Analyst Webinar
Analyst Webinar
Customer experience has entered uncharted territory. The first half of 2020 ushered in global unpredictability, forcing businesses to rapidly adapt and deliver customer experiences in new ways. It’s important to understand what this “new normal” is to gain perspective and to understand where the industry is headed.
Join Sheila McGee Smith and Barbara Gonzalez to hear real-life accounts of how businesses across key industries have rapidly evolved their contact center operations. You’ll get insights into emerging trends, challenges and key learnings on these topics:
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Good morning, evening, and afternoon
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everyone. My name is Josh
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Reed and I’m from the
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digital events team here at
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Genesys. And let me be
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the first to welcome you
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to today’s webcast, The New
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Normal Redefining Business Continuity. And
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before I hand it off
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to our moderator today, I’m
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going to cover a few
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housekeeping items to ensure that
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you have the best experience
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viewing and listening to today’s
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presentation. So, first off, if
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you experienced any problems viewing
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or listening to today’s presentation,
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be sure to refresh your
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browser and make sure that
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it’s up to date to
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support HTML5 as this usually
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fixes any console issues. If
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you think that slide window
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or that video window is
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too small, you can drag
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the bottom right corner of
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those windows to enlarge them
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at any time during the
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webcast. And although we’re not going
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to host a live Q&
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A at the end of
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our presentation today, this is
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designed to be an interactive experience. And
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we would love for you
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to go ahead and throw
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those questions that you may
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have into the Q& A window.
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And what we’ll do is
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we’ll follow up with you
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via email within the next
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few business days. And also
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know if you miss anything throughout
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today’s presentation, don’t worry you
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will receive the on- demand
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recording via email from on
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24 within the next few
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business days as well. And
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also note that we have
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a library of resources in
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the resource center at below
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your Q& A window. These
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resources truly expand on today’s
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topic of the change in
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business continuity. So be sure
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to click on those links.
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Clicking won’t take you away
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from the session though. So
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don’t worry about that. It’ll
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just open up a new
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tab in your browser. Told
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you, short and sweet. So with
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that, I’m actually going to
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hand it off to our
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moderator today, Barbara Gonzalez. Barbara,
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why don’t we take it
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away? Thank you so much,
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Josh. Hello everyone. My name
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is Barbara Gonzalez. I work
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for Genesys and I lead the
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business consulting team organization globally.
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First of all, I do
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want to say thank you
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so much for spending this
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time with us and on
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behalf of Genesys. And everyone
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that participated in the organization
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of this webinar, we truly
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appreciate your presence. Before I
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introduce our amazing panelists, I
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would like to start with
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a brief introduction. First of
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all, let me start with
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this quote. The struggle we’re
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in today is developing the
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strength we need for tomorrow.
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And I know that I
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say the obvious by saying
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that we are going through
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challenging and truly unprecedented times
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right now. But to me
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it’s unprecedented from two key
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aspects. Number one, this is
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certainly not the first pandemic
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that humanity has experienced, but
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because of the level of
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connectivity that our society has
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today, it makes it so
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we are fully aware of
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the level of magnitude of
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this crisis. And number two
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and perhaps for the same
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reason of how connected we
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are not only as a
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society, but in the way
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that we do business and
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communicate this crisis is truly
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affecting the entire world. I mean,
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if you look at the
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numbers right now out of
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195 or 197, depending on
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your source countries in the
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world, 185 have confirmed cases
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of COVID- 19 right now. And
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the fact is that every
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single country, every business, and
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every individual is affected in
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one way or another, by
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the impact that this pandemic
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is having not only in
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our economy, but frankly in
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our way of life. Now,
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here’s another aspect to consider
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as we reflect in all
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of this. Think about all
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the services and activities that
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are part of our day
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to day lives and that we
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just maybe take for granted,
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but that right now are critical
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and top of mind for
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all of us. Things like
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obviously healthcare services, but also
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financial services, retail services, government
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services. And not only do
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we depend on those services today,
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but we depend on the
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ability to access and communicate
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with the organizations or agencies
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that provide those services through
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customer support or customer service
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to us. And let me
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just give you a quick
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example, which I’m sure most
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of you if not all
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of you will relate to
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it. I normally work from
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home although I do travel
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a lot, so I probably
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spend half of my time
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at home and half of
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my time on the road.
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My husband owns a small
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business in real estate and
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financial services here in Miami. And
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our daughter Addy, who is
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15, she’s obviously in high
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school. So as a family,
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for one, we need to
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stay in touch with Abby
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school and the county schooling
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system to figure it out,
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is she going back to
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school, is she not going back to
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school, and how are they
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managing remote dedication and so
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on. By the way, they
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are not going back to
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school for the rest of
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the school year, which is
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not exactly easy situation to
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deal with a teenager, if
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what I mean. My husband
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had to work with the IT
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company that provides them support,
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which is also a small
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business to adjust their systems,
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to be able to send
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their employees to work from
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home. He’s also now in
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the process of reaching out
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to government agencies to get
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information to potentially apply… On
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my side, I’m going to assume it’s all
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the time. Reached out to
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my internet service provider to
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make sure that they keep
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up with the demands and
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now it’s family we have
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given that my daughter Abby
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is on Zoom from school.
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And if she’s not on
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that, I tell you she’s
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on FaceTime with 20 other
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kids all the time or
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live streaming on Instagram. So
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the bandwidth requirements are pretty
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high. And not to mention
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my husband who is also
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heavily using internet now, since
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he’s working from home. And
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then we get to things
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like going to the grocery
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store today as a mission,
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right. I just went to
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the grocery store yesterday and
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I can tell you wearing masks,
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going on just only one
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way on the aisles and
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waiting, and the distancing upset
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at six feet and so
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on. So now I’m also
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trying to order as much
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as I can online, supply
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just to keep our lights
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going. So I think this
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just shows how much we
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depend on the services that
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in our day to day,
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obviously. But even if we
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take them for granted now
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those services are truly critical
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and just for our wellbeing.
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And even I would say,
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and I don’t mean to
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sound dramatic, but even just
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for our survival, right? So
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to me, this also exemplifies
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the real need and the
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real importance of incorporating empathy
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as part of our customer
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experience strategy. These services are
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really not just operational, but
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they are part of people’s
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lives. Now, to the topic today
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companies build their business continuity
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plans in a wide variety
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of scenarios in mind. Natural
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disasters, power system outages, even
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strikes and so on. But
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certainly the situation we are
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living in right now with
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COVID- 19 has forced us
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to adapt and adjust those
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business continuity plans. And it also
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makes us really think, well,
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what does the new normal
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look like? Right? Some companies,
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for example, are considering, should
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we create a working from
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home model beyond the crisis?
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But regardless of what we
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think the new normal is going
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to look like for organization
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or what would be involved
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in reactivating our normal business
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activity? What I think we
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need to be very conscious
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of is that this will
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certainly not be the last
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crisis or unprecedented situation that
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we will be challenged with.
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And I don’t mean to
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sound like doom days or
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anything. But I’m just saying
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that we just need to be prepared
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and have plans that are
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flexible and agile to allow
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our organization to be as
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ready as possible and really
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to adapt and respond quickly.
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And this is exactly the
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discussion that we are going to have
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today. So I’m truly honored
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to be joined by an
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incredible panel of experts today.
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And I would like to start with
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Sheila McGee- Smith. I’m really
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honored to have you Sheila,
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would you please introduce yourself?
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Certainly. Welcome everyone and welcome
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to my fellow panelists. I’m
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excited to be here, not
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just with Barbara who I’ve
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worked with in the past in
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Women in Tech issues as
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you proudly aware. Women in
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Tech, Genesys’ shirt. But very
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happy to be here with
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two customers as well, with
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Colin and Paul who are
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living this every day. So
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who am I? I am an
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industry analyst. I’ve been covering
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the contact center space full
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time since 1990. So I’ve
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lived through a couple of
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changes in this marketplace, a
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few small recessions, the tech
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bubble burst, but nothing compares
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to what we’re all living
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through right now. So the
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slide that you’re seeing there
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shows that one of the
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places where I publish my
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views on the market is
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on a site online called
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nojitter. com. About on a
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weekly basis I publish a
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post about what’s happening in
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the market. For today’s event,
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I’ve selected four that I’ve
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published in the last six
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months or so all about
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Genesys, needless to say, if
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you go to No Jitter,
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you’ll see articles about other
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companies as well. But what
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it highlights is just how
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much, how active Genesys has
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been in the market and
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certainly in the last year,
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even more so perhaps than
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before that. With a new
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CEO, with partnerships with Google.
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So happy to be here
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and to pass it back
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to Barbara to introduce our
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first customer. Thank you, Sheila.
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I just want to say really, really an
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honor to have you. Sheila
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she certainly needed no introduction,
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her reputation in the contact center
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space and the customer experience space,
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procedure around the world in
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North America. Certainly, so Sheila
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also constantly has conversations with
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executives on the customer experience space.
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So we truly having you
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here to provide your thoughts
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and in recommendation Sheila, it’s
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truly an honor. So thank
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you so much. Now to
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our next panelist, I’m really
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also honored to have with
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00:09:36,650 –> 00:09:41,780
us Paul Bordeaux who’s the
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vice president of information technology
347
00:09:43,680 –> 00:09:44,900
for e- services. Paul would
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you introduce yourself please? I’m
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00:09:48,360 –> 00:09:54,510
sorry- Yeah, certainly. Backwards. I’m
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00:09:54,510 –> 00:09:56,140
so sorry Paul. Sorry let me
351
00:09:56,750 –> 00:09:58,710
take this back. Colin Salvesen,
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head of IT for Mr
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00:10:00,100 –> 00:10:01,480
Price Group. Colin, please go
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00:10:01,480 –> 00:10:04,050
ahead. Hi. Hello to everybody
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00:10:04,050 –> 00:10:04,940
all the way from South
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Africa. And I hope you’re all
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00:10:06,640 –> 00:10:08,560
very safe and well. Thank
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you to Genesys for having
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me. I really appreciate the
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opportunity. So yeah, I look after IT for the
361
00:10:13,550 –> 00:10:15,130
Mr Price group. We’re a
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00:10:15,130 –> 00:10:16,610
large retailer in South Africa.
363
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Our footprint is just over
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1200 stores and we focus on
365
00:10:20,220 –> 00:10:22,450
fashion home wear, and sportswear
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and sporting goods. And cutting
367
00:10:24,960 –> 00:10:26,270
across these verticals we also
368
00:10:26,270 –> 00:10:28,210
have MRP money, or Mr
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00:10:28,210 –> 00:10:29,410
Price Money which is the
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00:10:29,410 –> 00:10:31,160
enabler for credit in the
371
00:10:31,160 –> 00:10:32,940
group as well as insurance
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products to protect that credit.
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00:10:35,010 –> 00:10:36,850
And more recently we have
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00:10:36,850 –> 00:10:40,550
launched MRP mobile strategy, which
375
00:10:40,550 –> 00:10:41,840
is MRP cellular, which is
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00:10:41,840 –> 00:10:43,770
an immuno strategy on unselling
377
00:10:43,810 –> 00:10:46,220
of services from some of
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the top networks in South
379
00:10:47,140 –> 00:10:48,830
Africa. And we also have
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00:10:48,810 –> 00:10:50,760
our own NBN, which is MIP
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00:10:50,760 –> 00:10:53,270
mobile. We’ve been a Genesys
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customer for the past five years through
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00:10:55,570 –> 00:10:56,940
peer connect and we have
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approximately 600 agents of which
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00:10:59,680 –> 00:11:01,050
a large portion of those
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00:11:01,050 –> 00:11:02,790
are outbound sales agents and
387
00:11:02,910 –> 00:11:05,630
outbound collections agents and also
388
00:11:05,630 –> 00:11:07,250
a large inbound component that
389
00:11:07,250 –> 00:11:08,410
looks after eCommerce for the
390
00:11:08,410 –> 00:11:09,960
group as well as customer
391
00:11:09,960 –> 00:11:11,530
care for the store footprint.
392
00:11:12,060 –> 00:11:13,060
So yeah, very excited to
393
00:11:13,060 –> 00:11:14,660
be discussing these topics that are
394
00:11:14,810 –> 00:11:16,090
very topical and I hope
395
00:11:16,090 –> 00:11:17,210
we can shed some lights on some
396
00:11:17,210 –> 00:11:18,650
of the consents, looking forward to it.
397
00:11:18,800 –> 00:11:21,110
Thank you. Thank you so
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00:11:21,110 –> 00:11:22,840
much Colin. By the way,
399
00:11:22,840 –> 00:11:23,990
it’s pretty late for you out
400
00:11:24,400 –> 00:11:25,440
there in South Africa. So we
401
00:11:25,740 –> 00:11:27,530
do appreciate very much joining
402
00:11:27,530 –> 00:11:29,110
us today. That’s my pleasure.
403
00:11:32,060 –> 00:11:34,640
Sorry for the mix up Paul. Now, I’ll
404
00:11:34,640 –> 00:11:35,640
let you introduce. So Paul
405
00:11:35,640 –> 00:11:37,010
Bordeaux again, vice president of
406
00:11:37,240 –> 00:11:40,590
information technology for eFinancial. Paul. Awesome.
407
00:11:40,700 –> 00:11:42,350
Thank you very much. As
408
00:11:42,360 –> 00:11:43,200
mentioned, my name is Paul
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00:11:43,200 –> 00:11:44,620
Bordeaux and I’m the VP
410
00:11:44,620 –> 00:11:47,430
of IT at eFinancial. And eFinancial is actually a
411
00:11:47,430 –> 00:11:49,360
direct consumer life insurance company.
412
00:11:49,660 –> 00:11:50,960
That’s all call center based.
413
00:11:50,960 –> 00:11:52,270
We started about 20 years
414
00:11:52,270 –> 00:11:53,980
ago and since then we’ve
415
00:11:53,980 –> 00:11:54,810
grown to become one of
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00:11:54,810 –> 00:11:56,570
the largest director life insurance
417
00:11:56,570 –> 00:11:58,250
agencies in the United States.
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00:11:58,800 –> 00:11:59,640
As an example of our
419
00:11:59,640 –> 00:12:01,290
volume, we did right over $
420
00:12:01,290 –> 00:12:03,800
11 billion in life insurance
421
00:12:03,800 –> 00:12:06,970
coverage in 2017 alone. Our
422
00:12:06,970 –> 00:12:09,040
staffing model looks similar to
423
00:12:10,070 –> 00:12:12,100
Mr Price their staffing model.
424
00:12:12,140 –> 00:12:13,250
We have about 400 call
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00:12:13,250 –> 00:12:15,450
center agents that serves both
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00:12:15,450 –> 00:12:17,320
sales agents, transfer agents, customer
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00:12:17,320 –> 00:12:18,490
care reps, and as well
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00:12:18,490 –> 00:12:20,030
as independent agents spread across
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00:12:20,030 –> 00:12:21,900
the country. We’re licensed in
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00:12:21,900 –> 00:12:23,630
all 50 States district of
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00:12:23,630 –> 00:12:25,360
Columbia, but our main call
432
00:12:25,360 –> 00:12:27,000
centers are in three locations.
433
00:12:27,170 –> 00:12:28,100
We have one in Bellevue,
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00:12:28,100 –> 00:12:29,790
Washington, which is our headquarters.
435
00:12:30,120 –> 00:12:31,190
We have one in Chicago,
436
00:12:31,190 –> 00:12:32,680
Illinois, and we have a
437
00:12:32,680 –> 00:12:33,690
new one that just opened
438
00:12:33,690 –> 00:12:34,680
up this year in Tempe,
439
00:12:34,680 –> 00:12:36,160
Arizona sort of spread across
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00:12:36,160 –> 00:12:38,340
the United States. I’m Colin,
441
00:12:38,340 –> 00:12:39,470
I’m excited to be here
442
00:12:39,470 –> 00:12:40,570
and I’m looking forward to this webinar.
