Category: Podcasts

Ep. 8 How this Call Center Agent Advanced Her Career through the sQholar Program

Posted on by Bernie Borges

Call Center Agents at iQor Who Invest in Themselves Have Opportunities to Grow

Welcome to another episode of the Digitally Irresistible podcast. Today’s guest is Gladys Rodinas, Supervisor Operations in Talisay, Philippines. Gladys has had an inspiring journey in her iQor career in just a few short years, starting as a call center agent.

Whether you watch the video or listen to the podcast, you’ll discover that her story includes graduating from the award-winning iQor sQholar program. Gladys also won a very prestigious award, took a memorable trip, and she is now in her dream job at iQor. Let’s start her story at the beginning.

Gladys was attracted to apply for a call center agent position at iQor in 2017 because she was ready for a new challenge in her young BPO career. She was hired by iQor into an agent role and immediately faced the challenge of living in a new city, not knowing anyone, and being in a new job.

Gladys says that she is a risk-taker and taking on this new challenge was exciting for her. She adjusted quickly to her new home, made friends, and poured herself into being the best call center agent she could be.

Gladys became aware of the sQholar program, which is part of iQor University. The sQholar program is an online training academy for agents who want to advance their skills to move into leadership roles. Once accepted, agents apply to the program and are given six months to complete the training — all while they meet the responsibilities of their full-time position as an agent.

Gladys says that going through the sQholar program required discipline and time management. The program completion has a six-month deadline which must be achieved to graduate. She points out that working through the program allowed her to make new friends, which is an added benefit of investing herself in this program.

Upon graduation, doors began to open for Gladys. She moved into an Apprentice Supervisor role, where she leveraged the skills she acquired in the program.

Before moving into the Apprentice Supervisor role, Gladys was recognized in 2019 as an Agent of the Year (AoY) at the Talisay site in the Philippines. This prestigious recognition included a trip to Orlando, Florida, with eight of her colleagues. Gladys spent time at Disney World and Universal Studios, taking in all the rides and attractions. She had a blast! Additionally, she and her AoY friends also met several of iQor’s senior executives and even attended a Town Hall event in person. Overall, this trip (which took place pre-pandemic) was very memorable for Gladys and her colleagues.

Upon return from her trip to Florida, Gladys moved into an Ambassador role where she regularly meets with agents to coach and inspire them to be their best to deliver a great customer experience.

When I asked her advice for new agents, Gladys says to love what you do and surround yourself with amazing people. She is very enthusiastic about the career opportunities at iQor. She wants to encourage everyone to work hard, pay close attention to achieving their target metrics, enjoy themselves, make new friends, and take full advantage of the resources iQor provides agents to grow in their careers.

When she’s not working, Gladys likes to hang out with friends, go to the gym and read books.

Gladys inspires me. Her smile and attitude are contagious. She inspires everyone who comes into contact with her. I hope you’re inspired now to work hard, make new friends, and take advantage of the resources available to you.

Discover the career opportunities available at iQor here.

Ep. 7 How Visionary Selling in the BPO Industry Wins

Posted on by Blake Graves

Meeting Client’s Short Term and Long-Term Needs Wins in the BPO Industry 

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Our featured guest on this episode is Gail McLaughlin Toti. Gail has a unique vision with her customer relationships based on her tenure in the BPO industry. She can see her client’s needs in the short term and the long term.

Gail has been with iQor for 11 years as Vice President of Business Development and has been in the contact center industry for more than 25 years. She started in the technology side of the business and has witnessed its evolution to provide a full spectrum of services today that include voice support with call center agents and digital support handled by other contact center agents and digital solutions. Gail has seen a lot of change in how the customer experience is managed.

The Evolution of the Customer Experience

Gail points out how the customer experience has evolved over the years from voice-only services delivered to a narrow set of vertical industry clients to an omnichannel model provided to clients across a wide variety of verticals in many sectors. The modern customer experience combines the human voice with digital services and consulting to clients, enabling them to use digital CX solutions to enhance the customer experience.

