Customer Service in 2020

Customer Service in 2020:
Winning in a Digital World
Table of Contents
Introduction
4
Customer Service 2020: Co-creation in Crowds
6
Chapter 1
Engaging with the “New” Customer: An Individual in a Community 10
Chapter 2
Managing the Shift of Control: Finding an Equilibrium
16
Chapter 3
Moving to Vendor Relationship Management: Customers as
Empowered Partners
20
Chapter 4
Standing Out from the Crowd: Being the Customer’s
Trusted Partner
24
Chapter 5
Managing a Mix of Channels: More Contacts, More Often
28
Chapter 6
Working in an Uncertain Environment: Responding to
Change Fast
30
Customer Service in 2020: Conclusion
34
Introduction
4
Five years ago, who could have
predicted the dizzying rise
of the digital world, and its
impact on customer service?
Take the growth of Facebook,
now with over 750m active
users, 50% of whom log on
every day. This rate of change
will only accelerate. There is
no doubt that by 2020 the
world of customer service
will have been transformed
by changing needs and new
styles of interaction between
customers and companies.
And at the center of this digital
revolution will be the way
in which customer service is
delivered. Where will we be 10
years from now? No one knows
precisely, but the winning
companies will be those that
anticipate and prepare for this
digital future.
This ebook is the result. It
describes our collective vision
of customer service in 2020,
underpinned by six key trends.
The implications for individual
companies will be different
depending on the products
and services they provide.
Whatever business you’re
in, our ideas will provoke
conversation and enable you
to prepare and win in an
increasingly digital world.
In Spring 2011, Capgemini
Consulting brought together
customer service directors from
leading global organizations,
plus industry experts, to
take forward this debate. We
challenged the norm, stepped
out of our comfort zones and
looked to the future.
Patrick James
Global Head of Marketing,
Sales & Service
+44 870 366 0262
We’d love to hear what you
think. Please join the debate by
contacting:
patrick.james@capgemini.com
Welcome from Patrick James, Capgemini Consulting
Patrick James is the Global Head of Marketing, Sales & Service Consulting at
Capgemini. He specializes in delivering and realizing the benefits of large complex
customer-focused programs, having worked with an extensive range of high profile
clients such as the UK Department for Education, Lloyds TSB, Vodafone, General
Motors, Deutsche Bank, Capital Group, Orange and Virgin Atlantic.
Customer Service 2020: Co-creation in Crowds
How will your
organization respond
to the digital
revolution?
Already companies are
working more closely than ever
before with their customers
to “co-create” new products
and services – a trend that
will gather force as we move
towards 2020. By forming
“crowds” which include other
companies and customers, they
will collaboratively deliver true
end-to-end customer service.
Customers and companies
will provide service to and
with each other, delivering
integrated solutions that will
transcend boundaries between
companies and products.
A driving force behind this
transformation is the global
rise of digital channels
(including online, social
media, mobile websites and
applications), alongside the
emergence of an increasingly
knowledgeable, emotional
and empowered customer.
Winning companies will adopt
a proactive approach that
embraces the digital revolution,
and that anticipates customers’
shifting habits and preferences
rather than just reacting to
them. This journey must start
now.
What services should a
company provide? Who
should it partner with? The
challenge for companies will
6
be to maintain competitive
advantage and maximize
sales while recognizing that
it will take a crowd to fulfill
customers’ needs. Increasingly,
customers will demand that
companies fit around what
they want, the way they want
it. We will also see more
customers helping one another
with queries, taking on the role
of advisers.
How does customer service
work in a digital world where
services/products are delivered
by a crowd of companies, with
customers helping to determine
what companies do? Customer
service centers will become
well oiled machines that will
act as interaction hubs allowing
customers to shift seamlessly
between channels. Intelligent
routing will allow information
from customers to flow into
organizations so it can be
used to improve the way they
deliver products and services.
Sophisticated virtual agents
will replace human interaction.
Agents can then focus on
dealing with complex customer
queries and deliver true valueadd services to customers.
Figure 1 shows our vision
of Customer Service 2020,
and the six key trends that
companies must address.
Figure 1: Our vision of customer service in 2020
Will yours be the
organization that
customers choose in
the future?
Key Customer Service
Trends for 2020
1. Engaging with the “new”
customer
As customers become more
knowledgeable and their
requirements more complex,
they will require a more
tailored service – a truly
differentiated experience. To
meet this demand efficiently,
companies must understand
customer needs, emotions,
and expectations. How do you
do this from inside a crowd
of services and organizations?
How do you understand
customer emotion through
digital channels?
2. Managing the shift of
control
Customers will gain influence
over companies’ brand and
market position as they
increasingly support and
advise one another via digital
channels, and “co-create”
products with organizations.