443
00:12:40,790 –> 00:12:46,420
Welcome. So to get us
444
00:12:46,420 –> 00:12:48,020
started with this conversation, I
445
00:12:48,020 –> 00:12:48,990
would first like to ask
446
00:12:49,260 –> 00:12:50,850
Sheila to give us her analyst
447
00:12:51,180 –> 00:12:52,350
perspective on the current state
448
00:12:52,350 –> 00:12:53,950
of customer experience and the
449
00:12:53,950 –> 00:12:55,500
impact that COVID-19 is having
450
00:12:55,500 –> 00:12:58,740
in the contact center space. Sheila. Thank
451
00:12:59,030 –> 00:13:00,830
you. The slide that you
452
00:13:00,830 –> 00:13:04,070
see here talks about the
453
00:13:04,070 –> 00:13:06,240
New Hampshire emergency order number
454
00:13:06,240 –> 00:13:08,410
17, that was issued by
455
00:13:08,410 –> 00:13:12,880
our governor Sununu back early
456
00:13:12,880 –> 00:13:16,840
in March. And slides are
457
00:13:16,840 –> 00:13:19,580
just going crazy. Huh? Let’s
458
00:13:19,580 –> 00:13:22,000
try and get back on
459
00:13:22,000 –> 00:13:24,230
the right slide. Okay. And
460
00:13:24,230 –> 00:13:28,470
what it shows is that
461
00:13:29,550 –> 00:13:31,200
as it highlights is people
462
00:13:31,200 –> 00:13:33,730
in information technology, people like
463
00:13:33,790 –> 00:13:35,670
Colin and Paul, people who
464
00:13:35,670 –> 00:13:37,940
work in call centers are
465
00:13:37,940 –> 00:13:40,340
part of essential services. So
466
00:13:40,340 –> 00:13:42,660
as countries and States have
467
00:13:42,660 –> 00:13:44,260
put out orders that say,
468
00:13:44,480 –> 00:13:46,970
everybody stayed home except essential
469
00:13:46,970 –> 00:13:50,010
workers, right. Very often those
470
00:13:50,010 –> 00:13:51,500
essential workers work in government
471
00:13:51,500 –> 00:13:55,950
locations and hospitals and they
472
00:13:55,950 –> 00:13:58,170
are continuing to be important
473
00:13:58,400 –> 00:14:01,580
to the ongoing pace of
474
00:14:01,580 –> 00:14:03,650
keeping people alive and well
475
00:14:03,900 –> 00:14:05,540
as Barbara talked about. Right?
476
00:14:06,070 –> 00:14:07,890
And so it gives us
477
00:14:07,890 –> 00:14:09,030
pause those of us in
478
00:14:09,030 –> 00:14:11,210
the contact center space to understand
479
00:14:11,210 –> 00:14:13,050
how important we are to
480
00:14:13,050 –> 00:14:15,480
keeping business going, to keeping
481
00:14:15,480 –> 00:14:17,540
lives going. And again, as
482
00:14:17,540 –> 00:14:20,270
Barbara pointed out with everything
483
00:14:20,270 –> 00:14:21,210
that we need just to
484
00:14:21,210 –> 00:14:23,190
subsist one doesn’t want to
485
00:14:23,190 –> 00:14:24,640
be overly dramatic, but we’re
486
00:14:24,640 –> 00:14:26,650
part of a process that’s
487
00:14:26,650 –> 00:14:39,560
really quite important. Okay. You want me to move their slide? Share over there.
488
00:14:42,400 –> 00:14:44,320
Maybe from now on, you
489
00:14:44,320 –> 00:14:45,360
can move my slides for
490
00:14:45,360 –> 00:14:46,440
me. Thank you very much.
491
00:14:46,700 –> 00:14:48,390
So one of the things
492
00:14:48,390 –> 00:14:49,450
that I want to talk about is
493
00:14:49,450 –> 00:14:50,260
sort of what did the
494
00:14:50,260 –> 00:14:52,940
world look right before the
495
00:14:55,240 –> 00:14:58,410
COVID pandemic became real. And
496
00:14:58,410 –> 00:14:59,710
interesting that we have the
497
00:14:59,710 –> 00:15:01,260
gentlemen on from South Africa
498
00:15:01,460 –> 00:15:02,930
because the data that I’m
499
00:15:02,930 –> 00:15:04,640
showing here is from a
500
00:15:04,640 –> 00:15:06,860
company called NTT. And it
501
00:15:06,860 –> 00:15:09,110
is part of a global
502
00:15:09,200 –> 00:15:12,610
benchmarking report that NTT has
503
00:15:12,610 –> 00:15:14,590
been gathering for 22 years
504
00:15:14,590 –> 00:15:16,070
now. And that the group
505
00:15:16,070 –> 00:15:17,200
that runs that is actually
506
00:15:17,200 –> 00:15:19,780
out of South Africa and
507
00:15:19,780 –> 00:15:21,560
I’ve visited them down there.
508
00:15:21,770 –> 00:15:23,410
And he’s nodding because it’s
509
00:15:23,410 –> 00:15:25,360
an important piece of research
510
00:15:25,670 –> 00:15:26,770
that a lot of us
511
00:15:26,810 –> 00:15:28,590
in the context center look
512
00:15:28,590 –> 00:15:29,930
forward to seeing that new
513
00:15:29,930 –> 00:15:32,500
data every year. So moving
514
00:15:32,500 –> 00:15:37,040
into 2020 companies, some 600
515
00:15:37,040 –> 00:15:38,010
of them responded to this
516
00:15:38,010 –> 00:15:41,020
question or asked what strategies
517
00:15:41,020 –> 00:15:43,130
are being used to meet
518
00:15:43,380 –> 00:15:48,030
the evolving workforce demands. And
519
00:15:48,030 –> 00:15:50,350
you’ll see flexible hours were
520
00:15:50,350 –> 00:15:52,960
important. Remote working was important.
521
00:15:53,830 –> 00:15:55,430
But probably further down the
522
00:15:55,430 –> 00:15:57,710
list, something like wellness, which
523
00:15:57,710 –> 00:15:58,810
I’ve highlighted there with an
524
00:15:58,810 –> 00:16:03,510
arrow or training, new approaches
525
00:16:03,510 –> 00:16:05,230
for training. And so as
526
00:16:05,230 –> 00:16:07,880
we now sit six weeks
527
00:16:07,880 –> 00:16:10,280
into this global crisis with
528
00:16:10,440 –> 00:16:12,280
so many agents now working
529
00:16:12,280 –> 00:16:14,910
from home, I look at
530
00:16:14,960 –> 00:16:16,260
statistics like this and I
531
00:16:16,260 –> 00:16:18,270
think people like Paul and
532
00:16:18,270 –> 00:16:20,350
Colin have new challenges, how
533
00:16:20,350 –> 00:16:22,440
do we handle wellness when
534
00:16:22,440 –> 00:16:23,610
so many of our agents
535
00:16:23,610 –> 00:16:25,330
are working from home? How
536
00:16:25,330 –> 00:16:27,270
do we reevaluate how we
537
00:16:27,270 –> 00:16:29,520
train when so many agents
538
00:16:29,520 –> 00:16:31,120
are working from home? And
539
00:16:31,130 –> 00:16:33,020
so things that perhaps were
540
00:16:33,020 –> 00:16:34,960
not as high a priority
541
00:16:35,210 –> 00:16:37,440
just two months ago, raising
542
00:16:37,700 –> 00:16:43,260
insignificance. And then next slide,
543
00:16:43,720 –> 00:16:45,500
please, since I seem to
544
00:16:45,500 –> 00:16:48,850
be challenged. I went to
545
00:16:48,850 –> 00:16:50,180
a business school in Chicago
546
00:16:52,220 –> 00:16:55,410
at Kellogg. And there’s been
547
00:16:55,410 –> 00:16:59,150
ongoing communications from Kellogg, which
548
00:16:59,150 –> 00:17:01,820
has in its alumni base
549
00:17:01,820 –> 00:17:03,690
a lot of corporate leaders.
550
00:17:04,120 –> 00:17:04,980
And what they’ve been doing
551
00:17:04,980 –> 00:17:06,960
is providing information to be
552
00:17:06,970 –> 00:17:09,210
helpful to those leaders as
553
00:17:09,240 –> 00:17:11,010
they go through this crisis.
554
00:17:11,560 –> 00:17:14,870
So one particular session caught
555
00:17:14,870 –> 00:17:16,090
my eye and it was
556
00:17:16,090 –> 00:17:18,660
by Harry kraemer, who is
557
00:17:18,660 –> 00:17:20,890
a professor of leadership at
558
00:17:21,440 –> 00:17:23,340
The Kellogg School at Northwestern
559
00:17:23,340 –> 00:17:26,610
university. And prior to being
560
00:17:26,980 –> 00:17:28,680
a professor, he was the
561
00:17:28,680 –> 00:17:31,700
CEO of Baxter International, a
562
00:17:31,700 –> 00:17:35,010
major medical supply company here
563
00:17:35,010 –> 00:17:36,780
in the United States. And
564
00:17:36,780 –> 00:17:38,960
the statement that he made
565
00:17:38,960 –> 00:17:42,270
that really rang so true
566
00:17:42,270 –> 00:17:44,000
for me was the need
567
00:17:44,070 –> 00:17:47,130
for a coronavirus war room.
568
00:17:48,210 –> 00:17:49,260
And it struck for a
569
00:17:49,260 –> 00:17:50,680
couple of reasons. One is
570
00:17:51,100 –> 00:17:52,490
I was early in my
571
00:17:52,490 –> 00:17:55,070
career at AT& T, when
572
00:17:55,070 –> 00:17:56,590
AT& T was going through
573
00:17:56,590 –> 00:17:58,360
divestiture. So I was at
574
00:17:58,360 –> 00:18:00,400
corporate headquarters in Basking Ridge,
575
00:18:00,400 –> 00:18:02,330
New Jersey, and we had
576
00:18:02,330 –> 00:18:03,900
a war room. And I
577
00:18:03,900 –> 00:18:04,870
was part of that war
578
00:18:04,870 –> 00:18:06,010
room because I was in
579
00:18:06,010 –> 00:18:07,740
market research. And there were
580
00:18:07,740 –> 00:18:10,470
lots of issues that smack
581
00:18:10,800 –> 00:18:12,710
of market research, data that
582
00:18:12,710 –> 00:18:15,040
was required by that group,
583
00:18:15,040 –> 00:18:16,190
working in the war room,
584
00:18:16,340 –> 00:18:18,600
when how do we break
585
00:18:18,610 –> 00:18:20,690
up the bell system? And
586
00:18:20,690 –> 00:18:21,760
so this notion of a
587
00:18:21,760 –> 00:18:24,500
coronavirus war room really struck
588
00:18:24,500 –> 00:18:28,050
me in that his comment,
589
00:18:28,680 –> 00:18:31,010
Kraemer’s comment that no leader,
590
00:18:31,570 –> 00:18:32,880
if they’re honest, is bright
591
00:18:32,880 –> 00:18:35,100
enough to figure out everything
592
00:18:35,100 –> 00:18:36,720
on their own. That they
593
00:18:36,730 –> 00:18:39,950
should have the data input
594
00:18:40,450 –> 00:18:41,910
and the knowledge and the
595
00:18:41,910 –> 00:18:44,280
wisdom of people from all
596
00:18:44,280 –> 00:18:46,240
over the business. And so
597
00:18:46,240 –> 00:18:46,810
I thought it was a
598
00:18:46,810 –> 00:18:48,300
great insight and one worth
599
00:18:48,300 –> 00:18:51,230
sharing on this webinar for
600
00:18:51,230 –> 00:18:54,330
all involved. Next slide please.
601
00:18:56,570 –> 00:18:57,970
So I’m taking us back
602
00:18:57,970 –> 00:19:00,720
to the NTT customer experience
603
00:19:00,720 –> 00:19:03,380
benchmarking study again. And this
604
00:19:03,380 –> 00:19:04,280
is a question that was
605
00:19:04,280 –> 00:19:06,310
answered again by about 600 of
606
00:19:06,430 –> 00:19:08,800
the respondents. And know that
607
00:19:08,800 –> 00:19:10,470
this study is a global
608
00:19:10,470 –> 00:19:11,780
study. And so they get
609
00:19:11,780 –> 00:19:14,370
representation from North America, South
610
00:19:14,370 –> 00:19:17,860
America, Asia, Europe. And so
611
00:19:17,860 –> 00:19:18,890
for all of you who
612
00:19:18,890 –> 00:19:20,410
are listening here today, this
613
00:19:20,410 –> 00:19:21,950
is relevant data for all
614
00:19:21,950 –> 00:19:24,090
of us. So the question
615
00:19:24,090 –> 00:19:25,470
that was asked again, pre-
616
00:19:25,470 –> 00:19:26,870
COVID is one of the
617
00:19:26,870 –> 00:19:30,620
top technology priorities for customer
618
00:19:30,620 –> 00:19:33,710
experience? And data and analytics,
619
00:19:33,710 –> 00:19:35,160
as you can see, has
620
00:19:35,160 –> 00:19:37,660
been seen as important by
621
00:19:37,660 –> 00:19:39,780
customer experience professionals for the
622
00:19:39,780 –> 00:19:41,940
last three years running, right.
623
00:19:42,670 –> 00:19:46,960
And digital transformation, supplying better
624
00:19:46,960 –> 00:19:49,490
digital customer experience, meeting the
625
00:19:49,750 –> 00:19:52,420
demands of consumers who want
626
00:19:52,710 –> 00:19:55,230
better digital options from the
627
00:19:55,230 –> 00:19:57,040
organizations and the companies that
628
00:19:57,040 –> 00:19:58,330
they work with. These have
629
00:19:58,330 –> 00:20:00,700
been key initiatives for the
630
00:20:00,700 –> 00:20:01,990
last two or three years.
631
00:20:02,820 –> 00:20:04,280
But again, what I’ve highlighted
632
00:20:04,280 –> 00:20:06,630
here are things that may
633
00:20:06,630 –> 00:20:08,160
be lower on the list
634
00:20:08,520 –> 00:20:11,090
like cloud solutions or the
635
00:20:11,090 –> 00:20:15,460
personalization of services, because in
636
00:20:15,460 –> 00:20:17,790
a post- COVID world, I
637
00:20:17,790 –> 00:20:19,590
think they’re rising in importance.
638
00:20:19,840 –> 00:20:20,490
And if we were to
639
00:20:20,490 –> 00:20:23,140
retake this survey right now,
640
00:20:23,340 –> 00:20:25,010
I think cloud would rise
641
00:20:25,010 –> 00:20:26,230
way to the top of
642
00:20:26,230 –> 00:20:28,670
this. Because companies that I
643
00:20:28,670 –> 00:20:30,970
work with, that you work
644
00:20:30,970 –> 00:20:33,740
with at Genesys are finding that
645
00:20:34,370 –> 00:20:36,150
if they were sitting with contact
646
00:20:36,750 –> 00:20:39,620
center agents in premises locations
647
00:20:39,890 –> 00:20:42,770
with premises based systems, that
648
00:20:42,790 –> 00:20:44,950
it was often more difficult
649
00:20:45,440 –> 00:20:47,870
to send those agents home
650
00:20:47,870 –> 00:20:49,680
and be able to answer
651
00:20:49,860 –> 00:20:52,670
that increased volume that’s happening
652
00:20:52,670 –> 00:20:55,110
in so many industries, right?
