Study Finds Customer Service Lacking
Published April 04, 2017
On March 4th Oracle released a study about modern customer service best practices. They found that some companies are investing in new technologies to realize the business Relevant Products / Services benefits of modern customer service, 62 percent don’t grasp the full importance and impact customer service can have when it is an organization-wide strategic goal.
Eighty-eight percent of respondents say they believe they are making significant progress delivering modern customer service, there are several factors preventing companies from leveraging customer service as a true organizational strategy, according to the study. Among those are limited definitions of customer service; poor knowledge management and customer visibility; and a reliance on traditional channels and metrics.
Despite the barriers to adopting customer service as an organizational strategy, companies are at least starting to understand the importance of investing in modern customer service technologies and CRM Relevant Products / Services (customer relationship management) systems to deliver the best customer experiences. Among the top areas slated for investment in 2015 are additional online customer service capabilities (55%); self-service technology (47%); mobile Relevant Products/Services apps (52%); social media (43%); and knowledge management systems (51%).
They also found that most organizations are not fully embracing a modern customer service mindset, with only 38 percent of respondents viewing modern customer service as a companywide priority.
The study found that many organizations still define customer service as a post-purchase function, with executives often not viewing customer service as a key agent for increasing sales (60%); retaining existing customers (47%); or enhancing their brands and marketing messages (85%).
Many respondents say they have concerns about new customer service channels, including integrating them with existing systems (44%); cost (43%); implementation (39%); and technological limitations such as lack of support (36%). When evaluating customer service initiatives, some indicated there was relatively little use of new measurement tools such as net promoter score (22%) and customer effort score (37%).
Company plans for the coming year show that while just 35 percent of organizations surveyed now leverage knowledge management systems, 51 percent plan to invest in knowledge management technology in the future, indicating they recognize its importance in delivering consistent answers, seamlessly.
Where does your company or business fit into this study? Are you putting your customers in a place that they deserve and most important expect?
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