Customer centric business improvements

Ahead of his session at Customer Contact Week Digital ANZ 2021 which will explore how the multi-billion dollar financial services firm, Mastercard pivoted its customer experience (CX) strategy during the Covid-19 pandemic to continue to service customers and provide excellent customer care, CX Network caught up with its global contact center management trainer Renzo Urzua. He discusses how customer alignment is the key for fast-tracking issue resolution and service innovation and shares advice drawn from his vast experience in CX.

Renzo has more than 18 years of experience in management, training and quality across different call centers around the world including commercial and consumer finance, sales, insurance, direct TV and charities. His career has taught him that it is unwise to blindly commit to the latest trends in technology or strategies just because they are fashionable at the time. Instead, business decisions must be guided by the voice of the customer and a company’s personal preferences to ensure improvements are targeted toward success. 

“Listen to your customers. They have the answer,” says Renzo. “Technology is developing quickly and your company needs to understand that the future is now, but do keep in mind that not all your customers will embrace technology. Keep your options open.”

What are the benefits of customer centric technology upgrades?

Considering the technological advancements that have supported MasterCard in its mission to provide frictionless and convenient customer experiences, speech analytics has been a key part of driving agent engagement and productivity to ensure metrics and standards are met. Better internal analytics has “… enabled us to coach and deliver feedback to our agents faster,” notes Renzo.

“Speech analytics is enabling us to quickly identify a customer’s needs, wants and expectations, and gauge how to best address any issues,” he adds.

On the subject of quickly identifying customer needs or issues, the biggest lesson Renzo has learned is to: “listen to frontline staff.” He explains: “They are in the trenches day in, day out, and can normally find issues before you or other departments can. Customers normally tell your frontline staff where problems are. Your frontline staff may even have the solution you are looking for.”

To find out more about MasterCard’s CX journey and how it has addressed the impact of Covid sign up for Renzo’s session on pivoting MasterCard’s contact center strategy during times of disruption.