Posts Tagged ‘Customer Support Software’
Help Desk Software Saves the Day!
Thursday, February 11th, 2010
About a month ago I got a call from a client overseas. They were having issues keeping track of a flood of calls that they were getting from remote users. They had been tracking the clients in the past using emails and an Excel spreadsheet. Thus every time they would receive a call or email, they would copy and paste the email from Outlook over to Excel, or write the info from the call into the Excel spreadsheet that they had been using for several years. Problem was, they had to update the spreadsheet on a regular basis, and invariably they would miss tickets by not pasting the correct cells, or some of the help desk ticket calls would disappear when they pasted from one place to the other. After a short overview of Cynergy’s ticketing system, the prospect was able to see how easy it was to log a ticket in Cynergy, and keep track of it on the user dashboard.
Help Desk Software to the Rescue!
And, the client was able to see where tickets could be ordered in any way they wanted as well as escalated from one service level to the other. In addition, the client was able to see their customer’s information on the same screen without changing to their spreadsheet or CRM system. Thus callbacks were much easier and more orderly.
Then yesterday, the same customer called us for some additional training on our project management system. They had been using another Excel spreadsheet for keeping track of projects and their Outlook for scheduling those projects. After a short training session, the client was ecstatic about some of the features they learned about, as well as a much deeper understanding of how the project manager could actually save them valuable time without having to call each other on collaborative issues.
Thus, another satisfied customer! But more importantly, we saved them time, and made their job easier. Now that’s what I call a Win/Win situation!
Customer Support Software Changes the Way You Look at ROI
Tuesday, February 9th, 2010Customer Support Software Changes the Way You Look at ROI
Companies must commit to continually measuring and monitoring their return on investment on all projects, but especially thier predictive analytics projects. ROI affects and impacts marketing, IT, and the contact center.
Taking too short a view of ROI can negatively impact a company. Too many companies feel that if they do not recover every dollar spent on predictive analytics – and then some – within 12 months, then predictive analytics is a waste of money.
Predictive data analytics are tied to the long-term, to the ROI Cycle. This cycle begins with customer data which feeds equations to predict customer value. From there the company can understand and predict customer attitudes, expectations, and preferences. Then marketing can avoid activities that devalue the customer relationship and focus on those activities that build customer relationship and value. Contact agents can find the best way to satisfy customers and reach out proactively to cross-sell and up-sell. The customer is more satisfied, so he recommends the company and its products and he spends more on the company’s products.
Predictive analytics give some substantial “indirect benefits” which translate to ROI:
- Productivity
- Ongoing and incremental gains
- Retention
- Employee satisfaction
The amount and clarity of data generated by predictive analytics can increase the quality of sales leads and, therefore, make sales teams more productive. Customer preferences for communications can make marketing efforts more effective. It also makes the people using them more productive.
Contact center agents have the most current information to up-sell and cross-sell additional products. Retention is more efficient than customer acquisition — and it is a major benefit of predictive analytics.
When predictive analytics give all employees access to the most actionable information, efficiency increases and productivity increases. Employees are empowered, effective, and happier.
Customer Support Software Changed the Way We Manage Risk
Thursday, February 4th, 2010Customer Support Software Changed the Way We Manage Risk
Customer support software with predictive analytics serves both the customer’s and the company’s needs by building long-term, trusting relationships. Much of the financial mess we have witnessed in the past two years would have been avoided if the lending companies had used predictive analytics to qualify buyers and limit how much they could purchase.
Predictive analytics allow companies to treat each customer as an individual. Not only does the customer feel more cared for, but he feels his interests are being considered. He feels that the company is not trying to “get him in over his head,” but considering his ability to re-pay, his comfort zone, and his desires and needs.
On the other hand, predictive analytics allow companies to mitigate their risks. No company wants to loan a client money that can never be paid back. Qualifying customers and understanding their capabilities helps the company know the best offers to extend to each customer.
A company that is using predictive analytics to identify the causes of complaints and then prioritize actions to resolve those complaints is able to positively impact retention of valued customers. Such a company can understand how to meet their customer’s unique needs, build deeper engagement, and reduce attrition.
