ARCHIVE FOR THE ‘omni-channel’ CATEGORY

Across the last few weeks, we've run a mini-series of excerpts of from the latest white paper from IFS we take a look at how communication is changing and technology is evolving.

In the first feature in the series, we looked at how when it comes to communications, Customers Want It Their Way . In the second instalment, we explored how Complexity Is a Distraction to Delivering your Target Customer Experience.

Now in the third and final excerpt in this series we discuss "How to Reverse the ‘It’s Getting More Complex and Expensive’ Trap" that so many field service companies can fall into...

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Are improving your communication channels a key issue for you?! The full white paper on this topic available to fieldservicenews.com subscribers. Click the button below to get fully up to speed!

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So far we have explored two points of view: the customer and the advisor. The customer’s adoption of technologies that enables an always connected, real-time responsive lifestyle has set an incredibly high bar for organisations to match. In particular, smartphones simplify the business of getting things done. An obsessive design focus on ‘one-click access has set expectations for simple, immediate engagement.

 

"Choice in communication channels is often offered in a fragmented way. Tactical procurement of ‘the next channel’ means they operate without the ability to orchestrate conversational continuity across channels and devices..."

 

However, organisations are yet to match this sophistication. Choice in communication channels is often offered in a fragmented way. Tactical procurement of ‘the next channel’ means they operate without the ability to orchestrate conversational continuity across channels and devices.

A similar fragmentation has also occurred with enterprise CRM deployments. These have an enduring reputation for being hard to deliver. Scaled down ambitions then tend to target a more pragmatic focus on the individual needs of functional teams. This makes personalised service a much more complex task for advisors who are still expected to be knowledgeable about any event across a customer’s lifecycle.

Organising customer data by functional priorities has meant CRM is failing to keep pace with expectations for informed, low effort customer service engagement. Operationally it is just too hard for advisors to locate and assess the context of a customer’s situation on the fly. Both customer and organisation suffer in terms of poor customer experience and ROI.

Instead, this is how customer data should be used.

At the point of initial customer contact, a rich mix of relevant data is used for automated decision making. The aim is to direct customers to their ‘best’ resource. In an omni-channel context, this could be live assistance, self-service or proactive service. The triggers for selecting the ‘best’ resource will depend on the demands of each customer journey and how each customer reacts during that journey.

As a rule of thumb:

• Repeatable customer needs at definable points of a journey can be anticipated and therefore offered as a proactive service.
• Whenever things typically become complex, emotional or require some form of relationship nurture, live assistance is best.
• Anything else is a candidate for 24x7, instant self-service.

As far as live assistance is concerned, the ‘best’ advisor experience is that data and workflow is proactively pushed to them at the right points during each customer journey. The function of an effective unified desktop is to make the complex look simple. As a result, advisors are less distracted and can remain in full rapport with each customer and their needs.

This simplification demands a single screen of information that will adapt as the conversation flows. What previously required toggling across multiple screens is now condensed into a single overview - with duplicated and inconsistent data entry a thing of the past.

Some of this design intent is achieved through visual layout: for instance just one inbox for all voice and text enquiries, one view of interaction and transaction history etc. All of which makes for the kind of intuitive user experience that advisors already expect from their mobile technologies.

However, there is also some clever stuff that happens before any customer information is brought to the advisor’s attention. In the design quest of presenting only the most simple and relevant view, an advanced unified desktop will combine many data sources into a single stream.

As previously mentioned, holistic customer insight is seldom held in one system of record or offered by a functional view. And hard-won experience tells us that the ‘rip and replace’ strategy of turning many legacy systems into a single consolidated version seldom works out as planned.

 

"Modern ‘digital glue’ such as data aggregation models and APIs can ‘mashup’ multiple data sources and present the advisor with everything they need..."

 

Instead, there are less risky ways of achieving the same goal. Modern ‘digital glue’ such as data aggregation models and APIs can ‘mashup’ multiple data sources and present the advisor with everything they need.

Sometimes an even greater focus is needed around how customer information is organised and displayed. What about those instances when first-time resolution does not happen within a single session? Maybe the process that supports a customer journey inevitably takes time, such as making an application or a claim or trying to recover lost property. Maybe the customer or organisation has to find more information or do something else to reach a decision. All of which takes more time.

This is where case management comes into its own. It draws boundaries around this type of customer situation and attributes the relevant data, interactions, transactions and workflow for easy ongoing reference. This is especially important when there are multiple points of customer contact, which are progressed by different employees, who need to easily reference previous steps in the customer journey without expecting customers to provide the narrative.

