How Mobile and Social are Changing Consumer Engagement and the Future of Customer Service

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1 How Mobile and Social are Changing Consumer Engagement and the Future of Customer Service Introduction Frost & Sullivan recently invited a select group of organizations to participate in a unique thought leadership forum A Frost & Sullivan Executive Think Tank: Lyn Dotterweich Head of Customer Care Philips for the Americas Joe Gagnon SVP and GM of Cloud Solutions Aspect Stephen Knell Creative Director Megaphone TV Kim Martin Director Corporate Communications Aspect Rebecca Pappas VP of Audience Development Customer Service and Production BizBash Media Ken Parmelee Business Development Technology Executive IBM MobileFirst Lisa Rosenfeld General Manager, Customer Assistance Center Mercedes-Benz USA Lauren Sallata VP of Marketing Xerox Allyson Schultz Manager, Enterprise Marketing EmblemHealth Al Seden Global Partner GTS Mobility Services Sergio Velasco Strategic Solutions Aspect Moderated by Stephen Loynd, Global Program Director, Customer Contact Frost & Sullivan The issues discussed included: The Changing Nature of Customer Engagement Assessing the Customer Experience Who Owns the Customer Experience? The Customer of the Future

2 Increasingly time-taxed and impatient consumers are demanding easy and compelling channel experiences. Stephen Loynd, Global Program Director, Customer Contact, Frost & Sullivan The Changing Nature of Customer Engagement On Tuesday, May 19, 2015, a group of Customer Engagement industry professionals gathered for an Executive Think Tank addressing the topic, How Mobile and Social are Changing Consumer Engagement and the Future of Customer Service. Participants from a wide range of industries met to discuss key questions about Customer Engagement, the overall Customer Experience today and what digital tools will be needed to serve the Customer of the Future. The conversation was wideranging and spirited. Just a few highlights of that discussion are captured here. Stephen Loynd, Global Program Director, Customer Contact, Frost & Sullivan, opened the discussion with a general introduction on the changing nature of Customer Engagement. Loynd stated that, For most companies today, when it comes to Customer Engagement, one significant challenge is to optimize customers time, knowing that increasingly time-taxed and impatient consumers are demanding easy and compelling channel experiences. And yet, as consumers forge connections with brands through varied and often newly-emerging channels, achieving a single brand experience is easier said than done. Over time the Customer Journey has grown more complex. After all, Generation Y (which will constitute 34% of the global population by 2020) is helping lead a restructuring toward a digital world and new ways of spending. In fact, younger generations in particular will often turn to Web self-service, virtual agents (VAs), SMS/text, and social media and social communities for immediate care. They also may use live Chat when interacting with customer service and support (CSS). Obviously too, a growing number of customers are obtaining support from their smartphones. And video is yet another burgeoning channel. Moreover, as the economy grows, many companies may well become more reliant on automated support solutions to minimize agent use. Assessing the Customer Experience The group then began to discuss the specific survey questions: Survey Question 1: The Customer Experience is critical to the financial success of my company 2 100% of the respondents to the survey said that this was True.

3 Loynd asked the gathered group if this is what they re seeing at their companies. Is it true that all companies are so concerned with the Customer Experience? If so, what are they doing about it? A few in the group noted that there is a difference between the goals we set and the reality. Consider the New Year s resolution of going on a diet as an example. Most of the time, that promise, that determination, lasts a few days, then people tend to simply drift back to their old habits. The same issue exists with corporate America when it comes to offering a great Customer Experience. Organizations have a tough time delivering! Perhaps this isn t surprising, as it s difficult for organizations to walk the talk it s complicated to integrate a philosophy of the customer across all organizational touchpoints. And sometimes business models conspire to trump the needs of the customer. Organizational Culture and the Customer The group decided that what we re really talking about here is organizational culture. At too many organizations, too many people don t perceive themselves as being on the front lines of offering a great Customer Experience they don t feel a sense of responsibility to the customer (i.e. perhaps those in the accounting department, or in logistics, etc.). It s difficult to create a company culture that is focused on a great Customer Experience, such as Zappos has done, for example. Although Zappos is particularly good at focusing on the customer, every company isn t Zappos. For example, large organizations find it particularly difficult to embrace and integrate new Customer Engagement channels. At the same time, legacy systems characterized by structural barriers and silos also can make organizational change difficult for larger organizations. This discussion of IT infrastructure sparked a whole new conversation around offering services from the cloud. Everyone around the table affirmed that their companies are on board with a cloud strategy. Meantime, the biggest concern voiced about the cloud was regarding the realm of security as well as regulatory issues. How to ensure the cloud is secure? There are still those who have concerns. Allyson Schultz of Emblem Health suggested that managing data silos is particularly difficult for healthcare companies, as they need to figure out how to manage and organize data while complying with a host of regulatory requirements. Joe Gangon, Senior VP of Cloud Solutions at Aspect, pointed out that the reality is that cloud allows for an impressive infrastructure; it s all about how the solution is designed. Good planning and design will almost always result in positive outcomes. The group agreed that the bottom line is this: consumers don t care about whatever issues an organization might be having with its legacy systems. They expect a seamless Customer Experience! The group also agreed that the solution is almost always strong and effective organizational leadership. Often what is needed is an internal Customer Experience Change Agent who can enable the right philosophy and processes to flow throughout an entire organization. Managing data silos is particularly difficult for healthcare companies they need to organize data while complying with a host of regulatory requirements. Allyson Schultz Manager, Enterprise Marketing, Emblem Health 3