The greatest value of customer support software with predictive analytics is that data sources can be linked to build a picture of an individual customer’s attitudes and behaviors. Then the company can provide each customer exactly what he needs.
Using predictive analytics requires and enables a company to establish clear, well-defined goals and act upon them. Companies must commit to those goals and use stringent measures to monitor their progress toward those goals. This often requires operational and organizational changes in order to embed the insights gleaned from the predictive analytics across the entire enterprise. Specific goals are more easily tracked and measured than general goals such as “increase ROI.”
Customer Service Can Be Costly
Friday, January 15th, 2010Customer Service Can Be Costly
A recent study conducted by Genesys in collaboration with leading industry analysts at Datamonitor/Ovum shows that poor customer service is costing US businesses $83 billion annually! Most businesses are aware that excellent customer service positively impacts their bottom line, but fewer than one third of businesses have any way of tracking or measuring revenue per call or how much revenue is lost with an unhappy customer.
Almost two thirds of customers end a relationship with one company and deflect to another company within the same industry, causing individual companies to lose $50.6 billion each year. Not accounted for in the survey is the high cost of another company in the industry to gain that customer.
However, about a third abandon the relationship altogether, causing the entire industry to lose $32.4 billion annually. While some industries are essential to the well-being of the consumer, others become “unneeded” if the consumer is upset with the level of service.
For every 10 interactions, the customer will end a relationship with a company! The average value of each lost relationship is $289 per year.
Two amazing numbers from this study:
- 40% of consumers said it is critical to provide more intelligent self-service to reach a human so they are not trapped in automated systems.
- 90.5% of consumers would welcome proactive engagement to improve their experience through extended offers or help during self-service transactions.
Conversely, 78% of American consumers say their most satisfying experience occurred because of a capable and competent customer service representative.
These numbers are staggering, but what do they mean to your business on a day-to-day basis? How can you improve? How can you keep satisfied customers?
Most people are happy with their experiences with live agents, Web chat, and Web self-service. Therefore, those are areas in which the current products and practices are working.
Consumers want consistency and continuity. Those are easily achievable with good customer service software.
Consumers want improved personalization. That includes proactivity and outreach. For example, if they are stuck in automated service for a specified period, they would love to have an agent break in and assist them or for there to be a “chat” button to click to talk with an agent. It would be even better if that agent already had whatever information they had inputted into the system so they would not have to repeat it.
Consumers want to be valued. They want their time respected and they want their issues resolved politely in a short amount of time. This might mean submitting a “help ticket” and receiving an e-mail with instructions. Or it might include being able to schedule a time with an agent.
Customer Support Software : 5 Ways to Improve Customer Support
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009Customer Support Software : 5 Ways to Improve Customer Support
What have you learned from 2009? We at Cynergy Software have learned 5 Ways to Improve Customer Support and we’d like to share them with you:
The lessons of 2009
1. Businesses that succeeded in 2009 were based on trust, longevity, and personal branding. Abuse that trust and you were doomed!
2. Businesses that succeeded in 2009 provided real solutions to real problems. Remain connected with your customers in meaningful ways. Use CRM software.
3. Cheating, patching something together, or using workarounds are not viable strategies. Remember some of the tarnished names of the year: Bernie, Tiger, Sanford. Learn from them.
4. Simplicity rules. Focus on a narrow but significant problem and provide a simple, easy to implement solution to win in today’s environment.
5. Repeat customers are your gold mine. Put your time and money into relationships and customer service.
Companies that weathered the storms of 2009 did so because they over-delivered on what they sold and gave high quality service quickly. Repeat customers are eager to buy from them again.
How Does Your Customer Support Software Measure Up?
Friday, June 19th, 2009I recently read that 42% of company executives say that their support operation budgets have been decreased in the past year while 38% say theirs have stayed the same. However, 78% said that their support call load has remained the same or increased. When you need to do more with fewer (or at least no increase in) people and a decrease in funding, where do you turn?
Any way that a customer can help himself makes him happy quicker. Enter the knowledge base that the customer can access. Just make sure that each solution and question has enough tags on it that it can easily be found. Self-service knowledge bases are the second most-offered support channel. Two-thirds of all companies offering customer support now have customer-accessible knowledge bases.
