As the country continues to reopen, companies are faced with a variety of challenges, managing in-office staff, ramping back up to pre-COVID capacity, and scrambling to reschedule in-person appointments in what has become a contact-free world.
Many are looking for ways in which technology can help with the adjustments, but as the world has altered, so have consumers. Digital alternatives to in-person experiences have become even more commonplace and understanding how technology aids in moving forward will be the key to getting customer communications post-covid back up to speed.
Leveraging the Right Tools for Customer Communications
One significant consideration for companies of all size is how they communicate. Companies should be looking at how they share with their customers, on both a relational and transactional level. While there are many channels to distribute this message, doing so with video across a variety of platforms will be crucial.
Now is the time for meaningful communication. Video offers capabilities far beyond email or social content in developing authentic connections and building trust, something that consumers are looking for even more in a post-COVID world. Technology can help companies share this story and assist in a variety of ways.
Other considerations when thinking about customer service and the customer experience is how to properly support employees. We have watched internal processes at our own companies change, workflows adjust, and the availability and composition of our workforce alter—sometimes all at the same time. Some of these changes will “return to normal,” and some of these changes, as we’ve often heard, will be the “new normal.”
What is Likely to Remain Constant is the Increased Amount and Speed of Change
Robotic process automation is a form of business process automation technology based on metaphorical software robots and artificial intelligence/digital workers. Often referred to as “software robotics” or just “bots.” Bots and Process/Case Management can both enhance the work of humans, and/or offload tasks that don’t necessarily need to be performed by humans.
When you couple the ideas of bots and process management with a low-code development platform like Appian, you can update and reengineer your processes to adapt to change as it occurs. A technology like Appian can work to provide a seamless and consistent experience for your customers and the jobs your employees perform.
A second technology is a similar category is Okta. The Okta Identity Cloud gives you a single, trusted platform to secure every identity in your organization, including your workforce and customers.
Since so many of our applications are now best of breed cloud-based solutions, administering those applications, and making them available to employees and customers can be a challenge. Okta provides several benefits, the first of which is a single sign-on across all cloud-based applications (one password) and the second being the ability for an administrator to set up customized access to multiple cloud based access from one site (centralized management).
The two technologies, Appian and Okta allow companies to adapt quickly to an increased speed of change and manage processes and customer and employee experiences reliably.
As you’re considering how to re-open your business and reengage your customer base, ensuring you have the right communications and tech stack is key to get you up and running again. Let us know if FARM can help you navigate the process.