This shift will necessitate
greater empowerment of
customer service agents:
they will spend less time on
everyday problems and more
on complex issues, and valueadd activities such as crossselling and up-selling. What
is the right equilibrium for
your company? Agents will
also play a growing part in
8
brand management, and in
working with the rest of the
organization to use customer
insight effectively. How will
your customer service adapt?
3. Moving to Vendor
Relationship Management
(VRM)
Customers will use data about
companies (vendors) to decide
when, how and by whom they
want to be serviced; digital
VRM tools will emerge to help.
Companies will need to utilize
rich customer data available
via digital channels and open
up their systems to allow more
access to customers and other
organizations. Are you ready to
work with customers as your
empowered partners?
4. Standing out from the
crowd
The focus will move first from
products to services, and
then to composite solutions,
provided and supported by a
crowd of organizations and
customers. There is a risk
of becoming just one of the
crowd; to retain competitive
advantage, companies must be
seen as the customer’s trusted
partner. How will you work
with other companies? What
are your responsibilities in the
crowd?
5. Managing a mix of
channels
The rise of digital means the
number and frequency of
contacts will rise: Facebook,
tweets, texts...
Organizations must use
the right channel with the
right customer for the right
interaction. This means
developing an appropriate
channel mix, delivering an
integrated response across
channels, and shielding
customers from complexity.
Are you ready for more
contacts? How can you use
digital channels to make your
company work better?
The next pages invite you to
step into the world of 2020.
Together, we explore these
trends and their implications
further, and identify the
actions required to make sure
customer service adapts to this
change.
6. Working in an uncertain
environment
Customer and company focus
on ethical and green issues will
strengthen, as will regulatory
requirements and concern
over globalization. How can
you be global and local at the
same time? Do you need to
be? Increasing use of digital
channels like social media
will mean that information
will travel fast around the
world and affect reputation.
Companies must monitor
customers’ shifting priorities
and evolve customer service
accordingly. Is your company
flexible enough to handle the
impact of unforeseen global
events? How fast can your
company react?
Customer Service in 2020: Winning in a Digital World
9
Chapter 1
Engaging with the “New” Customer: An Individual in
a Community
Social media has created an
online society with more
knowledgeable, complex and
emotionally aware customers.
As 2020 approaches, what
these customers expect
from companies is changing
dramatically. Crucially,
although belonging to
communities, a customer will
want a highly tailored service.
Companies will really need
to have a deeper relationship
with customers, understand
their needs, emotions and
expectations, to give them
what they want.
How is it possible to provide
personal service while
maintaining low costs? The
answer is to offer a service
that feels personalized yet
is delivered at a group level.
Companies can take advantage
of a concept called “many
groups” (figure 2), which
can be harnessed with new
digital strategies and new
ways of analyzing customer
relationships through
sophisticated analytical tools.
Figure 2: “Many groups” – how individuality and group membership are developing
over time
2020
1950
Big
identity
10
“Scattered”
individualized
but polarized
customers
Many
groups
The Emergence of
“Many Groups”
The development of identity
over time is illustrated in
figure 2. In the past, customers
typically saw themselves
as part of a single group: a
UK Labour Party activist
would buy a Labour-leaning
newspaper and be part of a
union. Over time, this kind
of grouping has broken down
and customers have become
individualized and polarized.
Even so, organizations have
continued to group individuals
into segments sharing similar
traits, and to handle them
according to these segments.
By 2020, people will belong
to more and stronger groups,
formed predominately
through digital channels as
shown in figure 3. It will be
membership of these multiple
groups that builds a person’s
(increasingly complex) sense
of individuality. Products,
services and brands will mean
different things to different
groups, and organizations must
be flexible enough to respond
to each in the right way.
Figure 3: Membership of online communities will help to shape identity
Customer Service in 2020: Winning in a Digital World
11
Your current
performance
management systems
and metrics will be
irrelevant
Personalization at
Group Level
Automation Plus
Personalization
Customers will want
experience that is both
individual and social. And,
although reasonably receptive
to self-service, they won’t want
to feel they are being treated
as a number, or as part of a
segment.
Digital technology makes
it possible to personalize
some aspects of service
automatically, further reducing
costs. Virtualizing a shop,
customer and staff in an
environment like Second
Life can make shopping
into a social experience that
delights customers who are
already used to avatars and
virtual worlds. For example,
when purchasing a product,
customers can buy a virtual
copy for their avatar and a
physical copy for themselves.
In this way, the customer
can get an experience that is
individual, local and social,
at reasonable cost to the
company.
It can be prohibitively
expensive to give customers
a completely personalized
service, but fortunately there
are a couple of factors that will
help:
ƒƒ Communities/groups – the
fact that customers naturally
group themselves together
means that service can often
be tailored to the group
rather than the individual.