Each Customer is Unique

Gail attributes her creative selling skills in part to her focus on getting to know each customer, their brand, their go-to-market strategy, and what they need to accomplish. Her partner mindset with each customer relationship enables her to learn which CX solutions are the best fit now.

Gail also learns her partner’s DNA. Her vision is for both today as well as the future needs of each client. She tells the story of a new client who began a customer care program with iQor deploying 45 call center agents with growth potential to 400 agents. However, she is intent on addressing her client’s most immediate business objectives. She also has strong relationships with clients whose needs are the same year over year.

Regardless of a client’s growth potential, her approach is consistent. She always works to get to know the customer’s business. She seeks to understand where they are today and where they want to be in their business in the years to come. This approach of understanding a customer’s business plans coupled with Gail’s expertise in the contact center outsourcing industry allows her to develop customer service outsourcing solutions that are aligned to the client’s best interest today and in the years to come.

Conversations with Multiple Stakeholders

Two years ago, we received an RFP which was also sent to several of our competitors. We responded to the RFP in cooperation with several business partners. iQor won the business, starting the program with 45 full-time contact center agents. Today we have 900 full-time employees (FTEs) supporting this client, growing to 1,400 during peak season. This client relationship was built through a team effort which created an opportunity for iQor and our partners.

For example, we introduced our speech analytics solution to the client, saving them money and enabling them to win more renewals and build more revenue. The collaborative approach with all stakeholders in the decision process allowed Gail to structure a CX solution that achieves many meaningful metrics.

Customer Service Mix

Gail is always looking to find ways to help clients drive revenue with their end customers by leveraging various contact center solution offerings from iQor. She points out that she enjoys a long-standing relationship with PJ Singh, iQor’s Chief Digital Officer. They have worked together for many years to collaborate on designing CX solutions that help our clients exceed their customer experience goals.

Gail’s Vision for the Future of BPO

When asked what’s in store for the future of BPO, Gail quickly points out that it is in iQor’s DNA to embrace the industry’s ongoing evolution. The human voice will remain a key component of customer care delivery along with digital solutions, such as RPA, chat, SMS, speech analytics, and more. She expects these digital solutions to be complementary to voice contact center support solutions.

Charitable Fun

When Gail’s not working, she enjoys spending time with her family. At the time of this recording, Gail was training for the PMS Challenge, which is a cycling event in New England. Supporting an event such as this aligns with iQor’s value of Giving Back. Gail has an athlete’s mindset — she’s super competitive! — so we expect to hear a good report of her participation in this event! All proceeds go to the Dana Farber Foundation.

Learn more about iQor digital customer experience capabilities.

Ep. 6 Leadership Development Through Training and Mentors

Posted on by Bernie Borges

Leadership Development Fueled by a Winning Attitude Leads to Success

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Chris Holt started working at iQor when he was in high school on the 6 pm shift. Twenty years later, Chris’ leadership development path has resulted in him being a Director of Operations in Charlotte, NC, managing a team of customer experience professionals on a client portfolio in Warranties and Utilities. Chris’ impressive career journey at iQor has significantly been influenced by training and mentors.

During his high school years, his first job at iQor was doing collection work for a credit card company client. The work shift was 6 pm to 10 pm, which Chris says was perfect for him during his late high school season. This call center role gave Chris a glimpse into the robustness of career opportunities at iQor. Little did he know he was launching a growth path in his career during that late shift while he was in high school.

Upon college graduation, he realized that iQor presented much more to his career potential than his then-immediate job. He opened his eyes to the fact that iQor is a global organization. He decided to apply himself to a long-term career. His first full-time job was as an inbound customer care agent for a utility client.

After starting as a front-line agent, he then moved into a quality assurance role. In this role, he was laser-focused on maximizing the efficacy of the customer experience for each client. He was responsible for giving agents, supervisors, and clients feedback on which customer experience processes were most effective. After about a year and a half in this role, he became a front-line supervisor where he could build and manage his own team.

