GigCX Decoded

In this episode of the GigCX Decoded podcast, we speak with Dennis Pollett and David Creech from Microsoft.

Dennis is a Senior Product Manager at Microsoft. And David is the Community Support Planner for the Microsoft Answers Support Community.

In this interview, Dennis and David share the impact GigCX has had on the Microsoft Answers Support Community, including faster response times to community posts, higher customer satisfaction, and lower support costs.

The Microsoft community is one of the brand's key support channels. It has enormous amounts of customer volume, but before using GigCX, they couldn't scale fast enough to keep up with volume by hiring paid community advocates. Instead, they turned to GigCX to allow them to scale faster.

Dennis and David also spoke about the role AI and ChatGPT will play in CX, and how it may affect gig, potentially reducing the need for GigCX in terms of headcount, but also providing an opportunity for gig experts who may have less subject matter expertise to use AI to help customers.

They also shared their views on the perception gig has in the marketplace. Gig is not about corporations exploiting workers. It's about giving people ownership over what they choose to do at any given moment of the day. It's about giving people power over their work life that they likely wouldn't have in a traditional work environment.

Finally, they shared how organizations can approach bringing GigCX into their service environment, including the importance of first identifying what problem you're trying to solve with GigCX, and being very clear about the quality of service you expect to see from gig experts.

In this episode, we speak with Vinay Gupta and Dr. Julian Raabe with McKinsey & Company.

Gupta is a Senior Knowledge Expert at McKinsey & Company, with more than a decade of experience in contact center, advanced analytics and back office processes.

Raabe is a partner at McKinsey & Company, and leads McKinsey’s customer care, e-care, and digital care work in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. He advises leading technology, telecommunications, internet, and media companies to shape their customer-interaction strategies and foster customer engagement while capturing growth opportunities in the converging digital world.

Both were contributors to McKinsey’s 2021 report: An on-demand revolution in customer-experience operations?

In this interview, Vinay and Julian share several CX trends they're witnessing, dive into the benefits of a GigCX model, share best practices for organizations looking to implement a GigCX model, and more.

In this episode, we speak with Kristin Sharp, CEO of Flex Association, the voice of the app-based economy, representing America’s app-based rideshare and delivery platforms and the people who count on them.

Kristin has made a career out of innovating the way we work. Prior to joining Flex, Kristin was CEO of the Education Quality Outcomes Standards (EQOS) board, and senior fellow and former director of New America's Initiative on Work, Workers, and Technology.

She also co-founded Shift: The Commission on Work, Workers, and Technology, a joint project of New America and Bloomberg.

Before that, she worked on technology, innovation, and national security policy in the U.S. Senate for Sens. Mark Warner, Mark Pryor, Amy Klobuchar, and Richard Lugar.

In this interview, Kristin shares insights on who app-based workers are, including their personas and habits, how they're using the apps, how often, etc.

She also comments on recent proposed changes in U.S. legislation surrounding app-based workers.

She and her organization are focused on ensuring the U.S. Department of Labor hears from workers and understands why the structure of app-based platforms works for these workers.

Flex Association's research shows that 70-80% of people are not only satisfied with app-based work, but are hugely enthusiastic about it because of its flexibility.

She and her organization are also combatting misperceptions about app-based work among U.S. legislators, one of the biggest being that those who do app-based work do so because they're having a hard time finding work. She shares where she hopes to see the legislative process go in the near future.

To learn more about the Flex Association, visit https://www.flexassociation.org.

In this episode, we speak with Iain Regan, Chief Customer Officer at Limitless.

With over 20 years in leadership roles in global technology, BPO and consulting organizations, Iain has led international teams and inspired people to deliver results. Iain is a highly driven senior executive and revenue leader with extensive experience in the SaaS, technology and outsourcing industries.

In this interview, Iain shares some of the challenges facing the Customer Experience (CX) industry and leaders, including employee burnout, attrition, and mental health, as well as dealing with increasing complexity with technology and other factors.

He gives insights into why GigCX has risen in popularity, and highlighted how Covid enabled a different way of working and shifted people's work preferences, leading to the rapid advance of GigCX.

He highlights the benefits of GigCX to individuals and brands, and states that GigCX is a game changer - a model that can fundamentally shift how CX is delivered in a modern age.

In this episode, we speak with Mike Havard, chairman of the board of Limitless.

