It was just another day in the summer of 2012 when my then 7-year-old son Mark ran into my study and excitedly insisted I come to see what he was watching on the TV.  Not wishing to dampen his enthusiasm, I obliged, and found myself sitting in our lounge with my son watching one of his favorite YouTube clips by the “Annoying Orange” on our TV.  Despite the clip being very annoying (look it up if you don’t believe me), I realized that something very interesting was taking place here.  We were accessing the Internet, not from my study or from the family iPad, but from the TV in our lounge. And my 7-year-old son had accessed it. The Internet had just become even more accessible in our house.

You see, we’d just moved to this house earlier that summer and I’d treated the family to a brand new TV that just so happened to be “smart” in that it could connect to the Internet.

Effectively computers, smart TVs come pre-installed with apps, such as those found on your tablet or smart phone albeit typically with a visual dimension to them like YouTube and LoveFiLM.  These are typically very easy to use, as my then 7-year-old son demonstrated to me.  But smart TVs also come with a Web browser that enables you to access essentially anything you can access with the browser on your PC.

So just as private and public sector organizations are getting used to social channels and think there couldn’t be possibly any more, another one is just around the corner.  Potentially offering yet more opportunities for such organizations to engage with their customers in the comfort of their own home, smart TVs haven’t entered the mainstream yet because they are relatively new (2012) and, of those that have them,  few have them connected to the Internet via the necessary broadband connection.  But this will change.

Imagine a not-too-distant future of an integrated TV and Internet experience, allowing:

• Private sector organizations to not only promote goods and services to their audiences via television programs, but also allow consumers to buy them immediately via their smart TV, and
• Government to get more feedback from the public into their live debates via smart TV engagement

Some of you will know that these types of experiences are not new ideas and that the UK public sector previously attempted to make services available via what was then the not-so-smart TV back in the early part of the 2000s.  The “Annoying Orange,” however, suggests that it will be more successful this time.

The best part of my job is that I get to talk to people; lots and lots of people.  I talk to so many people about the same subjects (in this case Customer Service) that I start to see patterns and trends emerge (I was told when I first started working at Gartner that two data points make a pattern and three make a trend – I’d like to think that it takes more than that, but you get the overall idea of how it works).

I want to cover in this blog post the basic trends and patterns that I am seeing emerge and paint a picture of where we are and where we are going with Customer Service.

In the past two to three years you rushed to social channels for customer service (Twitter, Facebook, Communities and more) only to find out the answer was not there (at least not as you expected).  You also worked to build a multi-channel contact center that can anticipate and deliver answers to your customers’ needs over time, but you are stuck somewhere on the road to achieving the customer satisfaction you sought as proof of that model.

Today you are trying to understand how the new social channels and communities, the existing channels, and the shift to effective customer service works all together.

I know all this because you told me when we conducted our research study and you continue to tell me in inquiries, conversations, and when we meet at conferences and events.  This is the state of customer service today.

Now as for the future of customer service (as evidenced by those wonderful data points that make patterns and trends happen), the future of customer service is evolving over time – there is no set model against which you have to build a similar solution.  Not only that, but it changes from company to company, industry to industry, even for specific functions.  This is what makes Customer Service interesting (and as the famous Chinese philosopher said – may you live in interesting times; to which I add – but not so interesting that they are absolutely crazy).

Within this “craziness” I’m starting to see emerging models for the future of customer service.  This is the timeline and projects that matter per my observations and conversations:

