--- title: December 2020 Newsletter description: Welcome to the December edition of our monthly industry newsletter! As the second coronavirus wave is spreading violently almost universally around the world, the customer service industry once again feels the full impact of the pandemic. --- More Human, a monthly newsletter from VIPdesk providing resources, trends and opinions about the Customer Service industry | View in browser Hello Human,   Welcome to the December edition of our monthly industry newsletter! As the second coronavirus wave is spreading violently almost universally around the world, the customer service industry once again feels the full impact of the pandemic for its employees and customers. While consumers continue to shift their purchases online, we are experiencing a record-breaking kick-off to the Holiday season.   Everything about this Holiday season is different though, which includes the way most of us are shopping. We were very cautious with respect to the expectations of the holiday shopping season in our last newsletter; however, early numbers for the period of early September through the Thanksgiving weekend show that while traditional retail experienced the quietest weekend in 20 years (-8.6%), online sales exploded (+40.3%) resulting in a 2.1% rise of overall retail sales compared with 2019! The total share of online retail is now 27.2%, compared with 18.7% last year. Given those optimistic trends, NRF now predicts that holiday retail sales will rise a stunning 3.6 to 5.2% which I personally find incredible given the circumstances of the economy!    This surge in online orders is pushing the delivery networks to the edge of its capacity. This became apparent when UPS told his drivers to stop picking up packages from retailers when they reach capacity which caused delays and forced retailers to be even more creative with deliveries. Macy's and other retailers were quick in offering in-store pickup, contactless curbside pickup, and same-day deliveries through DoorDash.   What does this mean for the customer service industry? Volume levels are continuing to break records every day; however, while we saw contact volumes wildly spiking during the early month of the pandemic when volume shifted to e-commerce, we now see volume trends more orderly in-line with forecasts. This, we believe, is a result of retailers securing their supply chains, improving their fulfillment capabilities and setting the right expectations with their customers by putting in place better proactive communication plans. As expected we see a continuous rise of chat, a surprisingly strong phone channel and a declining email channel.   Looking back at 2020, we have seen the customer service industry change forever. The rapid move to work@home environments and cloud based contact center solutions accelerated beyond expectations but some of the most anticipated trends also did not materialize. What for example happened to SMS? While hyped as one of the biggest trends in the past 2 years, it has not taken off as widely as expected. In Fonolo's latest edition of their customer service trend reports, the company points out that the roll-out of SMS in the contact center has been extremely slow and may never fully materialize. Reasons for this might be (i) the efficiency of existing real time communication channels such as chat, (ii) more efficient and better integrated in-app messaging platforms and (iii) the never veining dominance of the traditional phone channel. So, while messaging is key in an omnichannel servicing model, SMS is not the solution yet.   We do believe that the pandemic driven work@home push will create a new normal which companies have to build into their operating model. A recent survey by PwC found that after Covid-19, 74% of executives expect half of their workforce to work from home at least one day of the week. That means managing a team remotely will become the “new normal.” Companies need to realize that one of the big challenges for 2021 will be bringing back their employees into the corporate office environment. The forced work@home trial was in many cases very successful both for corporations and for employees. Companies like VIPdesk, which pioneered the virtual home-based customer service model, have seen a lasting verification of their existing business models. 79% of employees and 77% of executives participating in the PwC survey stated that employee productivity was either the same or higher than it was pre-COVID. In addition, we all have to realize that while COVID will most likely be behind us by the end of 2021, we most likely will encounter new pandemics in the near future. That's why we firmly believe that the customer service industry will shift to a more hybrid servicing model which will include permanent built-in work@home capabilities. It is not an easy undertaking and establishing a strong, productive and rewarding company culture is a major challenge. The biggest trend for 2021 will therefore be doing "work@home better". Remote training & learning, QM, team-member mentoring and gamification will need to be all part of a coherent work@home contact center strategy. We have featured below a new whitepaper which provides all the information for a productive, happy and healthy work@home implementation. As always, I would be very grateful for any feedback and suggestions for this publication as we are trying to be most helpful with the information presented.   