Mike Havard is a well-known customer management, channel and technology industry leader. He brings 30+ years of experience leading and growing businesses in the CX industry. He has held leadership roles with organizations like BT, Sitel, CM Insight and Verint. Most recently, he was a founding director of Ember, a professional services group focused on service strategies and performance transformation for champion brands globally. Ember was acquired by Davies Group in 2018. He has also held various non-executive director, investor and advisory roles in a range of innovative technology organizations, including anti-fraud technologies and e-learning.

In this interview, Mike shares his view on the biggest challenge facing CX leaders today -- an increase in workload (i.e. the amount of resources needed to manage the incoming customer service volume), which is placing a greater burden on the workforce and driving shortages in skilled staffing.

He also shares that he feels organization are too focused on volume and cost, rather than on customer value.

Despite all of the operational benefits GigCX brings to organizations, Mike believes the real excitement is about customer value. GigCX will play a huge role in the future because it will help organizations understand the value of customer contacts.

According to Mike, at the heart of GigCX is the passion organizations can tap into with your customers, as well as the trust it creates with customers.

In this episode, we speak with Neil Rae, Chief Digital Officer of VXI Global Solutions.

As a leader in a technology-led contact center organization, Neil embraces new and emerging technology and trends and make sure that we leverage those trends to unlock value within both customer and client base, but also employee base.

In this interview, Neil shares three trends he sees in the CX industry surrounding employee expectations, consumer expectations, and new and emerging technologies.

He shares what he feels will set organizations apart in light of these trends, and how GigCX align with these trends and will help organizations achieve the results now and in the future.

Finally, he gives his insights on an evolution from experience to trust, and how GigCX will be the key to achieving a level of consumer trust that organizations have yet to achieve.

In this episode, we speak with Catherine Jensen, VP Customer Experience for Sony Interactive Entertainment, home of PlayStation.

Catherine leads post-sales support for all of the PlayStation products and services. Also leads player-to-player moderation and online safety for the PlayStation network.

In this interview, Catherine gives us a peek behind the curtain on how PlayStation came to use GigCX in their organization, which began in a very cautious way to now expanding and growing to other areas of their business.

She shares her views on the benefits of GigCX and why other organizations should consider it.

In this episode, we speak with Peter Ryan, President and Principal Analyst of Ryan Strategic Advisory.

Ryan Strategic Advisory is the world’s most trusted source of actionable insight into the global front-office BPO and customer experience sectors.

He is known worldwide as an influential and trusted BPO and CX research analyst, strategic advisor and thought leader. He is also the co-host of the CX Files podcast with our friend Mark Hillary.

In this interview, Peter shares what he feels is the key to solving the challenge contact centers are facing of attracting and retaining talent.

He also shares his views on GigCX and the advantages of the gig model of CX, including the level of empathy brands can achieve by tapping into the ambassadorship of its own customers to assist with CX.

Learn more about Peter Ryan at https://ryanadvisory.com.

In this episode, we speak with Nick Clark, partner at Boston Consulting Group.

Nick helps leading brands to transform their customer service offering, bringing deep experience in operations, customer loyalty, and digital transformation.

In this interview, Nick gives his take on the current state of the contact center and agent experience. He shares that there's a change in thinking among customer service employees about what's important to them when it comes to work and career, including better pay, more flexibility, and being able to actually solve problems for customers.

He also shares his thoughts on the gig model and how it's moving from a discrete channel, separate from other CS channels, or overflow channel, to a more integrated approach to an overall service offering.

Finally, he talks about how GigCX has a lower barrier of entry compared to other gig opportunities, as well as how GigCX differs from other gig-based opportunities, including less wasted time and more efficiency.

Download the free 2022 GigCX Report

In this episode, we speak with Paul Estes, author of the best-selling book, Gig Mindset. He has spent over 20 years driving innovation in fast-moving leadership roles at Microsoft, Amazon and Dell.

Each week, Paul provides insights and perspective to over 100,000 readers of his weekly LinkedIn newsletter, and he frequently shares his insights as a contributor in Fast Company, TechCrunch, and Forbes, as well as a keynote speaker and panelist at events around the world.

In this interview, Paul shares his views on the rise of the independent worker and the desire of employees for more flexibility and autonomy.

He sheds light on why brands should adopt a gig mindset, how they should navigate implementing it in their organizations, and how brands should approach working with the gig community.

Download the free 2022 GigCX Report