CX: Embracing the Next Generation

Embracing AI and self-service falls into a larger trend for advisors and their business customers; recognizing the growing presence and demands of the younger generation.

“They’re going to be the workforce, and they’re going to be the consumer base very shortly. Our [Gen X and baby boomer] purchasing power will drop as we migrate out of the workforce and as we migrate into retirement. We’re just less and less part of the economy,” said Wilford

And that digitally native generation won’t accept hourlong wait times on the phone without any option of self-service, Wilford said.

Wilford said he has yet to see a deal where a Gen Z’er directly purchased a CCaaS solution.

“The buyers are traditionally more Gen X like myself, maybe the top end of the millennials. But actually I still talk to baby boomers and other Gen X’ers for the most part. The problem is that generally the process of evaluating a contact center transition from on-prem to cloud starts in IT, even though it has very little to do with the day-to-day actions of a contact center,” he said.

However, Wilford said Gen Z is playing a role in these customer engagements. Often the needle moves in a deal when IT starts talking to its contact center managers about their needs. The latter tend to contain younger people, Wilford said. Even if Gen Z and millennials are not the actual people buying the technology, they represent more and more of the people using it.

“That is where I use their stories and their voice to help move that project forward,” he said. “Because this stuff is expensive. You’re talking $30, $40, $50, maybe $100 a month depending on the size of the organization and what they want to deploy. And that’s a big pill to swallow for a CFO who doesn’t understand the complications that we’re dealing with down here.”

Moreover, the purchasers themselves are gradually getting younger. Partners would do well to understand that this next generation represents the buyer of the foreseeable future.

“If you want to sell to people who think of voice 17th on the list and all you offer is an 800 number or maybe an email, you’re going to have a hard time gathering a customer base of younger people that really focus on personalized attention, self-service and empathetic agents who can help me when I need it,” Wilford said.