2898: #Xperience24: Coca-Cola Bottlers' Sales & Services AI Innovation

[00:00:00] One of the highlights of attending tech conferences is meeting people who are driving significant

[00:00:08] change and making a real impact with technology, and today at Experience 2024. I had the pleasure

[00:00:15] of speaking with Nicola Thomas, and she's the Vice President of Customer Care Centre

[00:00:19] at the Coca-Cola Bottles, Sales & Services Company. And they've been with Genesys since

[00:00:26] 2017, before shifting to Genesys Cloud in 2021. So in my conversation today, she's going

[00:00:34] to be sharing not only their use of Genesys Cloud and how it's helped them reach new heights

[00:00:39] by integrating advanced features such as launching an account finder voice bot, but

[00:00:45] I want to learn more about AI, how they've streamlined customer interactions, reducing

[00:00:50] multiple transfers and ensuring enquiries are routed to the best suited agents. And

[00:00:56] additionally, video chat capabilities have actually empowered technicians to resolve

[00:01:01] more effectively, leading to a 12% improvement in fixed rates and over $1 million in savings

[00:01:09] on on-site visits. These are the kind of tech projects I love hearing about, so buckle up

[00:01:16] and hold on tight as I beam your ears all the way Denver, so you can join myself and

[00:01:20] Nicola in conversation today. So a massive warm welcome to the show. Can you tell everyone

[00:01:27] listening a little about who you are and what you do?

[00:01:29] Sure. I'm Nicola Thomas. I lead up the Customer Care Centre for Coca-Cola Bottlers, Sales

[00:01:34] & Services. I've been with the Coca-Cola system for 20 years and have the privilege of leading

[00:01:41] the customer care division where we provide shared services back to our bottlers in North

[00:01:46] America. And primarily customers, it's a B2B model, local market customers where they're

[00:01:53] going to call in because they either need to place an order for product or they may

[00:01:58] have issues with their equipment and that needs to be repaired or any other kind of customer

[00:02:04] service type request. We do a lot of things underneath all those details, but that's

[00:02:10] at a high level how we support the bottling system across North America.

[00:02:14] Now, one of the things I try and do on this podcast is get people thinking differently

[00:02:18] about technology and how it can make a difference in areas that maybe you don't associate with

[00:02:23] technology. And I think not many people think about innovative uses of technology to enhance

[00:02:28] customer service and operational efficiency of Coca-Cola bottles and sales and services

[00:02:33] companies. So can you tell me a little bit more about that and how you're leveraging

[00:02:37] technology?

[00:02:38] Sure. I mean, in the contact center, we've always had the advantage of being able to

[00:02:42] leverage technology. We joke around across the other divisions that I always have the

[00:02:48] really cool slides and presentations, but we we've been able to leverage that over many

[00:02:53] years. I would say when we went to Genesis Cloud in 2021 and we were able to integrate

[00:03:00] that with Salesforce, that was definitely a game changer for us. And it just opened

[00:03:05] up a lot of opportunities for us to be able to drive efficiencies and create new capabilities

[00:03:11] that we didn't have in place before and continue to add value for our bottlers.

[00:03:15] We're very much a company focused on innovation. That's part of our culture. We practice that

[00:03:21] daily with our associates and really drive that home. So we we have a lot of processes

[00:03:26] in place that recognize and reward ideas and innovation. And so I think it's you know,

[00:03:34] it helps us to to develop those product pipelines, if you will, on what we want to do with the

[00:03:41] platforms and continue to drive new features, functionality, things like that.

[00:03:47] Just to set the scene for anybody listening anywhere in the world, how was the adoption

[00:03:53] of Genesis Cloud? Has that helped transform the customer experience, particularly with

[00:03:57] the introduction of things like voice bots and video chat that we've seen a lot about here?

[00:04:02] But for a lot of people, they hear the buzzwords, but don't know how it would work in the real world.

[00:04:06] So can you expand on how it's helped you?

