‘Gig CX’ – customer service saviour or threat?
20%-25% of customer service may be handled by ‘gig economy’ workers by 2025, according to Ember Group & Limitless Technology’s ‘The 2020 Gig Customer Service’ report.
There’s no doubt that ‘gig CX’ is attracting a lot of attention (like home-working used to until one day in early April when most people woke up to find out that they were doing it!)
The Report makes for interesting reading. It shows that ‘gig CX’ is being used by mainstream brands like National Express, Sage & Unilever. And it also describes the range of activities that ‘gig CX’ encompasses, from brand enthusiast crowd-sourced communities to far more transactional home-based, paid-by-the-query models.
The potential impact of the former can be massive. I’m a GiffGaff customer and customer service is almost wholly delivered by mobile telephony obsessives, happily and for for free. A win-win-win for customers, community members and brands.
However, the home based transactional model has potential reputational dangers for brands. ‘Gig working’ might mean freedom and flexibility to some, but is redolent of exploitation and financial insecurity to others.
There is a great onus on employing brands and service providers to be confident they are recruiting the empowered and not the insecure.
