Flexible Working Structures
Do you prefer to work in office, remote or adhere to a flexible working structure?
A key change every business faced globally in early 2020 was the risk posed to the workforce if all teams continued to work from the office.
With many countries forced into lockdown, businesses pivoted from the in-office corporate structure in a full or partial remote workforce to ensure their people remained healthy and able to complete tasks. The COVID-19 pandemic not only sparked a need toward remote working but created a cultural movement that saw businesses instill an acceptance towards flexible and fully-remote working.
No matter the objections corporations may have had towards remote work prior to the pandemic, the forced shift towards remote work meant long-held reservations began to fade, with businesses today accepting not everyone will want to return to office.
In a 2021 survey commissioned by The Customer Show Team on Employee Experience, 26% of respondents said they were unwilling to return back to work, favouring a fully-remote working structure. Comparatively, an incredible 62% preferred to be in office and remote when it suited them, with the remaining preferring a fully in-office structure.
These figures show the need for a flexible culture. But what does this mean for the CX and User Experience division?
Attaining Data Remotely
Prior to the pandemic, many organisations relied on a mix of in-person and online methods to gather customer feedback and research. This included the participation of focus groups (in-person), VOC surveys (remote), alongside other methods of research.
Given the restrictions, most customer feedback and research had to be gathered remotely. The expectation was that in-person focus groups would resume post-pandemic. Interestingly, The Customer Show Team found many organisations now expect remote feedback to not only remain until restrictions ease, but to over-take in-person methods, with future focus groups and research to be completed through online meetings.
Would you rather complete focus groups remotely or in-person post pandemic?
This method of in-person research and feedback was especially useful to user experience teams across government and banking organisations. However, given the shift to remote work many researchers and product owners found they could do just as efficient a job through virtual meetings, saving both time and resources.
What will be interesting to note, however, is what this shift will look like post-pandemic. Similar to employees wanting a flexible working structure, we suspect this will be the same for those in user research – where they will wish to alternate between in-person research and virtual research groups based on the product, needs and research generation.
Integration of Cloud Technologies
In order to create an efficient remote working environment, businesses had to invest in a range of solutions to allow their employees to access data and insights remotely, as well as complete tasks quick and proficiently. Part of this move included the replacement of slow, clunky backend systems for efficient, cloud technologies.
However, this shift towards the integration of cloud, along with new tech stacks to streamline processes and the usability of systems, made it essential for different departments across an organisation to work collaboratively together.
We saw the digital and IT teams in high demand, with the CX and the Customer Service function working to ensure the appropriate systems were integrated across the department in a period of two-four weeks. This also included Customer Service leaders collaborating with IT departments to understand what systems and technologies can be integrated into existing systems.
The challenge here was that many organisations felt they were speaking two languages when trying to integrate the technologies – IT spoke from a tech and integration standpoint, while Customer Service and CX teams only considered technologies from a user standpoint. This meant a continued misalignment in what businesses were integrating – as neither parties were able to find the perfect balance in ease of integration alongside ease of usability, for customers and employees.
To offset this challenge, organisations worked to reshape their business structure with IT and Digital Teams. Companies such as Monash University integrated IT and Digital teams into the Contact Centre Department, so that both sides worked as one team. This led to an increase in efficient digital transformation execution across the customer service division.
Alternatively, other organisations who were still unprepared to completely reshift their business and operating structures during early pandemic days decided to organise weekly standups where CX and frontline Customer Service teams met with their IT departments on the technologies they needed in order to do their roles better for customers. Doing this saw a significant improvement in collaboration, communication and the ability to prioritise the right technologies at the times.
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