Building His Team

Chris was motivated to build his first team with “rock star call center agents” who supported each other through all circumstances. He wanted to set the bar high with his team of agents because they consistently exceeded all expectations. The team he assembled was indeed recognized as star performers, which fueled Chris’s motivation to keep growing as a leader at iQor. He certainly had help along the way.

The Influence of Mentors

Chris’ list of mentors is very long. When he first wanted to become a front-line supervisor, his then-current supervisor Paige Davis took him under her wings. She coached him to think like a manager to get the best performance from the agents on his team in ways that align with iQor’s culture. The mentoring he received from Paige was invaluable, which Chris credits with helping his career growth at iQor.

Chris had ups and downs along the way, as we all do in our career journey. When he became a supervisor, another mentor had a significant impact on him. His new manager at the time, Jack Scioti, taught him the fundamentals of contact center management. These learnings had a big impact on Chris’ ability to lead and manage teams. He advanced from working on one application to managing several across the U.S.

Paying it Forward

When Chris was promoted to a Director, he had an open manager position that he needed to fill. He reached out to a former peer of his on the quality assurance team, Greta Mcilwain. Chris encouraged her to apply for the open manager role. She applied and was awarded the position of overseeing one of the utility programs, reporting to Chris. 

Training and Development

Chris gives a lot of credit to the training he received through the iQor University sQholar program. Chris is very appreciative of the robustness of this training program and credits it with helping him tremendously to grow and develop in his leadership roles at iQor. The sQholar program is an accelerator for iQorians to grow into supervisors and other leadership roles.

A Winning Attitude

Before Chris became a director, he asked a senior leader for advice about getting promoted to director. The advice he was given is to always have a winning attitude. That advice had a significant impact on Chris. It’s what drives his attitude every single day. Likewise, he asks his supervisors and agents to have a winning attitude every day, so it trickles through to every individual on their team. This winning attitude carries into each conversation iQor agents have with end-user customers, whether by phone or through a digital channel.

Chris carries this winning attitude into the advice he offers others who are either considering joining iQor or those on their career journey at iQor. His advice is to “look for opportunities and go after them.” He says that opportunities are not going to fall into your lap but that they are available, and it’s up to each iQorian to seek them out and pursue those career opportunities. He encourages them to ask their leaders for advice on how to win those opportunities.

Chris credits iQor’s culture with great pride for everyone’s willingness to help others in their career aspirations through advice, coaching, and mentoring.

What Chris Does for Fun

Chris is a dad to two beautiful daughters, ages 13 and 8. He says being a dad is a full-time job. He spends as much time with them as possible. He is also a sports enthusiast. He enjoys playing golf and cheering for his hometown Carolina Panthers football team.

Learn more about iQor digital customer experience capabilities.

Ep. 5 The Journey from Call Center Agent to Training Manager

Posted on by Blake Graves

How a Call Center Agent’s Dream Job Was Realized

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Our featured guest on this episode is Maria Cristina Castro, also known as Strawberry Castro. We began our conversation with the back story on her nickname, Strawberry. We learned that her given name is widespread in the Philippines, and when her sister gave her the nickname Strawberry in their childhood, it stuck. Strawberry has a remarkable career journey in just five years at iQor, which began as a call center agent.

She joined iQor in 2016 with two friends from another BPO. Her previous BPO employer was downsizing an account, which motivated her and her friends to look for new opportunities. She heard from other friends that iQor was recruiting in her area in the Philippines, offering attractive packages for experienced agents. She researched the company, and all three of them applied for jobs. All three got hired as call center agents and are still with iQor five years later.

Strawberry excelled in her first role at iQor as a call center agent delivering customer care. She was in this role only for nine months. She admits that it was a different experience than what she was used to. The account she supported had an extroverted personality. She had fun learning and adapting to the client while absorbing the culture of iQor. She quickly points out that both the account and iQor had a lot of energy and passion, which appealed to her very much.

After nine months in the call center agent role, and with a lot of mentoring and coaching from supervisors and peers, Strawberry was promoted to Subject Matter Expert (SME). A SME is a “walking Google” (her words) that helps agents handle calls. Strawberry had mastered the personality of the client’s brand and the customer service issues, enabling her to be an effective SME. Her managers started developing her for the next role. With mentoring, she was promoted again, this time to supervisor apprentice.

