What’s Wrong with this Customer Service Picture? Part I

Author: Gary Barnett

Over the course of the next few weeks, I am going to share with you the tale of a dreadful customer experience and an agent who single handedly saved the day.

The sordid tale starts with the unsuspecting credit card customer who redeemed points from her credit card rewards account in order to take a weekend trip. When she came down with the flu the day before she was scheduled to leave, the customer contacted the travel division of the credit card company – they had booked her trip and she needed to cancel her hotel room.

The customer spent 20 minutes answering the agent’s questions and providing him with the information he needed to process the cancelation. The agent then asked the customer to hold while he handled her request. She agreed and held for an additional 3 minutes.

Here’s where things started to go bad. When the agent returned, he informed the customer that the company’s computer system was down. He proceeded to tell the customer that she would need to call back in two hours to process her cancellation.

Rather than putting the onus on the customer to call the company back, why didn’t the agent simply take ownership of the problem? He could have asked the customer for her preferred mode of communication, handled her request when the company’s computer system was back up and running, and then contacted the customer via the communication channel of her choice (email, phone, text message, etc.) to confirm that the transaction had been completed.

Instead, the customer called back two hours later as she was instructed. Unfortunately, there was no history documenting her previous interaction. She was therefore required to repeat the 20 minutes of information she had given the earlier agent. After the second agent confirmed the cancelation had been processed, the customer asked if he had reversed her rewards points and put them back on to her account. The agent indicated that he needed to transfer her to another department for that transaction.

The transfer took four minutes, and when the next agent received the call, the customer was required to repeat all of the information for a third time. Two points here: this interaction could have been much more pleasing to the customer if the agent proactively brought up the idea of reversing the awards; and, if this company was using unified communications, the first agent could have passed along all the pertinent information via instant messenger so that the customer didn’t have to repeat herself yet again.

There is much more to this sordid tale before we get to the agent that saved the day. But for now, I’d be interested to hear your thoughts about what more this company could have done to improve the customer’s experience leading up to this point.

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(4 votes, average: 3.25 out of 5)

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Getting Rid of Your PBX Can Be Liberating

Author:  Jamie Ryan, CIO at Aspect

When I tell people that Aspect is the in the midst of a Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 rollout, they often ask me if we are really able to live without our PBX’s. Believe it or not, many times they look wistful when they ask the question. It’s almost like they equate PBXs with an old friend who is moving to a far off land and will be sorely missed. My answer is always the same. I’m actually happy to be rid of my PBXs. We had too many – from too many different vendors. They were not integrated. And, they were expensive to manage. Plus, technology has come so far in recent years – why would I stay with the old, when the new is here and better?

Don’t get me wrong. PBXs have historically been a vital part of Aspect’s telephony landscape, and they have served their purpose. I wouldn’t be honest if I didn’t tell you that I was very comfortable with our PBXs and with how things were working.  I was also a bit frightened by the concept of doing away with our PBXs because that required taking a big leap into the world of “communicating” vs. just calling– trusting that there was another way to efficiently route calls, but also streamline processes, improve communications, and cut costs. I’m not afraid anymore. Office Communications Server is doing all of that for Aspect, and it is proving to be every bit as robust and reliable as our previous legacy PBX environments.

What is equally as exciting is that my internal clients are reaching out to me on a regular basis to tell me how much they like the technology we’ve implemented. I can’t honestly remember the last time that happened (everyone knows that the IT guys usually receive more complaints than praise). Employees are telling me that new capabilities, such as presence awareness, and click to communicate are making their jobs much easier. Here are a few examples:

• If an Aspect employee wants to speak with a co-worker, they check their address book to instantly see if that co-worker is available. When available, they can click on the co-worker’s name to place a call (no telephone look-up or manual dialing required – Office Communications Server automatically does both of those things) or initiate a chat discussion.  If an employee wants to convert an online discussion into a voice discussion, they just click on their computer screen to initiate the call.
   
• Each time one of our executive assistants answers an incoming call they can tell the exact state of the Aspect executive the caller is trying to reach. If they are available, in a meeting or on a call.  If the executive is not available the assistant can notify the caller and transfer them directly into voicemail. If an Aspect executive is on another call, the assistant can quickly send an instant message to them to tell them a particular person is calling, ensuring that important calls are not missed and expediting the time it takes to transfer the call. The assistant can then click on their instant messaging window to transfer the call.
   
• When employees are traveling, their presence can be viewed and they are reachable as though they are sitting at their desk. When I was recently traveling in the United Kingdom and India, employees were clicking to call or IM me as they normally do, and I was receiving these communications via OCS on my laptop. They could find me anytime, anywhere.