Designing the process to
take account of different
customer groupings means
that a single process can
provide “personal”
experiences for many
customers.
ƒƒ Digital transformation – as a
result of VRM activity by
customers, organizations will
have access to rich real-time
personal information such as
name, age and behavior,
with which they can easily
personalize the service
further.
12
Virtual agents, as shown in our
InteliWISE video, are another
way to deliver personalized
customer service.
InteliWISE – next generation chat virtual agent for insurance
InteliWISE is a leader in delivering cloud-based, intelligent chat virtual agents,
enhancing customer experience and boosting online sales.
Emotions can be
detected online, not
only through voice
communication
Different Relationships,
Different Treatment
or more emotional (figure
4). Customers may have a
functional relationship with a
power utility company, but a
more emotional one wnecessith
a company like Starbucks.
Technology providers could
have either a more emotional
relationship (like Apple) or a
more functional one (like Dell).
One company could have
different relationships around
different products.
Some, but not all, customers
will continue to need more
traditional (and expensive)
types of personalization.
By understanding different
customer groups’ unique needs
at different times, you can
target your investment for the
best returns.
It’s important to identify
whether your relationship with
a customer is more functional
Functional
In
cr
ea
se
in
ve
st
m
en
ti
n
pe
rs
on
al
iz
at
io
n
Relationship to the customer
Emotional
Figure 4: Plotting relationship type against value
Low
High
Customer value
14
Even for a single product, there
could be different relationships:
an iPhone is a smartphone for
some customers but a way of
life for others.
Developing and maintaining
an emotional relationship
is more expensive than
maintaining a functional one,
so it’s also necessary to know
the value of the customer, as
shown in figure 4. Analyzing
customer relationships in
this way requires questions
to be answered: for example,
what constitutes a highvalue customer? How do you
understand and use emotional
information about customers
specifically through digital
channels? However, this
analysis repays effort because
it makes it possible to realize
the objective of personalization
at group level. Once you
understand how customers
can be grouped together, you
can create experiences that
customers feel are “just for me”
without the cost of tailoring
processes for each individual
customer. And that’s a costeffective way to win their
loyalty and trust.
Understanding the
Customer of 2020
The customer of 2020 will
expect more from customer
service, but will also have more
control. Customers can play
an active part in the success or
failure of a company by acting
as its agents through social
media channels.
Personalization
remains at the heart of
your digital strategy
Companies will need to
strike a balance between
personalization of service
and cost. Several factors
will determine where the
right balance lies. While
standardized processes may be
appropriate for certain products
and services, a personalized
customer experience can be
achieved by tailoring it to the
groups to which customers
have the greatest attachment.
The level of tailoring will vary
according to brand, product or
service, and the nature of the
relationship with the company.
This type of tailoring can
delight the customer, creating
loyal agents for the company.
Delivering the right offer to the
right group can also reduce
costs.
Customer Service in 2020: Winning in a Digital World
15
Chapter 2
Managing the Shift of Control: Finding an Equilibrium
“
By 2014, Gartner predicts
that 10% of the problems
currently solved by customer
service agents will be
resolved or influenced by
customer communities
“
Source: Predicts 2011: Customer
Service Innovations in a
Collaborative World,
Gartner, 2010
Control is shifting away from
organizations and towards
customers. As a result, we’ll
see the development of a new
generation of customer service
agents, empowered to “cocreate” products with their
customers and make the most
of their knowledge via digital
channels.
However, this is by no means
a “one size fits all” solution.
How can your company find its
optimal balance of control?
Customers are Taking
Control
Customers are keener and
keener to interact with one
another in social networks
such as Facebook groups. They
review products, rate content
and suggest ideas for product
and service improvement,
among other activities.
These new social customers are
happy to answer each others’
queries. Already, an expert
customer may know more
about your products than an
average customer service agent.
Other customers are looking
to these super users for advice
and answers to problems,
publishing their questions
online first and contacting a
16
service center only as a last
resort. In one YouTube video,
a customer shows how to set
up a car seat for a baby – a
demonstration which other
customers found more helpful
than the manufacturer’s
instruction manual.
It isn’t just that customers
know more. They can be even
more passionate about your
brand than your customer
service agents and, with
encouragement, do a great job
at building the right brand
image. Customers increasingly
trust reviews from their
peers over information from
customer service agents, who
are perceived as trying to sell
the brand.
How Do You Integrate
Customer Activity into the
Customer Service Center?
Some companies are actively
extending customer service
processes to include customers
in digital communities:
either existing channels like
Facebook or their own sites.
They encourage customers
to “co-create” products and
collaborate by participating in
the construction of knowledge
bases, contributing ideas and
posting solutions to problems.
giffgaff – the mobile network run by members
giffgaff is one example of doing things differently – by encouraging its community
members (customers) to get involved in the business; from answering customer
queries online, getting new members or helping make them famous. giffgaff does not
employ a single customer service agent – just a handful of staff who manage its online
community. Customers are rewarded for their involvement with credits towards their
phone bill.
