Much ado about the Great Resignation these days. But wait. Another trend is seeing an uptick in the market—the rise of the gig economy. Not a new concept. The gig economy has been in existence since 1915, when jazz musicians coined the term to refer to their performances as "gigs." Today, the concept of "Gig" reminds us of drivers, delivery services, and simple errands. From the year 2009, it's interchangeably known as any side hustle, part-time, or freelance work. Today the gig economy is maturing to its full bloom, especially in the tech landscape where it refers to the jobs of the future entailing hyperspecialized skills in the areas such as software development and creative services. Let's establish the gig concept: The exchange of services by gig workers, on a short-term and payment-by-task basis for the clients via digital platforms. It’s also called the "freelancer economy," "agile workforce," or "sharing economy."
While the market is rife with service providers offering traditional gig models, CSS Corp’s model is a deal clincher. It delivers a world of difference in customer support and business outcomes. Let’s look at the gig triad (see graphic) and contrast how CSS Corp is ahead of the pack.
Gig Workers
This triad component denotes freelancers or independent contractors who do temporary or short-term work for multiple clients. In a world that's become so unpredictable, gig workers are creating a niche for themselves thanks to evolving technologies and the rise of gig platforms. Knowledge workers benefit from these market developments as emerging gig platforms have made talent sourcing easier and swift for businesses. Regardless of the industry or domain, a sizeable portion of talent is waiting in the wings to start new projects.
“Freelancers are everywhere, and you’re not imagining it about 70 million people in the U.S. freelance.” – Statista.
The clincher: At CSS Corp, we leverage gig workers with extensive product experience across brands, calling them "Gig Peer Experts." They’re not the typically trained gig workers. Unlike traditional gig models in the market, CSS OnDemand gig workers are experienced users and fans of the same products they support. Tapping a highly elastic global network of such users makes a world of difference in customer support and business outcomes.
Gig Platforms
The standard digital platforms assign or distribute service requests to suitable gig workers. Platforms have become game-changers in sourcing and remunerating talent. They make seeking work universally accessible, swifter, and mitigate risks in sourcing skilled talent in the market. As gig workers sharpen their competitive edge and value, clients seek candidates with the right portfolio to offer competitive remuneration.
Niche platforms cater to specific projects or services, and gig workers bring a variety of skill sets to the table. Hence, the right digital platform strikes the right chord between gig workers and clients.
The clincher: Note that traditional outsourcing models can only scale so far when it comes to meeting abnormally high demand volumes (as much as 25 times more than the usual) and steep drops in demand. There’s something novel in the market. CSS OnDemand Ecosystem flexes based on the vicissitudes of customer service volumes. The platform:
- Uses patented AI-based technology to oversee the entire operations of the ecosystem.
- Leverages smart-routing of an inquiry to the right agent and the automation of query resolution based on an authentic knowledge base that’s relevant and built insightfully for a specific purpose.
- Boasts a unique and accurate gig expert rating system that considers customer rating and peer-to-peer validation of the responses.
- Ensures that the best-performing gig expert earns the most.
No more worries of unprecedented call fluctuations and CSAT scores.
Clients or Organizations
Hiring a gig worker today means no more of the looming uncertainty, uneasy feeling, and tricky situations that used to exist when the concept was at its nascent stage. Hiring gig talent is highly valued today as there's a perfect match between the project requirements and gig workers' capabilities. Organizations (or clients) are increasingly tapping the power of talent from the gig economy. The trend we're likely to see is the preponderance of gig workers (freelance, independent, and contractual workers), surpassing traditional office employees. They look for specific services from gig workers and attracting such talent via digital platforms streamlines the process.
The Clincher: What makes the CSS OnDemand CX ecosystem unique is the seamless blend of traditional models with the gig model to offer the best of both worlds - OnDemand gig employees and full-time customer support staff. This combination is ideal as the ecosystem flexes based on the global demand fluctuations when you need more or fewer employees to support customers. Imagine a scenario of peak call volumes for a product or service during a holiday season. The OnDemand gig-based support model complements full-time agents with gig experts who have domain and product knowledge. The ecosystem drives efficiency and automates the troubleshooting process by tapping novel solutions such as smart-routing, peer-to-peer review, expert reputation gauging algorithms, and advanced self-service platforms. Timely scalable support improves response times and elevates the overall customer support experience. Superlative outcomes are guaranteed.
The growth of the gig economy indicates a shift in thinking about how we work. Rather than traditional working styles, a certain percentage of workers opt to enter the gig economy for the personal fulfillment, freedom, and flexibility it provides them.
We see the typical interaction between the three components of the triad in today’s gig economy but also how the CSS OnDemand Gig customer experience Ecosystem is in an elite class of its own. Think about this again: What if your best customers themselves provide world-class support to other customers?
Contact us to get the details and learn how to level up your customer support.
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