653
00:20:55,300 –> 00:20:57,460
Those with cloud solutions there
654
00:20:57,460 –> 00:20:59,150
were still challenges. There were
655
00:20:59,150 –> 00:21:02,180
still challenges with bandwidth, with
656
00:21:02,370 –> 00:21:05,070
whether agents had laptops, equipping
657
00:21:05,070 –> 00:21:07,140
them with that. But those
658
00:21:07,650 –> 00:21:13,940
challenges block less progress than
659
00:21:14,020 –> 00:21:15,190
having to send an agent
660
00:21:15,190 –> 00:21:17,440
home with a phone and
661
00:21:17,560 –> 00:21:20,440
a firewall and a server.
662
00:21:20,710 –> 00:21:21,770
And that’s what often would
663
00:21:21,770 –> 00:21:22,880
happen with a premises based
664
00:21:22,880 –> 00:21:26,010
solution. The personalization of services,
665
00:21:26,380 –> 00:21:28,380
I think it’s a topic
666
00:21:28,380 –> 00:21:31,130
that Genesys in 2020 is
667
00:21:31,130 –> 00:21:33,080
putting a bigger focus on,
668
00:21:33,390 –> 00:21:34,910
and again, was doing that
669
00:21:34,990 –> 00:21:37,010
pre- COVID. I think post-
670
00:21:37,040 –> 00:21:39,190
COVID, it becomes more important
671
00:21:39,530 –> 00:21:41,770
because as Barbara talked about,
672
00:21:42,050 –> 00:21:44,130
we need to be providing
673
00:21:44,230 –> 00:21:47,280
empathy even more than ever.
674
00:21:47,470 –> 00:21:48,430
When people get on the
675
00:21:48,430 –> 00:21:50,190
phone, we have to be
676
00:21:50,190 –> 00:21:52,000
able to ask them how
677
00:21:52,000 –> 00:21:53,650
they’re doing. We need the
678
00:21:53,650 –> 00:21:56,020
extra time. We need agents
679
00:21:56,020 –> 00:21:58,600
who are trained to know
680
00:21:58,600 –> 00:21:59,890
that. We need agents who
681
00:21:59,890 –> 00:22:03,380
aren’t being held to performance
682
00:22:03,380 –> 00:22:07,130
standards about key performance indicators
683
00:22:07,370 –> 00:22:08,960
that are perhaps less important
684
00:22:08,960 –> 00:22:10,890
now. So I think that personalization of
685
00:22:10,890 –> 00:22:12,360
services is another one of
686
00:22:12,370 –> 00:22:14,830
those things where it’s rising
687
00:22:14,830 –> 00:22:16,510
in importance, but we also
688
00:22:16,510 –> 00:22:17,760
need the systems in place
689
00:22:17,760 –> 00:22:18,750
that are going to allow
690
00:22:18,750 –> 00:22:21,180
that to happen. So it’s
691
00:22:21,180 –> 00:22:22,370
interesting to take a look
692
00:22:22,370 –> 00:22:23,220
at what was happening right
693
00:22:23,220 –> 00:22:25,380
before, but also to understand
694
00:22:25,380 –> 00:22:27,160
the impact that this has
695
00:22:27,160 –> 00:22:28,850
had on how we all
696
00:22:28,850 –> 00:22:30,170
deliver service. And I’m going
697
00:22:31,050 –> 00:22:31,840
to turn it back to
698
00:22:31,840 –> 00:22:34,170
Barbara now. Thank you, Sheila.
699
00:22:34,730 –> 00:22:36,820
And I think that definitely the
700
00:22:37,610 –> 00:22:38,850
insights that you provided us
701
00:22:38,850 –> 00:22:40,940
are right on point. I
702
00:22:40,940 –> 00:22:41,680
want to go back to
703
00:22:41,680 –> 00:22:43,490
some of this key elements,
704
00:22:43,490 –> 00:22:44,610
but first to your point,
705
00:22:44,900 –> 00:22:46,480
let’s take maybe one step
706
00:22:46,480 –> 00:22:47,650
back and to level set
707
00:22:47,650 –> 00:22:49,640
and provide context. To start
708
00:22:49,640 –> 00:22:50,540
our Q& A session I
709
00:22:50,540 –> 00:22:51,860
would like to go to
710
00:22:51,860 –> 00:22:54,010
both Paul and Colin, and maybe
711
00:22:54,010 –> 00:22:55,180
Paul I’ll start with you,
712
00:22:55,600 –> 00:22:56,530
and then Colin can provide
713
00:22:56,530 –> 00:22:58,100
some additional input. But the
714
00:22:58,100 –> 00:22:59,690
first question would be, can
715
00:22:59,690 –> 00:23:01,190
you give our audience the
716
00:23:01,190 –> 00:23:03,010
firsthand account of the main
717
00:23:03,240 –> 00:23:04,630
changes that your agents have
718
00:23:04,630 –> 00:23:06,300
experienced due to this crisis?
719
00:23:06,360 –> 00:23:07,390
I mean, are they all
720
00:23:07,390 –> 00:23:09,070
working from home? How was the
721
00:23:09,140 –> 00:23:11,230
transition and how are supervisors
722
00:23:11,290 –> 00:23:12,710
adapting to it? Paul, let’s
723
00:23:12,710 –> 00:23:14,710
start with you. Yeah, definitely.
724
00:23:15,230 –> 00:23:17,890
So despite some slight differences
725
00:23:17,890 –> 00:23:19,500
in state government guidelines for
726
00:23:19,500 –> 00:23:21,830
COVID response, eFinancial chose to
727
00:23:21,830 –> 00:23:23,190
enable working from home for
728
00:23:23,190 –> 00:23:24,590
all of our agents and employees
729
00:23:24,650 –> 00:23:25,940
at the same time. We
730
00:23:25,940 –> 00:23:26,960
actually did a full cut
731
00:23:26,960 –> 00:23:28,630
over to Genesys cloud on
732
00:23:28,630 –> 00:23:31,080
March 27th which turns out
733
00:23:31,190 –> 00:23:32,130
to be about three weeks
734
00:23:32,130 –> 00:23:33,540
earlier than we had originally
735
00:23:33,540 –> 00:23:35,140
designed. So it was a little abrupt
736
00:23:35,140 –> 00:23:36,650
in training, abrupt in that
737
00:23:36,650 –> 00:23:38,000
day to day coaching piece
738
00:23:38,300 –> 00:23:39,750
and really abrupt for our
739
00:23:39,750 –> 00:23:40,840
internal help desk because they
740
00:23:40,840 –> 00:23:42,010
kind of scrambled to support
741
00:23:42,010 –> 00:23:46,250
that. Right. Colin maybe the
742
00:23:46,250 –> 00:23:47,790
same question for you, what was
743
00:23:48,420 –> 00:23:49,730
the changes for your agents and
744
00:23:50,300 –> 00:23:51,330
are they working from home?
745
00:23:51,330 –> 00:23:52,260
How are they adapting to
746
00:23:52,260 –> 00:23:54,810
it? Yes. I think that in
747
00:23:54,810 –> 00:23:56,450
the South African context we’ve
748
00:23:56,450 –> 00:23:57,450
had a full shutdown, so
749
00:23:57,450 –> 00:23:58,810
it’s basically, you will stay
750
00:23:58,810 –> 00:24:00,830
inside your property and only
751
00:24:00,830 –> 00:24:02,020
go out for essential services.
752
00:24:02,020 –> 00:24:03,650
So it was quite apparent
753
00:24:03,820 –> 00:24:04,350
to us that this was
754
00:24:04,350 –> 00:24:05,510
going to impact the call center at
755
00:24:05,510 –> 00:24:07,320
large. But also from an
756
00:24:07,320 –> 00:24:09,920
economic standpoint, our customers. So
757
00:24:09,920 –> 00:24:11,840
we did initiate remote work for
758
00:24:12,290 –> 00:24:14,370
our customer care agents and
759
00:24:14,370 –> 00:24:15,940
a portion of our collections agents.
760
00:24:16,990 –> 00:24:18,590
And, again, those people servicing
761
00:24:18,590 –> 00:24:20,860
our insurance portfolio but everything
762
00:24:20,860 –> 00:24:22,180
to do with outbound selling
763
00:24:22,380 –> 00:24:23,410
cease to exist, we just
764
00:24:23,410 –> 00:24:25,420
stopped altogether. I think that
765
00:24:26,890 –> 00:24:28,290
the common themes that we
766
00:24:28,290 –> 00:24:29,760
saw coming through was people
767
00:24:29,800 –> 00:24:31,170
really wanting to know, how do
768
00:24:31,170 –> 00:24:32,040
I actually pay, how do
769
00:24:32,040 –> 00:24:33,100
I keep in good standing?
770
00:24:33,100 –> 00:24:34,500
How do I get orders
771
00:24:34,500 –> 00:24:38,110
that were previously ordered before
772
00:24:38,110 –> 00:24:40,410
the lockdown and what might happen to
773
00:24:40,410 –> 00:24:41,950
those in the lockdown? So
774
00:24:42,220 –> 00:24:42,960
we took the call to
775
00:24:42,960 –> 00:24:44,460
really just let the outbound
776
00:24:44,460 –> 00:24:46,260
agents be purely customer care
777
00:24:46,260 –> 00:24:49,180
agents. And what’s been great
778
00:24:49,180 –> 00:24:51,090
is that they have actually risen to the
779
00:24:51,090 –> 00:24:53,080
challenge. They have been connectivity
780
00:24:53,080 –> 00:24:54,450
issues because not everybody in
781
00:24:54,450 –> 00:24:55,500
South Africa has access to
782
00:24:55,500 –> 00:24:57,200
WiFi. So we’re all relying on
783
00:24:57,380 –> 00:25:00,810
3G. But the remote workers, I
784
00:25:00,810 –> 00:25:01,420
think a lot of them are actually saying
785
00:25:01,940 –> 00:25:03,390
they’re more busy than they thought they
786
00:25:03,390 –> 00:25:04,550
would be. And there’s a
787
00:25:04,550 –> 00:25:05,620
lot of transparency through the
788
00:25:05,620 –> 00:25:06,910
Genesys system as well. So
789
00:25:07,250 –> 00:25:08,260
we don’t need to necessarily
790
00:25:08,260 –> 00:25:09,210
please them. They know that
791
00:25:09,550 –> 00:25:10,730
they’ve got presence, they know that
792
00:25:10,730 –> 00:25:11,590
they’ve got the tools that
793
00:25:11,620 –> 00:25:13,060
they need. So it’s been a
794
00:25:13,310 –> 00:25:14,420
pretty good transition for us.
795
00:25:15,960 –> 00:25:16,650
And I think that that
796
00:25:16,650 –> 00:25:19,160
speaks perfectly on the empathy
797
00:25:19,410 –> 00:25:21,560
topic because you guys were right
798
00:25:21,560 –> 00:25:22,960
on top of what’s really
799
00:25:22,960 –> 00:25:24,610
in your customer’s minds and
800
00:25:24,870 –> 00:25:26,020
what’s really important for them right
801
00:25:26,020 –> 00:25:28,160
now and adapted to respond
802
00:25:28,160 –> 00:25:29,580
to that. So that is fabulous.
803
00:25:29,750 –> 00:25:31,330
Now, again, to both of
804
00:25:31,330 –> 00:25:33,210
you can you also provide
805
00:25:33,210 –> 00:25:35,490
some additional context on how is the crisis
806
00:25:35,530 –> 00:25:36,730
affected your business. And Colin
807
00:25:36,730 –> 00:25:39,160
you talked a little bit about that, but maybe give
808
00:25:39,160 –> 00:25:40,740
us a little bit more
809
00:25:40,740 –> 00:25:42,840
context on how’s the customer
810
00:25:43,160 –> 00:25:45,750
experience? Has it been disrupted? What are the steps
811
00:25:46,040 –> 00:25:47,290
that you’re taking to mitigate
812
00:25:47,290 –> 00:25:49,830
not all after that, but
813
00:25:50,080 –> 00:25:53,410
Colin, you want to give some context on that? Yeah, sure.
814
00:25:53,410 –> 00:25:56,340
So I mean, the lockdown meant that
815
00:25:56,340 –> 00:25:58,470
all 1200 of our stores closed
816
00:25:59,270 –> 00:26:00,250
and. It became quite apparent
817
00:26:00,250 –> 00:26:01,410
quite quickly just how dependent
818
00:26:01,650 –> 00:26:03,130
we were on that last
819
00:26:03,130 –> 00:26:04,270
mile of the store in
820
00:26:04,270 –> 00:26:07,020
terms of customer payments, eCommerce
821
00:26:07,020 –> 00:26:09,340
click and collect. So quite
822
00:26:09,340 –> 00:26:11,240
quickly from a digital perspective,
823
00:26:11,240 –> 00:26:12,460
we had to move very
824
00:26:12,460 –> 00:26:13,540
fast in terms of giving
825
00:26:13,540 –> 00:26:17,410
people additional payment options even
826
00:26:17,410 –> 00:26:18,360
going down to the level of
827
00:26:21,100 –> 00:26:22,190
old good USSD. And again,
828
00:26:22,270 –> 00:26:23,400
driving a lot of digital
829
00:26:23,400 –> 00:26:25,630
communication through our app and
830
00:26:25,630 –> 00:26:27,500
through our online channels. So there was
831
00:26:28,200 –> 00:26:29,030
a bit of a disruption
832
00:26:29,030 –> 00:26:29,980
because we didn’t have as
833
00:26:29,980 –> 00:26:31,160
many call center agents as
834
00:26:31,160 –> 00:26:32,010
we’d like to have had
835
00:26:32,200 –> 00:26:33,320
working remotely. So a lot
836
00:26:33,320 –> 00:26:34,850
of that moved towards traditional
837
00:26:35,160 –> 00:26:37,590
email and chat channels. So
838
00:26:37,700 –> 00:26:39,180
customers finding and got frustrated,
839
00:26:39,180 –> 00:26:40,720
but we’ve come along quite
840
00:26:40,720 –> 00:26:41,700
quickly. I think that this is a
841
00:26:42,430 –> 00:26:44,390
accelerated a lot more the the
842
00:26:44,390 –> 00:26:45,970
digital discussions that we needed
843
00:26:46,070 –> 00:26:47,930
to have. And we’re going to go back to
844
00:26:48,620 –> 00:26:49,610
that topic in a minute,
845
00:26:49,610 –> 00:26:51,220
but Paul, same question for
846
00:26:51,220 –> 00:26:52,100
you, how has the business
847
00:26:52,100 –> 00:26:53,270
been effective for you guys
848
00:26:53,270 –> 00:26:55,960
and disruption and customer experience
849
00:26:56,020 –> 00:26:56,990
and how are you mitigating
850
00:26:56,990 –> 00:27:00,530
it? Well, since we’re entirely
851
00:27:00,530 –> 00:27:01,960
call center based. The good
852
00:27:01,960 –> 00:27:02,950
news is as long as
853
00:27:02,950 –> 00:27:03,510
we were able to keep
854
00:27:03,510 –> 00:27:04,570
our agents on the phones,
855
00:27:04,570 –> 00:27:05,850
our customer experience was not
856
00:27:06,020 –> 00:27:07,410
disrupted at all, which is
857
00:27:07,410 –> 00:27:09,120
important in our industry because
858
00:27:09,370 –> 00:27:10,850
consumer demand is rising for
859
00:27:10,850 –> 00:27:13,110
us. Anytime there’s an event
860
00:27:13,140 –> 00:27:14,920
that reminds people of the critical
861
00:27:14,920 –> 00:27:16,810
importance of financially supporting loved
862
00:27:16,940 –> 00:27:18,120
ones, we see an increased
863
00:27:18,120 –> 00:27:19,890
demand for life insurance. So it
864
00:27:20,050 –> 00:27:21,640
was imperative that our agents
865
00:27:21,640 –> 00:27:22,990
were still available to serve
866
00:27:22,990 –> 00:27:24,520
customers at times they need
867
00:27:24,520 –> 00:27:26,390
us the most. Similar to
868
00:27:26,390 –> 00:27:29,230
Colin, not only did we increase
869
00:27:29,230 –> 00:27:31,400
our availability online or on
870
00:27:31,400 –> 00:27:32,530
the phone, but we’ve also
871
00:27:32,690 –> 00:27:33,930
started to provide more digital
872
00:27:33,930 –> 00:27:35,710
offering and direct customers there
873
00:27:35,710 –> 00:27:37,410
so that they can react in
874
00:27:37,410 –> 00:27:38,810
a way that isn’t the face to face
875
00:27:38,810 –> 00:27:42,130
type of environment. Okay, great.
