Gamification: How games applied to work can improve customer support

This new technological trend, related to the application of fun in work environments, involves the use of game mechanics in business contexts, uniting the entertaining elements of games and things that are relatively boring and commonplace, but probably very important to the company. 

Santiago, April , 2023 – Increasingly, organizations are looking for ways to optimize their processes using different technological tools, with the aim of improving work standards while keeping their teams motivated and focused on achieving goals.  

The digital transformation that the world is experiencing has brought some challenges to companies, especially considering that the new generations of digital natives are the ones joining the business life of corporations. Their virtual digital identity is completely intertwined with their daily lives, and this applies to the way they work, buy, and socialize. We are talking about generation Z which, along with the millennials, represent 80% of the workforce present in work environments such as Contact Centers, and is within the age group that is redefining consumption and hiring trends.  

This is where Gamification comes into the picture – a new technological trend related to the application of fun in work environments, normally the opposite of that. This means using game mechanics in business contexts, combining the fun elements of games and things that are relatively boring and commonplace, but probably very important to the company. This is why gamification is useful when motivation and behavior are key to success. 

Which industries are served by Gamification? 

“In general, departments related to user experience (UX) are the ones that can get the most out of this format,” explains Fernando Riedel, Voice and Collaboration product specialist at Cirion Technologies. “For example, in Contact Centers (of patients, members, beneficiaries, or whatever the identification according to each company’s segment), employees who work in a multichannel format (via chat, email, phone or video) deal with a high volume of interactions and with the tension of having to offer an exceptional service and, in many cases, with demanding and even moody customers,” adds Riedel. 

In this context, agents’ motivation is often put to the test and the prolonged absence of stimulus can lead to a high employee turnover and unsuccessful campaigns. “With gamification strategies, we can foster and improve employee satisfaction while achieving a better culture in the workplace,” says Riedel. He adds: “According to a recent report by Qualtrics and ServiceNow, during the pandemic 3 out of 5 customer service agents reported that customers were becoming ruder and more aggressive. As a result, every week 1 in 5 considered resigning, according to the Qualtrics research.  This isn’t sustainable for any business or anyone, and it’s something tougher to address without solutions of this kind when employees are working remotely/home office.”  

Organizations are migrating to creating a total experience (TX).  They increasingly align EX (Employee Experience) with CX (Customer Experience) and UX (User Experience) to create a multiplier effect that benefits both employees and customers, while driving business and brand performance.  Their most important step is modernizing their IT (Information Technology) platforms – something critical, as these three platforms underpin these three experiences (EX + CX + UX), which added together and orchestrated correctly result in a memorable Brand Experience (BX, Brand Experience). 

“For Cirion Technologies and our partner Collab, Gamification has a disruptive focus that challenges employees daily through a series of interactive gaming experiences aiming to increase motivation, improve skills and optimize performance,” comments Fernando Riedel. “Agents become players and are rewarded for their progress and achievements in an attractive and fun work environment, while meeting their company’s goals,” he adds. 

To achieve this, Collab developed Gamification, a cloud tool offered by Cirion in Latin America which enables the application of gamification in contact centers, automatically and seamlessly. It is a per user license (player/supervisor/administrator) that gives web access rights to the Gamification Portal, while the platform’s structure allows it to integrate with the KPIs obtained from Cirion’s own Cloud Contact Center system or with third party products. 

The system can include Narratives, Quizzes and Matchmaking as add-ons that allow product customization according to themes and the possibility of selecting opponents. As to rewards, there’s an online store with its own currency used to redeem rewards, called Credit Points.  

There are different types of rewards in the store, each with a different value – for example, a treat or snack, an extra day of vacation or a bonus.  The positive side is that everything in the store can be customized, so platform administrators can create their own rewards. For this, the licenses are customized (named) because they record each agent’s individual experience or credit points. 

In addition, Gamification by Cirion Technologies can be integrated with third-party contact centers and other systems to play with KPIs generated in other services, such as human resources applications, sales CRM and e-learning applications, among others.  

This way, gamification leads to a better customer experience and added work value, as it increases employee motivation and retention, speeds up the employee training process, and promotes positive competition and staff loyalty in the contact center. 

“Both employees and companies are benefited from the implementation of gamification, as they are able to achieve goals and improve performance, therefore obtaining a better customer experience,” concludes Fernando Riedel, Voice and Collaboration product specialist at Cirion.