We live in a world where technology changes almost every aspect of our lives. If you look around, you will observe how wired we are, and thanks to the internet virtually all aspects of the business can be accomplished in the easiest way possible. Customer service companies can now deliver their services from anywhere anytime. Customers can log in and manage their issues with the integrated customer self-service portal.
Integrated customer self-service portals are targeted to meet the requirements of B2C relationships. It is the new trend that most customer support service companies have adopted.
What makes these trends effective?
Technology
Technology has equally changed the way we communicate with customers and the entire customer service. With so many clients worldwide many business relationships depend on technology which is ideal, as long as they are using the technology in the right way. Technology has facilitated the growth and expansion of E-commerce. Integrated customer self-service portals provide end-to-end solutions for E-commerce activities which in most cases are enabled through a single sign-on personalized platform for users with applications and data accessible on-demand.
Technology has allowed the development of CRM solutions to enable customers to become more self-sufficient and foster communication that can generate answers to some of the commonly asked questions. It facilitates a centralized intelligence, necessary for delivering innovative and consumer-driven interactions for customer support agents to learn, serve, and work together as teams as their jobs require. Through technology, customer support companies can acquire the analytical insights that such companies need to understand the needs of their customers truly, optimize answers, and ultimately provide the customer experience required.
Social Media & Integrated Customer Management
New digital channels are fast accumulating than companies can integrate them into their customer experiences. Customers are now more than ever before, ready to interact. They expect a meaningful response meaning, although social media is a powerful tool in business interactions making the incorporation of customer self-service necessary.
Customer service companies now know that they must acquire a suite of mobile applications, and effective strategies to connect with their clients in social media which is one of the most effective ways to build strong and long-term relationships instead of engaging in still vital, yet less strategic traditional trends. The ability to converse on social media has brought more than just a fuzzy outcome for customer service companies. Through social media, agents can guide customers on how to use self-service portals or even enlighten them about the power of these portals in the business world today. Companies can also help customers to manage their communication or respond to queries on social media.
Mobile
With so many customers becoming increasingly connected, businesses have resulted in using mobile phones to run their businesses. No matter what type of business you want to run, it is almost certain that a mobile phone will be a useful tool to help you communicate with customers. Mobile phones are equally significant players as a method of internet access which for business, this means adopting new trends as more customers shift from being tied to a desktop or laptop to connecting files from anywhere which means that they should use mobile-optimized websites.
Organizations are currently designing their websites and integrating customer self-service portals in a way that they are compatible with different mobile operating systems, or develop them in a downloadable format where customers can use them in form of mobile apps. Apart from internet access, mobile phones are used to respond to customer questions on SMS or o send notifications to customers on Short Message Service. SMS can also be used to obtain customers’ details as an alternative to emails. Agents can also answer or make calls to customers on mobile phones when they are out of the office making this new trend effective.
Cloud For Integrated Customer Experience
Instead of installing a suite of software for all employees and customers, cloud computing allows you to load one application where employees and customers can log in to a web-based service that hosts all the programs they may need. Integrated customer self-service portals are developed in a way that customers can access them from other machines and run everything they need from emails to sophisticated data analysis programs and word processing. The only thing the customers require is the interface software to access the cloud computing system, which could be as simple as a web browser.
How can integrated customer service management help deliver better customer experiences?
Leadership
Integrated customer service management provides access to information that supports transparency in an organization. Through these portals, companies effectively increase first call resolution which is one of the important aspects of satisfying customer experience. Integrated customer service management allows leaders to understand customer service and usage issues. They can access vital information such as the percentage of cases resolved, solutions used, and other information related to customer experience. Armed with such knowledge, leaders can identify actions to increase accuracy and efficiency as well as eliminate shortcomings.
Integrated Customer & People Management
Integrated customer self-service management can help keep track of customer experiences and ensure that customers access all the information they require. Integrated customer self-service portals can be used as one-stop solutions for the benefit of the entire company as well as use as lead edge decision tools to enable customers to make more informed decisions.
Motivation
Are your customers confused by the numerous access points to reach the customer service agents? Integrated customer self-service management motivates customers to find answers quickly without requiring escalation to the customer service center. A majority of people prefer to serve themselves, and these portals empower them to help themselves quickly. Customer self-service portals provide quick and easy answers which help motivate customers and agents to remain interested in the company’s programs.
Evolution of global business & outsourcing to enhance the use of Integrated Customer self-service portals
Leaders and members of the executive team are aware of the role of global business and outsourcing in helping organizations achieve their transformational objectives.
Global Business & Outsourcing
Outsourcing is one of the cost-effective business strategies if used correctly. In the business environment today, a majority of enterprises use integrated portals, and most of these portals are outsourced. As organizations increasingly harness global business services strategies to achieve economies of scale and align their business objectives, outsourcing has emerged as a crucial tool for expediting business strategies. In this context, outsourcing IT help desk companies play a pivotal role in facilitating streamlined operations and optimizing customer support services. The goal of incorporating a global business services strategy is not only limited to global sourcing but also to leverage shared services, customer or third party management as well as to advance the objectives of an enterprise.
The decision to outsource a system that supports customer self-service portal is based on addressing the primary concerns of a company with the vendor selected aligned on the promise of an improved IT performance, and cost reduction.
With the new trend, companies aspire to a more global business model, organizations are advised to take a more strategic role to initiate innovation, enhance customer experience and move these companies to a more competitive edge. The developers of these Customer self-service portals offer great services to retailers which allow organizations to effectively serve their customers without traveling to the physical location all founded on the fundamentals of a Service Oriented Architecture.
