The Power of Connection: How to Boost Employee Engagement and Customer Experience
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The Power of Connection: How to Boost Employee Engagement and Customer Experience

CIO Review

Chris Todd, CEO, <a href='https://retail.cioreview.com/vendor/2022/theatro' rel='nofollow' target='_blank' style='color:blue !important'>Theatro</a>

Chris Todd, CEO, Theatro

For years, retail stores have relied on overhead paging, walkie-talkies, and phones to handle internal communications. At best, these systems are inefficient.

Enterprises with frontline workers still use walkie talkies, overhead pagers, or hand-held devices in an attempt to connect teams. For most, this means that few employees are fully connected.  Rather than relying on expensive hardware solutions in the hands of a few employees, Theatro’s software solution keeps every employee at every location connected.

Theatro is a mobile communications platform that connects employees and empowers them with a suite of voice-powered collaboration apps and digital workflows to streamline manual or multi-step processes and deliver consistent and measurable outputs.  Frontline employees can use Theatro solutions to improve operational efficiency, employee productivity, business performance and the customer experience.

Theatro sets the stage for retail success

Seamless communication and collaboration is the foundation that’s missing in most retail stores. Disconnected employees will always struggle, leaving customers frustrated.  Theatro streamlines the communication process within organizations to deliver on the two biggest factors in retail success today:

1. Improving employee engagement

2. Enhancing customer experience

More engaged employees

Connected teams are simply more engaged, which provides a variety of benefits. In an industry with high turnover, engagement is often the key to employee retention. Also, businesses with high engagement have twice the customer loyalty, according to MIT research.

Quite simply, when employees are engaged in their work, they are happier and more attentive. They know what is expected and how their contribution helps team success. Engaged employees are more likely to work toward meeting company goals and feel connected and supported.

Highly engaged employees are enthusiastic, give extra effort, and will likely assist their coworkers. This helps deliver the customer experience that is key to building customer loyalty and profitability.

Improving the customer experience

According to consulting firm McKinsey, companies that provide exceptional customer experience see returns that are three times higher than those that don’t.

Ultimately, Theatro’s biggest benefit is improving the customer experience. By connecting every employee, associates can provide better customer service. If they encounter a situation or request they are unsure how to handle, they can get the answer from someone immediately.

Optimizing operations

Retailers that want to improve on these factors and optimize operation need a better approach. Theatro connects the entire team of frontline employees and empowers them with the information and access they need to increase engaged and improve the customer experience.

 Theatro is a mobile communications platform that connects employees and empowers them with a suite of voice-powered collaboration apps and digital workflows to streamline manual or multi-step processes and deliver consistent and measurable outputs 

The Theatro solution doesn’t need a screen, but instead provides voice access to apps and employees.  Powered by Theatro’s Intelligent Virtual Agent (TIVA), Theatro is designed specifically to meet the needs of frontline employees. Usage is touch-free, so employee can work “heads up and hands free.”

Other benefits

The digitalization of communication unlocks the power of data at the store operational level that allows retailers to identify areas of potential optimization and drive on-going efficiencies back into the process in the four following ways:

Training efficiency

Nearly a third of retail employees don’t get any training. That can be extremely frustrating for new employees and customers. For those that do get training, the longer it takes to train them and get them ready to work independently, the more expensive it is.

With Theatro, new employees can hit the floor quickly. Because they are connected with a virtual assistant and connected to other employees, they can get the information they need at any time. This reduces training time while providing the guidance needed to serve customers.

Communicating across large enterprises

For many retailers, one of the real challenges is that they have dispersed teams across the country with no real way of communicating with them. This often creates differences in the way retail locations operate. Theatro provides a unified platform to drive operational processes consistently across locations.

Every single person is connected. That means frontline workers have access to the same tools for automating and standardizing their customer service process and removing any communication roadblocks.

Private communications

When you are using walkie-talkies or overhead paging to communicate, you can’t have private conversations. If an employee needs to talk to a manager, they often have to page them to a phone or walk the store to find them. Theatro lets any employee have a conversation with a manager or any other employee without broadcasting it to the entire group.

Group communications

At the same time, managers can reach everyone in the organization at once, or leave voice recordings so that each employee hears the message. These messages can be handled at the store level or the corporate level. For example, the CEO of a retailer may want to communicate directly with each employee, even part-time or seasonal associates to help everyone feel a part of the larger organization. The next time an employee logs in for a shift, they can access what we call an “ear box” that operates like their personal voicemail box.

At the store level, the General Managers might want to record a message explaining the game plan for the day. Since not every employee will be in the morning huddle, this makes sure things don’t fall through the cracks.

A comprehensive mobile communication platform to connect every employee

Retailers that deploy Theatro’s mobile communication platform significantly streamline communications, increase their speed of service for customers, and eliminate distractions such as overhead paging. Employees get the relevant information they need using a voice app without having to stop what they’re doing.

Theatro’s Intelligent Virtual Assistance delivers the retailer’s entire network knowledge into the ear of every employee. Learn more about what Theatro can do for you by downloading our free eBook, Extending Digital Transformation to the Frontline.

For more information about Theatro, schedule a demo today and see how you can transform your retail communication.

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