Some of my past experiences have shown that technology is typically viewed as a means to drive down costs in customer service departments. Technology investments such as automated phone systems and self service web portals are intended to decrease personnel costs while delivering a satisfactory experience for the customer in need. In truth, they typically frustrate the customer and force them to jump through flaming hoops in order to speak to a human being. Systems like these may in fact decrease overhead, but their overall effect on the bottom line is not nearly as beneficial (if at all).

What We’re Doing

At ABIS, we recently developed a support program that allows our customers to create support tickets in our ERP system via email. The system then keeps them informed with status updates during the different steps of the resolution process. After the ticket is resolved and closed, our client is given the opportunity to grade us on a 1-to-6 performance scale with a single click from their inbox. Should they choose, they are also given the option to provide additional feedback via a simple contact form. The initial inspiration for the new system came from Rackspace, a partner of ours that we have been very happy with. I also borrowed some ideas from Zendesk (which is a good support tool) after a couple experiences I had with them. We looked at what these two were doing and improved upon it in order to provide instant feedback and proactively manage customer satisfaction.

The ticket system immediately notifies us of any unsatisfied customers (gasp!) so we can step in and take action immediately. Outstanding scores and positive feedback are communicated and celebrated amongst our employees. We believe this reinforces our commitment to customer service and bolsters our employees’ confidence. The system has also been successful in keeping any issues from being dropped. As a small company with very strong client relationships, this investment has helped us improve customer service and thus the overall customer experience.

What Others Are Doing

Larger companies are investing in more advanced (and expensive) Customer Experience solutions from companies like Right Now, ClickFox and Tea Leaf. Other companies such as Best Buy and Southwest Airlines are actively leveraging social media sites like Twitter to engage with their customers.

More Importantly, What Are You Doing?

I’m interested to know how you leverage technology (whether it be software or hardware) as a competitive advantage in customer service and the customer experience. How do you use it at your company? How are you using new social media tools in your business? How have you seen technology deployed at other companies? Are you measuring ROI on these technologies? If so, how?