CSS Corp was the platinum sponsor of the 2-day TSW virtual event held on May 5th and 6th, 2020. Business leaders and analysts offered insights on how to navigate enterprises during and after the pandemic. Among them, talks with leaders of Google Cloud, Cisco Systems, and Philips Healthcare revealed how they’re ensuring business continuity and how they’re managing the crisis. Here’s a quick wrap from those sessions.
The majority of Google’s global centers (Spain and the Philippines, for example) moved to a remote work model. Promotional campaigns witnessed a huge surge in demand from retail customers who moved to e-commerce. March 2020 saw the highest CSAT scores in the history of Google. John Jester, VP - Customer Experience, highlighted the criticality of Business Continuity Plans amid different scenarios across locations. Google is working closely with clients to accelerate digital experiences for their end customers.
Here are some crucial points that he highlighted:
- A significant spike in the use of the G-Suite collaboration platform, Google Meet, and Google Classroom.
- Enterprises will accelerate their investments toward centers of excellence (AI, ML models) in professional services with a focus on agility and cost savings.
- Different usage patterns among banks who are moving toward the cloud model.
- R&D work in genome sequencing, for example, is happening on the cloud.
- Accessing VPN and customers’ firewall, which were earlier impossible or took a long time can now happen in a matter of days.
- Virtual collaboration is now an unhindered necessity.
- Opportunities for extreme remote value-based services will increase.
- Use of AI-based products in contact centers to rationalize massive data sets.
- Healthcare practitioners moving toward telemedicine, and students moving toward Google Classroom are the new trends.
John Jester believes what enterprises can do remotely should continue doing so remotely. In closing, he stated that the productivity and agility on display are unbelievable.
Cisco Systems had no playbook for this crisis. The team first ensured that its employees were safe and energized. “It feels like we're in a movie with a roller coaster of emotions, challenges, and opportunities,” said Maria Martinez, EVP & Chief Customer Experience Officer. She stated that her recent weeks were “surreal.” She emphasized the criticality of keeping networks open and foresees a significant acceleration of digital transformation, remote working, and virtual entertainment.
Here are some crucial points that she mentioned:
- The CX center and TAC shifted to a remote model. The team is all-hands-on-deck to ensure their experience, as well as their customers’, is up to the mark.
- Many products are available at no cost without a focus on selling them.
- Shifted tens of thousands of customer agents to a remote work model. Around 3% of employees needed to go to office at specific customer sites.
- The team used a combination of on-premise and on-cloud applications. Most of them can be monitored remotely.
- The team recruited internally 18,000 volunteers for additional support.
- Announced 2.5 Billion dollars in financial package to support non-profits and small businesses.
- New initiatives include quickly releasing new security offers for remote work focussing on industries that have been critically impacted; investments and expansion of partnerships across tele-health and remote learning.
- A significant portion of Advanced Services (AS) is now remote.
- Reskilling and financial support for partners.
In closing, she emphasized that partners and customers are equally important. Partners are integral to their CX, and they need support at every point in the lifecycle.
Philips Healthcare has been at the forefront of this pandemic. Jaime Osborne, MaaS Business Venture leader, stated how challenging it’s been with monitoring and ventilation at the core of this pandemic. The team showed tremendous selflessness in serving customers and partners. She said that employees are safe and protected to do the installs at sites. Here are some key points that she highlighted:
- A broad base of customers and partners request support. Ramping up production at this time is a challenge as the spike in orders has been unprecedented.
- Retired professionals and clinicians with certifications, licensing, and training are back to work, although they’ve not touched the monitor in years. The learning curve for them has been quick and steep.
- Hospitals run on thin margins (low capital). Their budgets will be stretched because of investment in monitors that won’t be of use once the pandemic subsides.
- Storing equipment in warehouses is unfeasible as they need to be upgraded and tested for safety and standards again.
- Despite healthcare being technologically traditional or conservative, Covid-19 has sped up the shift toward as-a-service models because purchasing, storing, and maintaining equipment is becoming complicated. As-a-service model helps healthcare providers to flex up and flex down.
- The pressure situation has caused an innovation leap that will continue post-Covid-19. Examples include the shift from "perform business" to "transform business" model (monitoring-as-a-service) where they manage serviceability, ongoing clinician education, platforms, and virtual learning models.
Toward the end, she stated that innovation is happening at different levels very quickly to underpin the transformation, which is the need of the hour.
So there we have it. Like racing cars that have paused at the pit stop for a performance check, enterprises are going through a shock phase of assessment. Covid-19 has accelerated the thought process toward digital transformation. The message from TSIA is that it’s not the time to hunker down, but it’s the time to make more decisions than any other time in history. CSS Corp helps enterprises make the right decisions.
*Disclaimer: Please note that this blog is an excerpt based on our understanding of the discussions.
