Once, I was working on the development of a very intense Business Case review of an initial project implementation. In doing so, I found it somewhat interesting when trying to not just identify, but to quantify what is referred to as “Soft Benefits.” Something that many IT project fail to identify or call out. Anything that can be quantified seems to slip into the “Hard Benefit” category. These tend to be more financial or material in scope and somewhat quite obvious. In most cases, the very reason the project is spun-up to begin with..
I am often heard saying “Technology is not really the problem. Its people that are the problem.” The same holds true with trying to determine soft benefits. People are unpredictable and subjective in how each individual views or reacts to situations.
So in this particular situation, as I licked my thum and raised it in the air to see which way the wind was blowing on this particular business case, I went about trying to gather as much real data to try to not be too subjective. I was surprised at what I discovered.
While being somewhat conservative as to not raise too many doubters, I went about trying to quantify the value of implementing a Self-Service portal and what that meant for potential resource savings, should requests no longer be directly handled by an actual Service Desk Analyst.
Taking the existing ‘human’ average call handle time over a defined period of time as a quantifiable piece of data where there was no self-service capability, against the proposed new system’s capabilities over the same period i tried to come up with something that seemed reasonable. However, in looking at the numbers, it provided a glimpse into a result that was difficult to take seriously.
It was clear that even though leadership is looking at the numbers to give the thumbs up or thumbs down, there is this nagging variable does not just simply go away. What I call the People Factor. There is real no way to factor in the Analyst or the customer interactions. It could be a long or short interaction with both a satisfied or disgruntled customer, you can never really tell.
Some of the best customer experiences transcend time or value. Being on a challenging call with a frustrated or impatient customer who may be needing something quickly without friction can be met with an analyst who provides professional, concise and empathetic and pleasant interaction. We have all had this experience once or twice.
Conversely, being on a call with an analyst who is short, impatient and un-empathetic is not where you want to put any customer. This ‘skill’ is something that has yet to really be coded into a virtual agent or chat bot. Not that it won’t, but not today. The point is, in the analysis of making certain business case decisions, you have to factor in the human element and not just as it applies to a cost per hour when the outcomes can very depending on the value put in regardless of how much time it takes.
There is true value to things like self-service and automation and are truly goals to achieve efficiencies, but we have to take the time to explore the outcomes and experiences to the customer in order to really focus in on the areas with the biggest bang for the virtual buck. That is where the loyalty and true value to the consumer lies.
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