Web based tools offer flexibility and worldwide usability in diagnosing and fixing all types of problems. They greatly increase customer satisfaction because the problem is diagnosed and fixed all in one contact.
Social media and online forums are newer sources of help and support for customers. A company-sponsored forum is a better option that letting customers vent on other platforms. In this way the company representatives can become involved and can not only solve the problems but also find ways to prevent them in the future. Frequently these satisfied customers go to other social media and sing the praises of the company instead of slamming the company. [Don't be surprised at the way Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn will change the way companies do business and support their customers in the next few months. I signed up to follow several companies on Twitter today and have had a number of companies sign up to follow me in the last two weeks.]
If your company has service reps who answer phones, see how these numbers compare to yours:
* 35% of all companies with phone-based service reps had have a customer service rep threatened by an angry customer.
* 37% of phone reps take 5 to 15 seconds to answer; 20% take less than 5 seconds.
* About 25% of companies say their callers experience no hold time; 46% say their hold time is less than 1 minute; and 2% say their callers wait more than 5 minutes to talk to a rep. [Do you feel like you only call companies in the 2%?]
* 32% of companies claim an average call abandonment rate of less than 1% and 43% claim an average call abandonment rate of 1% to 5%.
Whether the customer solves the problem himself or the technician or customer service rep solves the problem, most of today’s problems take some type of tools other than the telephone for a true resolution. Increased customer satisfaction and loyalty join ease and quickness of solution as factors in using more web based customer support software. Most of these softwares include a wide array of tools and widgets for helping with a variety of problems – everything from screen-sharing to chat to remote diagnostics. Companies see a reduction in cost per solution and a reduction in the cost of IT staff. They also do not purchase in-house customer support software when they pay for only what they are using in a web based package.
This adds up to great savings to the company. And it equals greater customer satisfaction and quicker problem resolutions with less cost in time and money. In the process, customer services reps are more satisfied with their jobs and stay longer, costing the company less in turnover and training. This is a win-win-win!
Statistics taken from 2009 Service & Support Metrics Survey by SupportIndustry.com
‘Up’ with Customer Support Software
Friday, June 12th, 2009
I am wondering if customer support software correlates to the movie ‘Up.’ Take your family to see ‘Up’ and think about the story. It is fun, funny, and sad. There is a lot to think about in relation to life itself, people, and relationships.
Speaking of relationships, that’s what customer support is. In the movie, Carl is obsessed with getting to Paradise Falls and, in working so hard to get there, he loses sight of the importance of relationships with those around him. His goal is not bad. In fact, it is noble and worthy. It just managed to blind him to the needs, desires, and worth of others.
Often customer support software is purchased with one purpose in mind – to improve the bottom line. That could mean using metrics to measure length of calls or length of time to resolve an issue. It could mean using analytics to figure out what issues are the most frequent and create a standard response to those. It could mean creating campaigns (e-mail and otherwise) to target customers to purchase other services or products. If any of those rings a bell with you, you may be a lot like Carl. These are all good reasons to purchase customer support software and it certainly can do all that and more. However, you must remember the idea of customer support as you use the software.
Your customers have needs, desires, and worth. You must treat them as individuals with great value in and of themselves – not just value to your bottom line. They are not commodities to be manipulated and used. Their main reason for interaction with your company in the first place was that they needed a service or product you have. Don’t overstep your territory or assume they want you prying into their lives every week just because they purchased one thing from you. On the other hand, a caring inquiry about the usefulness of that product or service could lead to an ongoing relationship with them.
When checking on your customers, make sure you ask them about their needs and desires and find ways to answer some of those – even if the answers are not your services or products. They will feel you truly care and will be much more willing to work with you or purchase from you again. Don’t be like Carl in ‘Up’ and see your customers as a means or only useful if they can increase your bottom line or help you get to Paradise!
Successful Customer Support Software Implementation – Part II
Friday, May 22nd, 2009Why do some companies have a disastrous Customer support software Implementation? As I talked about in my last post, in order to have a smooth and successful software implementation, one has to understand some of the reasons these implementations go awry.