[00:04:08] Definitely. On the video chat side, it's been a tremendous upside for us because ever

[00:04:16] since COVID happened, customers have been more willing to adapt. Talking to a service

[00:04:23] technician and going through the process of video chat, it's very easy. They don't have

[00:04:27] to download anything or anything like that. But the adoption rate we've noticed has been

[00:04:33] much higher than prior to that whole situation. And what we've been able to do is really transform

[00:04:41] our fixed rates across all of our bottlers and improve that experience so that we get

[00:04:46] a fountain machine, for example, up and running much quicker, that customer is backpouring

[00:04:51] Coca-Cola beverages. We avoid having to send out a service technician to the location.

[00:04:59] So it's had tremendous benefits for us. Lots of great press and lots of great feedback

[00:05:06] from our bottlers and our customers in that regard. So it's been really positive from that

[00:05:12] perspective. And then on the voice bot side, being able to identify what is the customer's

[00:05:18] intent, why are they calling, and getting them ultimately to the right person has driven

[00:05:24] a lot of efficiency for us and eliminated a lot of transfers. And from a customer standpoint,

[00:05:30] there's nothing more frustrating than having to be transferred multiple times to get to

[00:05:34] where you need to be and get to the right person. So it's really improved that customer

[00:05:38] experience for us.

[00:05:39] And obviously, implementing the technology, that's sometimes the easy part. It's the culture,

[00:05:45] getting everyone on board and the challenges that surround that. So can you share some

[00:05:49] of the key challenges that you faced with the previous contact systems and how this

[00:05:53] move to cloud-native architecture addressed some of the issues and some of the challenges

[00:05:58] that you may or may not have encountered?

[00:06:00] Sure. Prior to us joining and going on the Genesys platform in 2017, we were on three

[00:06:06] separate systems. So it was really difficult to get those systems to integrate and talk

[00:06:11] to each other efficiently. And it was a situation where it was always kind of the finger-pointing

[00:06:17] game and trying to figure out where is the problem really lie between three different

[00:06:20] vendors. So when we made the decision to go through an RFP, one of our top goals was getting

[00:06:26] to a vendor and a solution that was all in one, like one-stop shop. So when we migrated

[00:06:33] to Genesys in 2017, we were able to basically go to that all-in-one solution. We were Pure

[00:06:40] Connect Cloud. And then in 21, we moved over to Genesys Cloud. But it's been, from my

[00:06:47] perspective, it's been phenomenal because just the frustrations that go along with trying

[00:06:52] to get three different vendors to work well together, we don't have that anymore. It's

[00:06:57] virtually been eliminated and we don't have to focus our time and energy on that. And

[00:07:03] it's just been, the partnership with Genesys has been really great. I've dealt with a lot

[00:07:09] of vendors in my career and they're really good at focusing on the customer and making

[00:07:14] sure that you have what you need. And when there are problems that come up, that they're

[00:07:17] there to support you and address it quickly.

[00:07:20] With the integration of Genesys and Salesforce, are there any specific improvements that you've

[00:07:25] seen in terms of efficiency and customer satisfaction? Because you can only improve what you measure

[00:07:30] and I'd be interested in the kind of improvements that you've been able to see and display and

[00:07:35] share.

[00:07:36] Sure. From an agent perspective, I think it's been a win for them because the user interface

[00:07:41] is much easier for them to use. We provide like pop-up of scripting. So because the calls

[00:07:49] can be very dynamic in nature and they may get one call that's totally different from

[00:07:53] the next call, that scripting really helps prompt them on here's what this customer is

[00:07:58] calling about. So they don't have to ask them to repeat a bunch of information. So that's

[00:08:03] really helped the agents with average handle time and being able to be more efficient from

[00:08:08] that regard. And then it's just also provided us capabilities that we never had before,

[00:08:14] especially on the outbound side. We're a heavy outbound calling environment. So we've been

[00:08:22] able to increase a lot of capabilities in that regard. And then, you know, like we talked

[00:08:27] about with VoiceBots, that's new feature functionality we didn't have before. Speech and text analytics,

[00:08:32] you know, being able to SMS text customers on their equipment readiness, you know, kind

[00:08:40] of the list goes on and on where we've been able to just over the years build over time

[00:08:46] all these new features and functionality for both from an agent perspective and from a

[00:08:51] customer standpoint.