Customer Service in 2020: Winning in a Digital World
17
The rise of social
media has put brand
ownership in the hands
of consumers
The World in 2020:
Climbing the Control
Staircase
What constitutes the right
balance of control between
companies and customers?
The “shift of control” model
(figure 5) shows the range of
possibilities. At the bottom of
the staircase, companies have
complete control over their
customer service (a typical
situation a few years ago).
Further up, the company’s
influence decreases while that
of the customer increases.
At the top, the customer has
total control, with support
taking place in digital spaces
like internet forums and chat
rooms that are not managed
by the company. As 2020
approaches, more companies
will move up the stairs, though
few will relinquish total
control.
Why Give Customers
Control?
Encouraging “co-creation”
can increase a company’s
productivity and efficiency. For
example:
ƒƒ Customers will become
advocates for the brand
image; taking on more of the
work of advising and
supporting one another.
18
ƒƒ Customers can generate ideas
for future products; the
customer service center will
be the interaction point,
collating this input and
disseminating it across the
company.
ƒƒ Customer service agents can
focus on value-add tasks
such as cross-selling and
up-selling.
Managing the Shift
A company should determine
how far up the shift of control
staircase it wants to climb
for each of its products and
services. Experiment with
low-risk products first, then
apply the lessons learned to
higher-risk categories. Control
over the riskiest products and
most important services should
remain with the company, as
must certain services (such as
those related to invoices).
Careful change management
will be needed. Customer
service agents’ responsibilities
will alter beyond recognition,
as will the skills they need. The
agent’s role may be mainly that
of a facilitator, moderating user
communities, and ensuring
inquiries receive a satisfactory
response from a supplier or
super user.
Team leaders will work with
teams of customers over whom
they have no real authority,
and who possibly know more
than they do themselves.
Lower-level agents may no
longer be needed.
The shift of control merits
careful planning. Deliberately
giving a voice to customers will
build trust in the company and
its products. Standing by while
customers wrest control away
could have the opposite effect.
Lego encourages its
devoted customers
to design everything
from robot operating
systems to
construction sets
Figure 5: The shift of control staircase
Customer
Low
Sh
ift
of
co
nt
ro
lt
o
cu
st
om
er
High
Top of
staircase
Low
Bottom of
staircase
High
Company
Level of control
Customer Service in 2020: Winning in a Digital World
19
Chapter 3
Moving to Vendor Relationship Management: Customers as
Empowered Partners
Customers can be
active partners in their
relationship with you
CRM is dead…or is it? We have
seen how power is moving
away from companies and
towards customers. Here we
discuss a related theme: the
likely move from Customer
Relationship Management
(CRM) to its inverse, Vendor
Relationship Management
(VRM)1.
CRM is a widely-adopted
strategy that helps companies
capture customer data and
manage customer interactions.
By contrast, VRM allows
customers to manage their
relationships with companies
proactively. Choice and power
then lie with customers, who
decide when, how and whether
they want to be serviced by an
organization.
A New Style of VendorCustomer Interaction
The rise of digital channels
has made the customer’s voice
more powerful than ever
before, pushing companies
to rethink their methods
of customer interaction.
New models such as Social
Customer Relationship
Management (SCRM) allow
companies to listen and
respond to the real-time needs
and expectations of customers,
and to gain their trust and
loyalty.
1
20
Until that trust is gained,
online communities have
a particularly important
part to play in mediating
vendor-customer interaction.
Customers that do not yet
have a relationship with the
brand will tend to rely on the
community for service. As
the relationship deepens, the
customers’ knowledge and
trust increases, so that they are
more likely to deal with the
vendor, particularly when they
need a tailored response.
Why Customers Want
Change
Today’s customers are
becoming less tolerant of
generic, product-centric sales
pitches and standardized
customer service. Instead they
expect customization, and
want organizations to come
prepared with knowledge
of their circumstances and
preferences. This demand for
personalization means that
unique end-to-end business
services will often be needed
for a single customer and a
single transaction.
According to Wikipedia the term VRM was first used by Mike Vizard in conversation
with Doc Searls on a 2006 Gillmor Gang podcast
Fortunately, the information
needed to drive this level of
personalization is becoming
available, as customers
increasingly create and
maintain their own profiles
through social media. This
customer-generated data
can augment the customer
records maintained by the
company itself. Privacy
controls and the opt-in nature
of Facebook fan pages and
Twitter allows companies to
generate high-quality – and
highly qualified – leads while
respecting individuals’ privacy
preferences. “Hypertargeted”
communications can be
achieved by using the
information that individuals
share about themselves on their
profiles, including home town,
school or university attended,
job and hobbies.