1. Short term (next two years – all about understanding value, fixing what’s not working)
   1. Communities and social – the questions I hear most are: what it is, how to use it, what to do to make it work, how to take it from reactive (last 2 years) to strategic, how to derive value from using it.  In other words, how to leverage social channels and communities and their promise to deliver strategic value to the customer service organization.
   2. Cross channel – questions that I hear the most: how to move from multi-channel to tracking inquiries across channels and time; how to identify what is one inquiry and the resolution for the same.  In other words, First Time Resolution in a complex multi-channel environment and how to ensure accurate metrics that both justify the work and the investment.
   3. Fixing – the topics I discussed the most about this: budgets were cut, innovation did not happen, and social and collaboration / communities was thrust onto customer service to figure it out; how can all this be made to work while improving what we had? In other words, now is the time to figure out how build a better customer service model that works properly.  Let’s start by fixing what we could not fix the past 4-5 years and then add to it.
   4. Cloud – As controversial as the use of cloud for customer service is in certain environments, the conversations about how to ensure security and performance in the cloud, how the advent of cloud-based communications and leveraging new vendors and models to replace the hardware and technology that has been there forever (IVR, ACD, etc.).  We also have a lot of chats about the emergence of cloud-based contact centers that can be outsourced and how current vendors and new vendors are deploying cloud-based software for Customer Service.  Overarching question: what shall I do?
2. Mid-term (2-5 years – all about building the model for the future of Customer Service)
   1. Knowledge – once we figure out what we are supposed to do with social and communications, then we can figure out how to adapt to the new Knowledge Management paradigm (been writing about this for the last couple of months in the stone cobra blog).  How to use knowledge in the new world where problems are becoming more complex, answers are always changing, and the reach to “cheap” resources that provide excellence with virtually no lag (read: subject matter experts all over the world and in disparate communities) are becoming the norm, not the exception.  Add automation as a driving force and you have the recipe for disruption.
   2. Automation – These are the questions you ask the most: how to take the value of automating partly online inquiries and move them to other areas; how to focus on reducing the number of inquiries to handle forty percent or more of the inquiries; how to provide automation via all channels from a central framework that allows to leverage automation across channels (while, of course, properly measuring interactions and solutions to justify the investment).  In other words, how to make automation a key part of solutions that will reduce cost and focus on providing effective answers.
   3. Cloud – More cloud evolution (few finished internal and external infrastructure); more cross-channel (beginning to see first solutions implemented and showing results).

It is almost impossible to predict customer service ten years out (last time I did there was more visibility into the future, today the pace of evolution makes it almost impossible to see past the next five to seven years – too much is changing too rapidly in a business world sitting on a balance between organization and chaos; more on that some other time).

In addition to the above trends and topics, elements like “Big” data, integration, security, privacy and associated themes that are affecting cloud and technology deployment will continue to exist.  Buildup of the cloud infrastructure within the organization, adoption of automation and remote services across the enterprise, and further “flattening” of the world will continue to affect all these projects.  I will not cover these as single elements in this vision but rather part of a complex infrastructure that can serve customer service as well as the rest of the organization.  This is what is happening to social channels as well as other items I wrote about above.

I can seemingly write about this forever – and I will (not today, don’t worry… almost done).

In the coming months I will repeat the research study we conducted last year, create a more detailed version of this post with examples, best practices, lessons learned, case studies and more details of how it works and how you can make it work for your organization and deliver more information via this blog from my good friends at KANA about the future of Customer Service.

Is there anything else I did not mention above that you would like to see covered?

Any data point, pattern, or trend you’d like to explore further?

Let me know – happy to add it to the list…

Stay with me through the next few months and you won’t be disappointed – I promise.

Disclaimer: KANA is a customer (they have been for a long time) and they are generous enough to sponsor the research I am doing on the topic of the future of customer service; while I will get paid for doing this work, I retain editorial control and the final word on what is said here and in future deliveries and KANA retains the interest of expanding conversations about customer service. Win-win-win (you are the third winner, since you get to read all this at no cost and with no obligation or commitment).

Recently Annette Obermeier and I had the pleasure of working with Fiona Keough, CEO of the ATA, on a brief study of trends in Australian local government service centers. Thirty-four local government service center professionals participated in a survey that allowed us to better understand how Australian local government service centers are changing and compare this information with trends in other markets.

Australia has Evaded Significant Austerity Measures So Far

In addition to the culture and natural beauty of Australia, the world continues to be envious of the Australian economy. As noted in the Pacific Standard, Australia has completed its twenty-first consecutive year of economic growth. As a result, local government service centers in Australia have been able to focus more on improving quality of service than struggling with severe budget cuts. However, there are trends in local government customer service from Europe and North America that may be applicable to the future of Australian local government service centers.

Three and a half years into its government-debt crisis, the European Union is struggling with a lack of economic growth and rising unemployment. EU austerity measures have inflicted severe economic pain in places like Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy.  While not as severe, markets where KANA has a strong public sector presence, like the United Kingdom and Benelux region, have also implemented levels of austerity measures that are redefining local government customer service. Historically, the approach taken in local governments was one of “we are a call center first and we will need to add other channels of service, like web self-service, in order to keep our budgets reasonable.” In the past year, austerity measures are completely flipping this philosophy for some municipalities. The new strategy is one of ”we can’t afford the people; we need to redesign our self-service channels to allow citizens access all services through the web, mobile or social media without the need of human assistance.”

