Dorin Simea, Process and Transition Manager, CWS
What are the trends related to technology that 2022 will bring or will continue in our industry?
I believe that technology will be leveraged in 2022 to continue the digitalization of the Enterprise with the goal of creating value for the customers, business and last but not least the employees which are the most valuable asset of an organization, where the focus would be on the collaboration tools and systems that are used for interacting with each other in this new normal hybrid model.
When looking at the Organization I believe a lot is depending on the maturity level which will influence the technological focus:
– for less mature organizations: the goal will be to integrate tools & systems: getting rid of legacy systems, interfaces and on premise solutions and transform towards integrated cloud solutions
– for more mature organizations: focus on automation, robotics, predictive analytics, machine learning and artificial intelligence developed processes which should be implemented using collective intelligence based research.
How will they impact us?
Transformation and Change comes always with a price. Usually change is hard for most Organizations if not managed carefully.
What opportunities and challenges should we expect?
The opportunities for these type of transformational projects could set the GBS Organization in the lead of driving these initiatives, being the change agent in the Organization, or a valuable and trusted partner of the department that is driving the Transformational initiative.
A roadmap needs to be established with clear goals and objectives, with a proper planning, which requires good executive sponsorship and no detractors among the key stakeholders.
People however tend to have a hard time accepting change, even though when needed they adapt quite easily – (see for example the shift of working from home due to the COVID 19 pandemic situation).
How do you plan to use them in your favor and to be ahead of the others?
We first need to understand the stakeholders’ needs and expectations; currently the GBS Organization is being seen as a trusted partner in the Organization valued for skill and competence, which is focusing on efficiency gain through continuously improving the processes and service delivery. The plan is to apply technology and self-developed tools (with or without coding need) as well as RPA development or more complex technologies to accelerate manual work. Focus is constantly put on technology changes and process transformation, which drive the elimination of unnecessary steps & processes.
In order to be able to create value we need big and bold projects that are sustainable which focus on medium and long term, as well as in parallel every day we need the whole team and the mind-set of each employee so we can bring up small improvements to the table (little by little every day).
What do you think is here to stay and what new trends will emerge in 2022 when it comes to work?
The Pandemic has changed the way we work, recruit, onboard and interact – moving from face to face to online meetings. Remote and hybrid model is going to stay in 2022 and many years from now.
This major change has revealed to us the following aspects:
- Employees could be productive working from everywhere, even feeling more relaxed (introverts)
- Employers can find talent faster and easier
- The job opportunities in remote era have grown up to 20% and employees are more open to change jobs
- If you want to have success as an employer, you have to be flexible and technology friendly
I believe the most challenging part for companies will be to keep up the team spirit, have bonding events and motivated employees. As a working model, in Sibiu, we will apply the Hybrid one and for the colleagues outside Sibiu, we plan to bring them in the office 2-3 times a year, to spend some time and to socialize with their colleagues. In addition to that, the need for team events, team buildings and gatherings will definitely increase a lot after this period. In the remote system, we will have to care more for our employees, to make sure that the lack of face-to-face interaction will not affect their mental and emotional health. In preventing this, many companies – including us, will start investing more in employees’ wellness and wellbeing programs.
Are there any trends in the customer experience area?
I believe that technology will play an important role also in the customer experience part. Projects in the organization that focus on Omni channel or such as next generation sales (NGS) are influencing and having definitely an impact in the customer experience, which is in need of a next generation customer care. Futuristic Metaverse meetings or virtual reality (VR) showrooms and demos will be the selling argument and will give a great customer experience.
In the Global Business Services space, preparing VR floor walks will definitely delight customers and give an extra touch in parallel to the created slides and videos.
Do you foresee any change in the way our industry delivers services?
The key words for this new normal period are “remote, flexible and hybrid”. All what words express are influencing the way we deliver the services for our customers. The big change is coming from the “advanced service offering” opportunity, which is basically the possibility of doing a lot of activities from anywhere, and here is where a GBS organization could bring the value add to the organization. The new ways of working are showing a capability of extension of service organizations into multi tower centers of excellence with the response to the cost challenges that the pandemic is bringing.
Therefore, I believe that our industry will not change dramatically over the next year however, it will potentially expand on multiple areas not yet explored as well as it would still be the enabler of process digitization and future-technology oriented setup.
Is the customer satisfaction affected by the pandemic?
The customer satisfaction is definitely affected by the pandemic especially for front facing businesses, however also in our line of service and some in a good way. I truly believe that the relationship with the (internal) customers are very important and need to be managed closely and what can be observed is that these require sometimes more time investment than before the pandemic. Usually also these relationships are in a better shape if these are older than the pandemic where the personal connect played an important role, however some also work more than fine without having the human factor involvement.
What opportunities do you see for this year?
Sustainable, self-service solutions enabled by digital channels are a big opportunity and should be used wherever possible.
Did your company find any new solutions to improve the customers’ experience?
The strategy of empowering front line colleagues (even though not new) seems to have some traction and could be the solution of improving customers’ experience.