Customer Service

Genesys One Gives Mid-Market a Second Shot
November 16, 2012

Genesys is making a play for the middle market with the release of Genesys One. The last time the company targeted the middle market was more than 10 years ago, when it was owned by Alcatel. Since then, the middle market has changed significantly. Both customer needs and buying behavior have changed considerably, observed Brian Bischoff, vice president of global offer management for Genesys.

No One's Better at Wrecking CRM Than the CEO
November 15, 2012

I love CRM as a discipline, but I have no illusions about its ability to survive in the cruel world. The reality is that customer relationships are fragile things; they need the right environment to flourish and be profitable. There are a host of things that can scuttle these relationships, and most of them are entirely out of the control of the person tasked with CRM.

When Disaster Strikes, Customer Service Exceptions Are the Rule
November 08, 2012

Disasters -- be they man-made or natural, like Hurricane Sandy -- showcase the best in people. Neighbor helps neighbor like never before, people share what they have, and assistance comes from unexpected places. They also showcase people at their worst -- looters, scammers and other lowlifes emerge and heartlessly seek to profit from the victims. Then there are businesses that do the same.

Companies Quake Under Social Sword of Damocles
October 29, 2012

Forty-seven percent of all social media users have used their networks to get customer service from a company, with usage as high as 59 percent among 18-24 year olds, according to a new study from NM Incite. Almost one in three social media users said they preferred to contact a company that way, and companies have learned to respond in kind.

The Social, Mobile Challenge to Customer Service Consistency
October 19, 2012

It used to be that your business could provide a basic level of service and your customers would be perfectly happy. Some form of help, delivered at the speed of the business and within the parameters of your company's policies, was usually OK -- and if it wasn't, you could probably get away with it. I mean, who would hear about it, right?

Walmart Goes Wild With Same-Day Delivery Plan
October 10, 2012

Walmart is planning a grand experiment for the holiday season: same-day delivery service in select markets for certain products purchased from its online store. There will be about 5,000 products -- including flat-panel TVs, computers, office equipment and cameras -- that can be delivered on the same day for a charge of $10. The company is partnering with UPS to offer the Walmart To Go service.

The Faster, Cheaper Help Desk in the Cloud
October 08, 2012

One of the trends emerging in the cloud computing space is taking on IT service desk and incident management functions "as a service." A common data architecture and fast delivery benefits combine to improve efficiency, cost and results for IT support end users. For example, intelligent energy-management solutions provider Comverge has extended its use of Salesforce.com into a self-service enabled service desk capability using BMC's Remedyforce.

Moxie Boosts Self-Service With Widgets, Crowdsourcing
October 01, 2012

Moxie Software recently released two separate, albeit highly complementary, CRM self-service applications. One is a revamped version of its self-service application called "Knowledge Spaces." Enhancements allow users to "widgetize" pieces of the application and embed just those portions on a website.

Insurance and CRM: Big Barriers, Bigger Benefits
September 14, 2012

Back in my college days, I worked part-time for an insurance agent. It was an eye-opening job, and not just because it pointed out how many strange and silly ways people could get into car accidents (loose birthday balloons obstructing the driver's vision, concrete poured off an overpass into a brand-new convertible BMW, a catastrophic collision between a Saturn and some Canadian geese, etc.).

Better Billing Means Happier Customers
September 06, 2012

The billing function conjures up many images, few of them positive. Essential to success of your business, yet often a burden for most organizations independent of size or market, billing is seen as a necessary evil to collect cash and enable organizations to stay alive.

Marketing's New Golden Age
September 05, 2012

Now is the golden age of marketing. I was tempted to write the second golden age since history sometimes seems to repeat but I am more of the Mark Twain school of history and he believed that history did not repeat itself but that it rhymed.

The Rise of Self-Service Mobile CRM
September 04, 2012

Increasingly, CRM vendors -- and their customers -- are recognizing the value of applying mobile technologies to the self-service piece of a CRM operations. In response, more and more vendors are rolling out new applications for companies that wish to target this emerging, but rapidly growing, demand point.

Mobile CRM: Cost Center or Profit Maker? Part 2
August 28, 2012

Buried in a recent J.D. Power and Associates 2012 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction study -- which showed consumers' satisfaction with credit cards was at a six-year high -- was this very telling factoid: Only 7 percent of credit card customers use their mobile phones to complete transactions, up from 4 percent in 2011.

Kana Goes Modular With New Express Application
August 27, 2012

Kana Software is pushing into the mid-market space with a new offering called "Kana Express." It is a multi-channel Web customer service application divided into four modules, all of which can be deployed separately or used as a whole suite.

Credit Card Customer Satisfaction Charges Upward
August 24, 2012

Customer satisfaction with the credit card industry has stabilized after years of dramatic changes to the space, according to J.D. Power and Associates' 2012 U.S. Credit Card Satisfaction study. It found that for the third consecutive year, customers' satisfaction with their credits cards has increased.

Mobile CRM: Cost Center or Profit Maker? Part 1
August 21, 2012

Jeff Hasen, Hipcricket's CMO, recently had what he called his "10 millionth" bad customer experience with Comcast. It's galling enough to be treated poorly by a company when you buy just about all of its services, as Hasen does with Comcast. Worse, though, is when you are a mobile CRM expert, as Hasen is, and can so plainly see how easy it would be for Comcast to lighten some of its customers' suffering.

Nuance's Nina Challenges Siri, and She Means Business
August 07, 2012

There is a new natural-language, speech-based virtual assistant in town: Nuance on Monday introduced Nina to rival Apple's Siri. Nina can be used by smartphone application developers -- or any other type of user who would like to deploy the technology's mix of speech recognition, text-to-speech and voice biometric technology, for that matter.

Banks Leave Some Overcharged Southwest Customers Swinging in the Breeze
August 07, 2012

A marketing campaign by Southwest Airlines to mark the growth of its Facebook fan base to 3-million turned into an unmitigated PR nightmare last Friday. Southwest offered discounted flights that day to celebrate the social media milestone. Unfortunately, customers who tried to take advantage of the offer found themselves victimized by a computer glitch.

The Pitfalls of the Unmanaged Customer Experience
August 06, 2012

A company's reputation is based on the customer's experience. Fixing or preventing problems is half of the service equation; communicating with customers is the other half. Customer service is as important, if not more important than the immediate resolution of the problem. An integral part of the customer experience equation is people.

Google Fiber: Internet, TV Will Never Be the Same
August 02, 2012

Last week, Google started selling a very high-speed Internet and television service in Kansas City. This service stands a good chance of blowing customers' minds and changing expectations. The question is, will Google get into this business and compete with cable television and phone companies? Or is it doing this just to make a point? Only time will tell. Even Google doesn't know yet.