Systems

I'm a big fan of the podcasts on BBC Sounds - in this episode of The Infinite Monkey Cage, Dr Hannah Fry et al explain a few things about how data can lead to misunderstandings, particularly in relation to crime statistics: https://lnkd.in/eUWvcWcA

A key point is to remember that just because something happened, doesn’t mean it had to happen. And doesn’t mean that it will happen.

In their example, sending a lot of police to a statistically high-crime area could mean:

- Less crime, because there are police everywhere

- More reported crime, as more people are noticing stuff

So - the effect could be up and down; and through that muddy water, how can you see clearly?

Also, a move which could reduce crime in area X, could have the knock-on effect of increased crime in area Y, because police have been moved from one area to the other. Alternatively, if a street has a high level of car accidents, removing cars from that street will stop that. But the cars have to go somewhere. If that isn’t planned for, you are simply moving the problem.

Quick fixes rarely work. Like whack-a-mole, ‘solve’ one problem and a problem just pops up elsewhere.

What is needed is a system-wide solution.

When looking at a problem issue, you do not want an intervention to have an adverse effect somewhere else in the system.

In terms of CX, if your FRT is bad, you will want to do something about it. But it isn’t enough to get all your agents to jump immediately on new tickets. If they spend all their time replying (maybe ineffectually) to new tickets, they won’t be working on open tickets - the next reply time and resolution time will be impacted. As will customer satisfaction.

If speed is the priority, the first replies will not be useful - just ‘thank you for getting in touch’, rather than ‘here is the answer’. Instead, think about automations to take care of that first reply, macros to help with substantive replies, and a decent Help Centre to help customers self-serve. Then your team can focus on the really tricky stuff.

Only by understanding the full context of your business can you - or I - work out how to solve these problems.

Think bigger - think system-wide.