Collaborative Customer Service: The Power of All

Transcription

1 White Paper Collaborative Customer Service: The Power of All Optimizing Your Service Strategy and Delivery for the New Reality Sponsored By: All rights reserved. CCS WP 1009 No part of this material may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the Strativity Group, Inc. Strativity Group, Inc. 365 West Passaic Street, Suite 255, Rochelle Park, NJ 07662, USA info@strativity.com

2 Table of Contents Introduction: Facing the New Reality... 1 The Business Case for Exceptional Customer Experiences through Collaborative Service Platforms... 4 Success Story: Implementing Solutions for the New Reality: The Real Pathway to ROI and Cost Savings... 6 Monumental Barriers to Customer Experience Success... 8 Lack of Employee Empowerment... 8 Undifferentiated Self-Service... 9 Failure to Monitor and Respond to Customer Feedback Lack of Insight into What Customers Want and Value Differentiating Experiences Success Story: Delivering a 5E Experience Collaborative Service The Power to Emotionally Service the Individual Transforming Service into Collaborative Service Success Story: Demonstrating Insight into What Consumers Want and Value Transforming Self-Service into Collaborative Service with Authentic Dialog Tomorrow Morning Checklist Summing It Up Collaborative Service About Strativity Group About Astute Solutions... 20

3 Introduction: Facing the New Reality Loyal customers are almost three times as likely to continue doing business with companies as dissatisfied customers. The race is on. Tough economic conditions and fierce competition are making it exceedingly difficult to encourage consumers to part with their limited budgets. To thrive in today s environment, companies must offer not only more compelling products and services, but also exceptional customer experiences. Product quality and brand notoriety are no longer the most important drivers of consumer behavior. The new reality is that the overall experience throughout a customer s lifecycle along with the experiences of those within their social networks weigh heavily in their decision-making processes. Therefore, when planning your customer service strategies, it s time to accept the new reality. Your customers want a full, positive experience through the channel they choose. Moreover, they are in control and empowered like never before. In growing numbers, they are reporting on their experiences to the world. Their reviews are more honest, cutting and in-depth than if they were speaking with a contact center agent or in-store employee. The more critical the report, the more attention it gets. Negative word of mouth spreads quickly. In little time, the impact on the brand can be devastating. This customer experience reporting is a strong influencer and a prospective customer s first stop on the path to making buying decisions about products and services, and the companies that provide them. Considering the reach of a single voice in this new reality, the pressure is on to demonstrate your commitment to customer service and the positive experiences your customers want. The impact of these efforts on the top line is significant. Strativity Group s 2009 Customer Experience Consumer Study found that customers who have exceptional experiences with vendors are reciprocating with longer relationships, increased purchasing volumes and greater willingness to pay premium prices for products and services. But despite the strong business case for customer experience, many companies approach their contact center, CRM, and self-service technology investments with a cost-reduction mindset. They are aiming to better manage their customers by automating processes and shifting them away from expensive live interaction channels, such as the call center, to less expensive self-service interaction mediums. This doesn t align with the new reality, which is grounded in customer experience and value creation. 1

4 As a result, a chasm has formed between what managementminded companies view as good service and what customers consider to be an experience worth repeating. This chasm is greatest when it comes to online customer service, such as Web self-service. With so many advanced personal interaction technologies at their disposal to connect, research, and resolve; customers expectations around online service have increased dramatically. Considering the pace of innovation that touches their daily lives, it is almost inconceivable to them that a major company would not provide the appropriate online tools to improve their experience. As a result, management-minded companies fall flat with online self-service despite the ever-increasing demand for this channel. Generic, impersonal and often frustrating experiences create little to no value for the customer impacting loyalty, retention, revenue, and profitability. Meanwhile, customers are just a few keystrokes away from describing these poor experiences to the world. Yet, despite the short- and long-term ramifactions for these companies, there are often no plans in place to implement change for the new reality. These companies may see short-term cost savings, but the quality of the customer experience particularly in the online channels will continue to fall far below expectations. It s a trade-off that can seriously impact the bottom-line for companies across all industries by weakening their customer relationships and increasing the risk of negative word of mouth. To reconcile these efforts and investments with the needs and expectations of today s consumers (who want to be respected, appreciated, and responded to), organizations must shift their focus from management/cost reduction to value creation for each of their self-service and agent-assisted communication channels. They should follow the 5Es of value-adding experiences: Easy providing smooth and seamless services Educating teaching customers something new Exploring identifying and solving unmet customer needs Engaging establishing a connection with customers Exceptional handling uncommon interactions through firstrate service 2

