GigCX Customer Service In The Twenty-First Century

The global Covid-19 pandemic forced every customer service agent from their contact center into their home. Work-from-home was proven to be a viable and secure operating model of customer service operations almost overnight.But why did the contact centers continue with 8-hour shifts and team-leaders tracking agents on web-cams, as if their agents were still commuting to an office? GigCX applies the lessons of the gig economy (Uber, Airbnb etc) to customer service. Agents can earn more, enjoy their job more, and companies requiring customer service can pay less than if they outsourced to a specialist company.In this book, Brian Pritchard, Terry Rybolt, and Mark Hillary explore why GigCX is set to be the next big transformation of how brands deliver a fantastic customer experience. GigCX offers greater transparency, control, efficiency, and productivity - why aren't you already exploring it for your business?Why did we write this book together? It's a good question because the gig economy has been around for some time. As Peter Ryan mentioned in the foreword, management thinkers were talking about this back in the 90s. Charles Handy even talked about the future of the portfolio career back in the 80s. What's different now?The truth is that many changes have taken place gradually, leading to what might be called a perfect storm. Companies like Uber and Airbnb demonstrated that platforms can change the world. If you connect a service provider to a buyer of services in a flexible way that adds value then you can change an entire industry - who is still stepping out into the street in the rain waving their arm for a taxi?Cloud-based services that are paid for as they are needed has also become an accepted standard for everything from computer software to language or piano tuition. Paying for what you need and only paying for what you consume, rather than an ongoing license has been normalized.The Covid-19 pandemic proved that working from home could be safe, secure, and successful. The major contact center companies had only tens of thousands of employees based at home in 2019. This is in an industry that employs millions of customer service agents globally.After Covid, those companies had to make it work and the success stories have become almost tiring to read because of their frequency - another company proves that it's possible to deliver with agents based at home.But it's very different to design a solution that expects people to be based from home - rather than an emergency response to a pandemic. If you are designing a flexible home-based service solution then you can widen the net and search for people anywhere.This means you can hire people who value flexibility. They want to work from home - they have not been forced into this. They want to work from home because they are more entrepreneurial and excited by their work. They want to work flexible hours. They want to work only with brands they like - so you can search for fans of the companies you are supporting.This combination of the cloud, platforms, and the evolution of work from home operating models means that all the stars are now aligned for GigCX to flourish. In GigCX: Customer Service In The Twenty-First Century you can learn about what is changing, how customer service is evolving, and how your business can explore these new flexible opportunities.www.livexchange.com #GigCX