Glance and Guided Experiences: at the leading edge of CX transformation

Noted industry analyst Phil Edholm, president of PKE Consulting, shares his thoughts on the presentations and discussions that took place during the recent Glance Analyst Conference. In his blog, Edholm offers his assessment of the traction Guided CX solutions are gaining in the market, his impressions of a customer presentation, and his perspective on why Glance stands out from other providers.

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with the Glance team (really sit in front of a monitor) as they met me and other analysts on the company and the market changes of the last year. Our new penchant for contact avoidance has moved many physical transactions into the virtual domain, and I knew that Glance focuses on providing guided experiences in this new world. This year, what made this discussion different from other vendor conversations was the total focus on how Glance customers are using the guided experience technology to transform their businesses and generate significant positive business outcomes.

Before the pandemic, there had been a slight trend for complex and challenging transactions moving from physical to virtual interaction. The pandemic accelerated this trend dramatically—as expected—with many that were traditionally limited to completion in a physical space now needing to be virtual. 

Glance has positioned their offer at the intersection of customer interaction and complex in-the-moment interactions. As shown on the chart they used, Glance does not see replacing popular products like Webex or Zoom, nor replace the traditional Contact Center. Rather, Glance focuses on those complex interactions where having a human-guided experience is critical to completing the process within a company’s brand.

Glance described how several customers have changed their business model significantly and generated excellent outcomes using Glance. For example, a well-known investment firm reported a seven-figure revenue increase and almost 20 percent improvement in post-interaction satisfaction scores by using Glance’s technology. 

Glance also discussed how Toast, a SaaS platform for restaurant point of sale and management systems uses its solutions to facilitate the set-up of hardware equipment. Glance’s technology enables complex remote installations to be completed through mobile camera share functionality. Glance removes the frustration that is often experienced with new technology installations. However, the more important value for Toast is that they can complete their installs without a truck-roll, a fundamental part of enabling their overall business model. 

Glance delivers guided experiences in two critical ways. Its platform initiates all interactions within a company’s branded asset, such as a website or mobile application. Second, Glance manages data visibility during the entire guided experience, ensuring that data privacy and security requirements are personal data, shielding personal and transactional information from unauthorized personnel is paramount.  Companies have found that automating the redaction of personal information during a guided experience is critical. Glance provides a framework to provide guided experiences while assuring that critical information is not exposed to employees.

The meeting closed with the most impressive session of the day, and surely one of the best I’ve seen this year. Leaders from a large top-five bank in the U.S. discussed their deployment of cobrowsing and video engagement. One leader described how these tools are transformational in her operations. She leads more than 1,000 bankers who provide services to customers. She was very enthusiastic about how cobrowsing—and especially video cobrowsing—is instrumental in their business, especially during the pandemic. 

The bank launched its cobrowsing capability to branches in the first quarter of 2020, just in time  for the pandemic. In fact, cobrowse was crucial to guide small business owners through the PPP process and help them obtain financial assistance in the early days of the pandemic.  For small business owners with little patience to deal with bureaucracy, having both a friendly face and a guiding hand to assist in completing complex forms made the process manageable.

This same message was reflected in multiple use cases that have emerged from the bank. From small business owners to elderly customers, the ability to both personalize and guide has changed the bank’s relationships and service delivery.  “Video cobrowse has unbelievably changed the way our bankers connect with our customers and the way our customers connect with our bankers,” one leader concluded. As she described, people matter, and emotional connections come through with the combination of agent video and guided experiences is what Glance is delivering. Strong praise for a transformational technology.

Finally, the discussion closed with some overall statistics from the bank. In 2019 they had no cobrowsing sessions in branches, but they will soon exceed 2 million guided sessions. Outside analysts estimate the bank has 18.7M customers, which means over 10 percent of its customers may have already had the opportunity to experience a guided cobrowsing experience, often with video. This rapid adoption by the banker and customers is a strong testament to the value of video and cobrowsing.

In past articles, I have discussed how most calls to the Contact Center are proceeded by a website visit and the general penchant in the population to use digital self-service (not IVR) to obtain information.  However, when the data is too complex or the customer is unfamiliar with the technology or the process, a guided experience is the best way to optimize the use of self-service applications and deliver a satisfying customer engagement. Further, it enables many new applications and business processes to be completed remotely. While Glance is not the only provider of cobrowsing, it is clear that both the technology and Glance are gaining traction in the market.