That is a fair description of what Cicero XM is all about. It is built to allow its users to create a superior customer experience by allowing the Business Process Analyst to work from the customer’s point of view to design the optimal interaction experience. In Rules to Break and Laws to Follow, Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Ph.D. ask, “[w]hat’s it really like to be your customer? What is the day-in, day-out 'customer experience' your company is delivering? How does it feel to wait on hold on the phone? To … wait for a service call that was promised two hours ago, come back to an online shopping cart that’s no longer there an hour later? Or what’s it like to be remembered? To receive helpful suggestions? To get everything exactly as it was promised? To be confident that the answers you get are the best ones for you?”
As Peppers and Rogers further point out, a successful customer experience is based on trust. If your customer doesn’t trust the information received during an interaction, she will not be a customer for very long. If the agent doesn’t trust the systems he is using, he will not be an agent for very long. Trust is the bandwidth of change and one of the key components of trust is what Dennis Reina and Michelle Reina refer to as “Transactional Trust” in the Reina Trust and Betrayal Model™. Transactional trust contains three core components: Contractual Trust or “Trust of Character”, Communication Trust (“Trust of Disclosure”) and Competence Trust (“Trust of Ability”). Each of these trusts are created incrementally and are reciprocal between the parties to the transaction. There is not space here to go into detail about all the aspects of trust, but trust me, it is one the most critical components of success. It is also one of the easiest to destroy. To quote Peppers and Rogers one more time: “Customers may forgive honest mistakes but will never forgive dishonesty.”
In many cases, the perception of a company is driven by the performance of its contact center; a 2002 Purdue University study showed that 92% of U.S. consumers base their image of a company on experience with company’s contact center. That same study showed that 86% of those calling to express dissatisfaction with a product or service will stop using the company if their call experience was negative.
Cicero XM was designed and built specifically to help companies address these issues. For example, one major source of problems in contact centers is agent frustration. What causes this? One significant reason is what the Reinas would refer to as an unintentional betrayal of trust caused by a failure to give the agents the correct tools to allow them to do their jobs easily and effectively. When an agent has to use multiple applications to retrieve a customer’s record, or has to cut and paste data between applications or ask a caller to wait for a slow system, that agent cannot possibly be 100% focused on attaining a trust relationship with the caller. Cicero XM’s scripting, data integration through the United Data Model™, call flow management and agent workspace all combine to convert this:
into this:
A clean, organized workspace that presents the agent with exactly the information needed, when it is needed. A workspace that is completely context sensitive based on call type that can be determined from DNIS/ANI or other information provided by an IVR, the caller or other data source.
The unique Cicero XM Studio allows screen layouts, scripts and even call flows to be created and modified by the contact center’s own Business Process Analysts. With Cicero XM Enterprise, changes can be automatically deployed to Cicero XM Desktop so that all agents have the latest information at all times.
Cicero XM Studio can help further enhance the trust relationship between agent and management because now when an agent makes a suggestion as to how a screen could be better laid out, or how a call flow could be made more efficient, it is no longer necessary to get IT involved. If the change makes sense, it can be implemented and deployed in hours or days rather than weeks or months. The agents will see their ideas come to life and will therefore feel trusted and empowered. This attitude will come through to the customers as well as they sense the agents’ enthusiasm and loyalty.
Providing your customers with accurate information in a timely and concise manner will go a long way towards building their trust. Over the next several weeks and months, you will see more about how Cicero XM is revolutionizing customer experience management and will help you transform your customers’ experience with your company.
The Purdue study referenced earlier also points out that only 16% of customers reported contact experience that exceeded their expectations. That is pretty poor. However, 95% of those people (who had those great experiences) will stay with that company. Cicero XM will help your company exceed expectations and transform your customers into “raving fans.”
Jim Hunt
Director of Product Development
Cicero Inc.
