The Role of Customer Service in The New Normal
How the Pandemic Impacted Customer Service in 2020
Customer Service has become more important than ever after the most uncertain year for businesses all around the globe. Restrictions deeply affected businesses and it became pretty clear the digitization of their companies was a must.
Some sectors were impacted more profoundly than others. The travel and tourism sector encountered unprecedented requests for change. Meal delivery had accelerated adaptation.
These are examples of the different impacts we have seen in businesses all around the globe.
The one thing we could see as a common factor among all companies was the need to provide customer service like never before. In fact, the Harvard Business Review Analytic Services (HBRAS) found that 54% of companies increased the volume of customer communications during the COVID-19 pandemic.
That’s why customer service has become more critical than ever. In 2020, a low response rate represented a deep impact in some companies.
A Changing Business World
The world has changed forever and where once companies had the luxury of choosing to keep their businesses on a traditional basis, it is now clear that they must partake in digital transformation if they want to keep their businesses running.
The pandemic has led business owners to accelerate the decision to change strategies for increasing agility, improving costs, and serving their customers despite physical barriers.
As with anything new, this requires a period of adaptation and some companies are still struggling with trying to incorporate digital tools and remote teams into their businesses.
This is causing business executives to lose faith in innovation. However, it is entirely possible to overcome these new challenges if the right methodologies are combined with teams that generate value for the company.
Customer Service Boosts Remote Work
In this sense, it is also important to highlight the expansion of remote work; a sector that was considered to be growing but that has been boosted by the demand.
Some companies opted to incorporate new strategies for their existing team; other companies have found it necessary to integrate people into their team who work remotely.
With these changes, we have learned that not only can remote teams be as productive as on-site teams, but we have also seen how productivity can be increased with remote teams given the special conditions.
Remote work has been becoming the best option for many people around the world thanks to its intrinsic benefits.
Being able to work from the safety of home, spending more time with the family, saving money and time in commuting to an office, having a workspace that can accommodate the remote worker’s preferences, to name a few.
For the businessperson, this means double profit when in addition to having productive remote equipment, they can also save money on infrastructure costs, payment of services such as electricity and internet, among others.
The New Trend for Outsourcing Customer Service
One of the main trends among American businesspeople has been the use of cheaper labor. Generally, this has represented outsourcing services to countries such as India and the Philippines. Not anymore, because today we are seeing a trend towards the next-door neighbors: Latin America.
Here, businessmen have found not only skilled labor to provide quality service to their clients but also competitive prices.
Latin Americans offer many benefits for American companies, among which we can mention that they know the business culture because in some of their own countries they have very similar models.
They also have a high level of English and similar time zones, which makes communication and work effectiveness much easier.
Big American companies have found a gold mine in Latin America during the pandemic. They have been able to save costs, work with staff in the same time zones and maintain productivity levels. However, small and medium-sized companies often find themselves with very high prices and contracts that commit them for too long.
That is why we have decided to develop an offer that gives them more freedom and keeps labor costs low.
New Opportunity for Startups
We have experienced customer service agents who have worked in the BPO industry for a while now. They handle inbound and outbound calls, chats, and emails.
Our agents have worked with renowned companies where they have accompanied their customers and have provided quality experiences, resulting in promoting a good reputation of the brands.
In our offer, you can find the freedom of agreements free of extensive commitments.
If you want to know more, book a strategic call with our director Claudia.
Discover all that our team of agents can do for your business!
