LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Leadership & Managing People
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented
The case is about the emergence of the virtual contact centre, which employs a geographically dispersed workforce in the cloud. LiveOps' 'home-shore' business model combines the following innovations: (1) it allows agents to work when they choose to, but pays them only for the time they are serving customers, and (2) it is based on meritocracy, i.e., better performing agents get more work and are paid more. The virtual contact centre is evaluated against traditional contact centre solutions in the context of a relief operation helping storm evacuees connect with relatives in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Swot Analysis of "LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented" written by Karan Girotra, Konstantinos Stouras, Serguei Netessine includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Contact Centre facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, and Leadership & Managing People.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented casestudy better are - – central banks are concerned over increasing inflation, talent flight as more people leaving formal jobs, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, increasing energy prices, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, digital marketing is dominated by two big players Facebook and Google, geopolitical disruptions,
technology disruption, banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Contact Centre, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Contact Centre operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Contact Centre
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Leadership & Managing People field.
4. Making a Leadership & Managing People topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Contact Centre
Strengths LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Contact Centre in LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented Harvard Business Review case study are -
Innovation driven organization
– Contact Centre is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
Learning organization
- Contact Centre is a learning organization. It has inculcated three key characters of learning organization in its processes and operations – exploration, creativity, and expansiveness. The work place at Contact Centre is open place that encourages instructiveness, ideation, open minded discussions, and creativity. Employees and leaders in LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented Harvard Business Review case study emphasize – knowledge, initiative, and innovation.
Cross disciplinary teams
– Horizontal connected teams at the Contact Centre are driving operational speed, building greater agility, and keeping the organization nimble to compete with new competitors. It helps are organization to ideate new ideas, and execute them swiftly in the marketplace.
High switching costs
– The high switching costs that Contact Centre has built up over years in its products and services combo offer has resulted in high retention of customers, lower marketing costs, and greater ability of the firm to focus on its customers.
Digital Transformation in Leadership & Managing People segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Contact Centre digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Contact Centre has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
High brand equity
– Contact Centre has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Contact Centre to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Leadership & Managing People industry
– LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Contact Centre to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Contact Centre to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Strong track record of project management
– Contact Centre is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Contact Centre has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Contact Centre in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Training and development
– Contact Centre has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Weaknesses LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented are -
Need for greater diversity
– Contact Centre has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Contact Centre has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
Slow decision making process
– As mentioned earlier in the report, Contact Centre has a very deliberative decision making approach. This approach has resulted in prudent decisions, but it has also resulted in missing opportunities in the industry over the last five years. Contact Centre even though has strong showing on digital transformation primary two stages, it has struggled to capitalize the power of digital transformation in marketing efforts and new venture efforts.
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Contact Centre has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Contact Centre has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
High dependence on existing supply chain
– The disruption in the global supply chains because of the Covid-19 pandemic and blockage of the Suez Canal illustrated the fragile nature of Contact Centre supply chain. Even after few cautionary changes mentioned in the HBR case study - LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented, it is still heavily dependent upon the existing supply chain. The existing supply chain though brings in cost efficiencies but it has left Contact Centre vulnerable to further global disruptions in South East Asia.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented HBR case study mentions - Contact Centre takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
High bargaining power of channel partners
– Because of the regulatory requirements, Karan Girotra, Konstantinos Stouras, Serguei Netessine suggests that, Contact Centre is facing high bargaining power of the channel partners. So far it has not able to streamline the operations to reduce the bargaining power of the value chain partners in the industry.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented, is just above the industry average. Contact Centre needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Contact Centre has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Increasing silos among functional specialists
– The organizational structure of Contact Centre is dominated by functional specialists. It is not different from other players in the Leadership & Managing People segment. Contact Centre needs to de-silo the office environment to harness the true potential of its workforce. Secondly the de-silo will also help Contact Centre to focus more on services rather than just following the product oriented approach.
Opportunities LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented are -
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Contact Centre in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Leadership & Managing People segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Loyalty marketing
– Contact Centre has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Contact Centre can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Contact Centre operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Leadership & Managing People sector.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Contact Centre has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Contact Centre to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented case study. Contact Centre can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Contact Centre has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Contact Centre to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Contact Centre can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Developing new processes and practices
– Contact Centre can develop new processes and procedures in Leadership & Managing People industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Contact Centre can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Contact Centre to increase its market reach. Contact Centre will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
Leveraging digital technologies
– Contact Centre can leverage digital technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the production process, customer analytics to get better insights into consumer behavior, realtime digital dashboards to get better sales tracking, logistics and transportation, product tracking, etc.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Contact Centre to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Contact Centre to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Contact Centre to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Finding new ways to collaborate
– Covid-19 has not only transformed business models of companies in Leadership & Managing People industry, but it has also influenced the consumer preferences. Contact Centre can tie-up with other value chain partners to explore new opportunities regarding meeting customer demands and building a rewarding and engaging relationship.
Threats LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented are -
Regulatory challenges
– Contact Centre needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Leadership & Managing People industry regulations.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Contact Centre high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Leadership & Managing People field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Contact Centre can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Contact Centre business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Contact Centre can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Contact Centre will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Contact Centre in the Leadership & Managing People industry. The Leadership & Managing People industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
Environmental challenges
– Contact Centre needs to have a robust strategy against the disruptions arising from climate change and energy requirements. EU has identified it as key priority area and spending 30% of its 880 billion Euros European post Covid-19 recovery funds on green technology. Contact Centre can take advantage of this fund but it will also bring new competitors in the Leadership & Managing People industry.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Contact Centre can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented .
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Contact Centre in the Leadership & Managing People sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Contact Centre is facing in Leadership & Managing People sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of LiveOps: The Contact Centre Reinvented is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Contact Centre needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.