A further change to interaction
styles is that, as customers
realize the true value of their
personal information, they
want to be more selective about
sharing it. Instead of getting
multiple vendor offers that
may or may not meet their
needs, customers often prefer
to receive just a few offers that
match their exact specification,
and come at the time they
require, from parties that they
trust.
Customer Service in 2020: Winning in a Digital World
21
“
Free customers are
more valuable than captive
ones... 2
“
Source: Project VRM,
Harvard Business School
From CRM to VRM
Preparing for VRM
The power shift towards
customers, combined with
the increasing sophistication
of digital platforms, may
eventually turn the current
interaction model on its head,
moving the emphasis away
from CRM and towards VRM.
For companies, VRM raises
one of the key challenges for
Customer Service 2020: the
management of the cultural
changes associated with
the growing power of the
customer. VRM also underlines
the importance of building
relationships and managing the
trust of customers and social
communities – suggesting a
continuing role for CRM.
CRM is about companies
capturing customer
information for sales and
marketing engagement. In
the VRM model, by contrast,
customers will maintain their
own data profiles and manage
their relationships with
suppliers, on their own terms.
Both individual customers and
social communities will be able
to allow or disallow vendor
interactions, based on trust and
the supplier’s ability to meet
their requirements flexibly.
In this way, VRM can be seen
as improving the balance
between customer demand and
vendor supply.
The future of VRM is not
yet clear, but one thing is
certain: in the product and
service markets of 2020, the
customer will not be a passive
player, but an empowered
partner. Emerging channels
of interaction require constant
evolution of vendor-customer
communication capabilities,
and organizations need nearinstant reaction times.
The idea is currently at an
early stage, but has already
received support and interest
from organizations such as the
Berkman Center for Internet &
Society at Harvard University
(Project VRM)3.
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/projectvrm/Main_Page
http://projectvrm.net/index.php?page=about-vrm
2
3
22
What is VRM by Gagandeep Gadri
Gagandeep is part of the leadership team of our Marketing, Sales and Service practice
in Capgemini Consulting UK and focuses on delivering customer focused multichannel solutions for our clients. He is a leading thinker on customer service and led
our Customer Service 2020 strategy session which brought together customer service
directors from across the world to build the future vision for multi- channel service
using new technologies such as social media and 4G technology.
Chapter 4
Standing Out from the Crowd: Being the Customer’s
Trusted Partner
We are seeing a move
away from individual
products and services
towards complete
solutions provided by a
crowd of suppliers and
customers
We are moving towards
a future where customer
needs are met not by a single
organization but by crowds
of companies and customers
working together. But how can
companies work within the
crowd to stand out from the
crowd, and so gain competitive
advantage?
Solutions that Come from
the Crowd
We will see a move away
from individual products and
services towards complete
solutions provided by a crowd
or network of suppliers and
customers. The example in
figure 6 illustrates how cocreation can work in crowds.
In our example, Terry needs
better storage for his toiletries.
He goes online to seek advice
from a home improvements
community site. That gives
him an idea of what is available
and how much it costs, and
helps him to locate a reputable
local retailer. Having measured
the space available with an
app from the site, he visits the
retailer to buy his unit. The
store downloads details of his
requirement from his mobile,
which Terry also uses to pay.
Back home, he puts together
his unit, getting help from
another app.
24
A few days, later the
community site contacts him
and he gives his feedback.
One of his suggestions is
picked by the retailer, who
makes a change to the product
and invites Terry to join
their product development
community.
Soon afterwards, Janet wants a
new bathroom unit. She goes
on to the home improvements
community site that Terry used
initially. Seeing that Terry has
done something similar, she
contacts him for help...
In Terry’s scenario, the solution
is delivered jointly by a retailer,
various internet services,
bank, and customers. The
crowd provides a full range
of end-to-end services, and
the customers play a central
role in helping each other,
and companies, to fulfill their
needs.
In this model, the retailer’s
customer service unit may no
longer exist as a recognizable
entity. The crowd members
coexist on a platform like
Facebook, and a customer
with a problem will post their
question there and expect to
receive answers from anyone
in the crowd. The retailer will
not create the crowd – different
crowds will arise on an ad hoc
basis depending on the nature
of the customer query.
Figure 6: The crowd model of customer service
1. Searches the internet
2. Gets information about products
and retailers from online community
3. Downloads design
application
9. The next week, Janet wants
a new bathroom unit.
She contacts Terry via same
online community
4. Finds the nearest store
and quickest route
Co-creation in crowds:
An illustrative scenario: Terry would like a better
storage solution for his toiletries
8. Provides feedback via
online community
5. A customer adviser
is ready to help
7. Back home, he puts the unit together,
getting help via the online help app
6. Pays via his
handheld device
Customer Service in 2020: Winning in a Digital World
25
You don’t own your
customer data: you
share it with your
competitors
In some cases (for example,
damaged goods inquiries) the
retailers’ personnel will provide
the answers themselves, but
often all they will do is manage
the process. Customers will
not normally care who answers
as long as they receive a goodquality service.
