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Tag: Home working

A male employee sat on the floor at home working on a laptop, with a young child in his lap. A male employee sat on the floor at home working on a laptop, with a young child in his lap.

Hybrid Working: High on the agenda for 70% of UK businesses

Written by Laura Swatton on . Posted in Blog.

How businesses are shifting from forced ‘home working’ to planned ‘hybrid working’ strategies to underpin their future success

As the dust settles, a year of home working being the norm has enabled many businesses to gather valuable evidence from their teams and customers as to how successful they were during lockdown and plan effectively for what the return-to-work phase looks like.

Now employees have enjoyed more time and sanity from avoiding the rush hour commutes whilst gaining balance over workdays vs. friends, family and hobbies coupled with organisations seeing huge reductions in heating, lighting and office overheads, the big question is, what does the office of 2021 look like?

The simple fact is the office of 2021 will differ enormously from business to business. No longer does one size fit all.

The forced move to home working has driven many organisations to temporarily dip their toe in the water on their digital transformation journey and we have seen some businesses embrace it with open arms and some chomping at the bit to get back into the office as soon as possible. Whilst we completely appreciate that home working can’t work for some vertical sectors, for those that can, we would beg the question, why didn’t it work for you?

We are seeing many organisations starting to focus on cultivating a ‘hybrid’ workplace where employees remain productive and engaged, no matter what location they are working from. It might be that Peter in marketing is more productive working from home 3 days per week but 2 days he prefers to be in the office checking in with colleagues and focussing on team projects which balances his work with mental wellbeing and motivation. It might also be that with a strong ‘hybrid culture’ and the right technical strategy that organisations can start to attract employees from a wider talent pool or skill set.

Some key questions for organisations to consider in this landmark new phase are:

  1. During lockdown – did our employees remain productive and engaged?
  2. Were we able to maintain consistent and effective communication between employees and managers?
  3. Did we have the right tech tools for the job? Were they user friendly, flexible, reliable, secure and scalable?
  4. Were our customer service levels positively or negatively affected and what was the cause of any challenges? (we mention this one as over half of homeworkers during the pandemic had broadband issues with the service either cutting out or being too slow!!)
  5. Can we foster a hybrid culture within our business and what are the pros and cons?
  6. What key benefits can be incorporated into our strategic long-term business plans?
  7. How do we plan for future phases of the pandemic or similar events?
  8. Do we need help and advice as to what technology roadmap is right for our business and how we can best foster a successful hybrid workplace?

At Evoke, we treat every one of our customers uniquely. We have always done this whilst understanding and appreciating that one size certainly does not fit all.

Whilst we think our approach is still sound, we are also evolving with the times and have found that the pandemic has accelerated businesses into areas like business transformation and digital transformation which can often be daunting and complex topics. We have identified that getting these bits right for both business recovery and future success are fundamental areas where our current and new customers need our help. To that end, we are fully available for a discussion at any time on how we can help you to drive your business goals with the right underlying technical strategies.

Please speak to your Account Manager or a member of the Evoke team to discuss ‘Hybrid Working’ in more depth or please do request your free of charge audit of your existing services and digital transformation ideas so we can align and help you identify where efficiencies and improvements can be made. Contact us in the way that suits you on 0800 8403688, hello@evoketelecom.com or start a web chat.

A woman working at a laptop from her brightly coloured kitchen A woman working at a laptop from her brightly coloured kitchen

“Work in their shoes”: Setting the gold template for customer service

Written by Laura Swatton on . Posted in Blog.

Only by working in your customers shoes can you deliver the levels of customer service they now expect

The post-pandemic customer emerges with completely new priorities and buying behaviours. Lockdown and forced ‘home working’ for many office workers has driven people to engage differently and digitally.

The new buzzwords for customer service are ‘contactable’ and ‘accountable’. With e-commerce booming and a world of choice available, just one bad experience can lead to the loss of a customer.

Ask yourself a simple question. Can my customers contact me using the method that they want to? Many people prefer to get in contact via web chat, IM or even where appropriate ‘self-serve’ which if it is seamless, effortless, and quick provides a win-win for both business and customer but, there are customers that still value telephone or email interaction and a human voice providing high levels of personalised expertise.

Let’s go one step further and look at buyer engagement and brand loyalty. How can you give your customers the warm feeling in 2021? How do you keep them coming back? Customers now expect the businesses they engage with to know their preferences and they need to feel confident in a world of increasing cyber and online crime that their data is stored sensitively and securely.

The gold customer service template can only be designed and achieved by “working in your customers shoes” and identifying how you can provide a prompt response or quick resolution to their query in the most effective way for them.

The Evoke team can work with you to build your gold customer service template and ensure that your communications and digital strategy is aligned with market demand and your business goals. Please speak to your Account Manager or a member of the Evoke team to discuss how you can achieve a gold template for your customer service levels in more depth. Contact us in whatever way you choose on 0800 8403688, hello@evoketelecom.com or simply start a web chat with us now.