5 52% of dissatisfied customers expect discounts of 5% or more to continue doing business with a company, while loyal customers do not expect discounts By following the 5Es, companies demonstrate their understanding of the new reality. They meet the immediate needs of their customers, and based on what they learn from these interactions, create a framework for continuous improvement to the overall customer experience. We call this collaborative service. Collaborative service is based on a single premise: The power of the aggregate is greater than the power of the individual. The company and the consumer work together to create the optimal experience. This premise recognizes the power and importance of the customer as a unique individual and an equal creator in the overall experience. Collaborative service leverages in-house expertise to deliver a better overall customer experience. Multiple individuals (e.g. subject matter experts, service personnel, managers) and departments across a company work together whether it s on an immediate interaction, filling an information gap to better serve the next customer or representative, or on adding/improving products/services to provide what customers want and value. When a company collaborates with its customers, and individuals within that company collaborate to better assist those customers, they succeed in delivering more relevant and personally satisfying experiences. The outcome is an authentic interaction for the consumer, which increases loyalty and profitability for the company. Customer collaboration is required to deliver exceptional experiences that command premium prices, greater wallet share and positive word of mouth/mouse. To accomplish this, companies must embrace the new service reality by transforming their contact center and online self-service channels into collaborative service platforms. In this paper we will outline the transformation, detailing the people, processes and technologies involved in achieving collaborative service via the contact center and the Web. 3

6 The Business Case for Exceptional Customer Experiences through Collaborative Service Platforms More than 70% of consumers indicate that if businesses exceed their expectations, they are willing to increase their spending by 10% or more Even in a challenging economy, consumers will reward companies that provide exceptional customer experiences. Strativity Group s 2009 Customer Experience Consumer Study found that customers who have outstanding experiences with vendors are reciprocating with longer relationships, increased purchasing volumes, a greater willingness to pay premium prices for products and services, and in some cases, a favorable online review that influences the decisions of prospective customers. The survey highlights the correlation between experience quality and financial benefit: Increased spending: More than 70% of consumers indicate that if businesses exceed their expectations, they are willing to increase their spending by 10% or more. Long-term relationships: Loyal customers are almost three times more likely to continue doing business with companies than dissatisfied customers. Their lifecycle is estimated at 10 years or more. Survey Results: If the experience I receive remains constant, I expect to continue to do business with this business for another: Willingness to pay premium prices for the products they want: 40% of loyal customers said that they are willing to pay 10% or more to continue purchasing from companies delivering great experiences (in contrast with 9% of dissatisfied customers who, despite wanting the products, would go elsewhere). Less discounting: 52% of dissatisfied customers expect discounts of 5% or more to continue doing business with a company, while loyal customers do not expect discounts. 4

7 With this data in mind, companies cutting investments in the customer experience should weigh potential cost savings against expected revenue losses. This includes the lost revenues and missed cost reduction opportunities that result from delivering high quality experiences, such as: Lower cost of doing business by dealing with satisfied customers who are less likely to complain. Lower cost of sales by doing business with repeat customers. Lower cost of business development by doing business with (customer generated) referred customers. With loyalty, revenues and operational budgets at stake, customer experience strategies are finally becoming top priorities for many companies. In fact, according to Strativity Group s Customer Experience Management Benchmark Study, a majority of executives state that the customer experience is more important today than it was three years ago. A large number of companies are increasing their investments in the customer experience. Forty-eight percent report that their companies have increased investments in the customer experience over the past three years by 10 percent or more. Also, during this period, 17 percent reported increasing investments by 20 percent or more, demonstrating that some executives know it s time to walk the walk. Trends in Customer Experience Investment Increased 20% per year (10.2%) Increased more than 20% per year (6.3%) Declined 50% (3.9%) Declined 20% (8.2%) Increased 10% per year (31.3%) Stayed the same, (40.2%) 5

