Is it possible that self-service applications, such as Interactive Voice Response (IVR) solutions are looking at a slow painful death because of lack of innovation? And I don’t mean that vendors have stopped inventing, really I don’t. But the usage of these solutions is quite unimaginative. I think the time has come to rethink how companies use their IVR solutions and turn them into relationship-building self-service tools.

Read more on the UC Strategies page here

UC Strategies article

Contact centers have been in the forefront of advancements in telecommunications, collaboration and customer service, being first with contact routing based on skill and experience, enterprise presence and instant messaging, recording, coaching, softphones, reporting, administration, social media integration and so on. NOW SERVICE is a different way of viewing customer service offering immediate customer feedback, collaborative service and customers who are audiences and fans.

Read more in my article from Customer Inter@ction Solutions December 2011.

Self-service or full service - IVR deployment strategies

Most of us have seen the signs at the gas station. Asking us, as customers, if we want the full service treatment or the self-service treatment, i.e. do it yourself. Service design is a model to define services that feel like full service, even if they are self-service systems.

IVR’s are no longer only about self-service but a tool to improve the full service experience. But they need to be developed correctly. They need to be developed with both your organizations benefits and your customers’ experience in mind.

Two identical companies offering the same basic service in close proximity to each other is a daily experience in today’s competitive environment. In many instances, copying what someone else does well has replaced innovation. This has given rise to a new concept of service design that leads organizations to design and deliver service based on collaborative methods to beat seemingly identical competitors. Service design requires hard facts, data that gives decision makers the framework for strategic decisions. Customer interaction analytics, or “Voice of the Customer” (VoC) analytics as it is more commonly being referred to in an age where customer centricity is almost synonymous with viability, is the framework that provides real tangible facts about the customer experience. VoC analytics looks at the entire customer experience, an outside-in approach if you wish.

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Cloud and mobility are two symbiotic advances that allow access to tools that in the past required a well-equipped laptop; now all you need is access to the Internet, and you are ready to go.

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