This form of grouping is enabled by one of the defining functions of an omni-channel framework. So-called ‘universal queuing’ will organise all voice, text and workflow items into a single management system instead of treating them as separate queues. As a result, integrated views of activities over time are automatically generated and presented to the advisor, saving time and effort for all concerned. This ability is however untypical in a CRM centric approach.

 

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Want to know more? The full white paper on this topic available to fieldservicenews.com subscribers. Click the button below to get fully up to speed!

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As part of a new mini-series of excerpts of from the latest white paper from IFS we take a look at how communication is changing and technology is evolving. In the first feature in the series we looked at how when it comes to communications, Customers Want It Their Way .At the end of that article we asserted that in truth, we live in a world of five generations of consumers and employees. The choice of communication channel is ours. We pick whichever works for us. And by the way, if you think letter writing is dead just ask any complaints team!

So what does this mean? Does it condemn organisations that want to do the right thing by their customers to every increasing cost? The answer depends on what generation of infrastructure you are using...

 

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Are improving your communication channels a key issue for you?! The full white paper on this topic available to fieldservicenews.com subscribers. Click the button below to get fully up to speed!

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 Sponsored by:

 

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While a choice of voice and text has been available to all current generations, their accessibility and immediacy has been transformed over the last forty years: from landline to smartphone, from letter to instant messaging. Our preferences tend to be based on the dominant channel(s) within our peer group.

But before we start to look at that, there is another stakeholder’s point of view that needs to be included beyond that of the customer. No prizes for guessing that the advisors’ experience matters in equal measure. Once routing and triage business rules have matched customer need with the best qualified, available person, your advisors assume prime responsibility for the quality of outcome and the customer’s retained memory of the service experience.

That’s a lot to get right, especially with five generations of customers and personas to take into consideration. In fact, it requires single-minded concentration and attention on the unique needs and expectations of each customer to nail those deliverables consistently.

While we might imagine that multi-tasking is the obvious way through a busy day, it has a price. Our attention span is finite. Split it too far amongst competing tasks and something has to suffer. More often than not it’s the nuances of each individual customer need that is missed when advisors find their focus and listening power distracted by the logistics of helping the customer towards their outcome.

 

"There are many triggers for losing focus on the customer experience. For instance, desktops can rapidly become a mosaic of overlapping application windows as information and workflow is requested and generated..."

 

There are many triggers for losing focus on the customer experience. For instance, desktops can rapidly become a mosaic of overlapping application windows as information and workflow is requested and generated.

Moreover, these are not consistent interfaces. They can range from mainframe style green screens to back-office ERP systems and cloud CRM interfaces. Legacy organisations typically expect advisors to toggle between half a dozen screens for certain customer jobs. There are even some sectors with double-digit complexity when additional third-party applications are used, such as customer eligibility checks.

Navigating all this is a daunting challenge for anyone just arriving at a new contact centre. They have the challenge of live engagement layered with the unfamiliarity of multiple systems and their idiosyncrasies. No wonder that much contact centre induction time is soaked up in systems familiarisation and training at the expense of customer experience skills.

On top of all that, it is not uncommon for larger contact centres to endure 20%+ annual attrition rates. Given the learning curve just described, a continual drag on performance and service reputation is created that is hard to overcome.

Finally, one of the most common complaints against the contact centre versus a typical online experience is that organisations never remember customers’ profile and history, despite asking for it multiple times. ‘Know me’ is a key mantra in digital economies.

But within the fast moving dynamics of a live engagement, advisors cannot be expected to hunt down relevant customer information in order to personalise an interaction. Even when captured in CRM, that information can remain hidden from view nestled behind multiple tabs and menus. No wonder we still hear the ‘system is slow today’ apology as the search for relevant details continues in the background.

There are multiple negatives from this way of working.

More time has to be spent on each customer, which inflates headcount costs. It then gets worse if the outcome is failure to find the right answer or get something done

immediately. Handoffs to other teams generate more work, inflate inbound queues with progress checking customers and put a big dent in the quality of customer experience for those who suffer.

Advisor motivation takes a hit too, as the pressure mounts on working harder. Command and control culture is reinforced to meet targets and the chemistry of an empowered employee culture driving positive customer experience starts to dissolve as a result. The ongoing stress of being underequipped and unable to do your best can hollow out the enthusiasm of even the most dedicated advisor.

But the good news is that it is possible to work smarter as opposed to expecting the team just to work harder. Advisors have the same right as customers to expect low effort engagement. This happens when a great desktop experience is enabling the right customer experience.

 

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Want to know more? The full white paper on this topic available to fieldservicenews.com subscribers. Click the button below to get fully up to speed!