Now, Strawberry managed her own teams, monitored performance, and served as a mentor to agents. By this time, she was very motivated to continue her career journey at iQor in leadership roles.

She entered the sQholar program, which is part of iQor University. Its purpose is to develop call center employees into leadership potential. The sQholar program is comprised of online courses and live classes designed to help agents become leaders. She says it was a fantastic experience. The program requires employees to complete the training in a six-month timeframe plus an entire week of leadership training. This experience was very instrumental in preparing her for a leadership role.

However, she didn’t complete the sQholar program within six months, which was a temporary setback for Strawberry. She was removed from the apprentice program, and she returned to the SME role.

While Strawberry was disappointed in herself for not completing the program in time, she reflected on what she had learned and regrouped with her mentors and coaches. Her support system was solid. They encouraged her to assert herself, and she planned her next career step at iQor.

Strawberry volunteered to host a year-end party to showcase her skills and to get exposure. It paid off. Hosting the event gave her visibility with other departments, displayed her skills, and quickly gave back her confidence.

She returned to the sQholar program and completed it on time, graduating with honors! Then the door opened for an opportunity to become a trainer. She spoke with her mentors, got their advice, and applied for a trainer role. And she got the job! She was ecstatic to join the training team, where she went through the trainer certification program. She became certified in level one and has also completed level two. She is currently in level three of the train-the-trainer program. Not surprisingly, Strawberry has stepped up and proved to be an effective trainer.

At the time of this podcast publishing, she is a training manager handling frontline leadership development at her site in Talisay, Philippines.

Strawberry’s story is inspiring because she didn’t allow a setback to derail her career journey at iQor. Instead, she double-downed on her strengths and, with guidance from her mentors, put an action plan in place for her next career step at iQor.

Her advice to anyone considering joining iQor is to be open to learning. Learning is what she attributes her success to, along with having access to mentors. She encourages others to leverage their previous experience. And never stop learning for fun. Strawberry enjoys spending time with her two sisters and her teenage son going shopping, relaxing at the beach, and taking food trips. She and her son share a love for rock music and fantasy adventure too.

Learn more about iQor digital customer experience capabilities.

Ep. 4 How Robotic Process Automation Reduces Call Handle Time

Posted on by Bernie Borges

Robotic Process Automation is Delivering on its Promise

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Welcome to another episode of Digitally Irresistible. Today’s guest is Ada Smith, Director of Analytics. Ada works with very cool technology known as RPA, which stands for robotic process automation. In this episode, Ada explains what RPA is, some use-cases for it, and provides two real-world examples of how iQor is deploying intelligent automation solutions.

Ada has been with iQor for 20 years. Her career journey has taken her from finance to data solutions and analytics, where she learned software deployment. She joined the iQor Innovations Lab, which allowed her to experiment with technologies using gamification concepts. Currently, Ada is in the Customer Satisfaction and Digital Solutions Group, where she gets to deploy digital solutions such as robotic process automation (RPA).

As Director of Analytics, Ada gets to work with other analysts and developers in iQor’s Center of Excellence (COE) group to develop technology-enabled solutions to improve processes. Such process improvements are time savings at scale, which results in a substantial monetary value. Automating manual processes through RPA represents significant time savings or a boost in productivity, often both. It also reduces call handle time as well as agent training time, which accelerates customer care delivery.

What is RPA?

Robotic process automation is software developed to perform complex, repetitive, rules-based tasks. RPA allows employees to focus on high-value tasks and decision-making by handling rote tasks. It enables employees to improve the customer experience, their own employee experience and get better survey results from the end-user. RPA can eliminate errors, improve accuracy and help call center agents meet their KPIs. RPA use cases range from back-office tasks to customer-facing operations.