- Assigning the wrong people to the company’s implementation team
- Changing too much or doing it too fast
- Attempting to re-create the old application
- Failing to work with the implementation provider
In that blog post, I discussed the first two of these reasons. In this post, I will discuss the last two. All four are equally important in order to avoid a disaster in implementing new Customer support software.
Attempting to Re-Create the Old Application
Most people do not like change. This goes for people at all levels in a company from executives through middle management right on down to the Help Desk agents. Unfortunately, if these people are involved with the implementation team, they have a tendency to insist on seeing the same screens, clicking on the same buttons, and generating the same reports they always have; they cannot see that any of those can be improved or that a change in the process will improve delivery of services. This insistence will cause costs to spiral without providing any business benefit.
All levels must understand and buy into the fact that new software will mean improved functionality. The focus must be on the functions that are needed and will be needed in the future. By better understanding the reasons underlying the processes, the implementation team can determine the business need that the process is fulfilling. If the process is necessary, it should not go away. However, the way in which it is done may be improved by changing the flow of the process. And yes, this may even necessitate organizational changes outside of the Help Desk area to accommodate a new process flow and make for a smoother implementation.
Failing to Work with the Implementation Provider
If the implementation team does not feel they have time or money to go through all the steps recommended by the implementation provider, they may want to cut something. For example, if the team feels they can document the processes, they may not want to pay to have the vendor or provider do that step. However, failure for the provider to have the processes documented will lead to miscommunication about whether those processes are truly present or how they work in the new software. If the testing phase is not long enough or inclusive enough, the go-live may be a disaster.
Training is a place many companies feel they can skimp. But this is one of the most important areas not to skimp. This ensures that the people who use the software actually buy into it enthusiastically and feel comfortable using it on a day-to-day basis. Remember this software will be their lives for the foreseeable future. And they are the company’s lifeline to the bottom line – the customer!
Implementation providers (whether they are implementation consultants or the software vendor) will have an implementation method with specific steps to ensure success. These steps have been developed over a period of time and through experience with many different companies. They work well with this particular provider and this software. Failure to follow their steps and recommendations will inevitably lead to a less-than-perfect implementation.
Remember the implementation providers are experienced professionals who are there to help you. The quality of the communications between your company and these implementation providers will determine the success of your Customer support software implementation.
Successful Customer Support Software Implementation – Part I
Friday, May 15th, 2009The fear of a failed implementation of customer support software is nearly as bad as the fear of selecting the wrong software. We have read in the newspapers and heard on the news about various disastrous software implementations – companies that purchased expensive software with wonderful promises and then it failed to function correctly or failed to be accessible to the right personnel or took training that was not included in the cost. Because of all the unknowns and problems inherent in purchasing and implementing any new software, many companies struggle with using their old software for far longer than its usefulness.
Are you afraid to implement new customer support software? In order to have a smooth and successful software implementation, one has to understand some of the reasons these implementations go awry.
- Assigning the wrong people to the company’s implementation team
- Changing too much or doing it too fast
- Attempting to re-create the old application
- Failing to work with the implementation provider
In this blog post, I will discuss the first two of these reasons. In my next post, I will discuss the last two. All four are equally important in order to avoid a disaster in implementing new Customer Support Software.
Assigning the wrong people to the company’s implementation team
A company’s executives must understand fully the strategic importance of the customer support software and its implementation. Without that appreciation, a number of things can go wrong. The worst thing that can happen is that the wrong people will be assigned to the implementation team.
This can be junior people without the authority, experience, or understanding needed. Companies hesitate to assign top human resources for a period of time to a “non-critical function,” but it is important to see the customer support software as a critical function which demands the best resources in terms of people and time.
On the opposite end of this problem is the company that does understand the importance of functionality, so they load the team with executives. However, these people are not involved in the day-to-day operations, so cannot answer questions about how processes are actually accomplished within the company. That creates a void when discussing how the software needs to integrate with those processes or execute those processes.
Who should be assigned to the implementation team? Choose middle managers who are key users of the software and have extensive knowledge of both company strategy and detailed processes. Take the necessary steps to help them help the implementation to be successful.
- Empower them to make decisions regarding implementation.
- Give them access to executives that need to buy-in.
