With the current state of the global economy, job creation and stimulating growth has been a major—and contentious—topic of political discussion in recent months. In the United States in particular, several politicians have championed domestic job creation and vilified organizations that choose to locate their operations outside of the US.

Not surprisingly, many service organizations find themselves squarely in the crosshairs of this political push and are now grappling with the implications of proposed legislation, as well as the public perception of businesses that outsource.

For companies, these emerging challenges only compound the existing difficulty of maintaining a healthy relationship with their outsourcing partner(s)—which can be tricky regardless of whether that partner is located domestically or abroad. And to further complicate matters, political unrest in some countries has led organizations to fret about the security of their substantial investments.

Here at CCC, we’ve certainly noted a renewed interest in outsourcing/offshoring-related topics among the membership, including:

-          How are other companies evaluating their current outsourcing options? Are companies backshoring, or bringing centers back to their home countries, in response? Read More »

Customer Service News

• Looking for new ways to build customer loyalty? Try mobile payments [US News]
• Low labor costs in Philippines allow companies that outsource to invest in cutting-edge technology [BBC]
• Media teaching customers to ‘complain on Twitter for an instant response’ [The Guardian]
• And finally, US presidential campaign ads target Indian call centers [New York Times]

Managing a team is never easy. Between the careful scheduling and constant monitoring, overseeing an entire workforce can be a daunting task to say the least. Add to that the complexity of today’s customer service world – with dozens of customer touchpoints and unpredictable volume – and you’ve got a real headache on your hands.

It’s no surprise then that more than 70% of companies report using workforce management (WFM) technology as an aid. But, what we’re hearing from executives in our forums makes us think this tool may be creating more problems than it helps solve. Many admit they struggle to use the technology effectively. In fact, some even opt to forecast manually, saying that it’s more accurate than using expensive technology platforms.

So, what’s the solution? WFM technology is certainly designed to work effectively—but it requires the right inputs and necessary rigor. To fully utilize the promises of WFM technology and create a good workforce management strategy, it’s important to first get these basics right. Read More »

A few weeks ago, my colleague shared some data we collected on customers and social media. From that, we learned customers DO NOT like using social media for customer service (88% of the customers we surveyed, to be exact.)

However, it’s interesting to note that this data looks slightly different for developing countries. The market analyst firm Ovum reported that consumers from developing countries like India (as opposed to the developed countries included in CCC’s study) are more likely to use social media for service issues. Specifically, 32% of consumers in India, China, and Brazil use social media for tasks such as asking questions in communities, complaining about products, or promoting services.

Read More »

Customer service mishaps plague Spirit Airlines this week [CBS News]

Consistency in service still a difficult challenge for retail banks [Market Watch]

A new consumer-protection watchdog panel: the answer to fliers’ customer service woes? [USA Today]

Study reveals 66% of customers switch companies due to poor customer service [BizCommunity]

I remember when AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) first launched in 1997. The idea of live online chat already existed, but AIM made it easy, fast, and widely accessible. It allowed me to keep in touch with friends from afar – and unlike e-mail, these conversations happened in real time. It was like a phone call, with the added benefit of multi-tasking. (Service leaders: does this sound familiar?)

If AIM was the “grandfather” of social networks, there is no shortage of (arguably better) alternatives today. I haven’t used my old AIM handle in years, but I often chat with my friends on Google, Facebook, and Skype. Here at CCC, we’re constantly talking to each other on Microsoft’s Office Communicator.

It’s no surprise then that companies have felt the need to invest in web chat to communicate with their customers. Since customers are chatting with one another online, it only makes sense that they should be able to chat with organizations as well.

A word of caution:

CCC finds that despite web chat’s two-way interaction and timely responses, less than 10% of customers use web chat specifically for issue resolution. And of these, only half ultimately achieve issue resolution. Read More »

How many times have you heard a rep cite company policy as the reason the customer can’t have his/her issue resolved quickly, even though the solution is a perfectly reasonable and achievable one? Often, right?

Service organizations have long struggled with the burden of policies that unnecessarily delay the process of addressing customer concerns and thus adversely affect customer experience. While it might seem easy to quickly eliminate effort-inducing policies, the fact is, given the number of policies and regulations, it is hard to identify the ones that cause maximum client pain and are not necessary for compliance.  Moreover, the service organization was likely not responsible for creating the policy to begin with, making the task of changing said policies a daunting one.

Ameriprise faced a similar issue of rising customer frustration with inflexible policies. It also realized that taking an internally-led approach towards identifying such policies would not accurately pinpoint sources of client pain. To address this issue: Read More »

We recently asked our members if they thought their customers were more demanding of customer service today than they were a few years ago. A whopping 80% said ‘Yes’.

So while there are many implications for these skyrocketing expectations, one opportunity as we see it includes moving beyond reactive-only contact.  But…our research on Proactive Contact and Alerts found that only 60% of companies offer proactive service to customers.

So, what are some of the barriers that prevent companies from offering proactive contact?

• Strategic barriers: Building the business case for proactive customer service can be challenging since returns appear ambiguous or delayed. Moreover, faced with innumerable options at which companies could send proactive information, they struggle to identify meaningful opportunities at which they should send proactive messages.   Read More »

Last week my family adopted a puppy & in the 6 short days since Lou joined our clan I’ve had no less than 20 reminders of what good (and bad) puppy habits look like.  Lou is the third puppy that we’ve had in the house, but it’s been a while since our last puppy, so I needed to brush up on my dog-rearing skills to get it right.

Dusting off the old playbook on How to Raise a Dog was a good reminder for me on how to get the basics right, and it prompted me to wonder, “How often do we, as service executives, pay attention to getting the basics right?”

I can remember a few years ago—when nearly every organization was strapped for cash—service leaders were thinking about things like First Contact Resolution and Upskilling Frontline Agents & Supervisors, challenges that typically don’t take huge investments of capital, and can have lasting effects on the organization.

Now that the economy seems to be (fingers crossed) turning around, though, I’ve had fewer and fewer conversations about getting the basics right.  Leaders are back to talking about investments in technology and other expensive solutions, and while it’s great to hear and discuss these exciting solutions, we need to make sure that we don’t lose sight of what’s critically important.

So  what about this “Back to Basics” concept?  Shouldn’t every organization consistently focus on these straightforward principles without being prompted to do so because of a lack of cash for investments? Read More »

Take voice of customer seriously to enhance customer experience and positively influence bottom line [ICMI]

Three questions to test if you offer good customer service [Forbes]

World Retail Banking survey indicates that global banks have a significant opportunity to close the customer sentiment gap and address the factors that matter most to them to increase loyalty including quality of service (53 percent) [Market Watch]

Buykeywordarticles.com, a leading content creation company, provides proactive live chat to increase customer support [SFGate]

Digital innovation is enabling customers to act smarter than the firms that wish to serve them. Is your customer service ready? [Huffington Post]