876
00:27:42,440 –> 00:27:43,380
Now we would also like
877
00:27:43,380 –> 00:27:44,450
to hear from the audience,
878
00:27:44,450 –> 00:27:45,580
and so we do have
879
00:27:45,770 –> 00:27:47,670
a small poll question. So
880
00:27:47,670 –> 00:27:49,800
Josh could we push the
881
00:27:49,800 –> 00:27:51,090
poll question to our audience,
882
00:27:51,090 –> 00:27:54,660
please? Absolutely. They should see to on their
883
00:27:54,660 –> 00:27:56,760
screen now. There we go.
884
00:27:56,990 –> 00:27:57,920
So the question is, what
885
00:27:57,920 –> 00:27:59,650
percentage of your agents are
886
00:27:59,650 –> 00:28:00,870
working from home now? So is
887
00:28:00,870 –> 00:28:03,610
it like almost none to
888
00:28:04,400 –> 00:28:07,000
somewhere like 25%. Is between
889
00:28:07,000 –> 00:28:09,430
25 and 50. Is it the majority
890
00:28:09,430 –> 00:28:10,170
of them all the way,
891
00:28:10,260 –> 00:28:12,430
maybe around 85%, or is it all
892
00:28:12,450 –> 00:28:13,460
of them. We’re really interested
893
00:28:13,460 –> 00:28:15,550
to hearing from you. And
894
00:28:15,550 –> 00:28:16,460
while we wait for our
895
00:28:16,460 –> 00:28:18,180
audience to answer the poll,
896
00:28:18,570 –> 00:28:21,260
Sheila, maybe this is really a
897
00:28:21,260 –> 00:28:22,810
global audience. And so I
898
00:28:22,810 –> 00:28:23,590
don’t know about you, but
899
00:28:23,590 –> 00:28:25,060
my expectation would be that we’re going to
900
00:28:25,060 –> 00:28:26,570
see a mix maybe in
901
00:28:26,570 –> 00:28:27,590
the responses, but what’s your
902
00:28:27,590 –> 00:28:29,750
take on this, given the
903
00:28:29,750 –> 00:28:33,100
global context of this. So
904
00:28:33,100 –> 00:28:34,160
to your point, I think
905
00:28:34,160 –> 00:28:36,540
in some industries we’ll also
906
00:28:36,540 –> 00:28:38,180
going to see differences, right?
907
00:28:38,620 –> 00:28:40,010
The industries that are represented
908
00:28:40,010 –> 00:28:42,570
by our customers here were
909
00:28:42,640 –> 00:28:44,360
so important that they needed
910
00:28:44,360 –> 00:28:45,630
to get as many agents
911
00:28:45,630 –> 00:28:47,730
as they could capable to
912
00:28:47,730 –> 00:28:49,170
work from home. I think
913
00:28:49,170 –> 00:28:51,010
in some businesses, if the
914
00:28:51,010 –> 00:28:53,080
business had to shut down,
915
00:28:53,880 –> 00:28:55,750
let’s say a clothing store,
916
00:28:55,970 –> 00:28:58,890
right. That might have a
917
00:28:58,890 –> 00:29:00,960
lot of agents taking orders,
918
00:29:01,080 –> 00:29:02,380
but didn’t need to do
919
00:29:02,380 –> 00:29:03,840
customer service the same way
920
00:29:03,840 –> 00:29:05,590
with the stores closed. So
921
00:29:05,590 –> 00:29:07,690
I think we’re going to see a proportion of
922
00:29:07,690 –> 00:29:10,320
the people responding saying only
923
00:29:10,320 –> 00:29:12,040
zero to 25% because we
924
00:29:12,040 –> 00:29:13,850
have a skeleton kind of
925
00:29:13,850 –> 00:29:15,070
a staff. But we’re going
926
00:29:15,190 –> 00:29:16,910
to see some like Colin
927
00:29:16,910 –> 00:29:19,090
and Paul’s companies where everybody
928
00:29:19,200 –> 00:29:20,580
is home. But if I
929
00:29:20,580 –> 00:29:21,930
had to say which one
930
00:29:21,930 –> 00:29:22,420
I think is going to
931
00:29:22,420 –> 00:29:24,830
have the highest percentage, I
932
00:29:24,830 –> 00:29:25,930
think it’s going to be
933
00:29:25,930 –> 00:29:28,010
the 50% to 85% that
934
00:29:28,010 –> 00:29:29,420
most of the people have
935
00:29:29,420 –> 00:29:30,250
sent most of their agents
936
00:29:30,350 –> 00:29:31,940
home. Let’s see if I’m
937
00:29:31,940 –> 00:29:33,590
right. That’s kind of what
938
00:29:33,590 –> 00:29:35,160
I was thinking too. But so
939
00:29:35,160 –> 00:29:35,970
Josh, can we see the
940
00:29:35,970 –> 00:29:37,240
results maybe to see if
941
00:29:38,900 –> 00:29:40,730
we’re right. Oh, look at
942
00:29:40,730 –> 00:29:42,920
that. It’s very close, but
943
00:29:42,920 –> 00:29:45,140
in all of them is
944
00:29:45,850 –> 00:29:48,900
very high, which is a
945
00:29:48,900 –> 00:29:52,910
little bit surprising. Well, great.
946
00:29:52,910 –> 00:29:54,900
Thank you everybody for participating
947
00:29:54,900 –> 00:29:55,990
on this. So let’s just
948
00:29:55,990 –> 00:30:04,360
stay on… And maybe talk
949
00:30:04,360 –> 00:30:05,520
a little about, obviously everybody
950
00:30:05,520 –> 00:30:07,250
knows that they embrace it in the circumstances
951
00:30:07,390 –> 00:30:08,090
of this pandemic, as I
952
00:30:08,090 –> 00:30:10,190
said at the beginning, but how
953
00:30:10,190 –> 00:30:12,730
did eFinancial apply or really
954
00:30:12,730 –> 00:30:15,090
adapt the business continually plan
955
00:30:15,090 –> 00:30:16,710
to respond to this crisis?
956
00:30:18,050 –> 00:30:20,860
Yeah, so eFinancial like most
957
00:30:20,860 –> 00:30:22,130
businesses, we had a business
958
00:30:22,130 –> 00:30:24,080
continuity plan in place. But it
959
00:30:24,280 –> 00:30:25,440
was focused on our individual
960
00:30:25,440 –> 00:30:27,380
offices. As I mentioned before,
961
00:30:27,380 –> 00:30:28,350
we have call centers in
962
00:30:28,350 –> 00:30:29,900
three different States. So our
963
00:30:29,900 –> 00:30:31,470
plans were more focused on
964
00:30:31,470 –> 00:30:32,810
how to respond if one
965
00:30:32,810 –> 00:30:33,850
of those opposites had to
966
00:30:33,850 –> 00:30:35,350
close for a snow storm
967
00:30:35,350 –> 00:30:36,290
or a power outage or
968
00:30:36,290 –> 00:30:38,430
natural disaster. Or what happens
969
00:30:38,430 –> 00:30:39,130
at one of our data
970
00:30:39,130 –> 00:30:40,850
center goes down. I’ll be
971
00:30:40,850 –> 00:30:42,380
honest a full- scale work
972
00:30:42,380 –> 00:30:43,680
from home across all of
973
00:30:43,680 –> 00:30:45,140
our locations was never really
974
00:30:45,140 –> 00:30:47,730
part of the plan. Fortunately,
975
00:30:47,760 –> 00:30:49,050
we were already underway with
976
00:30:49,050 –> 00:30:50,570
a migration from pure connect
977
00:30:50,570 –> 00:30:52,450
on premises to Genesys cloud. And that was a
978
00:30:53,160 –> 00:30:54,370
strategic decision that we made
979
00:30:54,380 –> 00:30:56,130
last year to increase uptime
980
00:30:56,130 –> 00:30:57,260
and allow us to scale
981
00:30:57,260 –> 00:30:59,010
as a company. But we
982
00:30:59,010 –> 00:31:00,300
have that plan launch for
983
00:31:00,300 –> 00:31:02,360
April 30th to begin a
984
00:31:02,360 –> 00:31:03,950
phased approach versus a cut
985
00:31:03,950 –> 00:31:06,630
over launch. This was sped
986
00:31:06,630 –> 00:31:08,440
up due to COVID. And
987
00:31:08,440 –> 00:31:09,380
we actually had about three
988
00:31:09,380 –> 00:31:10,900
weeks to prepare and do a
989
00:31:10,900 –> 00:31:12,480
full cut order for 100%
990
00:31:12,500 –> 00:31:13,770
for a sales and operation
991
00:31:13,770 –> 00:31:17,720
staff. Which thankfully was largely
992
00:31:17,720 –> 00:31:19,760
successful. As far as business
993
00:31:19,760 –> 00:31:21,330
continuity, we now have passports
994
00:31:21,330 –> 00:31:22,260
in place and we’re going
995
00:31:22,260 –> 00:31:23,690
to revisit that plan and we’re going
996
00:31:24,020 –> 00:31:25,570
to update it to reflect
997
00:31:25,570 –> 00:31:27,700
the new remote workforce capabilities
998
00:31:27,700 –> 00:31:28,900
that we’ve discovered with Genesys
999
00:31:28,900 –> 00:31:32,450
cloud. Right. So that takes
1000
00:31:32,450 –> 00:31:34,510
me back to the point
1001
00:31:34,510 –> 00:31:36,820
that Sheila was making initially
1002
00:31:36,820 –> 00:31:38,360
on the war room or
1003
00:31:38,360 –> 00:31:40,560
the task force. So, Sheila,
1004
00:31:40,570 –> 00:31:41,430
can you elaborate a little
1005
00:31:41,430 –> 00:31:42,610
bit more on what you’ve
1006
00:31:42,610 –> 00:31:44,110
seen from companies like eFinancial
1007
00:31:45,540 –> 00:31:46,840
that has actually implemented a war
1008
00:31:46,840 –> 00:31:48,920
room work task force versus
1009
00:31:48,920 –> 00:31:50,130
others that maybe have delayed
1010
00:31:50,130 –> 00:31:52,870
those decisions. How has that impacted
1011
00:31:52,870 –> 00:31:54,110
their ability to respond or
1012
00:31:54,110 –> 00:31:55,730
be effective in terms of customer
1013
00:31:55,790 –> 00:31:57,320
support or customer experience in
1014
00:31:57,320 –> 00:32:04,530
your view? Sheila I think
1015
00:32:05,010 –> 00:32:05,890
you may be on mute
1016
00:32:05,890 –> 00:32:07,610
because I can’t hear you,
1017
00:32:07,650 –> 00:32:10,920
just making sure it’s not
1018
00:32:10,920 –> 00:32:13,800
just me. Thank you very
1019
00:32:13,800 –> 00:32:15,670
much, Barbara. It takes a
1020
00:32:15,670 –> 00:32:19,550
village. I would argue with
1021
00:32:19,550 –> 00:32:21,980
that smaller firms, smaller than
1022
00:32:21,980 –> 00:32:24,400
eFinancials, smaller than Mr Price
1023
00:32:25,340 –> 00:32:27,560
with tens of employees, instead
1024
00:32:27,560 –> 00:32:29,580
of hundreds of employees would
1025
00:32:29,610 –> 00:32:32,130
similarly benefit from a war
1026
00:32:32,130 –> 00:32:34,810
room approach. I’ve seen smaller
1027
00:32:34,810 –> 00:32:36,750
firms that are bringing together
1028
00:32:36,750 –> 00:32:39,660
senior management to make decisions
1029
00:32:39,660 –> 00:32:40,740
that are going to impact
1030
00:32:41,160 –> 00:32:44,220
every employee, every customer, and
1031
00:32:44,220 –> 00:32:45,890
often without the benefit of
1032
00:32:45,890 –> 00:32:47,700
that voice of the customer
1033
00:32:48,000 –> 00:32:49,270
that we hear that we
1034
00:32:49,270 –> 00:32:51,530
see coming in through the contact
1035
00:32:52,000 –> 00:32:53,400
center. So I think the
1036
00:32:53,400 –> 00:32:55,850
CEO’s and CFO’s of the world
1037
00:32:56,510 –> 00:32:58,030
who are making the final
1038
00:32:58,030 –> 00:33:01,070
decisions, obviously. But as Kraemer,
1039
00:33:01,070 –> 00:33:02,710
the professor at Kellogg pointed
1040
00:33:02,710 –> 00:33:04,280
out, I think the best
1041
00:33:04,280 –> 00:33:05,530
decisions would be made with
1042
00:33:05,530 –> 00:33:07,900
the best information. And sometimes
1043
00:33:07,900 –> 00:33:09,290
we in the contact center
1044
00:33:09,500 –> 00:33:12,180
as the conduit between executive
1045
00:33:12,180 –> 00:33:15,510
management and the customers could
1046
00:33:15,510 –> 00:33:17,070
be a useful part of
1047
00:33:17,350 –> 00:33:18,880
a war room approach, or
1048
00:33:18,880 –> 00:33:21,350
at least a task force
1049
00:33:21,480 –> 00:33:23,440
type approach, as opposed to
1050
00:33:23,440 –> 00:33:25,020
just a bunch of execs
1051
00:33:25,380 –> 00:33:28,260
making their decisions. Yeah. And
1052
00:33:29,540 –> 00:33:30,910
I’ll just make this comment
1053
00:33:30,910 –> 00:33:32,750
on the Genesys side. I got
1054
00:33:32,920 –> 00:33:34,590
to say similar to what
1055
00:33:34,800 –> 00:33:36,550
Paul was saying before. Genesys
1056
00:33:36,550 –> 00:33:39,140
implemented very quickly a taskforce
1057
00:33:39,390 –> 00:33:40,540
as well. So that was
1058
00:33:41,300 –> 00:33:42,420
an initiative from our CEO,
1059
00:33:42,420 –> 00:33:44,050
Tony Bates and his leadership
1060
00:33:44,520 –> 00:33:46,410
and with constant communication and
1061
00:33:46,430 –> 00:33:48,070
a lot of transparency and
1062
00:33:48,070 –> 00:33:49,280
very quickly shutting down our
1063
00:33:49,280 –> 00:33:50,340
offices and making sure that
1064
00:33:50,340 –> 00:33:51,550
everybody was okay and working
1065
00:33:51,550 –> 00:33:53,470
from home and staying safe.
1066
00:33:53,470 –> 00:33:53,950
And I got to say
1067
00:33:53,950 –> 00:33:55,210
that made a huge difference
1068
00:33:55,220 –> 00:33:56,280
in our preparedness and our
1069
00:33:56,280 –> 00:33:58,440
readiness to not only continue
1070
00:33:58,440 –> 00:33:59,560
our business, but also be
1071
00:33:59,560 –> 00:34:01,510
here for our customers, which is
1072
00:34:01,630 –> 00:34:04,410
really what our mission is.
