No Excuses for Poor Disaster CX

CX Disaster Recovery Customer Experience

Disasters, like the recent holiday storms, are inevitable. How you plan, respond, but most critically inform and communicate with your employees and customers is what counts.

This isn’t rocket science. And it is the foundation of the customer experience (CX).

Customers and staff get it—both foreseen and unforeseen “events”. I’ve covered, been responsible for the safety of others, and witnessed and had to prepare and respond to them of all types, causes, and sizes: fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards, terrorism, and yes pandemics. I’ve felt the fear while having to keep cool, calm, collected, and above all focused on the matters at hand.

But they—and we–are more likely to accept the situation if we know what is going on and what is being done to help: and begin to see that happen. Nothing is more frustrating than being left in the dark: sometimes literally.

So why do too many companies repeatedly ignore these truths, and in doing so inconveniencing, costing, or at worse, putting their people – customer and staff, potentially in harm’s way?

Why, as a result, would these businesses want to risk the wrath of lawmakers—like the Biden Administration in the case of Southwest Airlines, and the Canadian Parliament with the Sunwing and VIA Rail debacles–and the bad, expensive publicity that comes with it? With the threat of more, expensive, complex-to-comply regulations?

There is no excuse for this. Companies spent a lot of money on hiring smart managers and executives and on new technology. So wouldn’t it be wise to focus more of these resources to disaster planning and response, and yes on ensuring a high quality CX particularly when things go sideways?

How a company behaves and responds when life is at its worst is how it will be judged by the individuals who truly matter.

Not the shareholders and the financial analysts. Instead, those who buy and provide their products and services. Without whom the company would not exist.

Contact Center Pipeline covers business continuity/disaster recovery and the CX. Here is a link to last September’s issue that focuses on this topic.