As well as the tragic cost in human lives, the COVID-19 crisis continues to create instability at every level for global industry. While it is too early to accurately forecast the full implications and severity, Group MD and CEO for UK, SA and India David Turner suggests that senior-level insight combined with informed and decisive action could be the key to better outcomes for CX providers.

To steal a timely phrase from JRR Tolkien; it’s a dangerous business, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.

It has never been more important for our industry to maintain a firm footing during the turbulent environment created by COVID-19. It’s clear that, along with the catastrophic impact on global health and radical curtailment of our social freedoms, the pandemic has brought a series of rapid changes and challenges in the delivery of CX, impacting our clients, their customers, and of course, our people.

As businesses begin to take their first tentative steps out of this extraordinary crisis, Gobeyond Partners, part of the Webhelp Group, have created a succinct analysis to identify and explain the key stages we should expect to encounter.

Mark Palmer, Gobeyond Partners CEO, recognises that the political, social, and economic rules for business have been radically altered and that:

“Although the impact of the crisis, and this associated shift, will vary across country, industry, and organisation, we are seeing a distinct phasing of business and operational responses as we slowly make this transition. We call this ‘The Crisis Curve’.” 

Mark further identifies five clear phases resulting from crisis; rapid crisis response, take back control, business as unusual (BAU), transition to new normal and finally crisis futureproofing.

Crisis Curve graph

My personal view is that companies will be able to utilise this model to inform strategy and predict future trends, something that could be invaluable at this point, when it’s obvious that many brands and business are still struggling at the first hurdle.

In term of rapid response, at Webhelp, we have been transparent about the significant challenges we met to mobilise our resources at breakneck speed. Within two weeks we created a safe and stable home workforce of 7,000 connected individuals, which is growing as more clients reach out to us for rapid off-site solutions.

Our response to this problem was both ethical and agile, as Helen Murray, explains in her COVID-19 response blog:

“As a people-first business, taking a human approach to this crisis has been a logical step, which has meant rapidly looking at ways to increase our infrastructure to support homeworking where possible. While this solution won’t be suited to every operation, it is something that we will continue to look at and develop in the months ahead, in partnership and responding to the needs of our clients.”

The next stage Mark addresses, centres on taking back control – which could prove to be the economic tipping point in many sectors, as the financial impact of COVID-19 really starts to bite. This will be an especially difficult time for those brands or sectors, which either lack knowledge and expertise, or refuse to adapt. The exception to this rule will be companies that are sitting comfortably in the black financially, who can afford to make a choice to wait it out.

Operations will face considerable stress as they adapt to employee issues like furlough, self-isolation and remote working plus the inevitable changes in stock and supply. But, I believe that flexibility and access to skilled human resources will be the true factor in enabling successful business transformation.

It may not have been a straight path, but at Webhelp, we have now confidently taken back control for our clients, both on and off site. And encouragingly, the new homeworking operations are performing better than expected, in a very short time frame, which is a compliment to the resilience and adaptability of our people.

In South Africa, the Customer Engagement Industry has worked together in a unique collaboration with clients, industry bodies and the government, to create a robust CX platform and to safeguard jobs and their economy. Our passionate teams have been at the forefront of this endeavour.

The forthcoming BAU phase could benefit those companies who need to successfully pivot their service structure, to sustain and generate new revenue streams.

Gobeyond Partners believe that crucially, this is the point at which operating models start to permanently shift, which will require a renewed focus from leadership teams on performance optimisation, transformational programmes and some medium term investment. If done well this could be key to creating competitive advantage.

And customers will be carefully watching this stage too, as Craig Gibson, Chief Commercial Officer for the UK region comments in his recent blog:

Companies will also be remembered for the way they adapted ways of working to support their people, during a time when the public focus is (understandably) on unity and standing together.”

I believe that by considering and responding to the parameters of the crisis curve, we can begin to create an informed roadmap. Watch this space for a new series of blogs, interviews and studies, exploring how CX transformation can help customer experience providers ride the curve, navigate changing forecasts and guide their customers safely through the storm.

Read Mark’s article here, find out more about our stance on the COVID-19 crisis, and read my further thoughts on how this challenge will create a radical shift in the future of homeworking