TMC this year celebrates 30 years of covering customer interaction, which means it couldn’t be a better time to look at where we’ve been with customer service and where we’re going. We’re also rebranding and retooling our customer effort. In this installment of our CUSTOMER coverage, we talk with David Baker, vice president of sales at Servion Global Solutions Inc.
Servion is a global professional services company that delivers solutions and applications for the contact center that promise to enhance customer interactions via the phone, Internet, e-mail, chat or social media. The company has more than 600 customers across various vertical industries. Baker has more than 17 years experience selling contact center solutions and applications primarily focused around IVR, CTI and speech recognition.
How and when was Servion established?
Baker: Servion was founded in 1995 by five gentlemen who decided to cut their lifelines to secure jobs in large multinational corporations and set sail on the stormy seas of entrepreneurship. The company started with 10 employees working out of the second floor of the home of one of the founders and today numbers over 600 people. Servion started small in one region of one country and is today a leading global professional services company that is present in five continents with over 1000 installations across more than 60 countries.
How is the widespread use of social networking technology impacting how businesses target, engage with, and deliver product/service/support to the customer?
Baker: We live in an always-on world where social media has given the power back to the consumer. Companies need to make sure that they are able to keep up with their customers across all technologies. This has become a major challenge for businesses to make sure that they have the right people and technologies in place to stay tuned in to their customers. If someone has a bad experience with a company on the phone, then that customer will go on Facebook or Twitter or YouTube to tell everyone about it. It is up to the business to make sure that they handle this disgruntled customer in a manner that will make them come back for more business but more importantly make sure that they turn around and tell everyone how happy the company has made them through their social media platform.
How is the mobile boom impacting how businesses target, engage with, and deliver product/service/support to the customer?
Baker: Mobile is anytime, anywhere, anyway connection to their customers and vice versa. Businesses today need to be always on in order to understand the heartbeat of their customers. Gone are the days of 9 to 5 and brick and mortar. If your customers are happy then they will let everyone in their circle know about it. The same applies when they are unhappy. Businesses need to know how to capitalize on them when they are happy and take care of them when they are not.
What other key trends are you seeing as it relates to how businesses target, engage with, and deliver product/service/support to the customer?
Baker: As hot as social media is for companies today, I am seeing an uptick in outbound calling campaigns. The phone is a ubiquitous device and is not going away anytime soon. Companies are going back to the one-on-one personal interaction with their customers.
Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2012, taking place Oct. 2-5, in Austin, TX. ITEXPO offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. For more information on registering for ITEXPO click here.
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