We would like to wish all our readers a great Holiday Season and are looking forward to an exciting New Year.   Othmar Müller von Blumencron Vice President Sales & Marketing   908 King Street, Suite 400 W  Alexandria, VA 22314 +1-703-348-2236 (office) +1-703-926-7691 (mobile) oblumencron@VIPdeskConnect.com Remote Working Whitepaper: Your Complete Guide to Happy, Healthy, and Productive Work from Home Team Members   More than ever before, working remotely has been a topic many of our partners have asked us about during the coronavirus outbreak. To help them, VIPdesk has created this whitepaper so everyone can benefit from our years of remote working experience.   Topics: Proven tips for setting up remote team members Best communication practices for remote teams Finding joy in working remotely And much more! Download Whitepaper   Remote Onboarding and Training Trend Report Amid COVID-19 by BenchmarkPortal    As part of the SOCAP re-imagine conference, VIPdesk sponsored a research study with 143 participating organizations to better understand the lasting impacts of the work@home environment in the CX industry.   Notable results: 61% stated that they changed their organization entirely or significantly Almost 30% stated that they were not prepared for the changes 55% stated that their top challenge was communication and morale while only 14% mentioned Quality Assurance While only 15% had work@home capabilities before the pandemic, 35% state today that they will continue some form of work@home permanently Download Report How To Attract and Retain Virtual Team Members During COVID   Unemployment rates are still high compared to pre-covid, yet recruiting is more difficult now than ever. Read our latest blog for our top ten recruiting tips. Read More Reimagine Recruiting for Remote Work   Now that working from home is here for the long term Jen and Maggie provide some tips as well as things to consider while recruiting for remote positions. How do you showcase your culture? What are the technical considerations and how can you get creative and flexible with how your team works and where you hire? Listen Now! Auto Virtual Summit, Jan 13-14-2021   Ready to talk with your peers in the auto industry about what's happening in your contact centers? SOCAP will take an insightful look at ideas, technology and best practices for hiring, training and the buy back program during the pandemic restrictions. This is a great opportunity to engage in discussions with experts across the entire spectrum of the auto industry. Additional Information Frost & Sullivan CCVirtual Feb 2-4-2021 With CCVirtual, Frost & Sullivan is kicking of its 2021 calendar of Customer Contact conferences which includes CCEast, CCWest and CCEurope. The popular conferences have a distinct focus on networking and relationship while providing pragmatic real-world experiences, insight, best practices and tools for realizing the Customer First vision. Additional Information ICMI Expo Digital, April 20-21-2021   ICMI Contact Center Expo – A Digital Experience will feature 2 days of live keynotes, interactive sessions and robust networking through AI-powered matchmaking, group chats, roundtables, happy hours and more ways to connect. Additional Information 2021 CCW Las Vegas, June 28 - July 1   We all can’t wait to be together in person once again and provide the customer service community with the best learning, benchmarking and networking experiences. CCW is currently developing both the event program and our safety and sanitation plan, so that you can attend cutting edge sessions with industry leaders, learn strategies for navigating the future and explore the newest CX solutions with peace of mind Additional Information   About VIPdesk   VIPdesk, a premium provider of outsourced customer experience solutions, utilizes a select team of remote work-at-home Brand Ambassadors (customer service professionals), located throughout the U.S., to provide elevated customer experience for luxury and premium brands. As a certified B-Corp, Women-Owned-Corporation, and Best Workplace winner, VIPdesk is on a fast mission to elevate the human experience with its team members and its partners. Talented team members of VIPdesk not only excel in delivering superior customer service but are passionate ambassadors of the brands they serve. VIPdesk's suite of services include Omni-Channel Customer service handling including all traditional and digital contact channels, full AI and assisted AI solutions, social media management, back office support, and customer experience consulting.   (844) 874-3472  \|  info@vipdeskconnect.com  \|  ©2020 VIPdesk Connect Follow Us on Social Media VIPdesk, 908 King Street, Suite 400W, Alexandria, Va 22314, usa, (844) 874-3472 Manage preferences | | --- |