Today we know two things to be true when it comes to business and innovation: our world is driven by customer experience, and the pace of change is inexorable. This is especially true if you think of the contact center as the tip of the spear in this digital, customer-centric world we find ourselves in.
The contact center is no longer just about voice: it’s about omnichannel, inbound, outbound, ubiquitous AI, workforce solutions, and so on. All of these components have a major impact on the way companies deliver customer experiences, but are also extremely disruptive. The more disruptive innovation is, the more exhausting it is to pursue. For organizations in highly complex, data-sensitive industries, I would maintain that this level of innovation feels unattainable. Not only does it aggravate corporate management, it is a fundamental business risk that they cannot bear in such sensitive circumstances.
Companies can’t bury their heads in the sand and ignore change, but you also can’t risk disrupting everything you already have – especially if you can’t know with certainty that your efforts will deliver tangible business results. To understand these dynamics (and how to address them), it is important to understand the “J-curve” effect.
President and CEO of Avaya.
Understanding the “J-curve” effect
What’s the opposite of burying your head in the sand? Chasing innovation at full speed, regardless of the implications. For large enterprises with complex, custom systems, this typically means multi-year transformation projects that are incredibly disruptive (and therefore exhausting). Imagine this is the bottom of the ‘J’.
But this is just how it goes, right? It has almost become an accepted fact that companies will see poorer performance over a period of time so that you can get to the good things on the other side. Companies go into these projects thinking it won’t be too bad, when in reality they could continue for years with research showing a 70% failure rate.
Let’s take it back to the contact center. The infrastructural voice system in most enterprise contact center environments is customized within each workflow. The last thing you want to do is take it all out to access the shiny new tools you want to use: cloud, AI, etc. Instead, you want to extend your existing environment by adding additional channels through voice, chat , social media. and digital, while AI tools are deployed everywhere.
With the current business and technology landscape creating relentless change fatigue, it is common for companies to get stuck in this deep end of the ‘J’. How do you stay in an environment where you get the innovation you need at your pace, without having to go through this pain? That’s what innovation without disruption is all about.
Innovation without disruption: Maintain control with immediate time-to-value
Innovation is good and necessary, but not every path or path to innovation is worth it. In my opinion, innovation without disruption is the best way to think about how to pursue and consume innovation. It challenges current prevailing views on business transformation:
1. You don’t have to risk resilience to consume new technology. Instead, you can continue to operate seamlessly while consuming innovation at your own pace, reducing change fatigue, reaching the J-curve upswing faster, and delivering tangible business performance.
2. You don’t have to take away what works for your business to get the “cool” stuff. Instead, your core CX or contact center platform acts as an integrator of new innovation.
3. You don’t have to drag your company into innovation and risk disruption. Let innovation come to you, especially by working with partners who can provide an integration experience that allows the company (and its end users) to use new technology in a way that makes sense for your business.
Successful innovation means finding the right balance. The excitement about new technologies is clear, but the challenges they bring cannot be ignored. Companies must adopt strategies that allow them to implement new changes without undermining what they already have.
By integrating solutions gradually and carefully, companies can avoid the setbacks that often accompany rapid change and move toward sustainable growth that not only introduces new tools but also improves business performance. This strategy of ‘innovation without disruption’ offers a practical path forward, allowing companies to innovate at a manageable pace while keeping fundamental operations stable and effective.
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