Customer Data is
Becoming Shared Data
As Forrester4 notes, the
universal customer record
is becoming a reality for
some companies. This record
contains multiple social
identities from channels such
as Facebook and Twitter,
mapped to a traditional
customer record. Both types of
data can be analyzed together
to provide real-time customer
insight and support for
business decisions.
Increasingly, part or all of
this universal customer
record will be accessible by
multiple service providers.
All the players involved in
the customer lifecycle have
equal access to the data that
customers choose to share
in social spaces. With many
multinationals and governing
bodies also committing to
open data initiatives, data
transparency will likely
become the norm, with
customers choosing which
service providers can access
their data.
4
26
In this world of shared data,
companies can no longer rely
on privileged information to
create competitive advantage.
For example, competitors
will often be able to approach
your customers with offers
based on knowledge of their
usage patterns. That means
that companies need to find
other ways to gain an edge,
such as personalization and
superior customer service,
and perhaps resale of services
from third parties – even from
competitors.
Becoming a Trusted
Partner to Retain
Competitive Advantage
In the crowd model, service
will often be decoupled
from product and provided
by another company or by
an expert customer, so that
service activity no longer
takes place at the brand level.
Making this model work will
require suppliers in the crowd
to ensure that their CRM
systems can collaborate.
However, customers will
probably still retain an
emotional attachment to
the company to whom they
pay money, even when
that company is sharing
responsibility for providing
service. If customer
expectations are not met, then
the company’s brand will
suffer.
Forrester’s Top 10 Trends for Customer Service in 2011
The company therefore needs
to maintain control over the
customer experience, ensuring
that its service commitment
to the customer is met by the
crowd collectively.
In summary, a company should
aim to turn its service function
into a trusted partner for the
customer (see figure 7).
Trust implies, among other
things, that the boundaries
between internal and
external become blurred,
that customer and company
have a transparent view of
one another’s activities, and
that there is full co-operation
between them. Companies that
achieve this trusted status will
retain competitive advantage in
a world of transparent data and
crowd-based solutions.
A company needs
to aim to turn its
service function into a
trusted partner for the
customer
Figure 7: What does it mean for customer service to be a trusted partner?
Produ
ct b
oun
are
d
gon arie
e
s
lis
vi e
t i c to
s
cu
the
m
w
er
of
B
a
o p nd
er B 2 C
at
io n
Ho
“Customer service
is the trusted partner
for the customer
which facilitates the
interactions in the networks
in a transparent and
co-operative way
creating the true
win-win situation”
rers selling
actu
nuf
stomers
Ma tly to cu
ec
dir
Win-win m
ust
be
clearly st
ated
as
ices
v
r
e
uct
ll s
Se prod
a
B 2 oc
M a n agin g th e
diversity
Customer Service in 2020: Winning in a Digital World
27
Chapter 5
Managing a Mix of Channels: More Contacts, More Often
How do you ensure
consistency between
interactions when
they are all driven
by customers’
unpredictable
emotions?
Customers and companies
are interacting via a growing
variety of channels, including
social media and mobile
commerce, resulting in an
expanding array of customer
touch-points. It is becoming
increasingly challenging to
manage the channel mix
in an effective, integrated
way. How can organizations
ensure that they are using the
right channel with the right
customer for the right type of
interaction?
Rapid Proliferation of
Channels
The range of channels has
expanded fast over the past
two decades, with selfservice channels like cash
machines, vending machines
and information kiosks
appearing alongside traditional
bricks-and-mortar and
telephone channels. In many
industries, customers now
prefer self-service, at least for
straightforward transactions.
The internet has enabled more
channels, like social media,
online chat and virtual agents.
Now 75% of Marriott’s hotel
reservations are made online;
internet sales have helped
retailers like M&S and Next to
buck a downward trend on the
high street.
The rise of smartphones is
another factor in channel
proliferation, with apps and
mobile commerce allowing
more targeted, persistent
interaction. In 2009
m-commerce value in the U.S.
tripled to $1.2bn. As smaller,
cheaper smartphones appear in
the near future, “phone” may
well become synonymous with
“smartphone”.
By 2020, today’s internet and
m-commerce channels will
have matured and been joined
by others. Online TV and video
interaction with customer
service agents will increase,
thanks to 4G networks and
greater bandwidth. Contactless
payment cards, video
analytics, speech analytics and
emotion detection will also
be widespread, as will online
communities.
Challenges and
Opportunities
Companies ignore channel
proliferation at their peril.
