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UTILITY WEEK | NOVEMBER 2020 | 29 Customers trend will continue into the winter. Everyone agreed this looks set to put unprecedented pressure on staff working on the frontline of customer experience. This is causing some worry about how to sustain agent morale – especially for those working at home – and is also driving increased interest in the role that bespoke digital solutions to help customers facing financial hardship or other forms of vulner- ability, can play in easing the burden on con- tact centres. Taking the staff morale issue first, one water company representative observed: "Taking back-to-back calls from custom- ers who are broadly unhappy is taxing, yet agents [working from home] have no col- leagues to vent to for a minute before prep- ping for the next call. As a result, we're starting to see some of our voice scores decline – some of that passion for really delivering is difficult to achieve at home." To further complicate this challenge, the increased pressure on contact centres means leaders are finding it difficult to find time to take agents out of service for periods of train- ing and development. As a consequence, there appears to be a general shi in favour of "bite-sized" train- ing and the generation of support tools which will guide agents through scenarios using narration over the top of simulated tasks. There has also been a concerted effort across the board to ensure "knowledge arti- cles" and process information are all accu- rate and accessible. Making sure agents have the right infor- mation and skills will go some way to ensur- ing they feel supported in an increasingly tough customer experience environment, our participants hoped. But it can only go so far, and leaders were keen to share ideas and experiences on alternative routes to servicing an increasing volume of anxious and some- times demanding customers. One water company representative reflected: "Some people are facing hardship for the first time and they don't know what to do or how to seek help and support, which is a very different conversation to have ver- sus somebody who has been in hardship for a period of time. There is a question around how we navigate around customers' uncer- tainty, particularly with people who don't realise they need help and support" The work of one energy retailer in creat- ing an app that helps prepay customers put aside money now to mitigate the impact of winter fuel bills was of particular interest to all participants grappling with how to sup- port customers more effectively, mitigate T his was the third event in a series of lockdown themed forums which started in April as we all ral- lied to understand and share the lessons from lockdown. Fast-forward six months and CX and service leaders have their work cut out for them managing volatility in volumes, shiing staff to work from home, and trying to keep the lights on and the metrics green. Most have performed admirably, with digital chan- nels providing much-needed resilience alongside brilliant people going above and beyond. Impressive digital performance metrics have been noticed by the board and senior executives – and they want to see more. For the first time in a long time, CX leaders have found greater support from all areas of the business in advancing CX-focused projects as every part of the business comes together to tackle one big challenge. The types of projects that have been accelerated are things like: deploying self-service options into the app; deflecting from the IVR [interactive voice response] channel to chat; and improv- ing routing with better intent recognition. While each has delivered significant ben- efits, they are the first steps in a (now) higher stakes digital and CX improvement roadmap. Or as one CX direc- tor put it: "We have a lot of plasters in place." CX leaders are all too aware of this, and are keen to seize the momentum to transform their businesses for the future. We heard from one CX director that "8 per cent of contacts in the contact centre are from failed self-service journeys". Another remarked that "traditional channels [phone] are now being used for more complex queries", increasing handing time and cost to serve. It's clear that utilities are fast adopting new metrics to become more data-driven in their decision making. We're starting to see things like high-level self-service scores be challenged more oen, alongside customer jour- neys and pain points being analysed with more business user-friendly dashboards, using algorithms to find the "needle in the haystack", which can be easily quan- tified and turned into a significant improvement opportunity. Re-platforming during a pandemic is off the table, so utilities are seeking more agile technology partners with faster time to value and more rapid adoption and deployment models. It's a tough ask, with a complex tech vendor landscape promising much. Look for the breadth and depth of likewise deployments which you can try and test yourself, versus one-off marquee case studies three years out of date. We look forward to the next event in this series, which takes the form of a webinar on the 6th November. The legacy of lockdown is still forming, I hope you can join us to help shape the next phase. For further information, visit: www.bold360.com Opinion Lloyd Buxton Utilities sector lead, Bold360 by LogMeIn Key points Contact channel volumes remain unpredictable The need for agile contact centre resourcing persists Customer hardship is increasing, creating increasing strains on contact agent morale CX leaders are increasingly interested in digital solutions which can support customers facing financial hardship The CX-function's star has risen, but leaders fear the pressures of recession may undermine investment continued overleaf "Making sure agents have the right information and skills will go some way to ensuring they feel supported in an increasingly tough customer experience environment." "Have we simply managed another 'peak' well, or is business transformed for the future?" in association with