AI development, has launched GPT-4, the latest iteration of its ChatGPT AI. GPT-4 is 40% more accurate than its predecessor, GPT-3.5, and is 82% less likely to respond to requests for disallowed content. These new features make the AI smarter and safer, providing a shot in the arm for existing business applications, as well as opening new possibilities. GPT-4 boasts three new capabilities, namely mimicking, image recognition, and longer context. The new model is slower than the previous version but can parse more intricate data for a higher degree of reasoning and conciseness in response.

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The rise of AI in customer service: How NICE’s CXone platform is leading the way

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NICE, a leading provider of cloud based CX solutions, has announced that it has reached a significant milestone of one million agents and supervisors on its CXone platform. The news comes on the back of Gartner naming CXone one of the top CCaaS platforms in its latest market study.

The CXone platform incorporates AI, digital-first end-to-end journeys, and a cloud-native platform to improve customer experiences. NICE claims that its ‘next gen’ cloud CX platform, CXone, offers a complete CX platform, digital fluency, AI that is applicable to the entire application, smart self-service and AI outreach, and personalised customer journeys across multiple channels.

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CCaaS: The Future of Customer Service Management

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CCaaS: The Future of Customer Service Management

Contact centres have become increasingly important for brands that want to create a positive experience for their customers. Nevertheless, managing a contact centre can be challenging, given the complexity of customer interactions and the need for effective communication.

Fortunately, technological advancements have made managing a contact centre much easier, efficient, and cost-effective. One such technology that has revolutionised the way businesses manage their customer service is Contact Centre as a Service (CCaaS).

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Mike Dershowitz Talks Fair Trade

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Mike Dershowitz Talks Fair Trade

As consumers become more aware of the impact of their choices on the world, the importance of fair trade and ethical sourcing has gained significant traction changing mindsets and behaviours. For businesses, ensuring a sustainable future means going beyond profits and considering the impact of their operations on local communities and the environment. Fair Trade Outsourcing, led by visionary entrepreneur Mike Dershowitz, is one such company that is making a difference.

By providing ethical outsourcing solutions that empower local workers and combat poverty in developing countries, Fair Trade Outsourcing is a shining example of how businesses can be a force for good.

In this Q&A, we sit down with Mike Dershowitz to learn more about his journey, his vision and the impact of Fair Trade Outsourcing on local communities.

“In order to fight poverty, we must use the power of the free market for good and promote moral leadership in the BPO industry.”

Mike Dershowitz, The founder and CEO of Fair Trade Outsourcing

Q & A

When you started Fair Trade Outsourcing, what was your vision for the company?

I’ve been public about the fact that starting FTO was about how good of a business BPO can be for its employees and owners if done right. But I meant financially, having not realised at the time how good socially the BPO business can be.

Ultimately, I got into the BPO business because of the fundamentals of international trade. Companies that struggle to find sufficient labour, or labour at a cost that works for their business, can make their work portable and send it to people who can do the work at the right quality and cost and scale.

Initially, it was the inherent strength of this cross-border international trade – between client, company, and agent that I found impressive and made me want to be in this business.

What is the purpose of FTO?

FTO is a dual-purpose company – we simultaneously pursue both financial and social profit. We are like every other company, except that we are required to produce social profit, which we do in the form of lifting households out of poverty.

How did your clients respond to the mission of FTO?

Our performance is industry leading in a way that can make the numbers, upon first glance, look too good to be true. This is where the purpose really comes into play because it explains, beyond doubt, how we are achieving industry leading results.

So in this way, they respond quite well – it explains why we’re able to do what we do, and also makes them feel good about outsourcing ethically and morally.

That being said, and understandably so, clients really just want quality, performance, and good pricing structures. So generally, once they feel they understand the how of what we do, to them we’re really just like any other BPO, and it’s about the operations.

 

How do employees respond to the philosophies behind FTO?

There are two responses to this: anecdotal and by the numbers.

Anecdotally, and in surveys, employees respond quite well to FTO. Many come and stay for a quality, sustainable job where they are guaranteed a fair and safe workplace (guaranteed by our “ABOR” – Agent Bill of Rights).

What we do to help their households exit poverty is really icing on the cake. This can be sometimes not well understood by them (and it’s something we’re putting a lot of resources into right now to change).

This is where the numbers start to get really interesting. Over the last 6 years we’ve averaged 1.2 percent monthly voluntary attrition (total attrition is < 4%). For an operation of more than 1,600 people, it’s
not significant in an industry where the largest companies employ hundreds of thousands of people, but it’s big enough where you have to start asking if this is better way to run a BPO company. Time will tell as we keep growing.

Besides the attrition numbers, employees tell us that they like working here because they refer their friends. 70 percent of all new employees come from existing employees. We have a company-wide Employee Net Promotor Score (eNPS) of +68, which reflects how likely our employees are to recommend our company as a workplace. All our employees across our four country locations participate in the eNPS measurement and our score is close to the highest in the industry.

