Akixi ONE: Empowering the Hybrid Team with Real-time Metrics

Hilary King, Head of Marketing at Akixi, on the newest hybrid workplace solution

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Akixi ONE Empowering Your Hybrid Team
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Published: August 18, 2021

Sandra Radlovački

Sandra Radlovački

The current world health situation has created new challenges and opportunities in almost every industry, leaving little to no time to adapt to the unprecedented working conditions. As the economy reopens, competition will be intense.

Businesses are scrambling to get back to the office and continue with the pre-pandemic routine, but employees are finding it difficult to follow. Remote workers have openly expressed their dislike towards traditional office space, many of them saying they won’t be returning at all. The modern workplace has become synonymous with hybrid workplace – meeting the needs of every employee while keeping the business and customers satisfied.

Award-winning call and contact analytics leader Akixi has developed a solution to accommodate the demand for a hybrid workforce platform that keeps the entire team connected and in loop. With real-time metrics that boost productivity and efficiency, Akixi ONE offers various benefits for team members – and not just those in the contact centre. CX Today welcomes Hilary King, Head of Marketing at Akixi to discuss their latest solution in detail.

Challenges in a Hybrid Workplace

King begins: “Communication is obviously a major challenge in a hybrid workplace. Emails, calls, video conferences, chat messages all have their place. Businesses need to have a communications policy in place that outlines certain usage requirements and etiquette guidelines. Ensuring employees across the business all have shared expectations is vital. It’s easy for employees to hide behind emails or turned off webcams.”

Whether it’s unconscious bias or dilution of company culture, challenges of a hybrid workplace are pushing businesses to return to office in full. Communication and connectivity play a vital role in keeping employees engaged and heard throughout the organisation.

“Another challenge is the sense of community and company culture. It’s important for businesses to create a less formal interaction space for their teams. In Akixi, we have a Microsoft Teams chat that the whole company is a member of and which is used for chit chat, as well as business-related stuff. Whether it’s a Webex space or a Teams chat, I think it’s important that we utilise the tools that we’ve got to foster that hybrid workforce and maintain the banter and not make it all about work 100% of the time.”

“Another challenge is to ensure everyone has the same technology, the same equipment at home as in the office so they don’t feel they’re compromising in any way”, adds King.

What really blurs the line between remote and office employees is shared information. When data is available in an easily digestible format and accessible to all employees regardless of their location, the chances of disconnection are significantly smaller.

Giving Control Back to the Employee

Hybrid workplace employees might be a bit different than those working in the office when it comes to authority. This is where Akixi ONE stands out with giving back the control to the ones who are equally capable to deal with enquiries and that way reducing friction.

King said:

“Traditionally, Akixi reports are provided to a supervisor or a team leader, giving that supervisor visibility of the rest of the team. With Akixi ONE we’re giving that visibility to the employees themselves. They can view their own activity with a certain number of reports, all in real time. This gives them a bit of empowerment and makes them feel truly connected to the rest of the team.

“They can also check the activity and productivity of any groups that they’re a member of or any call centre queues that they are tied to. Akixi ONE also includes a call control function which allows employees to use the Dial Direct from the application itself. For example, if they’re looking at a missed calls report, they can easily return calls from within the application. It’s all about making it possible for employees to self-manage. By having visibility of the data, they also have the ability to respond accordingly and make data-driven decisions.”

Akixi ONE gives employees the ability to view their colleagues’ status instantly and transfer calls to the ones that are available, reducing both wait times and churn rate. Employees can easily notify the team if they are not available to take calls from a certain group or when they are taking a break. The reports are transparent and employees can track their performance and compare it with other members of their team, for example, through team leader boards.

Akixi ONE can be accessed through a browser which makes it all the more convenient than other workforce solutions.

Accessible Solution for All

Akixi ONE can be described as a hybrid workforce solution for organisations of all sizes – easily adaptable and efficient in various industries. But what makes Akixi ONE stand out from the competition?

King explains: “Other connected workforce solutions tend to be tailored more for the enterprise or large organisation, and also tend to be more expensive. They can also be quite niche, created with purpose-specific industries in mind, like health care or manufacturing. With Akixi ONE, we are applying the same ethos we apply across all our portfolio. And that’s to make our solutions accessible and affordable for the SME market. Whilst Akixi solutions are scalable and we do have large hotel chains and NHS trusts that use Akixi, at our core we’re driven to deliver innovative and affordable solutions for the SME market.

“This new product has emerged from our customers’ needs who have seen the value and wanted it included in our portfolio.”

Future Workforce Management Trends

Organisations were forced to rethink operations in 2020 and shift their strategies overnight, prompting new investments in workforce management technology. But what does future have in store?

King said: “Integration will be an ongoing trend in the coming years. Technology is only ever an enabler. It’s not a fixer of problems. The power of any solution whether it’s workforce optimisation or a collaboration solution, is in its usage and its application.

“Businesses can’t simply deploy a solution and expect it to magically fix their problems. What I think will be a priority for any business is ensuring that their systems are integrated effectively into business processes and existing systems. Akixi has an open API on our reports so it gives customers the flexibility to connect.”

To sum up, having access to information at all times and putting effort in keeping employees connected will undeniably bring about efficiency and results. Whether employees are at home, in a café, or at the office, a good hybrid workforce solution is an essential tool for every business in the current landscape.

The video below provides a comprehensive overview of Akixi ONE and its capabilities:

 

 

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