My colleagues and I travel a lot for our jobs.  Not like “George Clooney in Up in the Air a lot”, but quite a bit.  And one of my peers who was traveling in Europe recently was a victim of the volcanic ash cloud disaster that impacted so many travelers.    

By the way, if you haven’t been paying attention, the volcano that erupted in Iceland has disrupted air travel at least three times in the past month or so, and as recently as just a few days ago.  

Alright, so my friend was stuck in France and it literally took trains, busses, a ferry ride and one plane trip to ultimately return to the States, and in his seven days of travel he had multiple daily interactions with contact centers. Unfortunately, he reported that most of the organizations he interacted with were woefully unprepared for handling this event, had massive wait times, and provided little in the way of resolution. 

Okay, sure, a traveling volcanic ash cloud is about as unique as it gets for any company to deal with, but it does raise the larger question: how prepared are you for a disastrous event? Based on my conversations with members, it’s the perennial last item on the to-do list.

But whether it’s a volcanic ash cloud, massive flooding, or just a straightforward loss of power, you should have controls in place to provide uninterrupted service & support to your customers before the disaster hits.  If you wait until the ‘volcano erupts’…it’s too late and you’re scrambling to keep up.

And while you certainly need to put long-term plans in place, such as:

• A secondary contact center in a different geographical location; or,
• Establish a partnership with a 3^rd party provider who can provide support,

don’t forget to put IVR & Web messaging in place right now, which will help buy some time & answer some of your customers questions, too.

As you consider your IVR & Web messaging, make sure that it is/does these three things:

1)     Timely – Messages need to be on the IVR and Web within minutes, not hours after, the event has occurred;

2)     Sets Expectations – Messages should set expectations for customers about when regular service will be restored, or at least provide details on the next expected update;

3)     Informative – Use messages to inform customers of what they’re still able to do, even in an emergency situation (self-service options, for instance). 

Admittedly, IVR & Web messaging is a bit of a “band-aid” that won’t completely resolve customer issues, but it’s a smart first step in your Disaster Recovery Plan, and if you don’t already have those messages in place, you’d better bump that to the top of your to-do list.

Have you used creative messaging you believe has made a positive impact?  If so, share it with us!

CCC Members: If you’re looking for guidance on how to prepare for unexpected call spikes, check out this CCC research which profiles several members’ approach for dealing with challenging & unanticipated volumes.

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