1073
00:34:04,970 –> 00:34:07,290
So now Colin, let me
1074
00:34:07,290 –> 00:34:08,620
go back to you and this is actually interesting because
1075
00:34:08,620 –> 00:34:11,780
in the briefing that we had with you
1076
00:34:11,780 –> 00:34:13,530
before the webinar, you shared a
1077
00:34:13,530 –> 00:34:14,630
quote that I thought it
1078
00:34:14,780 –> 00:34:16,420
was fascinating. And you said,
1079
00:34:17,070 –> 00:34:18,770
who pushed digital transformation in
1080
00:34:18,770 –> 00:34:20,530
your company. Was is it the CEO,
1081
00:34:20,990 –> 00:34:23,370
the CIO, or COVID- 19?
1082
00:34:23,370 –> 00:34:25,280
And I actually thinks got
1083
00:34:25,280 –> 00:34:27,820
funny, but the companies traditionally
1084
00:34:28,330 –> 00:34:30,980
pursued digital transformation to create
1085
00:34:30,980 –> 00:34:32,550
efficiencies or increase revenue or
1086
00:34:32,550 –> 00:34:34,040
reduce churn, or even to
1087
00:34:34,040 –> 00:34:35,380
penetrate a new market segment
1088
00:34:35,380 –> 00:34:37,570
or establishing a competitive differentiation.
1089
00:34:38,080 –> 00:34:39,500
But now in this new
1090
00:34:39,500 –> 00:34:41,570
normal that we’re living is
1091
00:34:41,570 –> 00:34:43,950
business continually an additional critical
1092
00:34:43,950 –> 00:34:45,530
driver for digital transformation in
1093
00:34:45,530 –> 00:34:49,340
your opinion? Yes, absolutely. And
1094
00:34:49,490 –> 00:34:50,530
I’m so glad that Sheila
1095
00:34:50,530 –> 00:34:51,930
actually mentioned the voice of
1096
00:34:51,930 –> 00:34:53,090
the customer, because I think
1097
00:34:53,090 –> 00:34:55,550
that the digital transformation journey…
1098
00:34:55,780 –> 00:34:56,800
Look, first and foremost, you need
1099
00:34:56,800 –> 00:34:58,240
to be on one. Otherwise
1100
00:34:58,240 –> 00:34:59,010
you’re going to have trouble
1101
00:34:59,050 –> 00:35:00,890
in the short term. But
1102
00:35:00,890 –> 00:35:01,890
it’s starting to accelerate the
1103
00:35:01,890 –> 00:35:03,450
different type of conversation because I
1104
00:35:03,450 –> 00:35:05,280
think your roadmap was going
1105
00:35:05,280 –> 00:35:06,660
one direction. But now through
1106
00:35:06,660 –> 00:35:07,760
listening to voice of customer
1107
00:35:07,760 –> 00:35:09,720
and necessity you will be
1108
00:35:09,720 –> 00:35:11,460
changing that. So we’ll be looking a
1109
00:35:11,460 –> 00:35:13,330
lot more at stuff like
1110
00:35:13,400 –> 00:35:15,940
customer self- help stuff like
1111
00:35:15,940 –> 00:35:17,150
where your Genesys platform can
1112
00:35:17,150 –> 00:35:18,560
bring all communications types into
1113
00:35:18,560 –> 00:35:19,810
one space where we can
1114
00:35:19,810 –> 00:35:20,630
actually make sense of that
1115
00:35:20,630 –> 00:35:22,620
data and actually start delivering
1116
00:35:22,620 –> 00:35:23,860
on what customers want. Because
1117
00:35:23,860 –> 00:35:25,190
I think if you had
1118
00:35:25,190 –> 00:35:26,120
a tough market that you’re
1119
00:35:26,120 –> 00:35:27,880
in before, it’s going to get even tougher
1120
00:35:27,880 –> 00:35:28,920
now, as people feel this
1121
00:35:28,920 –> 00:35:31,040
economic push. So yes, absolutely
1122
00:35:31,290 –> 00:35:32,130
it will accelerate. But I
1123
00:35:32,130 –> 00:35:33,290
think that if we clever
1124
00:35:33,430 –> 00:35:34,300
and we manage that data
1125
00:35:34,300 –> 00:35:36,330
properly, we’ll be accelerating the
1126
00:35:36,330 –> 00:35:37,470
right things in the digital
1127
00:35:37,500 –> 00:35:40,950
space. Right. So Sheila I
1128
00:35:41,190 –> 00:35:41,950
wanted to go back to
1129
00:35:41,950 –> 00:35:44,180
that slide that you had
1130
00:35:44,180 –> 00:35:46,070
with a study that talks
1131
00:35:46,070 –> 00:35:48,370
about… You highlighted digital transformation
1132
00:35:48,370 –> 00:35:49,170
as one of the top
1133
00:35:49,500 –> 00:35:51,690
technology priorities for CX, but
1134
00:35:51,720 –> 00:35:53,980
also and I like how you
1135
00:35:53,980 –> 00:35:57,280
highlighted personalization of services and
1136
00:35:57,280 –> 00:35:58,970
cloud solutions. So do you
1137
00:35:58,970 –> 00:36:00,410
see a critical connection between
1138
00:36:00,410 –> 00:36:02,090
the cloud, as an enabler
1139
00:36:02,090 –> 00:36:03,780
to provide agility and flexibility
1140
00:36:04,070 –> 00:36:05,240
for companies to implement new
1141
00:36:05,380 –> 00:36:07,500
digital channels and deliver personalized
1142
00:36:07,500 –> 00:36:10,960
experiences? So it’s interesting just
1143
00:36:10,960 –> 00:36:13,220
today and probably later today,
1144
00:36:13,540 –> 00:36:14,600
a new article that I
1145
00:36:14,600 –> 00:36:15,800
wrote for No Jitter is
1146
00:36:15,800 –> 00:36:17,530
going to post, and it’s
1147
00:36:17,570 –> 00:36:21,040
called Google Contact Center AI
1148
00:36:21,710 –> 00:36:24,230
Tackles the Unemployment Problem in
1149
00:36:24,230 –> 00:36:26,490
the United States. So here
1150
00:36:26,490 –> 00:36:28,840
in the United States, state
1151
00:36:28,990 –> 00:36:30,710
websites have been going down
1152
00:36:30,710 –> 00:36:31,970
because of so much traffic.
1153
00:36:32,850 –> 00:36:35,520
State contact centers are blocking
1154
00:36:35,520 –> 00:36:36,970
calls because they just don’t
1155
00:36:36,970 –> 00:36:39,070
even have enough circuits. Right.
1156
00:36:39,900 –> 00:36:40,670
So one of the things
1157
00:36:40,670 –> 00:36:42,840
that Google working with some
1158
00:36:42,840 –> 00:36:44,340
of their partners like Genesys
1159
00:36:44,710 –> 00:36:46,120
has been doing is helping
1160
00:36:46,120 –> 00:36:49,490
the States bring on some
1161
00:36:49,490 –> 00:36:52,300
early box onto the websites.
1162
00:36:52,640 –> 00:36:55,040
Okay. So the websites are
1163
00:36:55,040 –> 00:36:56,880
clearly cloud driven because the
1164
00:36:56,880 –> 00:36:58,370
web is based on the internet.
1165
00:36:59,290 –> 00:37:00,810
And for these States and
1166
00:37:00,810 –> 00:37:03,240
it includes Illinois, New York
1167
00:37:03,350 –> 00:37:05,300
and Oklahoma. They’ve been able
1168
00:37:05,300 –> 00:37:09,270
to quickly get box up
1169
00:37:09,270 –> 00:37:10,300
and running on the website
1170
00:37:10,950 –> 00:37:12,480
to try to deflect some
1171
00:37:12,480 –> 00:37:14,130
of the simple questions so
1172
00:37:14,130 –> 00:37:15,780
that the more difficult questions
1173
00:37:15,780 –> 00:37:17,160
can go to the agents
1174
00:37:17,410 –> 00:37:19,040
and the agents aren’t overwhelmed
1175
00:37:20,750 –> 00:37:21,890
with simple questions that could
1176
00:37:21,890 –> 00:37:23,190
be answered in other ways.
1177
00:37:23,930 –> 00:37:24,740
But one of the points
1178
00:37:24,740 –> 00:37:26,440
that was made by Antony
1179
00:37:26,440 –> 00:37:28,170
Passemard, from Google when he
1180
00:37:28,170 –> 00:37:29,990
and I spoke was that
1181
00:37:30,980 –> 00:37:32,690
initially they could do web
1182
00:37:32,690 –> 00:37:34,500
because some of these contact
1183
00:37:34,500 –> 00:37:35,860
centers in the States are
1184
00:37:35,860 –> 00:37:37,850
not cloud- based, right. And
1185
00:37:37,850 –> 00:37:39,640
so it’s not easy to
1186
00:37:39,640 –> 00:37:42,100
connect what’s happening on the
1187
00:37:42,100 –> 00:37:45,150
web to an agent. So
1188
00:37:45,150 –> 00:37:46,480
what if somebody is in
1189
00:37:46,480 –> 00:37:48,040
that bot and needs to
1190
00:37:48,040 –> 00:37:49,590
connect to a voice agent?
1191
00:37:49,920 –> 00:37:51,130
Well, in the short term,
1192
00:37:51,340 –> 00:37:52,630
they’re not necessarily able to
1193
00:37:52,630 –> 00:37:54,410
do that, right. And the short
1194
00:37:54,410 –> 00:37:56,310
term, they’re only able to
1195
00:37:56,310 –> 00:37:57,290
do the web based and
1196
00:37:57,290 –> 00:38:00,560
then say call. But imagine
1197
00:38:00,560 –> 00:38:02,160
a company that had already
1198
00:38:02,160 –> 00:38:03,630
moved to the cloud, right.
1199
00:38:03,840 –> 00:38:04,760
They would be able to
1200
00:38:04,760 –> 00:38:07,530
make that connection between artificial
1201
00:38:07,530 –> 00:38:10,390
intelligence bots and voice connections
1202
00:38:10,580 –> 00:38:12,920
much more easily. So there’s
1203
00:38:12,920 –> 00:38:14,990
this notion that we need
1204
00:38:14,990 –> 00:38:17,130
more digital services. Some of
1205
00:38:17,130 –> 00:38:20,380
those we can supply, even
1206
00:38:20,380 –> 00:38:22,080
if the contact center is not
1207
00:38:22,150 –> 00:38:23,840
in the cloud yet, but
1208
00:38:23,840 –> 00:38:25,370
the vision should be to
1209
00:38:27,080 –> 00:38:27,790
the point that was made
1210
00:38:27,790 –> 00:38:28,970
earlier by Paul and Colin.
1211
00:38:29,540 –> 00:38:30,390
How do we get these
1212
00:38:30,390 –> 00:38:32,220
all working together? And the
1213
00:38:32,220 –> 00:38:33,420
way to do that is
1214
00:38:33,420 –> 00:38:34,080
for them all to be
1215
00:38:34,080 –> 00:38:35,110
in the cloud and able
1216
00:38:35,230 –> 00:38:37,930
share information and data on
1217
00:38:37,930 –> 00:38:40,880
a cloud basis. That is
1218
00:38:40,880 –> 00:38:41,970
such a great point. It
1219
00:38:41,970 –> 00:38:43,020
was just yesterday I was
1220
00:38:43,020 –> 00:38:44,210
having a conversation with one
1221
00:38:44,210 –> 00:38:45,950
of my colleagues in business
1222
00:38:45,950 –> 00:38:47,790
consulting, and we were talking
1223
00:38:47,790 –> 00:38:49,670
about how we may have
1224
00:38:49,670 –> 00:38:52,570
a preconceived perception that, but
1225
00:38:53,060 –> 00:38:54,930
go against empathy. But in
1226
00:38:55,340 –> 00:38:56,230
the context of what we’re
1227
00:38:56,230 –> 00:38:57,930
living today as a consumer,
1228
00:38:58,210 –> 00:38:59,370
you want an answer, right?
1229
00:38:59,370 –> 00:39:01,500
So perhaps the most empathetic
1230
00:39:01,500 –> 00:39:03,260
way to really be there
1231
00:39:03,260 –> 00:39:04,650
for your customers could be
1232
00:39:04,690 –> 00:39:06,290
through a bot that it’s
1233
00:39:06,290 –> 00:39:07,780
actually providing you the answer
1234
00:39:07,780 –> 00:39:08,750
that you’re looking for, and you don’t
1235
00:39:08,750 –> 00:39:09,880
need to wait for an agent to be
1236
00:39:09,880 –> 00:39:12,040
available. Right. And so to your
1237
00:39:12,040 –> 00:39:13,390
point, the cloud is actually
1238
00:39:13,390 –> 00:39:15,550
what’s enabling the agility that
1239
00:39:15,550 –> 00:39:16,920
companies may have to work
1240
00:39:16,920 –> 00:39:19,080
with Google. And us or
1241
00:39:19,090 –> 00:39:20,250
others, but just to make
1242
00:39:20,250 –> 00:39:21,400
sure that you have that
1243
00:39:21,400 –> 00:39:23,190
ability to quickly adapt the
1244
00:39:23,190 –> 00:39:25,140
bot to whatever the priorities are
1245
00:39:25,140 –> 00:39:26,860
for your customer. So I
1246
00:39:26,860 –> 00:39:30,830
think that that is so fantastic. Now Paul,
1247
00:39:31,150 –> 00:39:32,080
I would like to now
1248
00:39:32,080 –> 00:39:33,970
switch gears back to the
1249
00:39:33,970 –> 00:39:35,400
impact on the workforce, right?
1250
00:39:35,400 –> 00:39:36,500
It is very important that we
1251
00:39:36,500 –> 00:39:38,260
talk about since we’re talking about empathy
1252
00:39:38,560 –> 00:39:40,870
that we talk about our employees. So
1253
00:39:40,870 –> 00:39:42,590
the question for you has
1254
00:39:42,590 –> 00:39:43,930
this crisis and the fact
1255
00:39:43,930 –> 00:39:45,830
that your agents are working
1256
00:39:45,830 –> 00:39:47,240
from home, have been working
1257
00:39:47,240 –> 00:39:47,990
from home now for a
1258
00:39:47,990 –> 00:39:50,680
while. Has that affected the
1259
00:39:50,680 –> 00:39:52,160
productivity in your contact centers?
1260
00:39:54,280 –> 00:39:55,580
Well, anytime that you have
1261
00:39:55,580 –> 00:39:57,150
an accelerated launch of a
1262
00:39:57,150 –> 00:39:59,420
major new technology platform, you’re
1263
00:39:59,420 –> 00:40:00,880
going to experience some bumps.