8 The pressure is on for companies to raise their game and deliver exceptional experiences. This is especially true in channels such as self-service that are perceived to be not only undifferentiated, but also a major source of dissatisfaction. To be competitive in today s world, companies need to focus on long-term/overall gains instead of just on the operational budget. Success Story: Implementing Solutions for the New Reality: The Real Pathway to ROI and Cost Savings A major consumer goods company handles approximately 3.5 million contacts annually in support of hundreds of products within over 90 brand families. On any given day at any given minute its contact center representatives are working toward the end goal of delivering world-class service to consumers. When faced with knowledge management and contact center challenges, it became clear to the company that the time had come to find a knowledge management solution that worked for their service objectives and representatives, not against them. The company required a solution that would enable it to continually enhance the consumer experience by overcoming contact center challenges, reducing operational costs, and increasing efficiency and performance. It needed to simplify the accessibility and management of key company information to advance its goal of creating a worldclass consumer service organization. To address its challenges, the company selected a robust knowledge management solution with an agent assist tool from Astute Solutions. The solution meets the company s highly complex knowledge management needs, while minimizing costs and driving enterprise-wide advantages. It is able comprehend the myriad ways representatives and consumers phrase questions, which is essential to resolving issues in a high volume consumer interaction environment. Upon implementation, the solution was able to answer questions with an unprecedented 94 percent accuracy rate. The company quickly began to see a return on investment: Within the first 60 days, calls to the internal help desk were reduced by 50 percent. Agents quickly began to improve handle times. For the first time ever, the company gained the capability to load all of its packaging information and graphics into the agent assist tool eliminating the on-site repositories housing physical containers for hundreds of products. 6

9 During phase II, the company deployed the knowledge management solution to support Web self-service interactions via a virtual assistant. The solution interprets the meaning behind consumers questions to deliver highly specific, concise and accurate responses up to 99 percent of the time. The company achieved high-impact results from this deployment, including: A 90% reduction in volume as a result of effective online self-service with just 10% of s escalated to representatives. A 50% reduction in calls to the internal help desk, as its base of approximately 135 agents have immediate access to vast information from knowledge bases throughout the enterprise. Additionally, the company now has the flexibility and capability to: Enhance the consumer experience by empowering its representatives with rapid access to the exact information they need. Consumers interact with representatives who are now able to focus exclusively on the emotional aspects of delivering an exceptional customer experience. Improve knowledge management across the enterprise by supporting multiple touch points and leveraging existing content (Web pages, documents, and files) across a wide variety of information sources. Representatives deliver exceptionally fast, accurate and consistent information to consumers. Gain actionable consumer insights. Consumer feedback offers a basis for product, service and process enhancements across the enterprise. The company now has the capability to identify and quickly respond to trends and problems, while becoming more and more responsive to consumer wants and needs. 7

10 Monumental Barriers to Customer Experience Success Each time a company interacts with a customer, they create an experience be it in the call center, through IVR, across a Web selfservice channel or at a retail branch. This is where the ramifications of investing in customer management over collaborative service surface. When companies are blind to what customers want and value in an experience, their priorities and processes are off. They will fail to deliver a great experience regardless of their technology investment. With this in mind, we see four key areas as monumental barriers to success: lack of employee empowerment, undifferentiated selfservice, failure to monitor and respond to customer feedback, and lack of insight as to what customers want and value in an experience. Lack of Employee Empowerment Only 40% of surveyed executives state that their employees have the requisite tools and authority to solve customer problems As customer-facing employees represent the brand and play a key role in the customer experience, they must present a positive image and be empowered to fulfill the brand promise. This is an oversight for companies focused on managing their customers. Despite the importance of empowering employees, only 40 percent of surveyed executives state that their employees have the requisite tools and authority to solve customer problems. These include customer information databases and knowledge bases. Key Measures of Organization Alignment We work collaboratively and cross functionally to deliver a complete experience Employees have the tools and authority to solve customer problems Our employees are well versed in how to delight customers The definition of the customer experience is well defined and communicated throughout the organization Current compensation plan reflects our commitment to the customer experience 40.2% 39.9% 37.8% 35% 31.3% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 8

