From Customer-Centric to Employee-Centric: A Glance at CX Priorities for 2022

The end of 2021 is quickly approaching and as we reflect on the successes of the past year, we can see the bright future ahead for customer-centric organizations. Although companies slowly began to build out their CX function throughout the past few years, the pandemic made it clearer than ever that we must consider the customer first if we want to see true improvement.

As we look to the future, this experience-centric mindset still holds true, but the outlook has expanded. To continuously improve experiences and offer exceptional support, companies must set their sights on improving the agent experience. Earlier this year, CCW Digital research found that enhancing employee well-being and engagement was the number one priority for companies moving forward;this priority is only growing.

The latest CCW Digital Market Study, ‘Future of the Contact Center: A Forecast’ unpacks the most recent findings highlighting top-of-mind considerations for organizations going into 2022. As compared to 2021, the list focuses heavily on the employee experience — influenced by the recent ‘great resignation’ trend and a steady shift toward flexibility and empowerment in the workplace. While leading priorities still included improving the use of AI for customer interactions and establishing a more seamless experience across channels, new employee-focused goals were also emphasized.

Here’s what CCW Digital learned: 41% of organizations stated they are optimizing their AI technology to encourage employee productivity by putting next-best action, training and process automation improvements into place. Additionally, beyond their day to day workflow, companies are also focused on preparing their employees to take on more complex and consultative work. This is likely a product of growing customer expectations, as individuals adopt an ‘always on’ support mindset.

More broadly, labor market challenges are becoming increasingly critical for companies as we move forward. The influx of talent present during the height of the pandemic has dwindled, and companies must now address the demands for higher salaries, increased flexibility and a defined long-term career path. To begin, many are focused on determining a future work environment that’s productive for everyone — with 88% of companies stating that they will maintain some element of remote work, this increased flexibility is likely to persist.

Once initiated, organizations aim to reimagine employee training, coaching and onboarding. After almost two years in the remote environment, companies now have the opportunity to promote in-person training and onboarding. However, if hybrid futures are on the horizon, this dual-setup may inspire a new version of in-person and remote training.

In terms of the customer experience, 42% of companies are still focused on creating a seamless end-to-end journey. Additionally, journey mapping, analysis and orchestration were marked as leading considerations for companies in 2022. This makes sense, as we continue to see companies describe their CX operations as multi-channel rather than entirely omnichannel.

While we saw plenty of improvements in digital coming into 2021, 40% of companies are still working to enhance the quality of experiences within digital channels. This speaks to the demand for exceptional and innovative online experiences — as customers grow their digital capabilities, we will continue to see the need for better, faster and more streamlined interactions.

To learn more about top-of-mind priorities and leading operational pain points for companies in 2022, download the latest CCW Digital ‘Future of the Contact Center: A Forecast’ Market Study here.

Photo by Yan Krukov PEXELS