The economies of the United States, and to some degree Canada, have struggled as well. We have seen continued interest in the breadth and depth of self-services that are available on the web, mobile and through social media.

Toronto, a recognized thought leader in local government customer service, is using speech analytics to analyze areas for cost reduction and improving service levels (Government Technology News, Speech Technology Helps Toronto Analyze 311 Calls). At the 2012 MSDO (Municipal Service Delivery Officials) Conference, Toronto explained how speech analysis yielded $300,000 in immediate cost savings through process changes and identified potentially up to $1.6M in cost savings.

We have also seen more interest in cooperative agreements between local governments in order to reduce costs. In Canada, the Region of Waterloo and its regional seat, the City of Kitchener, have entered into a partnership for a joint Service First Call Centre (Regional Meeting Minutes) where Waterloo will provide Lagan Enterprise and Kitchener will provide 2,500 square feet of call center space.

Continued Ascension of the Digital Customer

There is a possibility that you are reading this article on a smart phone or tablet. In Frost & Sullivan’s August 2012 report, Australian Mobile Device Usage Trends, the industry research firm believes that over two-thirds of Australians (68%) aged between 15 and 65 currently own a smartphone. Frost & Sullivan also estimates that smartphone ownership amongst the entire population is at 41% and predicts this to increase to 65% within five years. Frost & Sullivan also reports that 20% of Australians aged between 15 and 65 currently own a tablet and 33% of all Australian households have at least one member who owns a tablet.

In parallel with the increased adoption of smart phones and tablets, the acceptance of social media remains strong. According to Australian ad agency Adcorp’s blog Social Media Statistics February 2013, Australia and New Zealand, over 50% of Australia and New Zealand’s population uses Facebook and over 40% use YouTube.

Social media has grown as a communication channel for local governments almost as rapidly as it has in commercial markets. The City of San Francisco, an early adopter of self-service (case study), has 39 departments using Twitter, 35 departments using Facebook and 16 departments using YouTube. San Francisco uses Open311 to integrate Facebook with Lagan Enterprise. While many of us love the Grumpy Cat video on YouTube, I believe that video, in the form of videos or chat, will increase in use by public sector service organizations over the next few years.

Survey Results

The survey results provided us with an important snapshot of direction of Australian local government service centers.

Rising importance of multi-channel

53% of survey respondents believe that improving customer service through multi-channel delivery is their top priority in the next 18 months. At KANA we strongly believe that a successful multi-channel strategy is more than adding new channels like web and mobile to your local government call center. Instead, we have designed Lagan Enterprise for the omni-channel experience. Omni-channel is an approach developed by online retailers where the customer can receive consistent quality of services regardless of the channel the customer prefers to use.

Online self-service – a game changer

48% of survey respondents believe that online self-service is the technology that is most likely to be a game changer within the next year. As discussed earlier, this is consistent with the trends we see in Europe and North America. For many local governments, some services are difficult to move online as they require some level of customer authentication. To address this, the next version of the Lagan Enterprise Self-Service that we will release later this year, is designed to provide secure portal capabilities. Not only will functionality for customer accounts exist, but the product will also ship with a set of configurable out-of-the box process workflows for a variety of transactions.

Consistent information for improved quality of service

26% of survey respondents stated that consistent and visible information is of most value to customers. The only way to achieve this goal is through contextually aware knowledge base system.  This allows relevant information, in the form of knowledge base articles, to be delivered as the person needs it while completing a process. While traditionally thought of as important for a service center agent, contextually aware knowledge is central to self-service adoption.

Social media is here to stay

26% of survey respondents stated that Facebook their fastest growing social media channel. This result is consistent with the market data provided earlier in this article that over 50% of Australia and New Zealand’s population uses Facebook. According to Alexa, people spend on average 28 minutes per Facebook site visit.

And of course, the smart phone

66% of survey respondents said that they already have or plan to implement a mobile channel within the next year. An Australian local government that has successful done this is the City of South Perth, who deployed Lagan Mobile as part of their Report It self-service initiative. South Perth has approximately 45,000 residents, approximately 1M tourists and annually manages over 100,000 customer requests.

Report It allows people to report issues such as potholes, graffiti, damaged signs or fallen street trees directly to their local government organization using the web or their smart phone. The reported incident is logged in the City’s Lagan Enterprise system and is forwarded automatically to the correct team for response. Once the incident has been logged, a notification is directed back to the reporter advising that the incident has been created and a unique reference number is provided. This reference number can be used by the reporter to track the progress of the incident as it moves towards resolution. Reports of incidents that are located outside the local government’s physical service areas will not be created in Lagan Enterprise. When the incident has been completed, another notification advises the reporter that the underlying problem has been fixed.

