One of the themes I have often written about here is that Gig CX is not a replacement for Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and contact center specialists. I don’t see any immediate future where the companies that have deep expertise in designing and building customer service strategies will just be replaced by Gig CX.
However, there is an enormous opportunity for the BPO companies to work with Gig CX as a platform that can improve the service they offer to their own clients.
I know that one of the main challenges I always faced when I was working for a major BPO was seasonality – those peak periods in the year when your contact center is slammed. Business spikes, customer satisfaction plummets, because you just can’t handle all the customer calls, and it just doesn’t work for anyone. The team is stressed and the customers are annoyed.
This always happens because contact centers have a physical limit. You can’t just squeeze more people into the building and even if you are working with some work-from-home (WFH) resource then they are still working to the same shift patterns as the center. It’s still not very flexible even with the WFH resource.
This is where I see a major opportunity for BPO companies to partner with Gig CX specialists such as LiveXchange. Consider these ideas:
- You can tap into a pool of trained resource whenever you need it – just make the shifts available and control what you need to the nearest half-hour shift.
- You can ramp down immediately as soon as the rush is over.
- You are working with people who are trained, know the client and their products, and in many cases may know the products far better than the agents in your contact center if you have taken care to select people who really love the brand.
- You maintain full control of the entire gig operation – we are providing a platform that allows you to build your own CX solution in the same way that Salesforce doesn’t tell you how to manage your CRM.
- You can tap into our cloud-based technology platform, which may even make it far easier for you to facilitate your own WFH integration.
These are the key points. BPOs don’t need to be hiring temporary workers, training them and then laying them off after a seasonal peak. Build up a bench of gig workers who are always available. You might have a seasonal rush or you might have a surprise – whatever happens, you can tap into this trained resource through the Gig CX platform.
Most importantly, you are buying access to a platform, a tool, that allows you to build flexibility into your contact center operation. Black Friday should never again be a period where you need to ramp up and train new team members over weeks or months – you can just switch on the extra talent as needed.
Let me know what you think about BPOs working with Gig CX by leaving a comment here or get in touch with me. If you want to always receive the latest commentary and news about Gig CX then please follow the LiveXchange page on LinkedIn.