Customer support professionals love RPA because it takes away the guessing of what to do next when dealing with a customer support issue in real-time. RPA solutions can be attended, which guides the agent through a task, moving from field to field, guiding or prompting the agent along the way. Or, they can be unattended, which delivers automation from end to end on a task. Customer service professionals who use RPA are more satisfied with their work because they can spend more time working on issues that require thinking and decision-making.

Criteria for Deploying RPA

Deploying RPA from use case to use case requires an iQor Center of Excellence evaluation to determine the ROI potential regardless of whether it’s a customer-facing or a back-office task. COE analysts examine the efficiencies that will be realized for our customer or for our own company if an internal use case is being considered and asses if the ROI potential is worth the level of effort of creating an RPA solution.

Two RPA Use Cases

The first RPA example Ada shares is an internal use case at iQor. It was a queue-based, human-managed, repetitive task with multiple levels of review and approval. It was time-consuming and frequently experienced jams in the queues. The RPA software deployed is full end-to-end automation, reviewing and approving the entire request, deciding the result, and completing the task. This RPA process is still in production at iQor. Ada likes this example because it has fully automated a human process, saved time and effort and enables employees to spend their time on more value-based activities.

The other RPA example Ada shares is being deployed for an airline customer. iQor was having to specially train groups of support experts to handle a specific task pertaining to back-office voucher fulfillment for the airliner’s end customers. Talented customer support experts were spending an excessive amount of time on calls, manually copying and pasting content from spreadsheets to complete the task at hand.

An RPA solution was deployed to automate the steps in each task, such as finding an account number, typing in the data, and other repetitive actions across many steps. It was automated as a guided workflow for the employee agent. Once it was implemented, the RPA solution enabled the airline’s customer service teams (staffed by iQor) to significantly reduce call handle times. This RPA solution continues to evolve to serve the client best over the long run.

What’s Next for RPA?

Robotic process automation is never done evolving. There is always room for process improvement. Even when RPA is built for end-to-end task completion, we may sometimes still want a human to complete a task.

The biggest benefit RPA provides is ROI derived from process improvement. This is usually measured in terms of time savings or improved customer service. The primary ROI is always measurable. We also listen to anecdotal insights from customer support employees on the front lines delivering a good customer experience.

Robotic process automation has also enabled us to gain valuable insights through metrics such as time spent on tasks, which allows the operations team to learn more about the process being automated. RPA is a crucial steppingstone to improving performance, which is a perpetual goal for all iQor clients, and one that we continually iterate on.

Other use cases under consideration include integration with other applications. Ada says that iQor will continue to expand the use of RPA within our own company, too. The COE team is also looking at integrating RPA with other applications such as IVR and SMS to help our customers deliver customer care more efficiently. “We’re always looking for an opportunity to improve processes,” says Ada.

When Ada is not working, she says that she enjoys the arts as well as reading voraciously and cooking, and singing.

Learn more about iQor digital customer experience capabilities.

Ep. 3 A 25 Year Journey in the BPO Industry Motivated by Helping People

Posted on by Bernie Borges

There’s Much to Love About Being in Sales in the Business Process Outsourcing Industry

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Annette Timmins has been in the Business Process Outsourcing industry, referred to commonly as BPO, for more than twenty-five years. She recently joined iQor as Vice President, Business Development. In this episode, we spoke with Annette about the changes she’s seen in the BPO industry and why she joined iQor.

Annette addressed our question about why she loves the BPO industry with a twist. She answered why she loves being in sales in the BPO industry. It boils down to one concept. Annette loves to help people. She points out that the essence of what an outsourced business processing company does every day is delivering help. She reminded us that when we have a problem or a question with one of the products or services we use, we contact the brand in need of help. The people who deliver that help to their customers are contact center agents like the 30,000 agents employed by iQor.

Annette loves to work with people at brands who need to set up contact centers to support their end customers. To Annette, those conversations are rewarding because she is helping a client address a critical need in their business.

How has the BPO Industry Changed?