11 Employees must be well-versed on corporate processes and mandates, and possess an understanding of any given customer s background, previous issues, and needs. Companies often fail to include such information in databases, hindering their employees from delivering great experiences. Employees should all be empowered to share their subject matter expertise with consumers across multiple channels not just those working in the contact center. Customers are tuning out marketingspeak and PR-spin. They are looking to cut through the clutter and go directly to the source for information. This includes reaching out to their counterparts, online. Yet many companies don t enable their subject matter experts to provide information to the consumer. Instead, they cycle it through the marketing filter first. They end up offering up the exact type of message the customer is trying to avoid. Undifferentiated Self-Service There s a new reality and it calls for change. Companies that can deliver tools and experiences that mirror the behaviors of their consumers, will successfully demonstrate that they are listening Failure to approach the self-service channel from a collaborative service mindset has created a sea of undifferentiated experiences. The first self-service tools were utilitarian. In large numbers, companies deployed these tools with the aim of shifting customers away from more expensive live interaction channels to less expensive self-service alternatives. Despite technology innovation, this mindset is still evident in most of today s self-service options. Companies offer static FAQs (Frequency Asked Questions) that are typically outdated or incomplete. Similarly, information may be difficult to find because search terms do not match knowledge base categories. Additionally, many sites deliver irrelevant or outdated information. This leads to customer frustration, site abandonment, lost sales, and diminished future sales. Or worse yet, the experience becomes a warning sign for prospective customers seeking purchasing advice from their social communities. In these scenarios, companies may initially shift some interactions to a lower cost channel, but they do not create loyal customers. Ultimately, they do not reduce costs either. These types of selfservice interactions are frequently escalated to a higher-cost channel for resolution. In the end, all that is accomplished is putting future revenues in jeopardy. Companies approaching self-service with this management/cost savings focus are embracing a strategy that is destined to falter. There s a new reality and it calls for change. Companies that can deliver tools and experiences that mirror the behaviors of their consumers, will successfully demonstrate that they are listening. 9

12 Failure to Monitor and Respond to Customer Feedback Only by soliciting and responding to feedback from their customers will companies be able to enhance their experiences and offer compelling value that will drive loyalty. When companies solicit customer feedback, they have an inside track to measuring their performance against customers expectations. They can make continual improvements to ensure their experiences align with their promises. Yet, many companies fail to solicit customer feedback to understand the extent to which they succeed or fail in aligning their experiences with their brand promises. In Strativity s Customer Experience Management Benchmark Study, 71 percent of surveyed executives acknowledge that they do not regularly measure and monitor feedback to ensure that their brand promises fully align with their customer experiences. In contrast, 44 percent of companies that regularly measure and monitor the linkage between brand promise and experience delivery report satisfaction scores of 81 percent or higher, while only 6 percent of companies that have not attempted to link the two report comparable satisfaction scores. Relationship between Customer Satisfaction and Linkage of Brand Promise and Customer Experience Delivery Linkage between brand promise and customer experience delivery We measure and monitor regularly to ensure that our brand promise and customer experience delivery are fully consistent and in alignment We believe that our brand promise and customer experience are fully consistent and in aligment There are small gaps between the brand promise and the customer experience delivery There are large gaps between the brand promise and the customer experience delivery We have not attempted to link our brand promise and customer experience delivery 5.9% 5.9% 21.3% 23.4% 43.6% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% Percentage of Companies with Customer Satisfaction Rating of 81 Percent or Higher The implication is clear. Customers expect companies to fulfill their marketing, advertising and brand promises. Companies must find a way to measure and monitor this across all touch points, including self-service channels. 10

13 Lack of Insight into What Customers Want and Value While some companies are content with providing only the basics, others recognize that adding value to their customer experiences will set them apart from their competitors and drive positive word of mouth. According to Strativity s Customer Experience Management Benchmark Study, 51 percent of companies investing 10 percent or more of revenue in the customer experience report referral rates of 10 percent or more. However, companies struggle to provide this value because they fail to understand the characteristics of such experiences. Relationship between Investment in Customer Experience and Customer Referrals Percentage of Revenue Invested on Customer Experience 10% and above 6% - 10% 3% - 5% 1% - 2% Less than 1% 21.6% 27.4% 33.1% 45.6% 51.4% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% Percentage of Companies with Referrale Rates of 10 Percent or More Differentiating Experiences A value adding experience should proactively educate customers teaching them something new A differentiating experience is centered on the 5Es of value-adding experiences: Easy Customers demand experiences that are quick, smooth and seamless. (For example, they do not want to repeat their account number to an agent after they ve already entered it, nor do they want to repeat the details of their self-service questions and answers.) Educating A value adding experience should proactively educate customers teaching them something new. The experience should empower customers by teaching them ways to do things more efficiently or effectively. 11