I really don’t think one can really compare PBXs and Office Communications Server. PBXs are about providing basic but essential call features. Office Communications Server is about the future and changing the way that people communicate.

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(5 votes, average: 3.40 out of 5)

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Technology is Changing – Don’t Be Left Behind

Author:  Gary Barnett

If history is any indication, there is no doubt that the world economy will come back. When that recovery occurs, you want to make sure that your company is in the position to capitalize on the opportunities that present themselves. A little planning can go a long way. So, take the time now to step back, evaluate the technologies and processes you currently have in place, and begin making the necessary investments to cut long-term costs, improve processes, and position your company for future success.

1. Recognize the value of data – There’s a strong likelihood that your contact center is your company’s most valuable source of customer data – yet your organization may fail to make the most of it. Make sure you are taking advantage of the richness of today’s analytical and reporting tools – from data consolidation and analysis solutions, to business intelligence reporting and speech analytics tools. When used correctly, these tools enable your agents to access near-real-time feedback on what your customers are saying and doing through automated processes. Your customers will be happier with your service, and your company will save valuable management time and money over the short- and long-term.
2. Future-proof your technology – Make sure whatever you invest in today will still be valid tomorrow. If there are realistic ways to make your current infrastructure ready, do it. If not, take the time to determine what your ‘go forward’ strategy is. You might be surprised that newer technologies often have lower install and maintenance costs – and enable higher levels of customer service – thus providing unquestionable ROI in tough and healthy economies.
3. Extend customer service beyond your contact center – When contact center agents can’t answer a particular customer inquiry, it’s important that they have immediate access to knowledge experts outside the contact center so they can maintain service standards. That calls for unified technology solutions – and technology that supports ‘presence’, enabling advisors to see what experts, with what skills, are available at any point in time.
4. Ensure your contact center operations are unified – If customers look at your organization as a single entity then it’s important that your customer contact centers operate as a single entity too. Regardless of how far apart your offices and buildings are, ensure that you have modern technology solutions that can unify all your customer contact points, CRM systems and management reporting – ensuring that calls are answered promptly, by advisors with the right skills, and up-to-date information, wherever they happen to be located.While you may be wincing at the idea of spending any money right now, spending it on the right initiatives will result in lower long-term costs, a more effective organization, and happier, more loyal customers, which equals more revenue.

Is your business still in a holding pattern, or are you beginning to actively plan for the future?

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(3 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)

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Cutting Costs While Keeping Customers Front and Center

Author: Gary Barnett

As the recession continues to grip the global economy, companies in many parts of the world are still slashing their budgets to stay afloat. If your company is among them, I have an important question for you: have you been considering your customers’ needs while you’ve been making cuts? To survive the downturn in a healthy state, you’ll need to make reductions in the right places; almost anywhere but at the expense of your customers’ experiences. The moves you make now could make a huge difference to your business by helping you eliminate waste, preserve your customers in the short-term, and enable you to grow your business in the long term.

Here are a few ways you can cut costs while retaining your focus on customer satisfaction:

1. Cut wastage - Examine customer facing and back office business areas and streamline all operations to cut wasted time. The time saved will equate to cost savings and better bottom line performance. It could also lead to improved service quality and more rapid time to answer.
2. Eliminate unnecessary calls – Look at why customers are calling and try to eradicate the common root causes of unnecessary calls. Not only will call elimination benefit your bottom line but, if your customers are calling less, it could also boost customer satisfaction.
3. Make the most of what you’ve got – Maximize opportunities with your existing (people and technology) resources. Sometimes you can be too close to your own operations to see what might be obvious to others. How about getting a trusted supplier to look at your business with a fresh pair of eyes?
4. Deliver holistic customer management – Ensure that your customer care, telesales, collections and service departments look at customers in a coordinated way rather than using separate strategies and maintaining separate customer records. By bringing strategies and records together, companies can more effectively manage the ‘customer lifecycle’ – helping spot opportunities to upsell and cross sell, incentivize customers at particular points along the ‘customer journey’, and improve service levels.
5. Check the financial stability of your partners  – Especially during the current recessionary times, the consequences of being tied into a failing vendor for upgrades and support could have dire consequences. Working with stable partners frees you up to concentrate on what you do best – servicing your customers.

Next week, I’ll share with you some changes you can make now to ensure that your company is well positioned for the impending economic recovery. In the meantime, I’d love to hear your suggestions on other ways to reduce costs without negatively impacting customer service.

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(3 votes, average: 3.33 out of 5)

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