How the CrowdStrike outage can inform your customer service strategy
When a broken CrowdStrike update crashed Microsoft-run computers around the globe on July 19, affected leaders were faced with millions of blue screens, billions of dollars in losses and countless calls from unhappy customers. In addition to these tangible problems, leaders’ faith in the reliability of critical technological infrastructure was shaken. If a little bit of faulty code could result in a worldwide outage, was all this digital transformation worth it? Analog systems are rife with problems of their own. Still, those types of issues are typically from human error, not a catastrophic system failure. So is it time to accept digital defeat and course correct back to pen and paper basics? Quite the opposite.
The CrowdStrike incident affected almost every industry -- from airlines to banks to tiny tire stores attached to gas stations, business as usual was halted, and as a result, customer service requests skyrocketed across all affected sectors. But many organizations weren’t ready for an unexpected spike in customer service calls.
Increasingly frustrated customers were left listening to hold music for extended periods while stressed-out CS agents did their best to manage the tsunami of calls caused by the outage. As the day progressed, customers’ patience waned as agents’ stress multiplied. It was a bad day for everyone involved, and it was all because one far-reaching organization’s technology failed.
Fighting fire with fire
CrowdStrike’s enormous failure should be a wake-up call for organizations that have grown complacent with their technology. At the risk of sounding like an alarmist, I’m here to tell you that this type of widespread technology failure will happen again. So much of our day-to-day operations rely on the systems we have in place, and the CrowdStrike incident brought the vulnerabilities inherent in that structural reliance into stark light. At the top of that list of weaknesses is the potential for unexpected and unmanageable spikes in customer service call volume in the wake of a surprise technical challenge.
Since the cause of the problem was a technological snafu, it may seem counterintuitive to turn to other types of tech to resolve the issue, but technology will be the saving grace when another centralized mishap causes chaos. Sophisticated technology is invaluable in emergency response and support, and it’s also invaluable when proactively preparing for tech failure by galvanizing the resilience needed to maintain continuity when fighting unexpected downtime. Organizations need scalable, automated systems positioned to swiftly address issues, minimize negative impacts and resume normal operations. Traditional crisis management strategies are limited, especially when security infrastructure is compromised, but organizations that leverage innovative tech solutions will be able to navigate challenges more efficiently and effectively.
The aftermath of the CrowdStrike incident highlighted gaps in the affected organizations’ customer service strategies. If those organizations had invested in cutting-edge conversational AI technologies, for example, the unexpected influx of customer service calls would have been much more manageable, resulting in a better experience for both customers and contact center employees.
Integrating AI-driven voice technology into contact centers offers a robust solution for managing sudden spikes in call volume. These enterprise voice assistants, operating round-the-clock, significantly reduce customer wait times. They can autonomously resolve numerous issues when linked with relevant operational platforms, leading to enhanced customer satisfaction. This technology also alleviates pressure on human staff members -- as AI handles a large portion of incoming calls, human agents face a more manageable workload and are better prepared mentally to address complex situations requiring emotional intelligence and personal touch. The outcome is a more efficient, responsive and empathetic customer service experience overall.
Advanced voice AI, powered by sophisticated natural language processing and understanding, offers engaging and efficient customer interactions that get more and more lifelike as the tech develops. It provides consistent responses based on its training data while continuously learning from new interactions, improving its performance and yielding valuable insights into customer trends and real-time data for the entire business.
Integrating conversational and generative AI into customer service isn’t just about operational enhancement -- it’s about building adaptable, crisis-resistant systems. The CrowdStrike incident has highlighted the importance of being proactive. Businesses now have the opportunity to invest in technologies that will future-proof their customer service operations and get them back on track faster the next time tech fails.
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Nikola Mrkšić is the Co-founder and CEO of PolyAI. He graduated from the University of Cambridge with a Ph.D. in Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing. Nikola was named in the Forbes 30 under 30 in 2021 for his work with PolyAI.