With Annette’s twenty-five-year-plus tenure in the BPO industry, we were curious to learn how she’s seen the industry evolve. She says that in one way, the industry hasn’t changed because it’s still fundamentally about delivering customer care. What has changed a lot is how contact centers provide care. She points out that call center agent training has changed from in-person training with binders to online training delivery. The common theme in the changes in BPO is the advances in technology used to deliver customer care along with the training and development of call center agents.

Annette embraces the technology boom that enables BPOs such as iQor to use analytics and AI to help with call handle times and call deflection rates. By delivering more information to contact center agents proactively and reactively through intelligent automation, agents are better equipped to provide a great customer experience

Why iQor?

We wanted to know why Annette joined iQor after making other stops in her BPO career journey. She responded with an explanation that embodies the essence of the Digitally Irresistible podcast. Annette is drawn to iQor by the mix of digital BPO solutions that offer clients robust customer care options along with the irresistible culture and people at iQor. She appreciates having the ability to provide customer care solutions across 50-plus facilities ranging from the U.S. to Trinidad to the Philippines for clients across many industries. 

Annette likes to enjoy herself while working (don’t we all!). At iQor she has found the right balance of taking business seriously with robust BPO solutions while also enjoying the people and the work. She appreciates that iQor is a mid-size BPO with a great culture and agility to deliver effective customer experience solutions. She also appreciates the abundance of digital technology available to iQor’s clients, such as speech analytics and robotic process automation. 

We weren’t surprised to learn that Annette has a rich list of activities she does with her family for fun. The first one she mentioned was participating in charity events. Annette loves helping people. It’s fun for her. She also is an avid tennis player and sits on the Adult Competition Committee for the United States Tennis Association (USTA). 

Learn more about iQor digital customer experience capabilities.

Ep. 2 Train the Trainer Certification that Creates Irresistible People

Posted on by Blake Graves

Creating Irresistible Agents through World-Class Training

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On episode one of the Digitally Irresistible podcast, we discussed the role of digital technology in delivering a personalized omnichannel customer experience that end-users demand. In episode two, we focus on the irresistible part of the equation because, in order to deliver a great customer experience using digital channels, it’s imperative to have an irresistible culture where people can connect with customers on a deeper level to deliver solutions. And, in order to create a great culture, we need a trainer certification program that scales to train thousands of employees who are on the front lines of customer care.

Our featured guest on this episode is Tarisse Grant-Shelton, M.Ed. Tarisse has been with iQor for 16 years. She started her career at iQor as a trainer in 2013 for the newly launched corporate training program. Since then, the corporate training program has evolved into a global learning community focused on keeping trainers connected with each other and up-to-date on best learning practices and curriculum content.

Currently, Tarisse runs the global Train the Trainer Certificate Program (TTT). More than 300 trainers go through the program every year to deliver consistent training to iQor customer support experts across the globe.

The Train the Trainer Certification Program Explained

Tarisse used a tree planting metaphor to explain the program. She says, if you use a spoon to dig a hole to plant a tree, it will eventually get the job done, but obviously, it will take a lot of effort. If you upgrade to using an ice cream scoop, that’s a better tool, but it’s still not good enough. The iQor Train the Trainer Certification program is like a shovel. It’s a much bigger tool that will allow the tree planting to occur more efficiently. The TTT program provides trainers the “shovel.” New and seasoned trainers alike benefit from this robust program.

Our clients rely on our trainers to deliver the content that agents need to be an extension of their brand and support their customers as one cohesive unit. This is a huge accomplishment for all the industries we support including telecom, travel and hospitality, financial services, eCommerce, retail, to name a few. The TTT program allows for training to occur at scale so our agents can effectively support millions of our client’s customers and maximize call center performance management.

Over the years, the Train the Trainer Certification program has evolved into a world-class, award-winning program that equips trainers with the know-how to train thousands of customer care agents to deliver a great customer experience to iQor clients’ end-user customers.  

Award-Winning Trainer Certification Program

In 2014, ATD, the Association for Talent Development, recognized iQor with an award. This award was a turning point because it inspired the change in nomenclature from training to talent development. It also helped to open the flood gates for numerous other awards received including LEAD Awards – Recognition for Best Train the Trainer Program in 2017 and 2018, and numerous Stevie® Awards for related training programs.