Download the survey infographic

We have created an infographic of the results of our survey that provides additional information beyond those covered in this article. You can download the infographic from HERE.

Also, if you would like to listen to our webinar on this topic delivered with Fiona Keough, CEO of the ATA, you can access the recording from HERE.

Thank you!

Like the entire KANA team, I appreciate your feedback and welcome any thoughts that can spark a conversation. Please comment!

Earlier this month, KANA and Utilligent delivered a compelling webinar (Lessons learned from Superstorm Sandy) related to the challenges faced by utility organizations during natural disasters. I believe that one of the most important challenges—I think you’ll agree—is how to maintain a consistently good customer experience during and immediately after a disaster until things get back to a steady state.

This is far from being an easy challenge for any organization. Let’s think about some of the difficulties organizations must face. Examples include: a substantial part of the workforce can’t come to work, the organization needs to use emergency workers, customer calls increase exponentially and there are long queues of call-backs, upset customers,  customer cases and issues are delayed or unresolved and  service level agreements are not met.  If you’re a utilities provider, these probably sound familiar and set you on edge just a bit.

What are customers looking for during these challenging times?  Different reports and assessments after Hurricane Sandy in the Northeastern US found out that customers want fast access to consistent and relevant information across multiple channels (web, mobile, social and contact center). They also want information/updates on their cases and alerts to be proactively sent to them via their channel of choice (not the organization’s channel of choice). Also, they want to interact with knowledgeable contact center agents.

How are these needs to be met by the utility providers? Utility organizations need to provide information to their clients via a variety of channels (contact center, web, mobile and social channels) in a consistent and seamless way.  They can benefit from using knowledge management to provide personalized services to their clients across the different channels.  The contact center agents can be empowered by having swift access to a 360 degree view of the customer to enable them to provide personalized services to customers. Agents can be equipped with tools to enable them to create, update and monitor customers’ cases swiftly.  Through automated real-time monitoring and reporting, updates to clients’ cases can be sent out to customers on the channel of their choice.

With the right omni-channel strategy deployed in solutions that utilize technologies such as contextual knowledge management, business process management, and case management it is possible to prepare the organization to maintain a good level of interaction with the customers at such times.

Polling of the audience during the webinar showed that only 30% use the data generated on social media as a source of insight to enhance their customer experience and develop new products and services. The channel strategy of any organization needs to include social media.  Organizations will gain from implementing the technology that enables them to listen to  social media interactions and act swiftly on the messages of high importance that indicate certain customers are unhappy with their experiences.

Listen to the webinar recording of “Riding out the Storm with your Customers: Lessons Learned from Superstorm Sandy,” to further explore the enhanced customer experience offerings that could have made a meaningful difference throughout the lifecycle of Hurricane Sandy. Also learn about the critical technology upgrades and business changes that could have made the difference between creating a disgruntled customer vs. a loyal advocate.

KANA solutions have reduced handling time, increased resolution rates and improved Net Promoter Score (NPS) at more than 850 organizations globally including: ScottishPower, Eskom, Pacific Corp, SDG&E.

Firstly thank you to the kind participants that responded to the KANA/ IBM Poll (see infographic in the original post), it provided some very interesting insights into current industry thinking within Financial Services around prioritising customer engagement trends in 2013. Perhaps the result I personally found most surprising was that only 41% of respondents deemed the ‘Quality of Service’ as important to their customers (very low in my opinion), I expected this to be the key focus and true differentiator for any organisations success regardless of sector…maybe not?

Having been fortunate enough to have worked for a global bank myself as well as being a long term customer of a few I feel I have gained some interesting and sometimes conflicting perspectives into these interesting organisations and so have my own personal view to share (please don’t shoot me!).

For me, the new battleground for financial institutions is to be seen as the organisation that can leverage ‘empowered’ staff, ‘empathise’ and ‘consistently’ interact with increasingly technically savvy and informed customers regardless of channel used. I therefore personally believe ‘Quality of Service’ should actually remain a priority focus for all organisations as this is perhaps the biggest area for differentiation and battle for the customer (word of mouth does work, see various social media and blog sites for good and bad customer experience examples). Can you monitor and respond to what customers are saying about your organisation online easily and positively enhance the conversation?

