- Customer service is a top priority for many companies as they view it as a competitive differentiator. However, delivering good customer service is challenging as customer service leaders must balance customer and business needs.
- There are many trends in customer service that companies should be aware of, such as customers expecting effortless service across multiple channels like mobile. Companies need to take a mobile-first approach and use tools like BPM to standardize service.
- Customer service should strive to be pain-free, proactive, personalized, and productive. This involves things like using predictive analytics to power personalized offers and routing customers to the right agents. Companies should also solicit customer feedback to improve service.
2. Customer Service In The Age Of
The Customer – A Forrester
Perspective
Kate Leggett
Principal Analyst, Forrester Research
@kateleggett
kleggett@forrester.com
3. Companies
view customer
experience as
one of their top
priorities
Use customer
experiences as
a competitive
differentiator
The State Of Customer Experience, Management, 2013
14. Poor service is costly
Your customers switch to more expensive channels when the online
interactions lets them down
August 2012 “Websites That Don’t Support Customers Waste Millions”
15. Customers complain about poor service
41% say that complaints
about customer service
from other consumers on
social sites like Twitter or
Facebook strongly
influence my image of a
company.
42. 28%
33%
35%
38%
37%
33%
34%
31%
42%
38%
40%
38%
39%
21%
21%
22%
21%
23%
29%
29%
36%
26%
31%
29%
34%
36%
Lack of in-house IT staff to maintain a traditional software solution
Ability to substitute upfront costs with regular monthly payments
Having access to a wide ecosystem of solutions around the core SaaS
application
Iterative deployment model supports a higher level of innovation within
the business
Gaining a feature or functionality that is not available in a traditional,
licensed software package
To support a large number of mobile and remote users
Improve collaboration with business partners
Lower overall costs
Support business innovation with new capabilities
Allows us to focus resources on more important projects
Faster delivery of new features and functions from SaaS/as-a-service
providers
Speed of implementation and deployment
Improved business agility
Very important factorImportant factor
(rating of 4)
Cloud deployments deliver increased business agility
Source: Forrsights Software Survey, Q4 2013,
Base: 1,417 IT executives and technology decision-makers