Rick DeLisi - Digital Customer Service

That's 800,000 minutes saved, or a savings of $400,000.

[And here comes the part where this formula starts to sound like a late-night infomercial … because … WAIT, there's still more !]

Now calculate the percentage of live phone minutes that could be eliminated with OnScreen Automation, situations in which bots could handle low-complexity issues and no live assistance is required. Most companies are reporting an average of about one out of five calls can be handled easily by bots – while still creating an excellent experience for the customer. That's another 1.2 million minutes (20 percent of the total 6M minutes of call time) that are no longer necessary, or a savings of $600,000.

$400k + $600k = $1,000,000 or one-third of the total staff budget now freed up.

And that's just “present ROI.” One other future-looking consideration (a “glorious ancillary benefit”) is the reduction of live phone volume going forward, as customers become more confident in their ability to resolve certain issues entirely in self-service. This could also lead to significant savings over time.

On average – companies that have transformed to DCS are realizing cost savings of at least 25–30 percent, while also increasing CSAT and NPS an average of 15–20 percent. That's the sweet spot. Any strategy that puts you at the intersection of operational efficiency and improved customer experience – is where you want to pitch your tent.

Throughout the book, we will share a number of stories based on the firsthand experiences of companies that are transforming their service operations to DCS. Here are a few highlights:

CoBrowsing creates major efficiency improvements. We'll reveal the details of a company that has seen the mix of customers using phone-first vs. digital-first flip from 80/20 to 20/80 in the span of a year, greatly reducing their service costs.

DCS offers a differentiated service experience. An organization discovers that seamless “DCS experiences” score as well (or better) for CSAT and NPS than live in-person interactions.

AI management makes agents more efficient. With basic chores like authentication, issue diagnosis and accessing customer information all handled automatically by bots, average “agent time per interaction” at one organization was reduced by up to 5 minutes for some processes.

And while the cost of implementing DCS is based on vendor selection and other variables, it is substantially less than the savings most companies are achieving even in their first year of transformation.

WINNER = Company

Creates an experience that feels more like how customers live their lives

Reduces customer effort in resolving service issues

Enables affirmation of decision to choose your company

Customer expectations for how service interactions should “feel” continue to evolve, seemingly faster than most companies can keep up with. But now there's a way for any company to meet and exceed these expectations.

Most people generally want four things from a service interaction:

1 Solve my problem so I don't have to think about it anymore.

2 Do it in a fast and easy way.

3 If possible, show me how to do it so I won't have to call again.

4 Make me feel smart for choosing your company.

Feedback from customers of companies that have transformed to a DCS service model say all four of these are generally accurate descriptions of their experiences.

To most customers, DCS experiences feel more like “personalized learning opportunities” than “service interactions.” Plus, the interaction is taking place on my screen. Those differences completely change how customers feel about the quality of that experience.

One major source of high-effort service experiences is any situation in which a customer has to “switch channels” within one resolution journey. Most typically, that's when a customer starts online but at some point has to also call the company on the phone. In DCS, that never happens. Any transition between self-service, bot-assisted service and agent-assisted service occurs right on the customer's screen with no additional effort.

One critical opportunity embedded within each service interaction is the opportunity to enable a customer to reaffirm their continued loyalty to that company. What we've learned over the years is that this future loyalty likely hinges on two considerations in the minds of customers:

Was that service interaction satisfactory? Did I get resolution? Was the process relatively easy, or was it a nightmare to get what I wanted? Did it feel like the company was trying to help me, and make me feel like a valued customer, or did I feel like “just another number”?

This is the baseline of success for any interaction. But here is the opportunity:

Do I feel smarter as a result of this interaction? Do I feel like the decision I made to choose this company was a good one, or am I thinking I could have done better for myself by going with a competitor? Do I feel like I understand something better as a result of this interaction? Did I learn anything of value?

Because many DCS OnScreen interactions are designed to teach customers (instead of just to “serve” them), there's a far greater likelihood that a customer will feel smarter as a result and therefore more loyal to that company.

No customer (OK, the tiniest percentage) has any idea what customer service “system” a given company uses. Most people wouldn't know the difference between Cisco (the networking and telecoms company), Sysco (the restaurant supply company), and the Cisco Kid. Don't know, don't care .

But when there's a problem or issue that needs to be dealt with, what customers do care about is how they feel about the way your company is handling it.

Take care of me . I am the customer – I've chosen to do business with you (and I have more choices than ever before!) When there's a problem – serve me where I live – on my own screen.

In today's customer environment, DCS is the embodiment of customer-centricity.

WINNER = Customers .

Elevation of reputation and impact on company success

Increased employee engagement

Greater job satisfaction

While the first consideration in any transformation must always be the economics and ROI, at least some mindshare needs to be paid to the potential impact on employee engagement, job satisfaction, performance, turnover, and overall morale.

Most DCS companies are reporting that this has turned out to be the easiest of all the perceived hurdles to overcome. Once agents understand how this transformation will make their jobs way easier, it will not be a hard sell. Being an agent in this digitally transformed environment has changed the role of frontline employees from being “customer service reps” to becoming DCS “superagents.”

Even among long-tenured reps, the image of the role they are playing in the organization is, itself transforming. What was once a “production job” or perhaps an “information worker” becomes the role of “teacher and enabler of digital proficiency among our customers.”