Furthering the discussion from the previous interesting post, I also believe technology is only part of the answer to improving the Customer Experience.  Big Data and Customer Experience Management (Social scrapping, Channel layering etc) are still relatively new industry terms, but the relating issues around understanding the customer and analysing existing data have always been present.  The challenge I regularly see actually stems mostly from the organisational culture in terms of whether the business is set up to compete internally (siloed) or actually share data (collaborate).  This sounds simple but the organisational focus has a profound affect on any resulting initiatives and processes around improving Customer Experience Management, or not.  To illustrate this point I have seen first-hand experience of a customer not being transferred to a higher profile and more beneficial credit card product because the existing credit card team didn’t want to lose the customer from their own portfolio. This may just be an isolated case but hopefully shows that no amount of transformative technology would solve this challenge alone as it’s also cultural.  Does your organisational culture and your goals complement the technology you have or are planning to implement?  If not you could be wasting your time, money and opportunity to do something that fits your business better.

As technology becomes more powerful and prevalent in the hands of the financial services customer, it is understandable that they will expect more from the organisations they interact with and particularly those on a daily basis such as Financial Institutions. It is easy for Financial Institutions to feel they need to become more like Apple stores to compete in this increasingly retail focused world, but does the customer really care? Personally, I care mostly about whether my money is safe, it’s easy to access, and that I can achieve a fair return on the money invested.  For me this is what constitutes ‘Quality of Service’ and the resulting trust I place in the brand and organisation. This is obviously different for each customer. Do you have the ability to build a true profile of your customer and add value to each interaction? Can you seamlessly drive workflow and case management across your organisation and improve knowledge management in the process? Are you making customers part of your processes as opposed to serving them efficiently?

It’s not easy to build an effective customer service strategy, balancing cost, revenue, risk, culture and customer sentiment but the organisation that can ready itself for dynamic change maintaining ‘Quality of Service’ will prevail. The future of customer service is that everyone serves whether front office or back office and even whether you speak to a customer. Everyone eventually assists the customer to evaluate, buy, use and advocate your service and brand.  Are you ready for this dynamic change?

Bally Total Fitness has been getting its fair share of press coverage these days regarding its focus on leveraging technology to support innovation and customer engagement. KANA recently spoke with Bally Total Fitness SVP and CIO Guy Thier on the company’s customer experience and service strategy transformation. Thier is responsible for all information technology, interactive digital media and social media, call center and member services. 

KANA: How do you view your role as the CIO and how it relates to customer service?

GT: Customer service is more critical now than ever before. The advent of social media and the realization that each customer’s voice can now reach thousands of people on the Internet requires excellent customer service to be delivered consistently across all touch points.  Customers expect every employee, IVR, website, or mobile app to have access to their history and current status instantaneously.  Customers expect their needs to be met either by direct communication via a company’s touch points or by voicing an issue on social media.  My role as CIO is to create an environment where universal information and processes can be consistently applied for every customer irrespective of the interaction channel.

KANA: How is it important to work in lock step with your business peers/counterparts to make good on customer service? Can you give examples of how you have done this?

GT: As technology continues to create new opportunities across new channels, such as the nexus of mobile and social, the cross discipline implications require strong partnerships between business groups and IT.  For example, Bally was working towards a shift in sales culture from the traditional hard sell to a member-centric and goal-oriented culture.  Customers pointed to the sale closing process as an area Bally could improve upon to change the dynamic from hard sell to member-centric.  A partnership developed between IT, Marketing, Operations and Sales to create a new experience where memberships could be sold on an iPad.  Instead of bringing customers into a sales office behind a closed door, the sale can now occur anywhere in the fitness center.  This allowed for a cultural shift where potential customers can tour the facility, decide to join, and sign-up quickly and easily with a salesperson out in the open.  The technical possibilities proposed by IT coupled with the desired business unit cultural change is one of many examples where those partnerships led to better customer and employee experience.

KANA: In order to provide a rich rewarding customer experience, you have to understand your customer demographics. How has Bally benefitted from its understanding of the needs and wants of Bally’s customers?

GT: Bally’s understanding of customers has been a benefit in two distinct ways.  First, understanding the customer segments and targeting approach for those segments have resulted in product offerings tailored to those segments.  For example, Bally gyms are full service gyms with group exercise, personal training and a number of other amenities.  One member segment is purely interested in using cardio or other equipment on the gym floor only, while other segments look for a mix of membership amenities and personal training.  Second, extending the use of the demographics to enhance or communicate based on customer preferences is creating stronger relationships with customers.  For example, knowing a customer’s language preference when they call in allows that call to be answered by an agent with that ability.