Creating a Community of Amazing Trainers

In order to stay current on iQor’s client customer care needs, Tarisse conducts research to ensure the training methods continuously evolve and remain current with best practices and cutting-edge engagement techniques. Currently, the trainer certification program is comprised of four levels.

Level I is focused on facilitation of basics and best practices.  In order to earn their level-one certificate, trainers are put to the test: they have to actually present and teach a class. But Tarisse keeps it light. Trainers can choose any topic. Level 1 trainer certification presentations have allowed Tarisse to learn a myriad of topics such as how to cook secret family recipes, get over a break-up, meditate, and even how to properly open a coconut.

Level II is more advanced. This is where trainers have that ‘aha’ moment. They come to understand the “why” of what we do and are certified as a global training leader.

Level III is for the trainers that want to progress further into teaching strategy. They learn how to write and administer engaging curriculum, and how to design interactive courses. By the end of this level, they have the tools they need to create new curriculum that they can implement immediately with their team.

Level IV is focused on the Digital Experience (DX). It’s about how to maintain responsiveness through digital engagement. Trainers leverage cutting-edge interactive tools that provide agents a more hands-on experience as they learn to engage with end customers through omnichannel digital technology. These tools are used across client programs and industries.

Many trainers start out as a training assistant and as they progress through the levels, they earn promotions into training supervisors and managers. 

What’s Next in the iQor Trainer Certification Program

Tarisse is very excited about launching the next iteration of the Level Two Advanced Facilitation course. It will feature a new interactive module for trainers to engage with their trainees outside the classroom. The goal is to better establish bonds and create a truly interactive space where trainers can develop more trust and build a community within their classroom. 

What Do You Do for Fun?

In response to this question, Tarisse (without hesitation) says that when she is not working, she is at the beach. You will find Tarisse at the beach from sun up to sundown. She lives just eight minutes from the beach in Florida where she is able to do this all year long. Considering how much creativity and energy goes into the Train the Trainer Certification program, unwinding at the beach has proved to be key to reenergizing Tarisse’s passion for developing iQor’s talented trainers of call center agents supporting clients across many industries.

Learn more about iQor digital customer experience capabilities.

Ep. 1 The Role of Digital Technology in the Modern Customer Experience

Posted on by Bernie Borges

Digital Technology Transforms the Customer Experience to a Competitive Advantage

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Welcome to the inaugural episode of the Digitally Irresistible podcast. Our featured guest on the first episode is PJ Singh, Chief Digital Officer at iQor. PJ reveals how the customer experience has evolved in recent years from a brand’s expense to an investment in a brand’s competitive advantage and how digital technology has impacted the experience for both end customers and the brands delivering those experiences.

The customer experience has changed dramatically over the last fifteen or twenty years. Moreover, customer demands have changed expecting to be serviced in the channel of their preference, whenever they want, whether at the brand’s storefront or their website or their social media page. The modern customer experience is about being present with answers. It’s about enabling customers to get support on products, services, and solutions. The customer care delivery model has changed significantly as well.

At iQor, we hire contact center agents across the globe and train them to be brand ambassadors for our clients. These agents are skilled at solving customer problems, providing the same experience on any channel whether it’s a website, chat, mobile phone or tablet, SMS, social media, or the traditional phone conversation. When an end-user customer reaches an agent, they want to know that the agent understands their situation and that the brand they represent understands how to help that customer. Brands such as Apple and Starbucks have become the gold standard in delivering a great customer experience. Consequently, consumers expect to have similar experiences with all the brands they engage.

Consumers want answers to questions fast. Digital technology plays a dramatic role in a speedy and effective customer experience. Many consumers use their mobile device to contact a brand. The expectation is that the brand’s CX strategy enables them to recognize the consumer and can provide 24/7 support through robotic processes that understand natural language and understand how to help.

The digitally enabled call center agent has access to tools that make their job easier to answer questions and to deliver an effective customer experience. Digital technologies can determine customer intent and, by deploying speech analytics, can bring solutions to the agent that enable them to solve problems and answer questions quickly. Agents can access a knowledge base for answers to questions that are delivered to the agent.