14 Exploring Part of offering value is identifying unmet needs and helping the customer discover a new solution to a nagging problem. To identify these needs, employees will need to do more than to simply ask if there anything else they can do for the customer. They need to actively listen for cues, ask the right follow-up questions, and proactively offer advice and information on products and services accordingly. They should bring a sense of discovery that will pleasantly surprise the customers. Engaging Customers are more than just a wallet. They are human beings and expect to be treated accordingly with personal and engaging experiences. During live interactions, customers will frequently provide employees with cues about personal matters. Employees need to recognize these cues and seize the opportunity to make an emotional connection with customers. Having the ability to capture and leverage these cues in current and future interactions is an important element of success. Exceptional When the elements above come together, an exceptional experience is underway. Regardless of whether a customer is utilizing self-service, or has been escalated to the call center, they are on the receiving end of a high quality experience. It should be evident that the vendor has stepped up to the plate with exceptional service. Success Story: Delivering a 5E Experience For a specialty retailer in the bath and beauty products space, applying the 5Es of value-adding experiences is an operational standard in the contact center. The company aims to surprise and delight each customer with every interaction. From the onset of the call, the contact center agent is provided with in-depth views of the customer s basic information, order history, likes/dislikes, past interactions, goodwill compensation history, special occasions, nearby retail locations, and more. The customer directs the discussion whether it s beginning the dialog with a description of their issue, or asking a question. The focus of the agent never shifts from the customer who is free to conduct the interaction on his/her terms. Along the way, the agent is prompted with valuable information on new products, specials, upcoming discontinuations and tips that enhance the customer s overall experiences with the company s products. Grateful for the information, many customers engage further purchasing items of interest after their inquiry is promptly resolved. As a result, the contact center enhances the company s revenuegeneration with full-time representatives each approaching $250,000 in annual sales. At the same time, it has a direct impact on customer satisfaction. The company has a remarkable compliment to complaint ratio of 25 to 1. 12

15 Collaborative Service The Power to Emotionally Service the Individual When a company collaborates with its customers, and individuals within that company collaborate to better assist those customers, they succeed in delivering more relevant and personally satisfying experiences Addressing the aforementioned challenges, and aligning the experience with the wants and needs of the customer, gives rise to a strategic differentiator: collaborative service. Collaborative service is based on the premise that the power of the aggregate is greater than the power of the individual. It recognizes the importance of the customer as a unique individual, an equal creator in the overall experience, and a powerful voice in the marketplace. Collaborative service leverages in-house expertise to deliver a better overall customer experience. Multiple individuals (subject matter experts, service personnel, managers, etc.) and departments (customer service, marketing, development, product management, etc.) across a company should work together whether it s on an immediate interaction, filling an information gap to better serve the next customer or representative, or on adding/improving products/services to provide what customers want and value. When a company collaborates with its customers, and individuals within that company collaborate to better assist those customers, they succeed in delivering more relevant and personally satisfying experiences. The outcome is a more authentic interaction for the consumer, which increases loyalty and profitability for the company. 13

16 Transforming Service into Collaborative Service Delivering a consistent and unified experience utilization of a comprehensive knowledge management system Companies that seek to transform their agent-assisted and selfservice interactions into loyalty-building experiences must incorporate the principles of collaborative service: Collaboration between touch points Delivering a consistent and unified experience across all organizational touch points requires a comprehensive knowledge management system. Such systems can deliver consistent information across multiple channels, and give customers and all employees immediate access to information. To be successful, a complete and unrestricted view of customer needs, history, preferred products, pricing and inventory should be made available to all stakeholders. It should enable customer-facing employees, customers, and subject matter experts to expand and enhance the knowledge base in real-time with relevant and correct information. Through these collaborative efforts, the knowledge base will be in a state of continuous improvement. Proactive Service To truly add value for the customer, services should be proactive rather than reactive. Proactive services should be initiated during a requested transaction extending beyond the issue at hand to include relevant services and/or information they may not have considered requesting. It should solve a real problem or pending issue. Personalized Service In growing numbers, customer-centric companies are offering emotionally structured Web experiences that enable customers to express their personalities. These companies understand that today s customer is a self-expressionist who wants to connect, interact, personalize, co-create, and above all share. They are designing their websites with extended visits in mind, offering features that encourage emotional interactions, personalization and self-expression. They glean insights from each visit to provide better services and more targeted offerings to these consumers. Customer as a Co-Creator Willingness to cede some control over the creation of the product or service is a critical prerequisite of collaborative service. This is the basis of delivering an experience that is collaborative, personalized and relevant. 14