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 Sponsored by:

 

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Data usage note: By accessing this content you consent to the contact details submitted when you registered as a subscriber to fieldservicenews.com to be shared with the listed sponsor of this premium content who may contact you for legitimate business reasons to discuss the content of this content.  

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Consumer & IndustryLab released its latest Insight Report today - the Zero touch customer experience – exploring the future of customer interactions with mobile service providers.

Today, smartphone users interact with operators across multiple touch points: from discovering offerings and signing up to services, to requesting support for ending a contract.

The report highlights consumers’ current frustrations at their interactions with their mobile service provider, taking on average 2.2 attempts and 4.1 days to successfully complete an interaction. This high customer effort impacts negatively on satisfaction levels.

Digitally leading brands offer the minimal effort interaction consumers prefer. Smartphone users now expect the same hassle-free, one-click digital experience from operators. The report highlights that mobile service providers can leapfrog to a zero-touch customer experience future by harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics:

• Enabled by AI, telecom service providers could use data from earlier interactions and consumer behaviour to predict what consumers need before they even contact them for support. More than half (56 percent) of smartphone users expect operators to anticipate their needs even before they realize what they are.
• While we have grown accustomed to typing, clicking and swiping on our devices, new zero-touch methods are emerging based on voice, gestures, and augmented or virtual reality.One in ten households in the US already has a voice-enabled home assistant device such as Amazon Alexa. As voice assistants become more prominent in consumers’ everyday lives, they will expect integration of support interactions over those platforms too.

Digitally leading brands offer the minimal effort interaction consumers prefer.Pernilla Jonsson, Head of Ericsson Consumer & IndustryLab, says: “Consumers believe telecom service providers treat touchpoints like isolated interactions."

"Siloed focus means they miss the bigger picture. Interestingly, telecom service providers could leapfrog one-click and move from multiple-click to zero-touch by deploying future technologies in their customer offerings. The zero-touch customer experience report shows that zero-touch experiences are now an expectation of their customers.”

Read The zero-touch customer experience’ Ericsson Consumer & IndustryLab Insight Report here.

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Jeff Bird, Customer Experience and Analytics Consultant, Capgemini, outlines what he thinks the future holds for the field service industry.

The customer centric business models of today are geared up to meet the ever increasing needs of customer service from buying to after sales care. It has never been more important for businesses to wake up to digital disruption and have an edge on their competitors by being innovative.

Retailers have recognised that it isn’t just about offering a digital presence either; the traditional way of buying physically in the store is as strong as ever. Companies on the high street are realising that it is the connected blend of services being offered to consumers through mobility which is becoming the differentiator.

Once those giant leaps of transformation have been made it then remains a question of how to evolve further, providing the after sales service they desire. This is where a proactive customer service comes in, anticipating a problem before it has started and offering them a service before they come to you – it’s all about showing them how much you want their business and loyalty.

Field service and customer care, which helps to maintain the customer relationship, is providing a service to a business/consumer that predicts what you want and when you need it from its existing services. Over the years the role of self-service has had a positive effect on the way we communicate with organisations, now with 24/7 as opposed to business opening hours, the business/consumer has the power to take control and be kept updated on their status when they want it.

A brave new world in field service

The service model has now shifted from a supply (vendor) and demand (customer) to a new world in service management.

Traditionally in a business, if something breaks down, let’s say a vending machine (yes, the thought of employees not being able to grab a daily fix of chocolate on a break is important, you know). This would involve calling the supplier to report the problem or that stock needed to be replenished, but this has all changed.

New advances in Machine–to–Machine (M2M) software has revolutionised field service by use of wireless technology, to send signals back to a host that would alert them if there was a fault that needed repairing or it had run out of stock. For businesses, this is ideal because it not only takes away the strain and time required to report to a vendor, but it offers the company and their staff round the clock service. If that isn’t enough, there are also touch-less vending machines that use motion recognition devices to interpret user hand signals to indicate what products they want. Thanks to wireless technology, there are even machines that allow users to purchase products by sending text messages from their mobile phone and its all part of the service.

 

From a consumer perspective, the needs of customer service have never been greater. The opinion of service after a product has been bought can strengthen preference or loyalty to a brand.

Although the link for the individual consumer in field service has yet to be fully recognised, new innovations have delivered smarter technology to improve the customer experience. We   experience this in our everyday lives from using mobile apps to record TV programmes or sending a command to a washing machine to run a chosen cycle. By using an app to program washing, users have remote control and visibility which gives them an insight into the progress of the wash. Within the same app, users can also be notified to identify minor problems that they would be able to fix without the need to call out an engineer.

New service, new opportunities...