KANA: What are some metrics you are tracking regarding customer service/customer engagement?

The metrics we’re using today are very different from what Bally used in the past.  Today we’re looking at Net Promoter Scores and social media – positive and negative impressions and trends in customer acceptance, which have steadily improved.  Our call handling time has gone down significantly but that doesn’t tell the whole story because our call center reps are handling increased call complexity.  All documents and work out history related to a customer are now at an agent’s fingertips.  Using Sword Ciboodle (now KANA), we were able to eliminate many of our manual customer service processes, and cut average call handle time by 12 percent within the first three months of using Ciboodle One agent desktop. Additionally, new member service representatives are able to achieve full productivity three weeks faster using the desktop.

KANA: What are the top challenges facing Bally this year? Are those the same or different from your colleagues/peers in other industries?

GT: Bally’s biggest challenge going forward is to shift from significant divestitures and downsizing back into a growth mode.  Bally is in an interesting position where many areas of the company, including our member service center, have been created for and can scale to a much larger organization.  The ability to utilize that scalability as a product in the marketplace, or as a platform for growth in our industry, has sparked some interest.  I think this is an intriguing challenge, and one not generally faced by my colleagues or peers.

KANA: Where do you see Bally in the next five years?

GT: My hope is that Bally becomes the Starbucks of the fitness industry as far as customer experience is concerned. We want customers to feel as if they belong there and are part of something when they walk through the door. We’re trying to foster a sense of community and get everyone involved in the club experience.

KANA: Thanks Guy for taking the time to speak with us today. We’re actually starting to feel motivated to hit the gym!

Providing engaging and satisfying customer experiences across the whole of the customer journey, all channels at all times, has become critical to organizations’ success. Customers’ expectations have rocketed while at the same time their ability to express their dis-satisfaction has exploded with social media and commercial review models. Enterprises need to think and operate in an ‘outside-in’ model to succeed.

Another key trend that we see is that the a brand is judged by what it does and not just what it says, in other words the core of customer experience and perception is now rooted in execution.

Step forward the CIO.

Customer experience and thinking of the ‘journey’ may have traditionally been the purview of the marketing team, but the real power to change and drive excellence lies with the CIO. The systems and processes of a business underpin all elements of customer experience execution. Getting these right and being able drive change through critical areas of the business is where today’s CIO steps up.

I am not saying it is easy! A CIO has to grapple with the legacy of older solutions and applications, the present burden of reliable and secure operations as well as future planning for current projects and strategic changes required by the Business. The IT budget is largely consumed with ‘keeping the lights on’, which means it is all the more critical how the discretionary spend is applied to move forward.

So here are my thoughts on where the CIO can lead the business in its outside-in thinking:-

1. Understand layers of change

Not all elements of a business can or should change at the same speed. A general ledger will always do what it does and reliably so, but how information gets in there and how order processing, sales and service fulfillment, renewal pricing, etc. is managed will change more rapidly.

Customer engagement is the most dynamic area of a business and needs to adapt faster than the core systems of record. Change to core systems doesn’t have to be treated like heart surgery or root canal treatment! Layering systems to support this pace of change while integrating and abstracting the core systems enables this approach and has been proven to be effective and drive change focused on the customer (and our friends at #Gartner with their ‘Pace Layer Architecture’ would agree).

2. Focus on journeys not transactions

Of course we mustn’t forget that over time, customers perform transactions, and getting a policy on to the admin system is a critical step. However don’t ever forget that the customer is on a journey. Process and scenario thinking embraces this notion providing key measures of success and goal definition, such as customer effort and convenience, that are not simply about data consistency.

3. Don’t allow silos

Silos are the sworn enemy of customer experience. Whether they are business organization or system based silos, they all conspire to make customer journeys fragmented and painful.

One of the biggest divides is the gap between customer service and sales/marketing, and within that the gap, between eCommerce or digital solutions and ‘traditional’ back ends.

The CIO is well placed to drive cross divisional unity through an organization by determining and delivering cross-functional solutions that focus on the customer not the department.

4. Be Bold

Speed and agility require boldness. This includes boldness in selecting partners and vendors who support your vision and can work with you over time. It includes boldness in learning to pilot solutions that solve tactical need while opening up strategic doors – delivering a valuable part of the overall vision in 3 months not 3 years.

This will require vision and boldness in execution, but with that the CIO can not only support the business but be the key catalyst and agent of change that is so needed at this time.