1264
00:40:01,800 –> 00:40:03,320
Initially our biggest issue was
1265
00:40:03,320 –> 00:40:05,010
the database issue. All our
1266
00:40:05,010 –> 00:40:06,570
operational reporting was built around
1267
00:40:06,570 –> 00:40:08,070
the on premise system. So
1268
00:40:08,070 –> 00:40:09,040
when the cut over happened
1269
00:40:09,040 –> 00:40:10,550
that produced some data blindness
1270
00:40:10,550 –> 00:40:11,500
that we had to work
1271
00:40:11,500 –> 00:40:13,520
very quickly to resolve. Now,
1272
00:40:13,520 –> 00:40:15,540
from a production standpoint, we
1273
00:40:15,700 –> 00:40:17,050
initially saw about a seven
1274
00:40:17,050 –> 00:40:18,700
day period in which production
1275
00:40:18,700 –> 00:40:20,270
levels were soft as agents
1276
00:40:20,270 –> 00:40:21,760
adjusted to the new platform
1277
00:40:21,760 –> 00:40:24,070
and working environment. However, we
1278
00:40:24,070 –> 00:40:26,360
rebounded very well. One thing
1279
00:40:26,360 –> 00:40:28,140
we noticed was greater availability
1280
00:40:28,140 –> 00:40:29,610
of agents working from home and
1281
00:40:29,840 –> 00:40:31,250
no commute. And if anyone’s
1282
00:40:31,250 –> 00:40:32,440
familiar with the Seattle area
1283
00:40:32,440 –> 00:40:34,390
or the 405 that community
1284
00:40:34,590 –> 00:40:35,650
means at least an hour
1285
00:40:35,650 –> 00:40:37,420
or two each way. It
1286
00:40:37,420 –> 00:40:39,260
also meant ease of breaks,
1287
00:40:39,260 –> 00:40:40,970
the ability to be constantly
1288
00:40:40,970 –> 00:40:42,250
engaged. So we are actually
1289
00:40:42,250 –> 00:40:43,820
seeing the number of hours
1290
00:40:43,820 –> 00:40:46,300
agents spend on cue increase
1291
00:40:46,440 –> 00:40:47,300
compared to what we saw
1292
00:40:47,300 –> 00:40:49,240
in the office. So this increased
1293
00:40:49,680 –> 00:40:51,200
availability coupled with the heightened
1294
00:40:51,200 –> 00:40:53,390
demand for life insurance as
1295
00:40:53,390 –> 00:40:55,170
well as our unique position
1296
00:40:55,170 –> 00:40:56,420
in the market means that
1297
00:40:56,770 –> 00:40:58,210
April’s actually turned into one of
1298
00:40:58,210 –> 00:40:59,530
our strongest sales months in
1299
00:40:59,530 –> 00:41:04,910
recent history. Wow. We’ve heard
1300
00:41:04,910 –> 00:41:06,770
that from multiple organizations, that
1301
00:41:07,120 –> 00:41:09,570
productivity is actually just going
1302
00:41:09,570 –> 00:41:10,970
up consistently. And I was
1303
00:41:11,080 –> 00:41:11,470
just going to say, it’s
1304
00:41:11,470 –> 00:41:14,040
funny that you said the 405 and the commute
1305
00:41:14,040 –> 00:41:15,430
because I’m in the 305, which
1306
00:41:15,430 –> 00:41:17,830
is Miami. And I would like to
1307
00:41:17,830 –> 00:41:18,750
say to the community out
1308
00:41:18,850 –> 00:41:19,670
here, down here in Miami
1309
00:41:19,670 –> 00:41:20,920
is probably a lot worse,
1310
00:41:20,920 –> 00:41:22,030
although right now it’s been
1311
00:41:22,470 –> 00:41:24,610
pretty good. But now let
1312
00:41:24,610 –> 00:41:25,640
me ask you on the
1313
00:41:25,640 –> 00:41:27,500
flip side though. Sheila talked
1314
00:41:27,500 –> 00:41:29,490
about the strategies that organizations
1315
00:41:29,490 –> 00:41:31,270
are taking to optimize the
1316
00:41:31,270 –> 00:41:33,830
workplace environment in the current situation and
1317
00:41:33,830 –> 00:41:35,840
into the future. And she
1318
00:41:35,840 –> 00:41:37,510
also highlighted some things that
1319
00:41:37,510 –> 00:41:38,990
are really, really critical right
1320
00:41:38,990 –> 00:41:40,610
now. Things like mental and
1321
00:41:40,960 –> 00:41:43,770
physical health, activity programs. So
1322
00:41:43,770 –> 00:41:45,140
what’s the impact that your
1323
00:41:45,140 –> 00:41:46,110
company has seen in your
1324
00:41:46,110 –> 00:41:48,150
employees from that perspective, particularly
1325
00:41:48,150 –> 00:41:49,910
agents, obviously agents and supervisors
1326
00:41:50,310 –> 00:41:52,030
in terms of wellness and what are some of the
1327
00:41:52,030 –> 00:41:54,500
actions that your organization is taking
1328
00:41:54,500 –> 00:41:56,580
or is considering in terms
1329
00:41:56,580 –> 00:42:00,740
of wellness? I really appreciate
1330
00:42:00,740 –> 00:42:01,850
Sheila speaking about that and
1331
00:42:01,850 –> 00:42:03,230
bringing it up because I
1332
00:42:03,230 –> 00:42:04,160
see this as a valid
1333
00:42:04,160 –> 00:42:06,580
concern. I was discussing with
1334
00:42:06,580 –> 00:42:07,520
some of my colleagues at
1335
00:42:07,520 –> 00:42:08,710
other companies just the other
1336
00:42:08,710 –> 00:42:10,500
day. And as a whole,
1337
00:42:10,700 –> 00:42:12,200
we are seeing increases in
1338
00:42:12,200 –> 00:42:14,040
potential burnout and depression due
1339
00:42:14,040 –> 00:42:15,450
to this blurred line between
1340
00:42:15,450 –> 00:42:17,900
work and home. So as
1341
00:42:17,900 –> 00:42:19,470
a leadership team at eFinancial,
1342
00:42:19,920 –> 00:42:21,050
we’re getting ahead of this,
1343
00:42:21,340 –> 00:42:22,470
both our CEO and our
1344
00:42:22,470 –> 00:42:24,070
president have touched on this
1345
00:42:24,070 –> 00:42:25,450
in their company wide messaging.
1346
00:42:25,800 –> 00:42:26,930
And we’re talking with our
1347
00:42:26,930 –> 00:42:28,110
managers to ensure that they’re
1348
00:42:28,110 –> 00:42:29,140
looking out for the signs
1349
00:42:29,140 –> 00:42:31,230
of stress that’s present or
1350
00:42:31,230 –> 00:42:32,320
could be present in their
1351
00:42:32,600 –> 00:42:34,740
employees. eFinancial is also a
1352
00:42:34,740 –> 00:42:36,210
really big believer in promoting
1353
00:42:36,400 –> 00:42:37,950
company culture and making a
1354
00:42:37,950 –> 00:42:39,480
positive work environment. And we
1355
00:42:39,480 –> 00:42:41,520
decided that working from is not going to
1356
00:42:41,520 –> 00:42:43,170
change that. Just last week
1357
00:42:43,170 –> 00:42:44,600
our eFly squad, that’s our
1358
00:42:44,600 –> 00:42:46,050
culture team. They put together
1359
00:42:46,050 –> 00:42:47,330
a company wide scavenger hunt
1360
00:42:47,370 –> 00:42:49,100
designed to increase employee face
1361
00:42:49,100 –> 00:42:51,120
to face communication over in one environment.
1362
00:42:51,150 –> 00:42:53,290
And that was very successful
1363
00:42:53,290 –> 00:42:56,400
as well. Yeah. Sheila anything
1364
00:42:56,640 –> 00:42:57,930
that you would like to add on that topic?
1365
00:42:57,930 –> 00:42:58,750
I know that you’re very
1366
00:42:58,750 –> 00:42:59,810
passionate about this and you
1367
00:42:59,810 –> 00:43:00,470
brought it up for a
1368
00:43:00,470 –> 00:43:02,410
reason, so any additional thoughts
1369
00:43:02,410 –> 00:43:04,880
on that? Yeah, the one
1370
00:43:04,920 –> 00:43:06,270
additional thing that I think
1371
00:43:06,270 –> 00:43:07,970
is important for agents in
1372
00:43:07,970 –> 00:43:09,640
this situation, and it also helps
1373
00:43:09,640 –> 00:43:12,140
customers is to re- look
1374
00:43:12,140 –> 00:43:14,450
at the empowerment of agents,
1375
00:43:14,850 –> 00:43:16,430
and what they’re enabled to
1376
00:43:16,430 –> 00:43:18,300
do. So when you’re sitting
1377
00:43:18,300 –> 00:43:19,770
in an office, you can
1378
00:43:19,770 –> 00:43:21,420
go to a supervisor, you
1379
00:43:21,420 –> 00:43:22,660
can put a call on
1380
00:43:22,660 –> 00:43:23,640
hold and try and get
1381
00:43:23,640 –> 00:43:25,860
a supervisor. It’s not as
1382
00:43:25,860 –> 00:43:27,010
easy to do that when
1383
00:43:27,010 –> 00:43:28,830
you’re working from home. So
1384
00:43:29,010 –> 00:43:31,980
if there are levels like
1385
00:43:31,980 –> 00:43:35,620
in a financial situation where
1386
00:43:35,930 –> 00:43:37,120
agents are empowered to go
1387
00:43:37,120 –> 00:43:37,960
to a certain level and
1388
00:43:37,960 –> 00:43:39,650
not beyond, maybe this is
1389
00:43:39,650 –> 00:43:40,900
a time to re- look
1390
00:43:40,900 –> 00:43:42,840
at those levels. If there
1391
00:43:42,840 –> 00:43:45,880
are the types of refunds
1392
00:43:46,100 –> 00:43:49,120
that are possible we may
1393
00:43:49,120 –> 00:43:49,970
want to re- look at
1394
00:43:49,970 –> 00:43:51,410
the level that an agent
1395
00:43:51,410 –> 00:43:53,330
is empowered to do that
1396
00:43:53,560 –> 00:43:55,660
because our customers are looking
1397
00:43:55,660 –> 00:43:58,010
for more empathy. Our agents
1398
00:43:58,010 –> 00:44:00,410
don’t have the physical support
1399
00:44:00,410 –> 00:44:01,340
they’ve had in the past.
1400
00:44:01,430 –> 00:44:03,270
And I think it’s another area where
1401
00:44:03,370 –> 00:44:05,310
we can make things smoother
1402
00:44:05,530 –> 00:44:07,130
by re- looking at our
1403
00:44:07,230 –> 00:44:11,210
guidelines. Yeah. Now, since we’re
1404
00:44:11,210 –> 00:44:13,270
on this topic and thinking
1405
00:44:13,270 –> 00:44:15,250
also about the new normal
1406
00:44:15,290 –> 00:44:17,920
and what are the next
1407
00:44:17,920 –> 00:44:20,310
steps, what’s next. Paul let
1408
00:44:20,310 –> 00:44:21,130
me just go back to
1409
00:44:21,130 –> 00:44:22,300
your first on this one.
1410
00:44:23,630 –> 00:44:24,970
So I know that you and
1411
00:44:25,270 –> 00:44:26,560
your organization are working on
1412
00:44:26,560 –> 00:44:28,300
a back to work plan.
1413
00:44:28,620 –> 00:44:29,530
Would you share with us
1414
00:44:29,590 –> 00:44:31,350
what that looks like? And
1415
00:44:31,350 –> 00:44:32,230
I also understand that you
1416
00:44:32,230 –> 00:44:33,660
were even considering implementing a
1417
00:44:33,660 –> 00:44:35,790
permanent working from home program
1418
00:44:35,790 –> 00:44:36,910
for some of your agents. If this
1419
00:44:37,530 –> 00:44:39,000
is correct would you share
1420
00:44:39,000 –> 00:44:39,610
a little bit more with
1421
00:44:39,610 –> 00:44:41,970
us on that? This is
1422
00:44:41,970 –> 00:44:44,370
correct. We are happily in
1423
00:44:44,370 –> 00:44:45,580
the process of creating our
1424
00:44:45,580 –> 00:44:46,820
back to work plans. That’s
1425
00:44:47,010 –> 00:44:48,530
an exciting period for us
1426
00:44:48,530 –> 00:44:50,210
right now, and we’re exploring
1427
00:44:50,210 –> 00:44:51,400
a lot of different options
1428
00:44:51,400 –> 00:44:52,530
such as what’s it look
1429
00:44:52,530 –> 00:44:54,120
like to have full or half
1430
00:44:54,120 –> 00:44:57,730
remote offers? What about flexible hours
1431
00:44:58,010 –> 00:44:59,530
depending on role and tenure?
1432
00:44:59,970 –> 00:45:01,180
One silver lining to this
1433
00:45:01,180 –> 00:45:02,630
crisis is that we’ve learned
1434
00:45:02,630 –> 00:45:04,480
that offering greater flexibility won’t
1435
00:45:04,480 –> 00:45:06,620
necessarily detract from our productivity.
1436
00:45:07,040 –> 00:45:08,250
And this can, and probably
1437
00:45:08,250 –> 00:45:09,300
will become a factor in
1438
00:45:09,300 –> 00:45:11,510
our recruiting efforts nationwide. It
1439
00:45:11,510 –> 00:45:12,610
allows us to become more
1440
00:45:12,610 –> 00:45:14,970
geographically agnostic for our agents,
1441
00:45:14,970 –> 00:45:16,330
for our operations staff, for
1442
00:45:16,330 –> 00:45:18,240
everybody, because we now know
1443
00:45:18,240 –> 00:45:19,350
that we have the capability to work
1444
00:45:19,900 –> 00:45:23,020
and produce from home. That’s
1445
00:45:23,020 –> 00:45:24,660
a great point. And I think, like I said,
1446
00:45:24,660 –> 00:45:26,630
we’re seeing this across the board, so
1447
00:45:26,630 –> 00:45:27,820
I would totally agree that
1448
00:45:27,970 –> 00:45:29,240
this is something that, to
1449
00:45:29,240 –> 00:45:30,360
your point that we thought
1450
00:45:30,360 –> 00:45:32,340
the productivity could be affected,
1451
00:45:32,340 –> 00:45:34,000
but reality is that it
1452
00:45:34,380 –> 00:45:36,570
is the opposite. Now Colin,
1453
00:45:37,190 –> 00:45:38,120
I wanted to also go
1454
00:45:38,120 –> 00:45:39,800
back to the perspective of
1455
00:45:39,800 –> 00:45:40,980
the business per se, right?
1456
00:45:40,980 –> 00:45:42,330
So you’re in the retail
1457
00:45:42,330 –> 00:45:44,010
industry and we know that
1458
00:45:44,010 –> 00:45:46,140
eCommerce before this whole thing
1459
00:45:46,140 –> 00:45:47,690
happened eCommerce was already in
1460
00:45:47,690 –> 00:45:50,330
the path forward for the
1461
00:45:50,330 –> 00:45:51,520
retail industry. Right? And it’s
1462
00:45:51,520 –> 00:45:52,620
rapidly increasing. And I think
1463
00:45:52,800 –> 00:45:54,600
that obviously this is across
1464
00:45:54,610 –> 00:45:56,130
the globe. But in this new
1465
00:45:56,130 –> 00:45:59,230
normal from your perspective, is
1466
00:45:59,230 –> 00:46:03,710
eCommerce becoming essential? What are
1467
00:46:03,710 –> 00:46:04,850
the key elements that will
1468
00:46:04,850 –> 00:46:06,720
be absolutely critical in succeeding
1469
00:46:06,720 –> 00:46:08,100
and even surviving in the
1470
00:46:08,100 –> 00:46:11,620
eCommerce world? Yeah, absolutely. I
1471
00:46:11,620 –> 00:46:13,430
think that eCommerce has been
1472
00:46:13,430 –> 00:46:14,410
around for quite some time,
1473
00:46:14,410 –> 00:46:15,570
but in the new normal,
1474
00:46:15,570 –> 00:46:16,390
you’re going to have a
1475
00:46:16,390 –> 00:46:17,510
new normal of eCommerce as
1476
00:46:17,510 –> 00:46:19,060
well. You’re going to have
1477
00:46:19,060 –> 00:46:19,870
to be stepping up your
1478
00:46:19,870 –> 00:46:20,750
service levels. You’re going to
1479
00:46:20,750 –> 00:46:21,980
be having to step up
1480
00:46:21,980 –> 00:46:23,090
your context. And I think
1481
00:46:23,090 –> 00:46:23,900
we keep coming back to
1482
00:46:23,900 –> 00:46:26,920
this the consumer who’s going
1483
00:46:26,920 –> 00:46:27,960
to be a scarce commodity
1484
00:46:27,960 –> 00:46:29,420
because of the economic climate.