Disregarding emerging
channels can lead to reputation
risk (a brand can be destroyed
in one day by customer
conversations in social media
forums), and to customers
taking their business to
competitors offering a better
choice.
Forrester, “Mobile world congress 2010: smartphones are the new phones”, 2010
5
28
At the same time, the
expanding range of channels
opens up new opportunities:
to provide better customer
service, and to develop
more personalized customer
relationships, additional
revenue streams and more
efficient customer service.
Succeeding in a Digital
Multi-Channel World
How do you give a consistent
experience by phone, over
the internet and in store?
The multi-channel challenge
has been around for a while,
and by 2020 it will be far
more complex. We have
suggested some ways to tackle
it – by following these steps,
companies can start to embrace
the opportunities of channel
proliferation and ensure they
use the right channel with the
right customer for the right
type of interaction.
Five Ways to Tackle the Multi-Channel Challenge
1.Offer a set of channels to suit your product mix and
customer preferences
If customers frequently carry out straightforward
transactions like grocery shopping or checking bank
statements, self-service may suit both them and the
business. With complex products like mortgages, video
instructions or virtual agents can complement or replace
human agents. If an energy provider has a customer group
that’s active on Twitter, tweeting could be a good way to
publish service updates.
2.Ensure channels are integrated
You should be able to recognize your customer however
they contact you, offering correctly targeted products and
services. Allowing the option to switch between channels
during an interaction will enhance customer experience
and improve outcomes.
3.Manage complexity and offer consistency
Again regardless of channel, customers should receive
a consistent experience in line with your brand values.
Align processes, data management and technology
behind your channel mix to create this seamless customer
journey. If you can’t avoid putting the customer through a
complicated process to complete a transaction or resolve an
issue, then offer guidance via suitable channels.
4.Keep up with the changing channel landscape
Proliferation will continue, so your channel mix must keep
adapting. Monitor customer behavior to detect changes
in channel preferences early on. Ensure your technology
platform is flexible enough to accommodate new channels
and channel enhancements.
5.Go where customers are having their conversations
For example Facebook and Twitter – rather than creating
your own forums. This approach can help save costs and
help draw in new customers as well.
Customer Service in 2020: Winning in a Digital World
29
Chapter 6
Working in an Uncertain Environment: Responding to
Change Fast
The world is getting smaller,
more connected and more
interdependent. Companies are
increasingly held accountable
for the way they conduct their
business, and environmental
factors are among those they
need to account for. They
must demonstrate active
compliance with the spirit of
the law, ethical standards, and
international norms.
Increasing use of digital
channels, and specifically
of social media, is
opening companies up
to unprecedented public
scrutiny. Customer opinion
and experience travels fast
and can easily end up as, for
example, a “viral” video on
YouTube. The case studies
later in this chapter illustrate
how dramatically this scrutiny
by the crowd can affect a
company’s reputation for good
or ill.
Companies can’t hope to
control the flow. Instead,
through their customer
service centers, they need to
respond rapidly to social media
activity, particularly in times
of crisis. Already, more and
more companies are actively
using social media to monitor
and, where possible, manage
customer feedback, ensuring
for example that customer
service agents address Twitter
complaints promptly.
30
Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) is a form of corporate
self-regulation that is
increasingly integrated into
business models. It requires
the company to embrace
responsibility for its actions,
and to strive for a positive
impact on the environment,
customers, employees,
communities, stakeholders
and all other members of the
public sphere.
Key CSR Themes
ƒƒ Companies will have to
provide both global and local
services: customers want
global consistency but also
an appreciation of local
culture. Global companies
that currently standardize
their products and services
to provide a more efficient
and effective service could in
future be forced to take more
account of local nuances in
the interests of better
customer service.
ƒƒ There are global standards
and local differences in
regulation, for example in
relation to customer data.
Companies need to find
ways to satisfy both local and
global standards –
potentially a difficult
challenge.
ƒƒ Companies will need to
strengthen their response to
customers’ evolving ethical
concerns (e.g., regarding
business impact on the
environment, provenance,
and fair trade). In matters
like elimination of underage
working in suppliers’
factories, it is better to get
your house in order yourself
than to be forced to do so by
the press, public or
regulators. Customers are
coming to expect greater
transparency: when you
make a mistake, admit it.
ƒƒ Employee inclusion and
wellbeing will be vital.
Companies must make sure
their employees are involved
and looked after, and respect
their varying needs. In
addition to the ethical
reasons for doing so, happy
employees tend to make for
happy customers.
Considerations here include:
−− Diversity. This makes
commercial sense as well as
fitting in with CSR. One
study showed that with more
than 35% of executive
positions held by women,
P&L results improve.
