The recent CrowdStrike incident had a widespread impact on virtually every industry, with transportation, financial services, and emergency services being hit the hardest. This worldwide event highlighted the critical importance of maintaining strong customer experience (CX) frameworks. The disruption affected an estimated 8.5 million devices globally, overwhelming contact centers with stranded travelers, frustrated banking customers, and patients seeking urgent assistance.
As a leader in enterprise Customer Experience (CX), Avaya understands that while the technical challenges were significant, the true test lies in how organizations respond to such crises. Airlines, banks, healthcare companies, and others must take decisive and strategic actions to repair their customer experience promises, regain customer trust, and drive business growth.
SUPPORTING THE FRONTLINE: A KEY TO RECOVERY
Adding to the complexity of this situation, recent data from an Avaya poll on the biggest challenges facing contact center agents reveals that nearly 40% of agents cite stress from call volume as their top obstacle, followed by 25% who struggle with insufficient tech training and another 25% pointing to a lack of communication. Understanding these challenges is key to formulating an effective response. Here are the top actions organizations can implement to swiftly recover and reinforce their CX strategies:
PROACTIVE & TRANSPARENT COMMUNICATION
Communication is key to managing customer expectations and mitigating frustration during and after a crisis. Organizations must prioritize clear, proactive, and transparent communication across all customer touchpoints.
- Timely Updates: Customers should receive timely updates on the status of services, what is being done to resolve the issues, and what they can expect next.
- Centralized Information Hubs: Creating dedicated online hubs or landing pages where customers can find all relevant information about the outage can help reduce the load on contact centers and provide customers with a sense of control.
- Empathetic Messaging: The tone of communication should be empathetic, acknowledging customer inconvenience and offering genuine apologies.
STRENGTHEN SYSTEM RESILIENCE & REDUNDANCY
The technical vulnerabilities exposed by the CrowdStrike incident highlight the need for organizations to strengthen their system resilience and redundancy measures.
- Regular System Audits and Updates: Organizations should conduct regular audits of their IT infrastructure to identify potential vulnerabilities and ensure that all systems are up to date.
- Redundant Systems and Backup Plans: Implementing redundant systems and backup plans is critical to maintaining service continuity during a crisis.
- Incident Response Teams: Establishing dedicated incident response teams that can quickly mobilize in the event of a disruption can help minimize downtime and reduce the impact on customers.
The CrowdStrike incident is a powerful reminder of the fragility of our interconnected systems and the critical importance of maintaining a resilient and customer-centric approach in the face of adversity. By focusing on proactive communication, empowering frontline staff, strengthening system resilience, and rebuilding customer trust, organizations can recover from such disruptions and emerge stronger, more trusted, and better positioned for future growth.
In the rapidly evolving landscape of customer experience, companies that prioritize their customers, even in the toughest times, will ultimately thrive. Addressing the challenges contact center agents face, such as stress from call volume and insufficient tech training, will be crucial in ensuring that customer-facing teams are equipped to deliver the high-quality service that customers expect, especially in times of crisis.
Stay tuned for more from me on how CX is evolving in the weeks ahead.
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