1485
00:46:29,830 –> 00:46:30,940
And they’re going to want you to
1486
00:46:30,940 –> 00:46:32,260
have context, and then we’re going to want you
1487
00:46:32,260 –> 00:46:33,470
to understand who they are and what
1488
00:46:33,470 –> 00:46:34,560
they need to do or where
1489
00:46:35,390 –> 00:46:36,210
they need to be. So
1490
00:46:36,640 –> 00:46:38,580
we will be accelerating conversations
1491
00:46:38,580 –> 00:46:40,190
with Genesys around things like
1492
00:46:40,200 –> 00:46:43,280
Altocloud. And funny that we
1493
00:46:43,280 –> 00:46:44,160
were talking about bot as
1494
00:46:44,160 –> 00:46:45,230
well. So just making sure
1495
00:46:45,230 –> 00:46:46,610
that a bot is not
1496
00:46:46,610 –> 00:46:47,770
just about call deflection, but
1497
00:46:47,770 –> 00:46:49,350
it’s also about being able
1498
00:46:49,350 –> 00:46:50,270
to give context to an
1499
00:46:50,270 –> 00:46:51,380
agents as to what the
1500
00:46:51,380 –> 00:46:52,770
customer journey is from an
1501
00:46:52,770 –> 00:46:55,130
eCommerce perspective. And then I
1502
00:46:55,130 –> 00:46:56,530
think more from the brick
1503
00:46:56,530 –> 00:46:58,530
and mortar perspective especially being
1504
00:46:58,530 –> 00:47:00,610
in fashion, retail, eCommerce and
1505
00:47:00,610 –> 00:47:02,650
the click and collect scenario,
1506
00:47:02,650 –> 00:47:04,480
especially with fashion. People will
1507
00:47:04,480 –> 00:47:05,330
want to come back and
1508
00:47:05,610 –> 00:47:06,720
come into store to collect,
1509
00:47:07,130 –> 00:47:08,620
to try on garments and
1510
00:47:08,620 –> 00:47:09,210
to have a touch and
1511
00:47:09,210 –> 00:47:12,110
feel of these things. So the
1512
00:47:12,110 –> 00:47:13,530
last mile of the eCommerce journey
1513
00:47:13,650 –> 00:47:14,700
is also quite important to
1514
00:47:14,700 –> 00:47:16,300
us where potentially there’ll be
1515
00:47:16,300 –> 00:47:17,900
paying in store. Maybe they
1516
00:47:17,900 –> 00:47:18,850
don’t want to be parting
1517
00:47:18,850 –> 00:47:20,430
away with cash anymore. They
1518
00:47:20,430 –> 00:47:22,240
might want to contact as payment methods
1519
00:47:22,480 –> 00:47:23,470
such as Apple Pay or
1520
00:47:23,520 –> 00:47:25,310
Samsung Pay or QR codes.
1521
00:47:25,940 –> 00:47:27,340
So the entire ecosystem around
1522
00:47:27,340 –> 00:47:29,330
eCommerce is going to shift,
1523
00:47:29,330 –> 00:47:30,870
but I do think that the fundamental
1524
00:47:30,870 –> 00:47:32,740
thread will be using things
1525
00:47:32,740 –> 00:47:34,300
like Altocloud to give you customer
1526
00:47:34,300 –> 00:47:35,410
context and help you drive
1527
00:47:35,410 –> 00:47:40,030
their sales numbers. Right. I
1528
00:47:40,030 –> 00:47:44,620
think what this tells us is that again, Sheila made this comment
1529
00:47:44,620 –> 00:47:46,340
at the very beginning. The new
1530
00:47:46,340 –> 00:47:48,240
normal based on what the
1531
00:47:48,240 –> 00:47:49,340
experience that we’re going through
1532
00:47:49,340 –> 00:47:50,630
right now, as challenging as
1533
00:47:50,630 –> 00:47:51,670
it is, is also making us see things
1534
00:47:52,390 –> 00:47:53,450
in a very different way.
1535
00:47:53,450 –> 00:47:55,400
So, Sheila, I’m going to ask
1536
00:47:55,400 –> 00:47:56,730
you the million dollar question,
1537
00:47:56,950 –> 00:47:59,670
right. How will contact centers
1538
00:47:59,780 –> 00:48:01,760
become more essential in this
1539
00:48:02,010 –> 00:48:03,830
new normal from your perspective?
1540
00:48:05,200 –> 00:48:07,620
So if you would bring
1541
00:48:07,620 –> 00:48:10,810
up my last slide. No,
1542
00:48:11,220 –> 00:48:12,480
we’ll bring that up in
1543
00:48:12,480 –> 00:48:14,280
a second. Nevermind. Okay. So
1544
00:48:14,280 –> 00:48:15,370
new normal, what does it
1545
00:48:15,370 –> 00:48:16,640
look like? And I’d like
1546
00:48:16,640 –> 00:48:17,660
to talk about it from
1547
00:48:17,660 –> 00:48:19,460
two perspectives. Let’s first talk about
1548
00:48:19,670 –> 00:48:21,540
the agent perspective and Colin
1549
00:48:21,540 –> 00:48:23,380
and Paul have already started
1550
00:48:23,480 –> 00:48:25,660
talking about this. But I
1551
00:48:25,660 –> 00:48:27,560
think it goes even further
1552
00:48:27,560 –> 00:48:28,370
than we’re going to be
1553
00:48:28,370 –> 00:48:29,860
able to have more work
1554
00:48:29,860 –> 00:48:31,280
from home agents because we
1555
00:48:31,390 –> 00:48:33,260
proved the case now, right?
1556
00:48:33,550 –> 00:48:34,970
The technology has always been there
1557
00:48:34,970 –> 00:48:36,430
to do it, but there’s been
1558
00:48:36,450 –> 00:48:38,700
some reticence on the part
1559
00:48:38,700 –> 00:48:40,920
of companies sometimes. I think
1560
00:48:40,920 –> 00:48:42,370
it also now begins to
1561
00:48:42,370 –> 00:48:45,440
impact our hiring guidelines in
1562
00:48:45,440 –> 00:48:47,260
a positive way. So one
1563
00:48:47,260 –> 00:48:48,040
of the things we’ll look
1564
00:48:48,040 –> 00:48:50,040
for is someone who does
1565
00:48:50,040 –> 00:48:51,410
have an environment at home
1566
00:48:51,550 –> 00:48:52,830
that will allow them to
1567
00:48:52,830 –> 00:48:55,670
work from home. We also
1568
00:48:55,670 –> 00:48:57,110
want to be able to
1569
00:48:57,750 –> 00:49:00,060
now give much more flexible
1570
00:49:00,060 –> 00:49:01,630
schedules than perhaps we were
1571
00:49:01,630 –> 00:49:02,810
able to offer in the
1572
00:49:02,810 –> 00:49:04,270
past. So it could be
1573
00:49:04,270 –> 00:49:05,430
that somebody wanted to work
1574
00:49:05,430 –> 00:49:07,140
for you, but they couldn’t
1575
00:49:07,140 –> 00:49:09,160
work 9: 00 to 5:
1576
00:49:09,160 –> 00:49:11,610
00 or the 2:00 to 10: 00
1577
00:49:11,610 –> 00:49:13,480
shifts that you wanted. And
1578
00:49:13,480 –> 00:49:14,830
now if you enable that
1579
00:49:14,830 –> 00:49:15,820
as a work from home,
1580
00:49:15,960 –> 00:49:17,860
suddenly it opens up the
1581
00:49:17,860 –> 00:49:19,500
possibilities to a workforce that
1582
00:49:19,500 –> 00:49:20,370
may not have been able
1583
00:49:20,370 –> 00:49:21,150
to work with you in
1584
00:49:21,150 –> 00:49:22,760
the past. Right? So I
1585
00:49:22,760 –> 00:49:24,890
think this is a very positive
1586
00:49:24,890 –> 00:49:27,500
changes for agents and for
1587
00:49:27,620 –> 00:49:30,410
retention of workforce and finding
1588
00:49:30,440 –> 00:49:32,260
new talent that come out
1589
00:49:32,300 –> 00:49:34,100
of this and that become
1590
00:49:34,260 –> 00:49:37,330
the new normal. And then
1591
00:49:37,900 –> 00:49:40,200
Colin and Paul both mentioned
1592
00:49:40,200 –> 00:49:43,050
this and artificial intelligence I
1593
00:49:43,050 –> 00:49:45,600
think comes out of this
1594
00:49:45,600 –> 00:49:48,100
initial pandemic smelling like a
1595
00:49:48,100 –> 00:49:49,390
rose. Let’s put it that
1596
00:49:49,450 –> 00:49:51,460
way. If we could say
1597
00:49:51,460 –> 00:49:58,470
that invention that… I’ve lost
1598
00:49:58,470 –> 00:49:59,810
my train of thought. Invention or
1599
00:49:59,810 –> 00:50:03,590
whatever. I think we’re going
1600
00:50:03,590 –> 00:50:06,530
to have more innovation come
1601
00:50:06,530 –> 00:50:09,810
forward into our general everyday
1602
00:50:09,880 –> 00:50:12,740
operations, much more quickly than
1603
00:50:12,740 –> 00:50:13,870
we thought that we would
1604
00:50:13,870 –> 00:50:16,140
have. And I think the
1605
00:50:16,140 –> 00:50:18,700
reason is that think about
1606
00:50:18,700 –> 00:50:21,560
those States that are suddenly
1607
00:50:21,560 –> 00:50:22,690
using a bot on their
1608
00:50:22,690 –> 00:50:24,330
website. And if you would
1609
00:50:24,350 –> 00:50:25,570
ask them three months ago
1610
00:50:25,570 –> 00:50:27,810
about using artificial intelligence, they
1611
00:50:27,810 –> 00:50:28,520
would have looked at you
1612
00:50:28,520 –> 00:50:30,010
like you were crazy, but
1613
00:50:30,010 –> 00:50:31,300
they needed to do it
1614
00:50:31,830 –> 00:50:34,150
to necessity. It’s not just
1615
00:50:34,150 –> 00:50:35,440
the mother of invention. It’s
1616
00:50:35,440 –> 00:50:37,190
the mother of innovation. That
1617
00:50:37,190 –> 00:50:37,980
was the phrase that I
1618
00:50:37,980 –> 00:50:40,750
wanted to use. Right. I
1619
00:50:40,750 –> 00:50:42,180
think what we’re finding here
1620
00:50:42,180 –> 00:50:43,930
is that companies are looking
1621
00:50:43,930 –> 00:50:45,240
back at some of those
1622
00:50:45,240 –> 00:50:47,990
artificial intelligence solutions and products
1623
00:50:48,320 –> 00:50:50,220
like was discussed here. Well,
1624
00:50:50,220 –> 00:50:52,220
we thought about Altocloud, but
1625
00:50:52,860 –> 00:50:54,440
this wasn’t the time or
1626
00:50:54,440 –> 00:50:56,500
it wasn’t the highest priority.
1627
00:50:56,900 –> 00:50:58,070
And suddenly we say, wait
1628
00:50:58,070 –> 00:50:59,440
a minute, in this new
1629
00:50:59,440 –> 00:51:01,270
normal things that were out
1630
00:51:01,270 –> 00:51:02,720
there are now going to
1631
00:51:02,720 –> 00:51:04,910
become part of everyday life.
1632
00:51:05,630 –> 00:51:06,530
So I think those two
1633
00:51:06,530 –> 00:51:08,250
things from a technology point
1634
00:51:08,250 –> 00:51:09,650
of view, I think artificial
1635
00:51:09,650 –> 00:51:11,860
intelligence is going to see a
1636
00:51:11,860 –> 00:51:14,210
bump in adoption. We’re going
1637
00:51:14,300 –> 00:51:15,540
to see that move from
1638
00:51:15,730 –> 00:51:18,060
proof of concept to roll
1639
00:51:18,060 –> 00:51:20,630
out happen much more quickly
1640
00:51:20,740 –> 00:51:22,530
than we would’ve expected three
1641
00:51:22,530 –> 00:51:23,900
months ago. And I think
1642
00:51:23,900 –> 00:51:25,070
we have an opportunity to
1643
00:51:25,070 –> 00:51:27,450
revisit how we hire, how
1644
00:51:27,450 –> 00:51:29,600
we train, and the kind
1645
00:51:29,600 –> 00:51:31,490
of shifts we offer with
1646
00:51:31,490 –> 00:51:34,140
that kind of agent workforce
1647
00:51:34,140 –> 00:51:36,090
flexibility that agents have been looking
1648
00:51:36,090 –> 00:51:37,440
for. I think we’re closer
1649
00:51:37,440 –> 00:51:40,900
now to understanding that notion
1650
00:51:40,900 –> 00:51:43,020
of a gig agent, we
1651
00:51:43,020 –> 00:51:44,380
can supply that inside our
1652
00:51:44,380 –> 00:51:45,940
contact center. And we didn’t
1653
00:51:45,940 –> 00:51:48,550
realize that we could. Yeah,
1654
00:51:49,030 –> 00:51:50,350
I love that AI is
1655
00:51:50,350 –> 00:51:51,210
going to be smelling like
1656
00:51:51,210 –> 00:51:52,290
a rose, I think that
1657
00:51:52,290 –> 00:51:54,560
that’s a quote that has been for the
1658
00:51:54,560 –> 00:51:56,680
posterity. But just a quick
1659
00:51:56,850 –> 00:51:58,610
clarification for those in the audience that
1660
00:51:58,690 –> 00:51:59,370
may not be familiar with Altocloud. That’s
1661
00:52:00,080 –> 00:52:02,060
a pretty good engagement solution
1662
00:52:02,060 –> 00:52:03,610
that we have at Genesys really
1663
00:52:03,610 –> 00:52:04,760
allows you to understand the
1664
00:52:04,760 –> 00:52:06,190
intent of the customer. And then
1665
00:52:07,110 –> 00:52:08,700
determine what’s the right resource
1666
00:52:09,640 –> 00:52:10,900
to serve that need at
1667
00:52:10,900 –> 00:52:12,700
that point. Which again speaks
1668
00:52:12,700 –> 00:52:15,300
about how artificial intelligence can
1669
00:52:15,300 –> 00:52:17,500
truly be part of our
1670
00:52:17,500 –> 00:52:19,340
empathy in terms of the customer
1671
00:52:19,340 –> 00:52:22,580
experience strategy. Now, coming to
1672
00:52:23,200 –> 00:52:24,080
the time and so I
1673
00:52:24,080 –> 00:52:25,550
would like to maybe starting
1674
00:52:25,550 –> 00:52:27,510
with Paul and Colin. Each
1675
00:52:27,510 –> 00:52:30,530
of you would please share
1676
00:52:31,110 –> 00:52:33,410
given all this situation, what’s
1677
00:52:33,410 –> 00:52:35,410
the biggest lesson learned during
1678
00:52:35,410 –> 00:52:37,240
this unprecedented time? Paul, I’ll
1679
00:52:37,240 –> 00:52:41,560
start with you. Sure. I
1680
00:52:41,560 –> 00:52:43,130
guess this current crisis has
1681
00:52:43,130 –> 00:52:45,770
really reinforced my existing belief
1682
00:52:45,770 –> 00:52:46,910
in the importance of cloud
1683
00:52:46,910 –> 00:52:49,710
services and distributed platforms. Had
1684
00:52:49,710 –> 00:52:51,060
we not made that strategic
1685
00:52:51,060 –> 00:52:52,080
decision to move to the
1686
00:52:52,080 –> 00:52:53,620
cloud when we did the
1687
00:52:53,620 –> 00:52:54,830
outcome right now will look
1688
00:52:54,850 –> 00:52:56,350
very different for eFinancial as
1689
00:52:56,350 –> 00:52:58,380
a company. As Sheila discussed,
1690
00:52:58,380 –> 00:52:59,220
I think that we’re going
1691
00:52:59,220 –> 00:53:02,090
to see increased prioritization in
1692
00:53:02,090 –> 00:53:04,210
cloud computing and cloud services
1693
00:53:04,210 –> 00:53:05,570
post- COVID. So that would probably be
1694
00:53:05,570 –> 00:53:08,670
my biggest takeaway. Thank you Paul. Colin your biggest lesson learned?
