aheadCRM

Source: Wikimedia , Integrationrocks Today’s customer service requirements are getting ever more complicated for businesses. Customers encountering problems increasingly rely on self-help.   Customers may start looking for solutions by searching on Google, on   community sites, or inside a mobile app . A logical starting point depends on the device and application, as well as personal preferences. The bottom line is: customers want to get to their solution as quickly and easily as possible, and they do not want to change their habits and preferences in order to reach support. Many companies run several customer service applications that support different channels, each with a separate knowledge base (KB) subsystem. These may include a support application for an ecommerce site, some general help pages on the company web site, and FAQs on a mobile application. For internal purposes, there might even be an Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system with information for...

A few weeks ago Domino’s Pizza announced that they introduced conversational AI capabilities in their ordering process to enhance the customer experience. DRU Assist, a Virtual Assistant that is powered by Nuance Technology’s Nina Intelligent Virtual Assistant technology. Of course that caught my interest, looking at AI, chatbots and Virtual Assistants for some time now from a customer experience angle. I believe that there is quite some potential in Virtual Assistants although I saw and still see some risks for customer experience in using them. Used in a wrong way, raising too high expectations that subsequently are not fulfilled, bots can kill the user experience . The doubts I expressed earlier are still there but then I am happy to be convinced otherwise. Domino’s managed a tremendous turnaround after having some serious issues late in the aughties and early tens. Apart from rediscovering quality they implemented a very strong technology strategy that helps them underst...

Today, customers are communicating with businesses on a variety of channels. One  customer calls in, inquiring about the status of an online order. Another sends an email. A third  customer may ask for service in-store. If a mobile app is not meeting the customer’s expectation, the customer may prefer self-help and check an FAQ in the app. An alternative is to initiate a chat with an agent, also inside of the app. Or, if someone is really annoyed, that customer may even rant on a social channel such as  Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.Company reality is that there is more than one CRM, and several business systems. All come with with their own backend. One company might be using all of the following, without even realizing how fragmented the experience is: An e-commerce system that comes with its own service subsystem. An order fulfillment system that is not connected to the CRM. Mobile app support that has its own backend. Social Media that is often...

Experience - FreeImages.com/. tombodor  In his recent very readable article ‘iCXM Comes of Age – Using AI to Know, Engage, and Server Your Customers Better’, CustomerThink.com founder and chief editor Bob Thompson explored how Artificial Intelligence can improve Customer Experience Management – and with iCXM created a new acronym, jokingly noting that the industry is running short on buzzwords. The opportunities that Bob identifies are ·       Knowing your customer ·       Engaging your customer ·       Serving your customer While this is all true, I contend that none of this is about customer experience management, simply because customer experiences are living in the perception of the customer, and hence are solely managed by the customer, not by any company. I wrote about it earlier in my article There is no customer experience without customer engagement . According to ...