- Allow them to have the key in-put for determining how the Customer support software will be used.
- Assign them the responsibility of determining the business’ process flows in regard to the software.
- Create the time they need to work on this important project by backfilling their regular duties.
Changing Too Much or Doing It Too Fast
Companies that have more than one Help Desk – say for different products or for different geographical areas – often try to implement new customer support software at all locations simultaneously. This can be overwhelming and cause a large-scale breakdown.
Another way in which companies try to do too much is by choosing to implement a Customer support software that is drastically different from what they have been using or is not aligned well to the company’s culture and long-term goals. Customer support software is closely tied to the way in which the company does business – both its philosophy and its functionality. It may be good to make changes for the long term, but trying to make large changes all at once may be very frustrating for company personnel – even if they have bought into the purpose.
How can disruption due to large changes or very quick changes be avoided? Very often, Customer support software can be implemented in steps, creating a more gradual process. This may cost a bit more in terms of integration by steps, but the lack of total disruption and the greatly improved morale of the personnel results in a better outcome and satisfied customers. Even training can be done in steps as the various modules are implemented. This helps the personnel to feel better supported and gain confidence in the use of each module before having to learn even more new things.
Web Based CRM Software
Monday, March 23rd, 2009Tips You Can Use for Web Based CRM Software
Author: jintonic s
As you begin to read through this informative article, give each point a chance to sink in before you move on to the next.
Would you like to find out what those-in-the-know have to say about based CRM software web? The information in the thing below comes straight from well-informed experts with unique knowledge about based CRM software web.
One of the essential factors in the victory of any group is the liaison it shares with its customers. CRM or patron Relationship Management designates all skin of interaction a group shares with its customer. This includes everything from sales to service.
CRM is mostly a commerce strategy intended to accrue gains, make revenue and cater to client needs and satisfaction. With the e-media option up pace, the mode in which companies dealings their CRM strategies has deeply changed. This has even altered the clients purchasing attitude. So these days CRM too has become a web based effort as most of the client relationship is handled electronically.
From this point forward, we will let you in on little secrets that will help you implement this subject into your life.
The web based CRM sacrament is more effective. Web-based CRM army mainly covers three areas of service- sales force automation, management of purchaser relationships and purchaser army and automated marketing.
A web-based CRM software is a web-based structure used for dealings management, marketing and sales support, task tracking and other tasks associated with CRM. This software enables teams and departments to stake a middle and bright database. The software facilitates its users with an online dealings director and a project-tracking tool, whichever over the web or inside the corporate intranet. With the aid of the CRM software you can outlook and handle contacts, customers record, hot leads, projects and left-out work, from anywhere and with any web-browser. Moreover unlike the intervening and wanted to be testified upgrades of an enterprise software, the upgrades to the web based software do not shape the organizations ordered operations in any manner. Due to these skin more and more companies are ambitious towards this web-based software.
Think about what you’ve read so far. Does it bolster what you already know about based crm software web? Or was there something completely new? What about the residual paragraphs?
A web based CRM has many names out of which on-demand CRM is one.
These systems afford agents with the most up-to-date information on all client ceremony transactions. The software adds to the strategic value and concern of the organization by automating sales, marketing and client service. For demand the SAP artifact specializes in providing core sales-force automation skin for running customers, contacts and sales pipelines.
The software runs and keeps a fulfilled track of your data after it is downloaded or purchased and then installed on your server or web-host. generally the CRM software runs on all significant platforms such as Unix, Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, Novell (6.5) and so forth. because the software serves many purposes at the same time, it is very expensive. However an incredible competition in the promote has enabled the software seekers to task their option to a certain extent.
In choosing a web-based CRM software it is important that the customer should initially analyze his or her funds or the funds of the organization. Secondly also trial your organizations partner ecosystems. A user-friendly hosted CRM system, an on premise version or the combo of both should chart this and lastly try to go for software that can fit any typeface of user, any bulk circle and in any industry.
So now you know a little bit about based crm software web. Even if you don’t know everything, you’ve done something worthwhile: you’ve lingering your knowledge.
If we have failed to answer all of your questions, be sure to check into other resources on this interesting topic.
Jintonic Sos is the owner of Based
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