1695
00:53:12,900 –> 00:53:14,430
Yeah, I absolutely agree with
1696
00:53:14,430 –> 00:53:15,230
Paul. I think we’ve been
1697
00:53:15,230 –> 00:53:16,130
talking about a route to
1698
00:53:16,130 –> 00:53:17,170
cloud for quite some time,
1699
00:53:17,360 –> 00:53:18,480
and I think a lot
1700
00:53:18,480 –> 00:53:20,840
of companies and the CEO’s
1701
00:53:20,840 –> 00:53:22,440
will be accelerating those discussions.
1702
00:53:22,440 –> 00:53:24,380
But I think the biggest
1703
00:53:24,400 –> 00:53:26,090
learning so far is make
1704
00:53:26,090 –> 00:53:26,750
sure that you’ve got the
1705
00:53:26,750 –> 00:53:28,990
tools to communicate as effectively
1706
00:53:28,990 –> 00:53:30,430
as you can, both with your
1707
00:53:30,430 –> 00:53:31,590
customers, but also with your
1708
00:53:31,590 –> 00:53:34,290
employees. It’s just so critical
1709
00:53:34,290 –> 00:53:35,170
at this time that people
1710
00:53:35,170 –> 00:53:36,750
know that you’re there. They
1711
00:53:36,750 –> 00:53:37,480
can reach out on the
1712
00:53:37,480 –> 00:53:39,610
channel of their choice and
1713
00:53:39,610 –> 00:53:42,050
make sure that that communication is frictionless
1714
00:53:42,050 –> 00:53:43,960
and their processes frictionless. So
1715
00:53:43,960 –> 00:53:45,520
definitely looking to, again, bringing
1716
00:53:45,520 –> 00:53:47,260
those communication mechanisms into one
1717
00:53:47,570 –> 00:53:48,720
spot and then making sure that
1718
00:53:48,720 –> 00:53:50,050
you’ve got the flexibility of
1719
00:53:50,050 –> 00:53:52,240
things like cloud payments to
1720
00:53:52,240 –> 00:53:54,220
really engage and capitalize on
1721
00:53:54,580 –> 00:53:55,710
some of these opportunities that
1722
00:53:56,070 –> 00:53:57,090
this type of pandemic can
1723
00:53:57,090 –> 00:54:01,020
present. Thank you Colin. And
1724
00:54:01,020 –> 00:54:02,130
Sheila going to you. Would
1725
00:54:02,130 –> 00:54:03,340
you share your final thoughts
1726
00:54:03,340 –> 00:54:04,660
on the new normal and
1727
00:54:04,660 –> 00:54:08,670
redefining business continually? And now
1728
00:54:08,670 –> 00:54:09,540
you can bring up my
1729
00:54:09,540 –> 00:54:11,600
final slide Barbara if you
1730
00:54:11,600 –> 00:54:15,280
would. Thank you. So this
1731
00:54:15,280 –> 00:54:17,490
slide is a picture of
1732
00:54:17,490 –> 00:54:18,810
Andy Jassy, who is the
1733
00:54:18,810 –> 00:54:21,900
CEO of AWS. And it
1734
00:54:21,900 –> 00:54:24,570
was the notes there are
1735
00:54:24,570 –> 00:54:26,770
taken from his keynote speech
1736
00:54:27,050 –> 00:54:29,160
at The Reinvent Conference in
1737
00:54:29,160 –> 00:54:31,040
November. And so he’s a
1738
00:54:31,040 –> 00:54:33,600
pretty prescient guy. He has
1739
00:54:33,600 –> 00:54:34,410
a notion of where the
1740
00:54:34,410 –> 00:54:35,860
world is going and even
1741
00:54:35,860 –> 00:54:37,700
not knowing that there was
1742
00:54:37,760 –> 00:54:40,180
a pandemic coming. He understood
1743
00:54:40,180 –> 00:54:40,880
that the way that the
1744
00:54:40,880 –> 00:54:42,000
world was going, maybe it’s
1745
00:54:42,000 –> 00:54:43,500
going to go there more
1746
00:54:43,500 –> 00:54:45,340
quickly now, but what he
1747
00:54:45,340 –> 00:54:46,920
said and really rang true
1748
00:54:46,920 –> 00:54:49,380
for me was companies today,
1749
00:54:49,940 –> 00:54:51,120
or either born in the
1750
00:54:51,120 –> 00:54:55,930
cloud, companies like Netflix and
1751
00:54:56,270 –> 00:55:00,660
Airbnb and Uber. Or they
1752
00:55:00,660 –> 00:55:02,480
need to be reborn in
1753
00:55:02,480 –> 00:55:03,850
the cloud. And if we
1754
00:55:03,850 –> 00:55:06,250
think about eFinance if we think about
1755
00:55:06,560 –> 00:55:09,500
Mr Price, they are re-
1756
00:55:09,500 –> 00:55:11,610
building their businesses in the
1757
00:55:11,610 –> 00:55:13,620
cloud. They’re taking their contact
1758
00:55:13,620 –> 00:55:15,370
center agents and moving them
1759
00:55:15,370 –> 00:55:17,440
to cloud based solutions. They’re
1760
00:55:17,440 –> 00:55:19,960
thinking about digital kinds of
1761
00:55:19,960 –> 00:55:21,670
interactions and making those available
1762
00:55:21,670 –> 00:55:23,330
to their customers. Because in order
1763
00:55:23,330 –> 00:55:25,430
to compete with those born
1764
00:55:25,430 –> 00:55:26,890
in the cloud companies, they
1765
00:55:26,890 –> 00:55:29,640
have to rebuild themselves in
1766
00:55:29,640 –> 00:55:32,100
the cloud. Another thing that
1767
00:55:32,100 –> 00:55:33,110
Andy said that I think
1768
00:55:33,330 –> 00:55:35,030
is also so relevant and
1769
00:55:35,030 –> 00:55:37,620
really rang true, knowing what
1770
00:55:37,620 –> 00:55:39,410
Genesys is now doing is
1771
00:55:39,410 –> 00:55:41,410
the notion that a multi- cloud
1772
00:55:41,690 –> 00:55:43,830
is a legitimate conversation. So
1773
00:55:43,830 –> 00:55:45,090
what does that mean? So
1774
00:55:45,090 –> 00:55:46,760
Andy clearly is in charge
1775
00:55:46,760 –> 00:55:48,500
of the public cloud that
1776
00:55:48,500 –> 00:55:49,750
Genesys cloud is built on
1777
00:55:50,350 –> 00:55:53,070
AWS, but not every company
1778
00:55:53,070 –> 00:55:55,600
and every business is necessarily
1779
00:55:55,600 –> 00:55:57,080
going to want all of
1780
00:55:57,080 –> 00:55:58,540
their computing coming out of
1781
00:55:58,980 –> 00:56:00,440
AWS. There are others who are going to
1782
00:56:00,840 –> 00:56:03,070
want choices from Microsoft Azure
1783
00:56:03,690 –> 00:56:05,210
or choices of their own
1784
00:56:05,230 –> 00:56:09,220
IBM cloud or other clouds.
1785
00:56:09,480 –> 00:56:10,760
And so Genesys is now
1786
00:56:10,760 –> 00:56:12,670
working and the team that
1787
00:56:12,670 –> 00:56:14,790
Barry O’Sullivan heads on how
1788
00:56:14,790 –> 00:56:17,460
do we make the best
1789
00:56:17,460 –> 00:56:19,460
of Genesys available, the best
1790
00:56:19,460 –> 00:56:21,950
innovation of Genesys cloud available
1791
00:56:21,950 –> 00:56:24,250
in a multi- cloud scenario
1792
00:56:24,450 –> 00:56:26,080
for those customers. And so,
1793
00:56:26,320 –> 00:56:27,340
to me, it was very
1794
00:56:27,760 –> 00:56:31,590
refreshing to hear, Jassy say,
1795
00:56:31,590 –> 00:56:33,910
I recognize that. I think
1796
00:56:33,910 –> 00:56:34,740
I’ll still be a big
1797
00:56:34,740 –> 00:56:36,310
part of the world. I
1798
00:56:36,310 –> 00:56:37,240
still think a lot of
1799
00:56:37,240 –> 00:56:38,340
customers are going to want
1800
00:56:38,340 –> 00:56:40,330
to use my services, but
1801
00:56:40,330 –> 00:56:41,770
I’m going to build bridges
1802
00:56:41,930 –> 00:56:43,370
to those other public clouds.
1803
00:56:44,460 –> 00:56:46,460
And then finally he made
1804
00:56:46,460 –> 00:56:48,330
a very strong statement that
1805
00:56:48,520 –> 00:56:52,570
data is the new currency
1806
00:56:52,920 –> 00:56:55,320
of business. And I think
1807
00:56:55,600 –> 00:56:57,100
the conversations that we had
1808
00:56:57,100 –> 00:57:01,930
today around personalization, about empowering
1809
00:57:01,930 –> 00:57:04,210
agents is all about getting
1810
00:57:04,210 –> 00:57:06,550
the right data to agents
1811
00:57:06,890 –> 00:57:08,590
and having that data to
1812
00:57:08,590 –> 00:57:11,240
be able to process that
1813
00:57:11,240 –> 00:57:12,920
data and make the decisions
1814
00:57:12,920 –> 00:57:15,110
about it available to agents
1815
00:57:15,170 –> 00:57:17,410
like predictive engagement can do
1816
00:57:17,590 –> 00:57:19,760
and help the agent understand
1817
00:57:20,200 –> 00:57:21,320
the best way to serve
1818
00:57:21,320 –> 00:57:24,330
a customer. That’s part of
1819
00:57:24,330 –> 00:57:25,420
this new normal as we
1820
00:57:25,420 –> 00:57:27,350
go forward. So I think
1821
00:57:27,350 –> 00:57:28,160
Jesse was prescient but I
1822
00:57:28,160 –> 00:57:29,870
think the points he made
1823
00:57:29,870 –> 00:57:31,370
are legitimate points as we
1824
00:57:31,370 –> 00:57:33,790
think about that next phase
1825
00:57:34,110 –> 00:57:35,640
of business life, post- COVID.
1826
00:57:37,990 –> 00:57:40,340
Thank you so much. Thank
1827
00:57:40,340 –> 00:57:41,580
you Barbara. Thank you. I
1828
00:57:41,580 –> 00:57:43,020
just want to finish by
1829
00:57:43,020 –> 00:57:45,070
saying, first of all, thank
1830
00:57:45,070 –> 00:57:46,520
you so much, Sheila, Paul,
1831
00:57:46,520 –> 00:57:48,410
Colin For sharing your thoughts
1832
00:57:48,410 –> 00:57:53,170
and just your experience with
1833
00:57:53,170 –> 00:57:54,670
this. With all of us to me
1834
00:57:54,900 –> 00:57:56,850
it was a fantastic conversation.
1835
00:57:56,850 –> 00:57:58,410
I hope that the audience
1836
00:57:58,620 –> 00:58:00,270
feels the same way. We
1837
00:58:00,270 –> 00:58:01,500
definitely are at a time, and I
1838
00:58:01,500 –> 00:58:02,770
don’t want to keep our
1839
00:58:02,770 –> 00:58:04,380
audience much longer. I’ll leave
1840
00:58:04,380 –> 00:58:05,620
you with just this slide,
1841
00:58:05,620 –> 00:58:06,810
which shows what Genesys is
1842
00:58:06,880 –> 00:58:08,730
doing for our customers and
1843
00:58:08,730 –> 00:58:10,380
non- Genesys customers as well
1844
00:58:10,630 –> 00:58:11,960
in terms of supporting you
1845
00:58:12,000 –> 00:58:14,100
for the handling increased demand,
1846
00:58:14,220 –> 00:58:16,610
and also a transition for
1847
00:58:16,610 –> 00:58:17,520
your agents to work from
1848
00:58:17,520 –> 00:58:19,620
home. This is all in our website.
1849
00:58:19,620 –> 00:58:20,600
You can also reach out
1850
00:58:20,600 –> 00:58:22,040
to your Genesys representative to
1851
00:58:22,040 –> 00:58:24,160
understand better how this program
1852
00:58:24,160 –> 00:58:25,840
works. And I’ll hand it
1853
00:58:25,840 –> 00:58:26,970
back to you, Josh, to
1854
00:58:26,970 –> 00:58:27,940
wrap us up. Thank you
1855
00:58:27,940 –> 00:58:32,940
so much. Thanks guys. So
1856
00:58:32,940 –> 00:58:34,680
as she mentioned, unfortunately, we
1857
00:58:34,680 –> 00:58:35,450
are at a time. I
1858
00:58:35,450 –> 00:58:36,350
definitely feel like we could
1859
00:58:36,350 –> 00:58:37,990
have continued this conversation for
1860
00:58:37,990 –> 00:58:40,810
another hour. But as we
1861
00:58:40,810 –> 00:58:42,340
wrap up today, we are
1862
00:58:42,340 –> 00:58:44,360
going to first mention that
1863
00:58:44,360 –> 00:58:45,230
you have a list of
1864
00:58:45,230 –> 00:58:46,670
resources in the resource center
1865
00:58:46,670 –> 00:58:47,870
below your Q& A window.
1866
00:58:47,870 –> 00:58:48,610
Be sure to click on
1867
00:58:48,610 –> 00:58:50,430
those before today’s session ends,
1868
00:58:50,430 –> 00:58:51,850
that will give you additional
1869
00:58:51,850 –> 00:58:53,270
information based on the topic
1870
00:58:53,270 –> 00:58:54,540
that we talked about today.
1871
00:58:56,230 –> 00:58:57,970
Also don’t forget, you will
1872
00:58:57,970 –> 00:58:59,330
receive an on demand recording
1873
00:58:59,330 –> 00:59:01,160
via email from ON24. So
1874
00:59:01,160 –> 00:59:02,160
if you missed anything during
1875
00:59:02,160 –> 00:59:03,810
the presentation, have any issues,
1876
00:59:03,810 –> 00:59:05,070
you will receive that recording
1877
00:59:05,150 –> 00:59:06,220
within the next few business
1878
00:59:06,220 –> 00:59:07,610
days. And you can actually
1879
00:59:07,610 –> 00:59:08,320
take a look at this
1880
00:59:08,320 –> 00:59:10,270
recording with full playback capabilities.
1881
00:59:12,180 –> 00:59:13,380
So with that on behalf
1882
00:59:13,380 –> 00:59:15,880
of Sheila, Barbara, Colin, and Paul,
1883
00:59:15,950 –> 00:59:16,950
as well as the entire
1884
00:59:16,950 –> 00:59:18,410
Genesys team, we thank you
1885
00:59:18,410 –> 00:59:20,070
again for joining today’s webcast,
1886
00:59:20,280 –> 00:59:22,210
The New Normal Redefining Business
1887
00:59:22,210 –> 00:59:24,300
Continuity. Until next time have
1888
00:59:24,300 –> 00:59:25,080
a good one everyone.