[00:08:53] And for business leaders that are interested in following in your footsteps, I think every

[00:08:56] brand new tech project has to undergo so many different challenges around ROI. What business

[00:09:03] value does it generate? They've got to do more with less now. But in your case, I read

[00:09:07] that you had a 12% increase in fix rates thanks to video chat alone. So can you elaborate

[00:09:13] on how that tech works and the impact that it had on your service delivery?

[00:09:18] Yeah, definitely. So we introduced that with our VoiceBots. We know what the customer's

[00:09:24] calling about. We know that they have, for example, fountain equipment that needs to

[00:09:28] be repaired. And what we try to do is get them over to a service technician that works

[00:09:32] what we call phone fix, which is basically over the phone technicians. And that phone

[00:09:39] fix or service technician is equipped with video chat through Help Lightning and that's

[00:09:43] integrated with Genesis and Salesforce. And it's simply a link to the customer to allow

[00:09:50] them to be able to video chat with that service technician. And it's opened up, you know,

[00:09:56] just the eyes into the outlet, if you will, where the technician can see what the problem

[00:10:01] is much easier than trying to talk through it over the phone, which is what we've been

[00:10:05] doing for years. And we were able to achieve that 12% uplift in fix rates. And it's just

[00:10:15] been a great story of adoption and a tremendous value back to our bottlers because again,

[00:10:21] they don't have to send a technician out to the location. It saves them money on that

[00:10:27] resource and they can use that resource elsewhere. And then also just the carbon footprint and

[00:10:33] the drive time and the resources with gasoline and all the, you know, repair of, you know,

[00:10:39] trucks and all those things that go along with it because we were able to avoid having

[00:10:45] that tech go to that location. And then ultimately too, the customers up and running and pouring

[00:10:50] our beverages faster.

[00:10:52] And I think proving that ROI and that business value data and analytics obviously play a

[00:10:58] crucial role in customer service. So how was the introduction of speech and text analytics?

[00:11:03] How's that helped enhance your understanding of customer needs and some of those operational

[00:11:08] hotspots too?

[00:11:10] Yeah, that's always speech and text analytics was on our wish list for many years and we

[00:11:14] were really happy to have that included with our Genesis Cloud platform and be able to

[00:11:19] leverage that because we want to be able to go back to our bottlers and give them insights

[00:11:24] on why are your customers calling? I mean from our perspective in the Customer Care Center,

[00:11:30] there's just a wealth of information on what you know about customers and we want to be

[00:11:36] able, you know, now we're in a position to be able to share that with our bottlers, give

[00:11:39] them insights on, you know, what are the trends that are happening in your area in your

[00:11:42] market? What are customers happy about? What are they maybe not so pleased about and be

[00:11:48] able to give them that feedback and then they can take, you know, that action and, you

[00:11:53] know, also identify if we have a particular problem in an area, identify that much faster

[00:11:58] than hey, you know, agent one heard had a call like this, agent two had a call and you

[00:12:04] know, that might take a few, you know, hours up to days to figure out that you have a trend

[00:12:09] where with the speech and text analytics very quickly, you can identify that you have

[00:12:13] something going on and be able to address it much faster.

[00:12:18] And it's not all AI here, of course. Sustainability is another big topic and I know

[00:12:23] that's something you're passionate about. So how was the reduction in technician site

[00:12:28] visits? Has that helped contribute to your sustainability goals or are there any other

[00:12:32] initiatives that you're able to talk about?

