Reskilling
Upskilling

Reskilling customer-interfacing employees
in a Low-Touch economy

Rising up to the challenges in a new Low-Touch economy

Many businesses have been disrupted by the changing nature of our economy, from cyclical economy before the pandemic into a new Low-Touch economy. Employees (especially customer-interfacing ones) are facing evolving and rising challenges on how they can sustain and deliver customer value in the new era – the era of the Low-Touch economy.

In this context, reskilling and upskilling the workforce are both essential for today’s evolving business ecosystem.

Employees become more productive when enabled with new skillsets, tools and support systems to face the rising challenges. They raise the bar and ultimately contribute to the transformation of the way organisations create, deliver and sustain customer value in the new Low-Touch economy.

Why?

Reskilling/Upskilling customer interfaces in a Low-Touch economy:

In a new disrupted customer cycle, customer interface team members and employees are facing a rising challenge: How to deliver customer value in a Low-Touch economy.

What is “Low-Touch economy*” all about?

The Low-Touch economy is the new state of our society and economy, permanently altered by COVID-19. It is characterised by Low-Touch interactions, health and safety measures, new human behaviours, and the rise of the need for permanent industry shifts. The Low-Touch economy is here to stay. As much as many of us feel challenged, it offers a tremendous number of opportunities for disruptors.

What?

The question that many people ask is “How are we going to sustain the customer relationship in this new normal, Low-Touch economy?”

Prior to the onset of the global pandemic, customer-interfacing members enjoyed the merits of face-to-face interaction with customers:

Being able to kinaesthetically connect, interact and engage with customers

Being able to see the unvoiced messages from a customer’s body language

Understand customer problems and dig deeper into them

Building a sound personal relationship and nurturing it

Tailoring the solutions to customer needs

This requires a fundamental change in the way the capacity of customer interfacing people is shaped, reskilling and upskilling.

High-Touch & Low-Touch

Reskilling

Reskilling is the process of matching the skills of an associate to new required functions. Reskilling involves training individuals to pivot into an adjacent or completely different job, either because their role is obsolete, or they are using outdated tech.

Upskilling

Upskilling is the process of training an employee to perform new tasks in the new function. It involves improving skills or adding new skills on top of an existing role. This is a perfect solution for talented employees or teams looking to become more specialised, refined or advanced in a particular field.