On April 24-26, over 250 CX Leaders and DCS pioneers gathered together in Arizona for Glia’s first ever in-person customer conference centered around the theme: “Interact.”
Here are 3 lessons I personally observed throughout the event:
1. There is Simply no Substitute for “Interactions”
Being in-person creates so many opportunities for networking, where people can meet formally and informally to share common goals. People came to the Summit to have interactions about how to use the Glia platform to its fullest potential.
In fact, in our post-event survey, when asked “What has been most valuable about your Summit experience?” well more than half of the attendees mentioned the interactions they had with their peers–through informal networking as well as structured discussion groups.
These 2-way exchanges of ideas, feedback, and even chest bumps are what truly defines the Summit experience for Glia attendees and no amount of 1-way actions could replicate the impact.
2. Interactions Ignite Innovation
In addition to main stage presentations and breakout sessions about the innovative ways companies are redefining how they interact with their customers, I personally heard from a wide variety of people who said something like, “I had no idea that we could ALSO do [insert various Glia features and recent launches here] because that would be way better than what we’re doing today…”
It was so cool to see people from different organizations making recommendations and sharing what they’ve been learning with each other. Being in that kind of environment helps you think bigger and more strategically. But it doesn’t just happen on its own. Again, we will be looking for new ways to enable you to network with each other from now until our next big event.
3. A Bigger Mission – Interactions
When Glia CEO Dan Michaeli was wrapping up the closing ceremony at the end of the final day, he announced that the concept of a DCS Summit needs to evolve, because it’s already started to feel a little too “narrow.” And as soon as he said it, it made sense to just about everybody in the room.
As Glia has continued growing, and as we’ve been analyzing over 2.1 billion interactions between customers and financial institutions, we’ve seen that Digital Customer Service is essential, but only the core component of an overall Interaction Strategy.
And as companies start to unify ALL of their interactions—messaging, voice and video, both human assistance and virtual assistance—using a ChannelLess™ platform, they’re finding that this is the “final act” in their transformation to an always-on world. Customer interactions can now finally achieve the level of “seamlessness” and “effortlessness” we’ve all been aspiring to for more than a decade.
Which means from next year on, there will be no more DCS Summit, but rather:
Glia INTERACT 2024
The WE of CX
What we’re learning is that when it comes to efficiency, effectiveness and experience, it’s the WE part that matters more than anything else. The 2-way interactions you’re having with your customers (where it’s “we” instead of “just me”) comprise only about 20% (or less) of the touch points customers will experience. But they have 80% (or more!) of the impact.
Turns out the same thing is true for all of us. When WE share what we’ve each been learning, when we celebrate each other’s progress and we interact in a meaningful way, together creates the biggest impact.
To those who couldn’t attend, we’ll keep you informed about opportunities to meet some of your peers and invite you to join us.
And to all those who came together in the Arizona desert, THANK YOU for bringing what you’ve been learning and thank you for your willingness to share it.
Let’s keep the interactions going!