The CIO can see all parts of the enterprise’s execution and can grapple with it to deliver the outside-in approach that will engage customers and ensure both the success of the business and their own success in the role of the CIO.

On its own, open data certainly has its uses, but they are limited. And the attention it continues to get makes it harder for anyone to talk about what makes data really powerful – open services.

So what are open services? An open service is one that is freely available to everyone to use. The goals of an open service movement would be similar to those of other “Open” movements such as open source.

Open311 is an example of an open service and Open311.org are its custodians. Open311 provides a standard way to report issues concerning public spaces. In doing so, Open311 enables 3rd party suppliers to integrate their applications seamlessly to Open311-compliant government services in a standard way.

Sounds great. So why is government still fixated on open data? Partly because open data is easier to implement compared to open services; for example, the UK government has tried to define open service standards in the past without success. And partly because open data is taking the attention away from its successor-in-waiting, the open service.

That’s why its important to highlight the success, particularly in North America, of Open311. It’s great to see MySociety finally become an advocate of the standard as reported by UKAuthority.com. Although in the article, Steinberg incorrectly states that Open311 “is a new idea in the realm of government IT…” It isn’t new. It’s been around for three or more years at least. I first blogged about it back in 2011 in “The Death of Open311?” and it had already been around for at least a year at that stage. That said, we need more people and organizations talking about the benefits of open services, like Open311, so that we can replicate the successes in North America elsewhere.

But, as I mentioned in my first Open311 blog back in August 2011, there is so much more that could be possible if open processes received government support, for example:

• helping government organizations collaborate by supporting more integrated partnership approaches
• helping to crack the code of integrating the front and back office – still a major barrier to implementing efficient government to citizen services today

So, let’s stop talking about open data at the expense of what government really needs, open services. And let’s see more government and supplier adoption of Open311 to help build the momentum for a wider open service world.

Sometimes life presents us with situations that challenge our established routines and force us to re-think the methods of coping we’ve grown accustom to.

Years ago, one of my managers came into my office upset … she left her ATM card at home and was panicking because she wouldn’t be able to get cash for lunch.  I wondered why she hadn’t considered a visit to the credit union, conveniently located in our office lobby, to fill out a withdrawal slip and get the cash.  When I proposed that option, her eyes lit up and she said, “I can do that???”

In 2011, I bought my oldest daughter (now 32) an Amazon e-gift certificate for Christmas.  In February, I received an email from Amazon that the e-certificate was never opened.  My daughter informed me that she hadn’t checked her email yet … what?  For her birthday, I had to text her to remind her to check her email for the e-gift I sent her.  This Christmas, I sent her e-gift to her Facebook wall … I know she got that … and so did everyone else.

Similar to many of our own experiences, our customers have a preference regarding how they’d like to interact with us, but we’re not always on the same page with them.  Some want updates on their Smartphone, we figure we’ll just send them an email, some want to follow us on twitter, we figure we’ll send them a monthly newsletter to their home along with their bill.  They want to talk with a live human, we figure we’ll lead them through a labyrinth of self-service options, hoping to present them with the right answer before they reach a live agent to complain.

I know … we “get it” …  Our customers want to communicate with us through their channel of choice, but our actions don’t always align.  We finally got to those changes that we submitted years ago and feel a sense of obligation to see them through … after all, we made such a big deal about them!   For example, some utilities are investing significant portions of their service budgets on revamping their web portal but have mobile apps as number 324 on their priority list.  Two years ago, smartphones represented 24% of all cell phone usage, this year, they’ve surpassed 50% … maybe mobile apps should move up a few pegs.  Another utility is charging into the age of digital marketing and considering buying a list of email IDs for an email advertising campaign … social media outreach is not even in their 2013 plan.  It’s not easy trying to figure out where we should invest our Customer Service dollars or how to prioritize which set of initiatives we should tackle next.

In a recent dialogue between a utility and its state commission, the utility highlighted that they kept their customers apprised of outages via Twitter … now that was a great idea, and I applaud them for leveraging a most efficient channel,  however, this particular customer … me … would have remained clueless regarding the extent of my outage and anticipated time of restoration … I happen to be one of those few Twitter hold outs … I never would have gotten the updates … and what if I didn’t have a smartphone (I do have one of those) or if my wireless device died during the outage … what then?