17 Success Story: Demonstrating Insight into What Consumers Want and Value For a major automobile manufacturer, the voice of the customer isn t just a pathway delivering better customer experience it s a pathway to product enhancements. Knowing that consumers want quick responses to their inquiries, the company now leverages a robust knowledge base to provide comprehensive and personalized information on service, maintenance, warranty, and all pertinent vehicle information through an automated virtual assistant on their website. In addition, the manufacturer captures and leverages customer input via the Web and contact center channels to generate product and service ideas based on the wants and needs of its customers and future customers. They become co-creators on design specifics and vehicle features. So, for example, when numerous customer questions rolled in via their Web self-service channel about adding ipod docks as a standard feature of the sound system, the company prioritized the design modification and it came to fruition. A preproduction change was made, and vehicles hit the market with the new add. Transforming Self-Service into Collaborative Service with Authentic Dialog Today s consumers leverage the online medium to get information quickly and make decisions. The Internet is also a powerful megaphone for their opinions and feelings. With so many innovative personal interaction technologies at their disposal, their expectations around online service have increased dramatically. They are unpleasantly surprised when the major company they re dealing with does not offer effective online tools. Additionally, social media is rapidly changing the way customers view themselves. It has opened the door for more emotional communications because it is grounded on a premise of honesty and full disclosure. They are empowered on a major scale and they know it. If they perceive that a company is failing to recognize the power of their voice, it is an instant turn-off that they will be more than willing to report within their social networks and online communities. Companies can no longer afford to deliver undifferentiated or subpar self-service. To withstand the competitive marketplace, they must ensure they are delivering a positive self-service experience. Rather than focusing on managing customers, they should focus on building relationships with their customers treating them as unique individuals and enabling them to collaborate in the creation of their experiences. When designing their self-service interactions and customer experiences, companies striving to create collaborative service incorporate the following guidelines and 5E principles: 15

18 Speed of Answer Make it easy for customers to quickly find information and answers. Providing rapid access to accurate information goes a long way toward ensuring that they resolve their issue the first time. If they can t resolve the issue through Web selfservice, make it easy for the customer to contact a live, empowered agent who is poised to pick up where self-service left off with all of the relevant information needed to quickly resolve the issue. Information Relevance and Quality Increasing customer adoption of Web self-service channels is achieved through exceptional service. The information delivered is relevant (answers customers questions in a way that pertains to them), accurate and useful. It should be more convenient for them to utilize on their terms delivering information of greater value and quality than expected. Integrating and Accessing Multiple Touch Points Delivering a high quality experience requires that information be consistent across all channels and touch points. Responses should be the same whether given at a retail store, contact center interaction or Web self-service interaction. Companies need to review all customer-facing and back office touch points to ensure that they have the requisite technology to deliver such an experience. To facilitate a consistent experience, some companies are offering their internal subject matter experts tools that enable them to collaborate with each other to ensure that all information is consistent across the organization. These tools also advise employees on how to best take care of the customer based upon predefined rules set up in the system. Personalizing Service and Making it about Me Customers want an engaging and educating experience. They view themselves as unique individuals and want experiences that recognize and reflect this. Some companies have deployed Web self-service tools that can engage the customer in a dialog. They can capture specific details, connect to information repositories across the enterprise containing the customer s unique information, and then leverage it to deliver highly personalized and relevant information to that customer. Listening Companies must explore their customers unmet needs and develop methods to satisfy those needs even via self-service channels. They must listen to their customers and analyze their queries to identify trends. To accomplish this, they need a robust knowledge management system that incorporates existing information with new questions and search requests in real time providing a means to analyze and share this information in a meaningful way. This enables the company to easily identify questions that were answered and those that were not, while pinpointing what customers are asking about. The company can monitor and respond to customer insights and trends gleaned through this channel, keeping them ahead of the curve. 16

