Part 1 - Social Customer Service
Customer Service using Social Media is a nascent discipline, ready to take off if you have the patience, support and clear objectives. A recent survey, conducted with ThinkJar Research, of 400 practitioners, revealed interesting and valuable data regarding Social Customer Service. The responses validated some long held theories as well as exposed some unexpected results. Additionally, the channel where questions are asked does bias the results, and caution is advised to organizations regarding data gathering techniques.
The results expose differences in usage, as well as maturity between organizations based on size, industry and geography. Analysis and an understanding of the data will help to guide organizations in their approach to their own Social Customer Service initiatives. Areas such as organizational readiness, integration of data and process are examined and discussed. Also, the proper balance between Social Customer Service and more ‘traditional’ Channels is an important part of the conversation and is addressed.
High level qualitative conclusions:
• US and UK are a little bit different in the choice of specific Network choice
• Financial Service Providers prefer Branded Closed Communities
• The UK had a slow start, but is picking up the pace
• Web self-service is not as mature and broadly used as expected
• Social Customer Service is not about revenue, it is about customer satisfaction
• By a ratio of 2:1 social processes are less defined than for standard channels
• Organizational size impacts the usage of specific channels, it is not linear
• Not everyone thinks Social Customer Service is a good idea
• The channel where you ask questions is important, it can alter the data and decisions are based on data
Part 2 -
Ciboodle is a Business Process and Customer Engagement Platform. The purpose is to support the customer driven enterprise, through the Contact Center.
From Customer Centric to Customer Experience and Customer Journeys the simple premise is to always make the customer is the center of everything you do. Some of you have probably written about it, many of you have read it, it is easier said than done it is hard work..
As technology evolves, so does the process by which your customer uses technology to get her job done. How does the enterprise keep pace? In the the next few minutes, I will explore, but only scratch the surface regarding what I believe to be some of the core tenets of customer service and the contact center and how these are going to evolve to keep pace.
A Process is a series of actions designed with a specific outcome in mind. Coordination is the organization of the different elements of a process across departments, timezones and the whole ecosystem frankly.. There are many important actors where coordination is required; other knowledge workers, the customer, back office and partners.
4. Framing the Conversation
Old School
New Normal
The New Shiny Stuff
What more could we possibly add…
4
5. Customer Service Using Social
Who is doing it?
What are they doing?
Why are they doing it?
How long have they been doing it?
Many Questions…
5
6. The Study
Conducted jointly between Sword Ciboodle and thinkJar,
Produced and hosted on an online site (Survey Monkey),
Panelists asked to self-qualify as practitioners of Customer
Service.
The total number of responses was 399, of which 376 were
analyzed and found to be complete and sufficient to be
included in this report.
Recruitment via a traditional email solicitation, via social
channels (Twitter and Facebook appeals),
Respondents came from all over the world, but mostly from
USA (60%) and UK (30%).
6
7. A Sneak Peak
Decisions to add Social Channels are based on
1 limited data available and responding to both
competitive forces as well as customer demands; the
justification for deployment is sought from analysts’
reports and firms.
Adding any new channel is always a complex
2 endeavor for customer service. Justifying social
channels, is comparable to justifying email for
customer service in the past ten years – you can
ignore it for a while, but you will do it.
The Use of Social Channels in customer service is
3 merely beginning to be documented and reported. In
spite of very famous early customer service is no
closer to understand what social can do for it than it
did for electronic channels in the early days of the
internet.
12. Future
Past
EVOLUTION OF THE
CONTACT CENTER
PEOPLE
PROCESS
TECHNOLOGY
GOVERNANCE
METRICS
APPROACH
12
13. Future
Past
Knowledge Worker
Call Center Worker
EVOLUTION OF THE
CONTACT CENTER
PEOPLE
PROCESS
TECHNOLOGY
GOVERNANCE
METRICS
APPROACH
13
14. Future
Past
Knowledge Worker
Call Center Worker
EVOLUTION OF THE
CONTACT CENTER
PEOPLE
Dynamic, Adaptive, Coordinated
Linear, Static, Clumsy
PROCESS
TECHNOLOGY
GOVERNANCE
METRICS
APPROACH
14
15. Future
Past
Knowledge Worker
Call Center Worker
EVOLUTION OF THE
CONTACT CENTER
PEOPLE
Dynamic, Adaptive, Coordinated
Linear, Static, Clumsy
PROCESS
TECHNOLOGY Dual Channel Multi-Channel and Cross-Channel
GOVERNANCE
METRICS
APPROACH
15
16. Future
Past
Knowledge Worker
Call Center Worker
EVOLUTION OF THE
CONTACT CENTER
PEOPLE
Dynamic, Adaptive, Coordinated
Linear, Static, Clumsy
PROCESS
Dual Channel Multi-Channel and Cross-Channel
TECHNOLOGY
GOVERNANCE
Value Extraction Value Co-Creation
METRICS
APPROACH
16
17. Future
Past
Knowledge Worker
Call Center Worker
EVOLUTION OF THE
CONTACT CENTER
PEOPLE
Dynamic, Adaptive, Coordinated
Linear, Static, Clumsy
PROCESS
Dual Channel Multi-Channel and Cross-Channel
TECHNOLOGY
GOVERNANCE
Value Extraction
Value Co-Creation
METRICS
Acronyms
Experience
APPROACH
17
18. Future
Past
Knowledge Worker
Call Center Worker
EVOLUTION OF THE
CONTACT CENTER
PEOPLE
Dynamic, Adaptive, Coordinated
Linear, Static, Clumsy
PROCESS
Dual Channel Multi-Channel and Cross-Channel
TECHNOLOGY
GOVERNANCE
Value Extraction
Value Co-Creation
METRICS
Acronyms
Experience
APPROACH
Reactive and Controlling
Proactive and Collaborative
18
19. Future
Past
Knowledge Worker
Call Center Worker
EVOLUTION OF THE
CONTACT CENTER
PEOPLE
Dynamic, Adaptive, Coordinated
Linear, Static, Clumsy
PROCESS
Dual Channel Multi-Channel and Cross-Channel
TECHNOLOGY
GOVERNANCE
Value Extraction
Value Co-Creation
METRICS
Acronyms
Experience
APPROACH
Reactive and Controlling
Proactive and Collaborative
19
20. Part III – A Bit About Ciboodle
The Customer Engagement Continuum
– Part Vision
– Part Mission
It is how we think about
your customers
20
21. From Vision to Tactics
Mission
Objectives
and Goals
Strategy
Execution
Tactical Need
The contact center is certainly not shielded from the pact of business change. As your organization evolves, technology evolves, so does the contact center. In this presentation we will explore some of the core components of the contact center, where they have been, where they are and where they need to go.