[00:12:35] Yeah, so all of our bottlers and the Coca-Cola system obviously have pretty aggressive

[00:12:41] sustainability goals and being able to offer the video chat and the phone fix capability

[00:12:49] and being able to drive those fix rates with that and avoiding a technician having to

[00:12:54] go out to the location all supports that sustainability. Another project that we're

[00:13:00] working on is warranty of equipment. So bottlers typically when they had equipment

[00:13:07] that was broken, they would just you know, you know dispose of it and move on and not

[00:13:13] really capitalize on hey this equipment's under warranty and be paid back from the

[00:13:17] manufacturer on that warranty work. So we've just stood that service up this year

[00:13:23] where we're providing back to the bottlers that warranty support so they're going to

[00:13:28] be able to be paid from the you know, the manufacturers on that warranty equipment

[00:13:33] and then also again it avoids a technician having to go out and pick up that equipment

[00:13:38] because we've you know done what we needed to from a warranty perspective.

[00:13:43] And I appreciate this probably not too much you can share but if we look into the future

[00:13:47] any upcoming innovations or expansions in customer care that you're excited about

[00:13:52] monitoring any trends particularly with the ongoing integration of new technologies like

[00:13:57] AI for example.

[00:13:58] Yeah, we're really excited about we're getting ready to launch my cook platform our

[00:14:03] online ordering platform. We're just migrating it from one platform to another but with

[00:14:09] that we're excited about being able to integrate that with Genesis and stand-up web

[00:14:13] messaging and the chat functionality for our customers that are ordering online.

[00:14:19] And then this year too, we're spending quite amount of time on focused on our agents

[00:14:23] and making it easier for them to do their jobs.

[00:14:26] So we're excited about standing up some capabilities for our agents as well knowledge

[00:14:31] management through Genesis.

[00:14:33] We're also looking at agent co-pilot and then the summarization capability that comes

[00:14:39] along with that because I think too we want to make sure that our agents have the tools

[00:14:44] and resources that they need to make it easier for them to do their job.

[00:14:48] There's a lot that gets thrown their way.

[00:14:50] There's you know, just a tremendous amount of information that they have to continue

[00:14:54] to learn.

[00:14:55] So how can we make it easier for them?

[00:14:58] They have the right tools and resources and will continue to build on that, you know

[00:15:02] with their feedback as well.

[00:15:04] So we're really excited about web messaging knowledge management agent co-pilot.

[00:15:09] Those are just to name a few and continuing to you know, really drive self-service

[00:15:15] automation and AI where it makes sense.

[00:15:18] Well, I cannot thank you enough for stopping by.

[00:15:20] I know how busy you are today, but for anyone listening maybe want to find out a little

[00:15:24] bit more information about the journey that you've been on.

[00:15:26] Is there any way you'd like to point everyone?

[00:15:28] Sure.

[00:15:28] If anyone wants to know more about our company, they can go to our company website, which

[00:15:33] is CCBSS.com, which is Coca-Cola Bottle or Sales and Services or I'm on LinkedIn under

[00:15:39] Nicole Thomas.

[00:15:41] I'll get all those links added so people can find you nice and easy but more than anything

[00:15:45] just thank you for stopping by.

[00:15:46] I know how busy you are, but thanks again.

[00:15:48] I appreciate the opportunity and thanks for having me.

[00:15:51] I think as we've learned today, Coca-Cola Bottles Sales and Services company has made

[00:15:56] remarkable strides in enhancing customer service and operational efficiency through

[00:16:01] innovative use of technology and her insights reveal how the integration of Genesis Cloud

[00:16:07] features has transformed their approach and it's resulting in significant improvements

[00:16:12] in both the customer and employee experience.

[00:16:16] So this gets me thinking, how are you wherever you're listening to this anywhere in the

[00:16:20] world?

[00:16:20] How do you see technology reshaping customer service in your industry?

[00:16:25] What innovations are you excited about?

[00:16:28] Share your thoughts.

[00:16:29] You know how to get a hold of me now.

[00:16:30] Tech blog writer at Outlook.com, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, just at Neil C Hughes.

[00:16:37] And together we'll keep exploring how technology can drive meaningful change and improve our

[00:16:43] everyday interactions.

[00:16:45] But that's it for today.

[00:16:46] So thanks for listening as always and until next time, don't be a stranger.