These agents are passionate about helping solve customer problems. The human/machine orchestration allows agents to deliver customer care solutions quickly and with reasonable effort. They don’t need to spend time pouring through a monolithic library of articles to search for an answer because it can be delivered to the agent through intelligent automation.

Advantage of Digital Technology to the End Customer

The biggest advantage of digital technology in service to the end customer is the convenience factor. How quickly can we answer their questions? Consumers don’t call their bank to get their balance, they look it up on a mobile app. When consumers have a question, they send a message on one of several digital channels and they may even complete it on another platform later in their day at their convenience.

The advantage of digital technologies in customer care delivery to the brand is mostly financial, reducing time to process transactions, simplifying the design of a product, cross-selling or sustaining customer loyalty, all by leveraging agents’ use of omnichannel communication. These processes strengthen brand loyalty and cross-selling success, which can result in that coveted stickiness every brand desires.

This modern customer experience model is no longer viewed as a cost center. In fact, customer experience is considered the number one priority among brands with 45.9% ranking it as their top priority. The service center of today creates brand loyalty, renewals, and cross-selling revenue. Without a great customer experience the consumer won’t come back to the brand. A great customer experience is a competitive differentiator. New and emerging companies with a disruptor business model often lead with customer experience as their differentiator, e.g., Vroom, AirBnB, Ally Bank to name a few. In other words, CX is the new standard.

Game Changer Digital Technology

PJ is very excited about the promise of artificial intelligence. AI is generating a lot of excitement across many use cases in society. In customer experience, AI can help agents make decisions faster. AI can speed up analysis by pouring through large amounts of data and delivering answers to questions to an agent to help them solve a customer’s issue quickly. While AI is still developing in this use case, the promise of harnessing the power of data via AI is very exciting. It has huge potential to continue to change the customer journey landscape.

On each episode, we ask our guest what they do for fun. PJ’s fun activities revolve around his two young children, ages 6 and 5. PJ enjoys sports. He plays tennis and he’s looking to take golf lessons one day. He also likes to take a nap when he can squeeze it in, which he says is not very often.

Learn more about iQor digital customer experience capabilities.

Get ready for iQor’s Digitally Irresistible Podcast!

Posted on by Blake Graves
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We are excited to announce that we will launch a new podcast in July 2021 called Digitally Irresistible.

We cover the optimization of digital technologies and irresistible people that influence both employee and customer experience. Each guest provides a unique perspective on a relevant topic that has a measurable impact on the business!

The Digitally Irresistible podcast will be available in video format as well as traditional audio podcast format accessed through popular podcast players such as Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Overcast and others.

Something for Everyone in Customer Experience (CX) Roles

The topics we cover are insightful to professionals who care greatly about delivering a great customer experience. At iQor, we know that a great employee experience is a prerequisite to delivering a great customer experience. The “irresistible” in the name of the podcast addresses the role of irresistible culture and people needed to be ambassadors for a brand when caring for its customers.

If you’re in customer care, customer service, customer experience, marketing, procurement or recruiting, this podcast is for you.

Ways to join us:

  • Subscribe! Love employee and customer experience? Then you’ll enjoy listening as we explore topics from intelligent automation to technology leaders on the cutting edge of customer care. And most importantly, you’ll hear from amazing people who use these tools every day! Each episode will be approximately fifteen minutes long. Subscribe to receive notifications by visiting the Insights section at our website. You can subscribe directly on popular podcast players mentioned above as well as our YouTube channel.
  • Share! Please help us spread the word on what it means to be digitally irresistible. We carefully select our guests and topics and know that you’ll enjoy what they have to share. Use the power of your network to share our podcast through social media channels to encourage others to listen.

The team would love to hear your ideas and input on topics to cover. Drop me your digitally irresistible ideas at [email protected]. Our launch is just around the corner.

We hope you will be listening to the Digitally Irresistible podcast brought to you by iQor!