Customer service excellence is a core value of many customer service organizations, as it should be for yours. Service excellence is achieved by the proper alignment (for your business) of the people, processes and technology. For many companies, customer service is the responsibility of the contact center. Considering the investment by the company in the contact center, alignment of the core elements requires a governance It is important to recognize that while there are many components, the focus always need to be centered on the conversations that take place between the customer and your organization. The contact center agent (knowledge worker) and the customer are the main characters, everything else plays a supporting role.
The people associated with the contact center, historically, had been the people with customer service somewhere in their title, yes that simple. Organizations need to change this, if they want to grow and prosper (survive?). Products and services are becoming more complex, other parts of the organization absolutely need to become part of the customer experience, engagement, satisfaction process. It is about collaboration, knowledge sharing, a bit of sales, a bit of marketing and understanding the overall corporate vision. As we go through the rest of the components, it will become clear that the people in the organization need to be as flexible and dynamic as the technological components.
A Process is a series of actions directed toward a specific aim - Coordination is the organization of the different elements of a complex body or activity so as to enable them to work together effectively. Within the contact center, there are two important actors where coordination is important, the other knowledge workers and the customer. Each is important, critical even.Paper based, rigid and often manual processes for as many scenarios as management can think up. Customers are no longer interested in listening to a static script, following the defined path nor being pushed towards your efficient route. Internally, the front office needs to be coordinated with other parts of the organization. Yelling over the cubicle does not count as coordination, sticky notes do not count as managing information and firing off an email is not business process management.
The channels of communication supported by organizations need to adapt to the changing channel usage by their customers. Customer ‘channel hop’, changing modes of communication, even mid-stream during a process. Organizations need to consider active pull, versus push to optimize their channel strategy. Active pull means that the value offered on channels you would like people to use is valuable to them, not just you. Real-time, synchronous channels are more expensive, but studies show that satisfaction rates are also higher on these channels.Customers do want to use new channels such as social media and webchat to interact with businesses – but they want these in addition to (not instead of) established one (Phone or Email). That’s because their channel choice will depend on why, where and when they are contacting the business.Often customers will use (or would like to use) multiple channels during a single ‘transaction’ – for example, researching a new gadget online and reading peer reviews before purchasing in store then using help forums to discover new features. And if there’s a problem, they may want to talk to someone.
Co-creation emphasizes the generation and ongoing realization of mutual organization-customer value. It views markets as forums for firms and active customers to share, combine and renew each other's resources and capabilities to create value through new forms of interaction, service and learning mechanisms. It differs from the traditional active organization- passive consumer market construct of the past.Historically, organizations would spend time and effort to extract as much value out of a relationship as possible. Customers are now more knowledgeable, connected and they talk to eachother. The governance model of the contact center will increasingly be focused on co-creation.Co-created value arises in the form of personalised or unique experiences for the customer (value-in-use). Value is co-created with customers if and when a customer is able to personalize his/her experience using a firm's product-service proposition
Metrics is similar to the governance line item, but there are subtle differences. Where governance focuses on value co-creation, metrics are how things are measured. If the focus of the contact center is Average Handle Time (AHT) and first call resolution, then operational cost savings will get in the way of positive customer experience, which will drive down satisfaction and loyalty ratings. More and more of the forward looking contact centers are using AHT as a training tool, not to drive the business.
Collaboration is working together to achieve a goal. It is a recursive process where two or more people or organizations work together to realize shared goals, (this is more than the intersection of common goals seen in co-operative ventures, but a deep, collective, determination to reach an identical objective) — for example, an intriguing endeavor that is creative in nature — by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus. (Wikipedia). I believe collaboration and co-operation are closely aligned, with emotional elements highlighting the differences. The more someone is controlled, the less positive the experience ‘feels’. Being proactive is simply getting ahead of potential issues, not waiting for them to happen to you.