Tim Stone, Polycom Vice President of Marketing, EMEA
TI Newspaper 02/13/17 11:43:44 am
The digital economy has arrived, and it is already having a significant impact on the way companies think and operate. But when it comes to a complex or emotionally relevant topic, customers want to interact with a human being. If in those circumstances a company is not able to meet that need, the competition will.
The positive side of the digital trend is that it is very customer-focused, meaning that companies are paying much more attention to the customer experience. And, as the name suggests, it is a very technology-centric trend, linking real-time data with historical data and thus providing the ability for companies to act proactively. For example, knowing when to present customers with an offer because the data tells us they will need it, often before they even know they have that need.
In addition, the level of automation in different aspects of consumer life is set to experience significant momentum in the coming year, according to trends highlighted at the recent CES Las Vegas (Consumer Electronics Show). Automation for data centers and marketing, smart apps that rely on geolocation and habit history, broader use of machine learning to simplify consumer life, smart homes enhanced daily with dozens of apps, and humanized data, among many other advances, are becoming a reality.
It is fascinating to think about how this new level of automation can ultimately improve the way companies engage with their customers. For example, having the ability to provide a highly personalized experience by instantly recognizing preferences. However, as we all know, ideals are not always reality, and there are still cases where having a human being available is a necessity.
One example, when automation fails both the customer and the business
When automation works, the results are fantastic. Customers are happy because they can enjoy their day-to-day lives seamlessly by taking advantage of the services they rely on. However, the downside of pervasive automation becomes apparent when an unplanned circumstance occurs, such as when a snowstorm miles away lands hundreds of customers at an airport.
When a process is too automated, frustrations can arise in specific situations. You can book an entire vacation in a few minutes, from your own cell phone and without the need to talk to or do it through a person, and that's great. But if the airline has a problem and as in the example above an airline leaves you hanging in an airport, it's not positive that the only customer service options are sending emails and tweets, which go unanswered and an inaccessible phone number. There needs to be airline staff available to assist passengers in a case like this, which is relatively common.
Obviously, these setbacks often have costly effects, including significantly damaging the customer relationship in the future. After all, when customers are frustrated, they don't necessarily consider the extenuating circumstances. Instead, what remains is that the company, not the technology or the circumstances, failed in a time of need.
The alternative: Make people available when needed.
The same technology that makes self-service possible has the ability to put a human at the forefront of conversations with customers when necessary. While teleportation has not yet been invented, with a mobile device, video conferencing has been possible for many years. Or in our airport example, imagine if all the check-in kiosks could also act as video terminals connecting passengers with airline agents working in offices from which they service a large number of airports.
With video collaboration technology, a limited number of agents could provide effective services to multiple locations on an as-needed basis, rather than trying to cover all locations with personnel.
Making human beings available when and where they are needed can result in exceptional customer experience, loyalty and revenue growth. In this case, staffing each airport with the number of agents it would need for a canceled flight is prohibitive. But, video makes it feasible not only from a potential cost standpoint, but also in terms of scalability.
Taking advantage of the opportunity to participate
One of the benefits of seeing face-to-face video is that it humanizes the situation, shows affinity, and conveys that you are working together to find an acceptable solution. It also presents an opportunity for the agent to leverage that same data-driven technology that drives the digital economy to strengthen the customer relationship.
In our race toward automation, self-service and cost reduction, we have forgotten that there are certain times, especially emotionally charged ones, when customers want to talk to a human being. The good news is that the digital economy makes this feasible within most budgets and scalable across wide geographies. Having the right technology, such as the ability to interact via video during a crisis, can make the difference between winning or losing customers.
