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Better, Faster, Quicker: How Big Data and Self-Service are Actualizing Next Generation Customer Experience

November 28, 2013
By ContactCenterSolutionsWorld Special Guest
Steven Thurlow, Head of Product Strategy, KANA -

The turn from 2013 into 2014 will be significant for customer service organizations, technologies supporting them, and most importantly for millions of customers served. Commercial enterprise, government agency and even small and midsize businesses via the ubiquity of cloud, mobile and social capabilities all have opportunities to improve by acting upon the insights customer data can provide to help deliver more responsive customer service.


Incremental use of Big Data and the advancement of self-service technologies are two trends I recommend customer experience professionals examine in the New Year.

Bite-Sized Big Data Actualizing the Customer Experience

Most organizations recognize customer data is one of their most precious assets but do not have the tools in place to extract its full value. A recent Pitney Bowes survey found that 80 percent of senior executives report their organizations struggle to get value out of their data. This is understandable. Big Data can yield big benefits, but getting there can also be a big challenge.

The real opportunity at hand is actualizing data – taking action from insights, even in incremental or "small" ways, if you will. Businesses can now build customer experiences around conclusive data rather than assumptions to personalize customer experiences. Analyzing who customers are and what motivates them now becomes very granular; a demographic of one where each individual is offered a customer experience based on their preferences or unique situation. 

LOVEFiLM, Europe's largest subscription service for instantly streaming films and TV series over the internet and sending DVDs and games via mail, exemplifies how extracting data insights can trigger opportunities to better serve customers. The company flags titles that data shows may reside at home on a customer’s “to watch” list for an extended period of time. Often these are lengthy films and/or emotionally consuming dramas that require customers to be in the right mood to view. When a title is sent out and a specified time passes, LOVEFiLM automatically sends customers another title based on their viewing preferences to keep them engaged with the service and nudge catalog consumption along.

Companies across industries are adopting the notion of providing information and service offers that coincide with key milestones or events that trigger a need. Many are familiar with airlines sharing flight arrival/departure data, and KANA is seeing several of its airline clients begin to share it on preferred or multiple channels their customers specify. Likewise, this information can be paired with ancillary services and offers - "while delayed in Boise, Idaho, here's a coffee shop and bookstore in your terminal." AT&T does this rather well too. When customers find they've overrun their monthly dial and data capacity, a message offering to upgrade their account and remove the penalty fee arrives just in time.

Self-Service Diagnostics Threaten Extinction of “Hold Music”

Turning to the ever-expanding trend of Web and mobile self-service, consider how indispensable smart phones have become in our daily lives. Well, they will soon be serving consumers as vital diagnostic tools to help them receive better, faster and more direct customer service. It's sort of like carrying a company's miniature customer service center in the palm of your hand.

While using mobile devices to support "line busting" has been used extensively by retailers to reduce in-store wait times, other businesses and government agencies are now looking to leverage mobile technology to reduce wait times and their costs to serve.

This trend is changing the nature of “hold” time dramatically. While customers wait to be put through to call center agents, mobile service apps can gather important context to improve the likelihood of correctly addressing their question or concern; potentially negating the need to speak to a live agent altogether. If a customer still wants to speak with an agent, their issue will often be prioritized since they took time to provide context, which is automatically passed along to the most appropriate agent for this discussion.

Irrespective of the caliber of one's "hold music," nothing is as soothing to your customers as having their requests fulfilled and issues resolved quickly. Admittedly, these mobile service advances could significantly impact the revenue streams of smooth jazz artists worldwide, yet such a technology disruption may very well lead them to advance the utility and quality of their services as well.


With extensive industry experience, Steven oversees the worldwide product strategy for KANA.  Most recently, he served for eight years as the chief technology officer at Sword Ciboodle, and previously ran the R&D team for five years.  Steven was, and continues to be, instrumental in product innovations and has often been a solution consultant for many of the company’s global projects.  Steven holds a Masters of Engineering in Microelectronics and Software engineering from Newcastle Upon Tyne University.

 



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