Part 3: Future Considerations
Earlier in our series, we talked about what a resilient service network looks like and how to ensure predictable, positive outcomes throughout the network at all times. To close this blog series, I’d like to take a look into the future; what do we need to be thinking about and working on to ensure we can provide resilient, quality service delivery in 2021 and beyond?
Here are some of the key trends and issues we’ll have our eyes on:
- The remote or the hybrid workplace model. Understanding the new world that employees live and work in, and how to support them at work and at home. Obviously, the COVID-19 pandemic ushered in a new era of remote working and strained work-life balance for people everywhere. How do we simultaneously meet their needs, keep corporate cultures strong and maintain/advance customer service?
- Evolving end-user expectations. Talking with customers to understand their evolving expectations for service, and then developing solutions to meet or exceed those expectations. One such expectation we’re hearing more and more often at Source is that end-users are asking to pay for their technology and service by uptime, not SLAs or more traditional metrics. How do we adjust to keep customers happy and adapt our internal service systems and processes accordingly?
- We’re using technology today to manage service, logistics, staff and more in real time – and to configure that tech to optimize predictable, positive outcomes. This has become a sound best practice in the tech service world. We even have the ability to predict when certain parts and systems will fail, so that we can proactively service them and keep end-users up and running. How can we continue to use new tech and systems to automate our operations and enhance customer satisfaction while also freeing ourselves to focus on higher-value activities?
- Doubling down on culture and core values. As we’ve said throughout this series of posts, this is the foundation on which everything else in service resiliency is built. In addition, our customers consistently tell us this is a key attribute they consider when deciding to hire and keep working with us. Organizations that embrace the role and importance of culture in their service operations are pulling ahead in today’s competitive landscape. How do we ensure that company culture and core values remain foundational to all behaviors, actions, and communications across the entire service organization?
As we’ve discovered, very little of today’s service delivery is truly resilient, and cobbling it together as you go just doesn’t work. More and more, organizations are finding that it’s inhibitive or simply impossible to ensure resiliency with its employed workforce alone; they’re turning to consultants and third-party networks to plug their gaps. Of course, this approach has its pros and cons. But the key to success is ensuring you have a partner with the scale, knowledge, and redundancy to ensure fast, quality service delivery anywhere in the world…one who will work with you at every turn on complete end-to-end management of the service process…and one who won’t compromise on doing whatever it takes to make your customers happy.
Discover More from Source:
Want to continue exploring this subject? Watch our latest webinar “Building Service Resiliency”.
Source joins panel members from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Stryker Canada, Vology, and The Service Council to discuss the three critical components to building a resilient service delivery capability.