−− Work-life balance. Digital
technology can help here by
enabling remote working,
which means you can have a
more mobile, flexible
workforce. In future, many of
your customer service agents
could be home-based. The
more options you can offer,
the easier it becomes to
attract resources with the
right skills sets.
Case Studies
Nestlé and palm oil
Greenpeace published a video on YouTube alleging that
Nestlé’s use of palm oil caused deforestation and endangered
orangutans. On Facebook, members changed their profile
pictures and posted extreme comments on the Nestlé fan page.
Instead of answering, Nestlé threatened to delete posts that
used an altered version of its logo. This triggered even more
virulent comments and the fan page had to be closed.
BP oil spill
Following the oil spill disaster, BP’s official Twitter account @
BP_America had 15,000 followers, but a parody account, @
BPGlobalPR, attracted 175,000, and was far more active. By
poking fun at BP, this fake account may have damaged the
brand significantly. BP’s efforts to get the account banned were
unsuccessful since Twitter policy allows parody accounts as
long as they do not mislead or deceive.
Toyota recall
Unexpectedly, Toyota’s Social Influence Marketing (SIM) score
increased during the recent vehicle recall. One reason is that
frequent conversations (including neutral and even negative
ones) built brand awareness. More consumers were talking
about Toyota than any other brand, some probably coming
to its defense. In time, Toyota may be able to use this new
follower base to promote offers and products.
Customer Service in 2020: Winning in a Digital World
31
How can companies
keep pace with
shifting and tightening
regulations, both
globally and locally?
Get Ready to Deal with
Uncertainty
The one certainty is that
organizations will have to
evolve continuously to meet
ever more exacting demands
from customers and regulators.
Some CSR activities, moreover,
are closely linked to customer
service. For example, hiring
a diverse employee base
makes it possible to service
a diverse customer base (one
bank provides service in
23 languages). Then there
are ethical issues around
offshore call centers: the
ethical standards of both the
call center location and the
company’s markets need to be
taken into account.
The social media revolution,
too, has fundamentally shifted
the balance of power towards
the customer. Customers are
in control, defining how, when
and where they interact with
brands, content and services.
How can customer service
managers use customers’
increased involvement to
32
their advantage? They will
need new tools to listen into
conversations on the web, and
must use their knowledge,
experience and expertise to
respond intelligently. Social
media objectives should be
aligned to enable companies
to understand, manage and
influence these conversations.
In a digital world, information
will travel fast, and customer
service centers must respond
rapidly. That means having
processes in place to change
alerts on all channels and
update scripts for agents
globally.
Customers’ and regulators’
priorities are hard to predict,
and in a digital world it will
be impossible to control
the spread of information.
Therefore, organizations must
utilize digital technology to
monitor change, and adopt
techniques that will give them
the flexibility to adjust their
own priorities. Don’t be caught
off guard.
Customer Service in 2020: Conclusion
ƒƒ More satisfied employees
who manage customer
service in the crowd, and
have higher-quality contacts
with a smaller number of
customers
In the challenging digital
world of the future, visionary
companies will shape the
customer service landscape.
By anticipating trends
intelligently, organizations can
achieve a genuine win-win
for themselves and for their
customers.
Which trends could have the
most impact on your business?
Are you ready to capitalize on
them with the right customer
service offerings?
Addressing your customers’
evolving needs in an
increasingly digital world today
will be critical to winning
tomorrow. For those that get it
right, the benefits will be great:
ƒƒ Increased loyalty, as your
organization is seen as a
trusted partner in life
ƒƒ Improved brand reputation,
as customers act as advocates
for the brand
ƒƒ Higher customer satisfaction,
because customers can easily
reach the experts they need,
and interact with them in the
channels they prefer
ƒƒ Increased efficiency as the
company finds ways to
automate service without
sacrificing the “personal
touch”
ƒƒ Lower costs, for example
through reduced headcount
as customers and other
crowd members take over
support responsibilities
ƒƒ Increased revenue and
profits as your organization
becomes a leader in the
marketplace
The obvious winners will
be customers. However, by
reading the trends correctly
and using digital capabilities
effectively, companies too can
derive competitive advantage
from the transformation of
customer service. Are you
ready to win in the digital
world?
Touch the Future, be the Future
Customer Service in 2020: Winning in a Digital World
33
Corning – a day made of glass
For Corning Incorporated, the future of customer service revolves around digital
technologies, enabled by glass. In writing this ebook, we have been inspired by
Corning’s way of thinking about its future world, as depicted in this video.
What is your vision of 2020?
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Arnaud Bouchard
Ben Gilchriest
Sherif Choudhry
Stanislas De Roys
Scott Clarke
Vincent Rutgers
Steffen Elsaesser
Lorenzo Sterzi
France Marketing, Sales and
Service Co-lead
Tel: +33 149 675 942
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UK Marketing, Sales and
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Tel: +44 879 194 6536
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