THE FOUR STRATEGIC ACTIONS: A PRACTICAL SIDEBAR FOR LEADERS
YOUR CONTACT CENTER... IS A STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE ENGINE... IF LEADERS ARE WILLING TO LISTEN.
CUSTOMER CONTACT OPTIMIZATION
Why?
Because they applied a one-size-fitsall solution to every customer intent and optimized the wrong work and channel.
· Your 85-year-old mother does not want a chatbot.
· Your digitally-fluent customer does not want a 20-minute phone call for a password reset.
Digitization succeeds only when leaders align specific intents with the channels customers will actually adopt.
Adoption is the ROI: not the technology.
SIMPLIFICATION: THE FASTEST PATH TO REVENUE
Simplification may be the most undervalued strategic action. Industry case studies show that:
· Best Buy redesigned its online checkout experience over 17 years ago and
THE FOUR STRATEGIC ACTIONS: A PRACTICAL SIDEBAR FOR LEADERS
This article, with its illustration( see FIGURE 1), examines how leaders can reduce unnecessary contact and strengthen high-value interactions.
Eliminate → Simplify → Digitize & Automate → Invest
Each action ties directly to ROI.
· Eliminate: Reduce preventable volume at its root causes.
· Simplify: Increase adoption, reduce friction, lift revenue.
· Digitize: Apply AI where customers value speed and predictability.
· Invest: Strengthen the conversations customers see as strategic.
This framework helps teams align their work with operational and financial outcomes without vendor bias or technology-first assumptions.
32 CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE added more than $ 300 million to its top line and that was within the first year. Imagine how much more this improvement has benefited the retailer since then!
· Discover Financial Services cut a 14-question credit card application down to seven questions and, according to a personal source familiar with the project, it saw application volume multiply several times over.
These examples show what happens when organizations challenge internal assumptions. When teams remove unnecessary steps and reduce friction, customer adoption increases, and revenue often follows.
But simplification requires leaders to challenge every field, form, policy, and approval chain. It means asking:
“ Why do we need this step?”“ Who uses this data?”“ What happens if we remove it?”
Most organizations don’ t do this work because it disrupts entrenched processes. When they avoid it, they shift complexity onto the contact center, and contact volume rises.
Simplification drives both cost reduction and revenue growth. And it is often the most powerful lever in the entire stack.
INVESTING IN THE CONVERSATIONS THAT MATTER
Elimination and simplification are not about removing humans from CX. Far from it. The most innovative companies double down on human conversation where empathy, trust, safety, or financial decisions are involved.
American Express is a prime example. Despite significant investments in digital self-service and AI, Amex continues to differentiate by offering live-agent support for high-value situations where customers expect expertise and human judgment.
These interactions— fraud concerns, travel disruptions, financial guidance, complex account issues— are not candidates for automation. Instead, they present opportunities to build loyalty.
The art is knowing which conversations to elevate, not eliminate.
High-value interactions deserve human expertise:
• Insurance claims
• Mortgage and lending decisions
• Travel planning
• Estate and legal guidance
• Complex financial service needs
• Medical treatments
If everything becomes automated, nothing feels personal: and differentiation disappears.
YOUR CONTACT CENTER... IS A STRATEGIC INTELLIGENCE ENGINE... IF LEADERS ARE WILLING TO LISTEN.
YOUR CONTACT CENTER ALREADY KNOWS THE TRUTH
Every unnecessary contact is a diagnostic clue. Every preventable call is a cost driver. Every repeated issue is a visible root cause that the business hasn’ t fixed. Your contact center is not a cost center. It is a strategic intelligence engine that provides the earliest indicator of where your business creates friction. If leaders are willing to listen. CCO and VIM offer a disciplined way to see those signals, quantify value, eliminate the noise, and elevate what matters most. But the first step is the most important:
Eliminate unnecessary contact, and your optimization strategy finally works.
Your contact center is already telling you the truth.
The question is whether you’ re willing to hear it: and act on it.
Jeff Sheehan is a CX Advisor and Customer Service Strategist who helps organizations turn their contact centers into strategic performance engines. Jeff specializes in root-cause-driven operational improvement using the Value – Irritant Methodology. He can be reached at jfs @ jeffsheehan. net or www. cxjsconsulting. net.