We have a broad range of channels to consider … but with a little insight, we can begin to map a course in the right direction.  The interaction method will change based on the nature of the issue and the channel of choice may be influenced by the age of the customer.  But, it’s not just about the preferred interaction channel … it’s also about the dialogue/scripting we craft and the tone/method of how we deliver it.  Age demographics differ regarding language, content, and approach.  A short, succinct communication style is great for a young, technical savvy student on the go but a retired Marine wants a thorough explanation.  Language isn’t always about dialect and culture isn’t always about what part of the world you come from.

So … what do we need to do?

Know your Customer

What is their history with you, what are their demographics, what is their customer type and segment, how do they want to do business and interact with you, how and what have we communicated to them, what is their status and how/why have they contacted you … it’s time for some Customer analytics.

• Cull through your collection of customer information databases and create a customer profile based on type of service, usage, status, preference, history …
• Capture information about each contact – what number/ID, what channel, what time, what day, even what menu options …
• Obtain external information about your customer – how are they interacting with their other service providers … banks, credit cards, wireless, cable … what do they expect from you?
• Ask your customers what channels they prefer, how they like to be contacted/notified, how they’d like to contact you … remember, this may differ by action like “send an email when my bill is ready”, “text me about outage status”, “send me a mobile alert when my bill is past due” …

Align your environment

What business and IT initiatives are currently underway and which are in the queue for next consideration.  Are they in alignment with your current Customer objectives?  Could it be time for realignment?

• Determine your technology and process readiness to support web, mobile web, chat, smart apps, social media, SMS/texting, emails and the ability to integrate these channels with your contact center(s), walk-in locations, regular mail, and your other CIS, telephony and desktop applications.  Are these elements in your near term vision or are folks still working on the “old” stuff?
• Do your customer interaction channels have the same feel to the customer, or does your customer have to adjust to each channel they engage in?
• Do your care agents have a full view of all of your customer’s account relationships, products, service interactions, and customer history?
• Do you have the capability to capture and assess customer interaction intelligence to appropriately direct your customer to their channel of choice, route them to the most qualified agent, or present them with the most relevant options?
• Can you monitor the voluminous streams of social media and assimilate the data into actionable components?

Monitor your Customer Channels

How are you hearing from your customers?  Through your escalation desk, your commission, the media?  They certainly don’t mind sharing their expectations … they’ll tell anyone … we just don’t want to be the last to know.

• Listen to calls, read through emails, look at the web/IVR fails/abandons … assess what’s working well, what needs to change, what you need to invest in
• Survey your customers via mail, email, calls, IVR, CSR, social media, web, benchmarking … what are they looking for … expecting?
• Tell them how they can get in touch with you, through all of your channels and then track the results and determine any changes in behavior

What’s in it for Me?

Increased Customer satisfaction, less negative press, enhanced regulatory relations, and lower operating costs.  All we have to do is listen, understand, and respond in a manner that appeals to our customers.  Piece of cake … now let me try that on my kids …

Hungry for more?
Join our upcoming webinar on Feb 6 @ 11 AM Pacific to hear from Utiligent and KANA Utilities thought-leaders on “Riding out the Storm with Your Customers: Lessons learned from Superstorm Sandy.”  Register for free here.

When you leave an industry event you usually have a few new pearls of wisdom that, like New Year’s resolutions, you vow you’ll implement as soon as the festivities are over.

But more often than not, reality hits hard when you get back into the swing of things, and new ideas are left by the wayside.

KANA knows this to be the case, so when the company participated in the largest technology event for the Financial Services industry last year, it took the time to poll attendees, asking “How will you use technology to deliver customer value in 2013?” so that we could ponder the direction of technology in the sector at a later (more convenient) time.

The results of the poll (pictured in the infographic to the right) showed that enhancing customer engagement is a critical strategy for Australian financial services participants. Seventy-one percent reported that they already use social media to engage with customers, and there was a significant focus on the ability to use multi-channel customer data to predict behaviour and customize offerings.

In essence, what the KANA poll demonstrates is that organisations must consider the value of the customer profiling information they already possess, and how it can be expanded to include additional information on their customer from other sources (e.g., social media). This will then enable them to enhance customer relationships, increase market share, increase wallet spend per customer and reduce risk.

This approach to using data effectively has also become a key focus at IBM, through Big Data. The Big Data platform solutions offers the opportunity to delve into vast amounts of data to reliably answer questions about customer activity and predict future behaviour – while uncovering risks before they can impact business results.

To read more on how cloud computing, social media, and mobile technologies are driving big data across a variety of industries including financial services, retail, healthcare visit Bringing Big Data to the Enterprise.