Handling competitive pressure is nothing new, but excelling in today’s business landscape requires more than delivering an exceptional customer experience. It’s widely acknowledged that supporting the employee experience (EX) is equally crucial in business success.

The transition to remote and hybrid work models has necessitated the need for improved tools and support to maintain employee productivity and engagement, leading to major changes in the industry. Happy, engaged employees are more productive and deliver superior customer service, which directly impacts a company’s success. The elements of that experience impact all areas of the business.

Organisations now recognise that investing in the employee experience fosters a positive work culture, reduces turnover and drives overall business performance. It’s a critical focus in today’s corporate landscape.

Now it’s possible to seamlessly connect customer experience and employee experience without restricting your vendor options.

Making Your Employees a Priority

Consistently delivering good customer service while keeping costs down is a balancing act among staffing demands, meeting KPIs and adhering to service level requirements with employee workload, engagement and availability.

On top of this, your contact centre workforce often spends too much time gathering information to handle common tasks, which limits their ability to add value. This inefficiency not only frustrates employees, but it also negatively affects the customer experience.

Traditional off-premises systems likely hold you back from managing employee expectations and gaining insights from data, which help identify areas for improvement. For instance, these systems often lack the integration capabilities required for seamless operations. And if you can’t see all your data and correlate it, then it’s useless for improving your employee experience and business operations.

Consider the infamous “holiday meltdown” of 2022. Amid the lingering effects of the pandemic, a major US-based airline faced a combination of an unprecedented surge in travel demand along with severe weather conditions. The airline’s outdated scheduling software and limited staffing models couldn’t handle the spike, resulting in widespread flight cancellations and delays.

The crisis significantly impacted the airline’s revenue, reputation and employee morale. And it served as a wake-up call for all industries on what can go wrong when you’re put the employee experience second.

Recent trends in scalable cloud-based technology, along with the rise in remote and hybrid work, have transformed how employees engage. Additionally, the introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) presents new opportunities for an even more dynamic and evolving work environment.

If your technology cannot keep pace with advancements and effectively modernise your workforce, then your employees’ experience will suffer — and so will the customer experience. This creates a vicious cycle where poor employee experience results in subpar customer service, further stressing your employees.

The Next Step in Employee Experience

After years of focusing on improving digital engagement and websites, rapidly evolving trends are reshaping employee expectations. For example, the rise of social media has made workplace culture more visible, influencing how potential employees perceive your company. Transparent communication and a positive work environment, supported by modern technology, can attract top talent and improve overall workforce morale.

These shifts make it imperative for businesses to keep up with the technology their employees use. New advancements offer businesses an opportunity to significantly improve support for employees and customers without the need to build custom solutions.

Additionally, providing employees with the tools they need to succeed, such as knowledge assistance and engagement through gamification, empowers them to make informed decisions and feel more connected to their work.

EX Tools to Connect Old and New

Let’s face the facts: Nearly all on-premises software will reach end-of-life eventually. However, not every company is ready to move to the cloud at the same time.

The Genesys Cloud EX™ solution offers a standalone option for contact centres that aren’t ready for a full cloud transition but still desire a modern workforce engagement management (WEM) solution that’s compatible with an eventual full cloud migration. It’s especially beneficial for on-premises businesses that need help with scheduling, forecasting, quality management, gamification, performance and coaching.

Genesys Cloud EX prepares your business for the future. It’s easy to implement with the same code base as other Genesys products, providing immediate benefits that extend through a future migration to any cloud platform.

Pre-built connectors enable the integration of contact centre interaction data into your workforce engagement solution on Genesys Cloud EX. These connectors are compatible with existing Genesys Engage™ on-premises customers as well as companies using Avaya and Amazon Connect. By integrating with other critical business systems, you have everything you need in one place to manage and engage your workforce, making it an easy transition to modern technology.

These connectors also support speech analytics across all voice interactions. Interaction data from your current contact centre system loads into the EX software, identifying trends and topics for improvement through coaching, learning and gamification. Unified scheduling and forecasting, along with built-in security and compliance, allow comprehensive management of employee experience.

Advantages of Natively Built WEM Solutions

On-premises software capabilities might still meet some of your unique needs for employees, making it hard to see the value beyond the familiar. However, supporting your business overall requires integrated solutions.

Many third-party systems pose problems — even if they’re marketed as “all-in-one” — because they aren’t built on the same code base. Bolt-on solutions add multiple software layers, while natively built solutions share a unified code base and platform. And they’re designed from the ground up to work together.

Let’s explore how these approaches differ in practice.

With bolt-on solutions, you have recording data, but it’s not seamlessly connected to your forecasting data. These separate systems require additional integrations to transfer recording data into another system for forecasting, resulting in a more brittle setup and less accurate predictions.

This disjointed approach means you don’t have a clean line of data for average handle time or interaction volume, nor clear information on queue performance and meta data, leading to less accurate forecasts.

In contrast, built-in connectors integrate systems for consistent data across scheduling, forecasting, quality assurance, speech analytics and gamification. This eliminates hidden fees and maintenance costs associated with managing multiple components.

Seamless integration ensures that all aspects of the employee experience are managed cohesively, providing a smoother and more efficient operation. Compliance metrics are also built into a single solution, ensuring consistency and reliability.

With a natively built solution, all employee interactions can be tracked according to your strategy and analysed in real-time. This provides immediate feedback, allowing proactive adjustments. Such responsiveness can significantly enhance employee satisfaction and performance, as issues are promptly and effectively addressed.

AI-Powered Experiences for Long-Term Growth

When comparing connectors to an all-in-one system versus bolted-on systems, it is essential to understand their specific advantages. Real-time AI accelerators reduce manual tasks, improving efficiency and allowing teams to focus on more strategic activities.

AI-powered workforce engagement on the Genesys Cloud EX native platform offers significant value without requiring a full transition to the cloud, keeping future platform decisions open.

For example, AI can automate routine tasks, freeing up employees to focus on more complex and rewarding activities. This not only boosts productivity but also enhances job satisfaction.

AI-driven insights can provide personalised training and development opportunities, helping employees grow and advance in their careers. These tools ensure that employees feel valued and supported, which is crucial for maintaining high levels of engagement and motivation.

Adapting a Modern Workforce Management Strategy

Employees thrive with a positive work environment, and their satisfaction is essential to customer satisfaction. By investing in advanced workforce engagement solutions, companies can cultivate a more dynamic and responsive work environment.

It’s time to prioritise employee engagement with modern technology. Discover how Genesys Cloud EX can better position you to adapt to changing market demands, deliver an exceptional customer experience and achieve sustainable growth. And read “A practical guide to modern workforce planning” to understand how AI creates new opportunities in workforce management and planning.