19 Changing the Cost-Cutting Cultural Mindset When setting selfservice goals and expectations, it s important to keep in mind that cutting costs in one area will have implications in other areas. When companies reduce headcount, or cut training in the contact center because they have a self-service alternative, the result will be longer wait times, less educated employees and a lower quality of performance. While companies may succeed in reducing short-term operational expenses, the customer experience may also suffer leading to decreased customer satisfaction, and potentially, reduced purchasing activity and higher attrition. Companies must ensure that cutting costs does not adversely affect their value proposition and the quality of their customer experience. Cost reductions should never come at the expense of innovating and differentiating customers experiences. Otherwise, companies will face the bleak prospect of commoditization. Implementing the right Web self-service solution will deliver cost and efficiency savings well beyond an immediate head count reduction in the contact center. Ongoing Innovation Transforming self-service into collaborative service is not a destination, but part of a continuous journey. Organizations must measure and monitor the quality of their Web experiences responding and innovating accordingly. What is fresh, cool and differentiating today will be replicated by competitors tomorrow and then it s old. 17

20 Tomorrow Morning Checklist Successfully transforming all of your service platforms into collaborative service requires a detailed checklist that includes the following steps: Align your Organization Focus on innovation, not only on cost reduction Map all touch points, and accept all touch points as contributors to the customer experience Embrace a single view of the customer across all touch points Provide knowledge base access to all employees Empower employees to deliver customized solutions Develop a cross-functional committee responsible for adopting collaborative models Monitor the Results Measure your success with metrics such as: o Number of customer contributions o Number of customized solutions o Relevance of information o Time to resolution o Customer cross purchases o Customer upgrades o Customer referrals Create a scorecard of results Distribute results across the organization Share results with your customers Collaborate with Your Customers View and respect your customer as a co creator, demonstrate that understanding Personalize the experience by selecting, deploying and marketing an appropriate co-creation model Proactively extend individualized offers Build a Governance Model Realize and Reinvent Listen for new cues from customers Evaluate cues and act on them Conduct regular experience evaluations Continue the innovation process Provide customers with a forum for discussing products, services or the actual company among themselves Encourage customers to contribute ideas for improving products, services and the overall service experience Establish mechanisms for aggregating customer discussion content and acting on it 18

21 Summing It Up Collaborative Service Great customer experiences can fundamentally change the competitive landscape as a distinguishing force. They enable companies to capture customer loyalty and drive top line sales. Great customer experiences can fundamentally change the competitive landscape as a distinguishing force. They enable companies to capture customer loyalty and drive top line sales. To achieve this, organizations must transform their contact center and self-service channels into collaborative service platforms through which they can make personal and long-standing connections, one experience at a time. Once in place, companies will be able to treat their customers as partners rather than buyers. Changing the long-standing customer management approach to service isn t a leap of faith it s a calculated move that addresses a new reality. Companies will gain an inside track that streamlines operations. They will find far greater cost advantages in the long run, as the entire company operates on the same page with the same information. Everything becomes more efficient and more effective. Most importantly, customers are more than willing to continue spending money with a company that gets it right. They could even encourage a million or so of their online friends to do the same. 19

22 About Strativity Group Strativity Group, Inc. is a global customer experience research and consulting firm specializing in design, innovation and deployment of differentiating, profitable customer experiences. Utilizing a multidisciplinary methodology that includes diagnostics, consulting innovation, organizational readiness, employee education and communication we ensure successful execution and realization of the financial benefits. Our focus is very simple: successful execution of your customer experience strategy. Strativity Group. Inc. works with both Global 2000 companies as well as emerging businesses around the world. Our clients include Nokia, Computer Associates, SAP, American Management Association, Seagate Technology, Honeywell, Siemens, Dimension Data, FedEx, CATIC, Circle K, University of Pennsylvania, The Fund, Capital One, Jacada, Wyeth, Sage, Herbalife, Akibia, National, Lockheed Martin, Crown Plaza Hotels & Resorts and Nordea. About Astute Solutions Astute Solutions delivers CRM, knowledge management and multi-channel contact center software and services that enable companies to create significant value through each customer interaction in the contact center, on the Web and in the field. Astute s award-winning solutions enable you to: Build exceptional relationships with your customers through high-value, personalized interaction experiences Improve interaction efficiency and effectiveness by empowering representatives with the right information at the right time Reduce service costs and complexity Quickly identify and respond to critical issues Gain actionable insights that drive continuous improvement, profitability and growth For more information, visit 20