4 Survey Question 2: Where does ownership for the Customer Experience fall in your organization? The Customer Experience needs to be a holistic experience across all customer touch-points. Lisa Rosenfeld, General Manager of the Customer Assistance Center, Mercedes-Benz, USA 66.67% of respondents answered the contact center 33.33% answered C-level Customer Experience executive 0% answered Marketing Who Owns the Customer Experience? The group felt that companies that say the C-suite owns the Customer Experience are the ones that are ahead of the game and are addressing larger shifts toward a customercentric company culture. Many agreed that is the starting point, and from there ultimately agents can be empowered around the customer. And measuring the customer from the beginning is critical it s not just about first call resolution. With the rise of the Chief Customer Officer, more data about customers is getting to the C-Suite. This is key in helping to determine why an organization is pursuing certain strategies and it is essential in figuring out what customers actually want, not just what an organization thinks they want. Consider, for example, the importance of empowering customers through self-service millennials are changing the consumer game and expectations. Lisa Rosenfeld, General Manager of the Customer Assistance Center at Mercedes-Benz, USA, noted that the Customer Experience needs to be a holistic experience across all customer touch-points. And it seems as if many organizations are empowered to try to achieve this in pursuit of a JD Power ranking everyone is trying to be #1. 4

5 Survey Question 3: Who owns the creation and development of mobile apps within your business? 66.67% of respondents answered Customers being transferred between departments and agents 66.67% answered Customers not having adequate self-service options 66.67% answered Inconsistent experience across channels 55.56% answered Customers not being able to contact your business using their channel of choice Omni-channel will save money if done properly. Let customers do some self-service and they will be dazzled. Joe Gangon, SVP and GM of Cloud Solutions, Aspect 55.56% answered Customers having to repeat or input information if the customer changes channels (IVR to agent, web to IVR, etc.) 44.44% answered Conversations and service not being personalized 44.44% answered Lack of support for mobile apps The group agreed that it s important to use mobile apps to anticipate customer needs and sending out push notifications and reminders is one way to fulfill on that. But there s a larger issue: there are too many apps out there. Some wondered, What kind of information do you put out there today? And how do you figure out what content to push and at what time? The group agreed that, you need to know the lifecycle, and be aware of context. In the end, perhaps it depends on how well you know your customers understanding FAQs and pushing that information out to them. Some mentioned the fact that insurance cards are being made available on mobile apps. Lisa Rosenfeld, General Manager, Customer Assistance Center at Mercedes-Benz, USA, offered the example of factoring in vehicle information. Individual cars receive alerts for health checks all the time, so customers aren t surprised when they need to go in for an oil change or other service. This information will eventually be integrated with the dealer network. 5

6 Implementing Superior Customer Care Ultimately, the group felt that the essence of this question came down to how adept an organization is at dealing with customer care. But a larger question remained: How do you implement this across the business? Survey Question 4: Which of the following customer service experiences do you believe has an adverse effect on customer satisfaction? 66.67% of respondents answered the contact center 33.33% answered C-level Customer Experience executive 0% answered Marketing 6 Creating An Omni-Channel Experience The group agreed that managing the omni-channel experience is of central importance. Customers are demanding that companies value their time. In this sense, it s imperative for organizations to address issues with workflows and processes and to maintain context as customers move from one channel to another. Ultimately, the entire process should be engineered so that the Customer Experience is of high quality while demanding minimal Customer Effort. If necessary, re-engineer the process and get away from the legacy mindset. In essence, the ability to have clear visibility into the entire Customer Experience and to maintain context as conversations move between channels is a must. Lisa Rosenfeld, General Manager, Customer Assistance Center at Mercedes-Benz, USA, said that in her experience, sometimes the challenge is with an organization accepting and utilizing certain technologies in pursuit of a great Customer Experience. Joe Gagnon, Senior Vice President of Cloud Solutions and GM at Aspect, noted that too often companies try to fabricate some complex idea of what customer service is supposed to be. But this can be wrong to the extent that it attempts to decide things for the customer. Gagnon believes customers need to be empowered, and empowered to learn most of all. Again, the conversation circled back to the topic of self-service solutions.

7 In any case, while some spoke of the primary importance of company culture, some others insisted that the business model will always trump company culture companies need to change the ways they are engaging with the customer in order to create real change within the organization. And clearly, Just hiring more agents isn t going to solve things. Survey Question 5: What is the primary challenge of delivering service across an increased number of touch-points? 44.44% of respondents answered Maintaining continuity of experience as customers move between channels 33.33% answered Cost barriers to adopting new channels 22.22% answered Customer Experience governance 0% answered Integration complexity The group asserted in unison that true omni-channel is just a buzz word. Not everyone knows what it really means to be fully integrated. We wondered as a group what organizations can offer a true omni-channel experience. Understanding the difference between a first-time customer and a repeat customer is critical. It s also about understanding what the customer has already done so that he or she doesn t have to repeat themselves so that they can pick up where they left off. It s also about agents being able to deliver a more targeted, personalized, and immediate service. The group also agreed that it s going to be important to be able to support a diversifying array of channels as customers continue to adopt new channels. And in some cases understanding individual customer value also is key; certain companies seem to do this very well, by utilizing customer profiles and calibrating whether or not someone is truly worth keeping as a customer. It s also increasingly important that agents are able to deliver seamless, targeted, service across a multitude of channels. 7

8 Joe Gagnon of Aspect mentioned that omni-channel will save money if done properly. Let customers do some self-service and they will be dazzled. It was a nice way to wrap up the dinner, and another highly productive Executive Think Tank. Conclusion In effect, the group agreed that the needs of the Customer of the Future will be highly defined, with huge demand for customized solutions focusing on moods, preferences, and attitudes of the consumer. Companies must therefore embrace a holistic, proactive view of the customer. Advantages will be gained by those organizations with an in-depth understanding of social media and mobile savvy consumers, including the best tactics with which to engage them. 8