Hi Friend,
The idea of “normal volume” in customer care is already outdated. What used to be a spike is now the operating environment.
Across regulated industries, demand is triggered, not predictable. Policy changes, enrollment cycles, and outages are driving sustained surges that expose operational gaps fast.
Most organizations are still designed for averages. That is the risk.
According to the State Reported Medicaid Unwinding Data Brief, call volume surged 150%+, with abandonment exceeding 30% in multiple states. At the federal level, the Social Security Administration’s Telephone Metrics shows nearly 1 in 4 calls went unanswered.
This is not a staffing issue. It is a system design issue.
What breaks under pressure is not just capacity, but governance, escalation, and the ability to respond in real time.
And as automation absorbs routine work, what remains are higher-stakes moments, where accuracy and empathy matter more than speed.
Surge does not just test operations. It defines trust.
The organizations adapting are not reacting faster.
They are designing differently:
- Elastic infrastructure that scales without sacrificing quality
- Predictive playbooks for high-pressure moments
- Seamless transitions between automation and human support
- High emotional intelligence (EQ) at scale
Because customers do not remember average experiences.
They remember what happens when something goes wrong.
That moment is where trust is built, or lost.
This month’s Market Pulse, by Nick Adler, explores why “normal volume” no longer exists, and what it takes to operate effectively in a surge-driven environment.
- Why volatility is now structural, not situational
- What actually breaks under pressure
- How leading organizations are redesigning for surge
