Episode summary 

Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) is a cloud-based customer service solution providing businesses with features to manage customer interactions. CCaaS solutions typically offer a range of features: including inbound and outbound voice calls, email, chat, and social media support. One of the primary benefits of CCaaS is that it provides businesses with a scalable and flexible solution that adapts to changing customer demands and business needs. 

But if a business wants to stay competitive and meet customer expectations, contact centers must undergo a digital transformation which can be complex and challenging. 

In this episode of CX Education, Shameem Smillie, CCaaS consultant at AlwaysTheOther Limited, gets into the digital transformation of contact centers and the increasing use of technology in customer service. Shameem and our host Gwen Lafage discuss digital transformation, improving customer service, and the position of women in tech and customer experience. 

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Guest-at-a-glance 

💡 Name: Shameem Smillie 

💡 What she does: Shameem is a CCaaS consultant at AlwaysTheOther Limited. 

💡 Company: AlwaysTheOther Limited 

💡 Noteworthy: Shameem is a CCaaS consultant specializing in digital and customer experience transformation. She was previously the director of Product Enablement – Voice at LivePerson, as well as the director of Global Contact Center Solutions at Mitel. Shameem is also an advocate and activist for diversity, equity, and inclusion and a champion for women in tech. She is a founding member of Women in CX.
💡 Where to find Shameem: LinkedIn l Website 

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Key insights 

⚡ Gender imbalance in the technology industry and leadership positions in CX 

Women are a minority in the tech industry – they’re also a minority in leadership positions. Many organizations and individuals are working to address these issues and promote greater diversity and inclusivity in tech. One of them is Women in CX, a community of over 7,000 women from 50+ countries collaborating globally. As a founding member of Women in CX, Shameem explains why she decided to join this community. "In 2023, there's a huge gender imbalance in the tech industry. And even when you think about customer experience, according to the National Center for Women and Informational Technology, as well as the Office of National Statistics, women represent over 70% of the workforce in customer experience, but when you move up and start to look at leadership positions, they're less than 30%. And I want to be part of the solution to make that number more favorable and make it more equitable for both men and women in all the different industries that represent women in tech — all technology and customer experience." 

⚡ Increasing use of technology in customer service 

Customer service varies depending on the industry, company, and customer experience, but each has its challenges. One major trend is the increasing use of technology in customer service. According to Shameem, the pandemic has led companies to expand their customer service offerings beyond traditional phones and email to chatbots and social media. "What these channels do is they're supposed to allow customers to interact with companies in a way that's convenient and accessible, and what that should then do is lead to increased satisfaction, increase loyalty; the customer will stay with that business. And I think that's the promise, for the most part, of a lot of organizations." 

⚡ Companies should focus on the basics while going through digital transformation 

Digital transformati