How do you measure performance of your employees?

We have two sets of measurements. First is what we call “client measurements”.- That’s whatever production and quality metrics are needed by our clients (since we do mostly custom teams). It’s the things you’re used to seeing; error rate, AHT, FCR, work units per hour etc.

However, because we’re dual-purpose, we have a second set of measurements, and that’s our economic mobility measurements. We measure things like change in agent household income, agent indebtedness and agent mobility-(how many have been promoted or moved into a higher paying positions). This gives us a really good picture as to what stressors the agent may be carrying in the door when they come to work.

How we deal with what we read in the data is the business strategy. For example, we make zero interest payroll loans available to our employees. We’d rather have them indebted to us than an informal lender who may take advantage of them. Second, we will give grants to help alleviate stress for some negative economic events like natural disasters, sickness, or a death in the family. Finally, and possibly most importantly, we guarantee them that if we lose business from one client, we’ll transfer them to another, with layoffs as a last resort. This promise of job security is critical to helping them plan for life and know that if they perform, a paycheck will always be there.

What tech stack do you use in your contact centre?

As a middle-market provider, we have to be flexible so we’ve never standardised on the use of one platform. We leverage MSFT 365 products along with SAP ERP and support everything from Genesys and NICE through to Zen Desk and other platforms on behalf of our customers. FTO also has several customers where we work inside their proprietary products.

What are some of the outcomes from the way that FTO operates in local communities?

Firstly, as I mentioned earlier, a steady job has a lot of power for the people that work with us especially in lower-income communities. When someone has a steady job in the formal economy, they become the anchor for that household, and can be an economic anchor to their extended families. That person’s relative wealth spreads out beyond their doorstep, with poverty reduction extending past just the Agents’ households.

Secondly, we are active in working with universities with all types of practical training programs made available for students. Everywhere we have a centre, we set up this core function of supporting students with practical skills. Over the years we’ve learned that a call centre job can be the start of a business career, so we work hard to form partnerships with corporates and educational institutions where we can create opportunities for young people.

One of the principles of the “Fair Trade Movement” is that by building up a person’s “capacity” and not just training them for “this or that” unit of work, we are exploring their potential. For example, we invested early in a Chief Learning Officer so that we can provide better training and development for our teams. Next year, we will be opening training programs up to the communities in which we operate, providing free learning – not just for our agents.

What’s your background and how did you get to this point where you are growing a business with purpose?

I’m not sure how or why it happened, but I grew up wanting to change the world. As a child, I was always surrounded by small business owners like my father, my uncle, my grandfathers and cousins. That is what I knew and was the impetus for wanting to change the world and be in business.

I think the two biggest threats future humanity faces are climate change and social unrest due to economic disparity. In my previous business which was in the solar industry, it was important to build software that helped broaden solar adoption. That business was really my bridge into purpose-driven companies. By making the solar design, quoting and contracting process easier through technology, more solar was able to be installed, and less electricity would be generated by fossil fuels. It made sense.

For FTO, it’s been incredible to watch how the social purpose in a people-orientated company can galvanise not just employees, but the whole organisation. It made us stronger from the bottom up and vice versa. From that perspective, running FTO has really completed my journey from aspiring do-gooder to having a real solution for making money while solving real human problems.

How do you think other companies could contribute to eradicating poverty?

Simply by putting social change on the agenda, companies can make a difference. With us, when we give an Agent a contract that supports steady employment, it can solve household problems and help them find a way out of poverty. Fair wages is critical to helping change the narrative.

Agents are proven to work harder for companies that pay them fairly and give them working conditions that are healthy and considerate. By companies supporting initiatives like this, their business will become more resilient, and better able to compete in the market. If you treat your employees well, they will treat your customers well, and the rest takes care of itself.

What’s next for FTO?

FTO has had burgeoning growth over the past few years. This is set to continue with headcount growth, infrastructure build-out and the opening of new offices. We recently opened our first operation in the US and plan to expand to Africa in 2023, with India also on the agenda.

We have invested heavily in understanding the impact of our operations on the families and communities in which we operate. Using this data, the true impact is realised and can be leveraged to do more for Agent’s lives.

Having worked extensively with small and mid-market businesses, the shift to enterprise is imminent. Corporations are realising the full potential of working with companies that have “fairer” practices and capitalising on the flow on effect to customer experience, and their own employee attrition rates.

www.fairtradeoutsourcing.com

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Mental Fitness: Building Behavioural Habits that Will Change the Game

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Mental health is a growing concern in the modern workforce, and the contact centre environment is no exception. With the increasing demands of a 24/7 economy, pressure to maintain high levels of performance and customer satisfaction, and a competitive labour market, contact centre employees are facing challenges that can have a significant impact on their mental well-being.

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