As the COVID-19 crisis was escalating in the UK, the National Health Service (NHS) found itself in the midst of a crisis. Some 40% of key NHS healthcare workers had been forced to self-isolate with unconfirmed coronavirus symptoms in their homes, leaving a colossal gap in the workforce at a time when they needed to operate at full capacity. And since the virus was unconfirmed, many of those isolations were completely unnecessary – the result of runny noses from allergies or common cold symptoms.

Need more repeat customers? You’re not alone. Businesses of all sizes struggle to win over new shoppers and to inspire brand loyalty in the ones they already have. Pulling off both at the same time is even harder. These repeat customers are known as your customer base.

Providing excellent customer service is a necessity for any e-commerce store. No matter how good your online storefront is, you will always have some customers who have questions or concerns regarding the payment or refund process. And when your customers need you, you need to be around to provide assistance. However, this does not necessarily mean that you need to have a round-the-clock staff of agents online for 24/7 support.

Customer relations are the basis for forming loyal customers. Strong customer relations strategies will ensure a strong emotional connection from the customer to a brand, making them brand advocates. This is why ensuring great experiences with customers is vital to any business. So, how do you strengthen customer relations? What does “customer relations” entail?

Everyone loves apps. They can be fun, useful, or simply automate tasks, making life easier. As users might not be aware of the awesome Rocket.Chat apps offered by our growing Marketplace, we’ve decided to create a list of our favorite apps, tested and used by our internal team and community. Check it out!

We are happy to announce that we are selected as one of the 20 most promising conversational platforms by CIOReview. For the uninitiated, CIO Review is a popular technology print magazine containing the latest tech news, articles, and insights from various industries. CIO Review lists articles from top CIO’s, CTO’s and CEO’s of organizations, globally. CIO Review has also selected Workativ as Company of the Year and provides more details in their interview article.

We think it’s safe to say that no organization has made it through the peak of the pandemic easily. But COVID-19 Benchmark data tells us that some have managed to adapt to constant uncertainty and continue supporting their customers, even as the world keeps changing.

Long call queues. Frazzled customer service agents. Frustrated customers. When unexpectedly high call volume hits a company—especially smaller ones with fewer resources on hand—the effects can be far-reaching. From customer satisfaction rates dropping to an overall impact on the customer experience, high call volume can pose a significant challenge to contact centers scrambling to satisfy customer inquiries.