With the new reach of technology in the field comes new opportunities for the vendor supplier or company to improve their customer service by:

Using mobile software applications - the vendor supplier can now take advantage of getting up to date information from any one of their products being used by the customer. This enables a faster response to manage fixes, scheduling in a date to visit or the anticipation that a routine appointment is due for its customer.

Onsite representatives making a difference - whilst on site the value added opportunity is for its representative to train staff there on how a problem can be dealt with and sharing knowledge of up to date work instructions as a visual. Growing this type of trusted relationship also has its benefits. A repeat business customer who is happy with the service is more likely to be engaged in an upsell of a product or repeat business.

Cutting out the paperwork - enabling the use of smart devices for field representatives while working remotely also brings with it the opportunity to renew contracts and services electronically sooner and keep the competition at arm’s length.

Better understanding of the customer needs - with new technology comes the ability to understand customers better, insights into their buying behaviour and what products suit their needs over a period of time. These are essential metrics to reap the rewards of repeat purchases.

What will the future hold?

Within a customer service model, companies will see the continuing benefits of managing their customer’s activities through connected channels. The hub of this, likely to be the contact centre will incorporate the field service as part of the profile of a customer in one omnichannel experience.

To achieve that, companies will need a knowledgeable workforce to manage it. This was recently evidenced in a Salesforce connected manufacturing service report. Executives within that survey ‘understood the need to adopt new technologies into their field service departments, as more than half (52%) say it is very important for drivers or field service agents to be able to incorporate new technologies into their service activities’.

 

Bringing a service to the customer and using new technology to empower field representatives will enhance the customer experience but the challenge will be transfer of knowledge from one generation to another. Companies should act now to train and manage this space of learning. The resource challenge of field staff will be another factor but will be countered by the use of GPS tracking service software  and the continuing increase of customer self service knowledge.

Bespoke services, such as Bouton Darcy®, are already trailblazing the next generation of instant support to customers through their after sales offering.

To serve or not to serve?

We know that companies who fail to serve their customers and are not proactive are losing loyal customers. In field service, companies now have a chance to increase loyalty through new technology and be part of a great customer care experience. Is your organisation only thinking about this or doing it right now?  Imminent action is needed to sustain businesses and deliver customer’s expectations.

 

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mplsystems, providers of contact centre and field service technologies, have recently announced their inclusion in Gartner’s 04 May 2016 “Magic Quadrant” - for the CRM Customer Engagement Centre.

This positioning follows their inclusion as a Visionary in Gartner’s 15 October 2015 Magic Quadrant for Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) Western Europe, making them one of two vendors to appear in both Magic Quadrants.

This is the second consecutive year that mplsystems have been recognised in the Magic Quadrant for the CRM Customer Engagement Center by Vice President and Gartner Analyst, Michael Maoz and Research Director Brian Manusama.

As stated in the report, “This Magic Quadrant examines the global market for customer service and support applications designed to engage customers through whichever channel they are using when they require assistance.”

"We are extremely honoured to be included in Gartner’s CRM Customer Engagement Center Magic Quadrant 2016; we believe it is a reflection of our pioneering technology, which allows agents to deliver an exceptional experience, regardless of whether the customer contacts the company via phone, social media, website or mobile device.” comments Paul White, CEO of mplsystems.

“We feel our inclusion in both of these reports provides validation of our unique capability to create true Omni Channel solutions - bringing together CRM and multimedia, alongside automation and complex business process management.”

 

Gartner evaluated a number of vendors for the 2016 report, performing more than 150 online surveys and 50 telephone interviews with vendor references, as well as conducting over 1000 inquiries with Gartner clients, further evaluating the products.

The report states that; “at the heart of a CEC is a case management and problem resolution system. It requires a strong ability to create, split, federate, join, assign and escalate cases, if it is not to be of merely marginal benefit to a CRM initiative.

The functionalities evaluated in this Magic Quadrant include those for knowledge-enabled service resolution, social media/community management and offer management. Also evaluated, are interaction assistance tools and service analytics dashboards.” Gartner also reflected that, “to support customers, some interactions will remain human-assisted, while far more will be automated and some will require customer self-service through search tools or social media channels.”

mplsystems’ vision is to transform consumer experience and agent efficiency in the service center, by bringing together all multimedia communications with contextual customer data in a single unified agent desktop.

The software guides agents through complex business processes whilst removing the need to hand actions off to the back office for processing.

Alongside this, their innovative self-service module filters out simple interactions for automation as it seamlessly routes the remaining transactions for agent assistance. What makes mplsystems really unique is their ability to offer not only these customer service solutions, but also cloud contact centre and field service technology as part of a truly end-to-end Omni-Channel solution.

About the Magic Quadrant
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.