While you’re reading this: another consumer bought a new wireless handheld device. Perhaps she made a call to her sister to test out the voice commands on the headset she bought online to go with her “phone” - and to tell her about her new car. While on the call used her multifunctional device to snap a photo and sent the MMS to her sister. Before her drive home she paired the device via Bluetooth with her car. As she drove, she asked the GPS system in her vehicle to locate the nearest bakery. She listened as the voice over the car’s speakers read out four bakeries in the area. She then said, "call Abigail’s”… RING….
Sound familiar?
Which company, as described in the scenario above, does a customer call should her directions not get delivered to her immediately? The device manufacturer or the content provider? Now, more than ever, enterprises need to re-think customer experience before they’re drowning in complaints and questions that may not pertain to their products or services.
Our mobile-enabled lives permit us access and to content using a multitude of devices with data flowing over many broadband connections from the PAN, LAN, WAN and over global networks. As our customers enter increasingly complex technologies and the ecosystems that allow for the scenario above, the term “customer experience” became just an overused sentiment headlining advertisements and spam emails. Bad timing. “Customer experience” no longer holds the promise of new customer centric approaches. The promise of truly evolved enterprise care departments and the implementation of dynamic self-service applications should not fade into the noisy network.
A tidal wave hit our shores, and water wings won’t cut it. Here's a snapshot in time of the oncoming tsunami as illustrated by a tour of my own household network topology. 17: the number of networked devices on our home LAN today. That’s 17 simultaneously computing machines with 17 IP addresses, 17 connections to a single wireless router, and any number of video, audio, and gaming applications on those devices...
Drinking down gallons of media on that LAN: six laptops, two Apple TV’s, two Wii game consoles, two iPhones, two iPads, a multi-terabyte server, and two Sony PSPs. All of these access the world over one pipe – a bargain at a mere $75.00 USD per month thanks to our local Cable provider. AT&T provides wireless services for about $150.00 USD per phone per month and we subscribe to three services – Gamefly , Netflix and Hulu Plus each month. We also pay by the drink for content including e-book, video and audio from iTunes, Amazon and others. That’s more companies providing more services into one household than we’d ever considered.
Consumers, creatures of habit and brand aware as they are, will first try to get help from AT&T or Apple when the video doesn't reach the intended handheld screen. We know these companies; therefore it’s also more likely that as a consumer we’ll call one or two of them when our ability to get instant content gratification fails. If the consumer's confused, then what about customer care organizations? They need to know way more than they used to know - and they need to supply support on and off the phone. Personalized the way a consumer wants when they want it.
My wireless service provider may not be the company I need to call if an application on my phone isn’t working - but I call them anyway. As a frustrated consumer, I don’t want to hear finger pointing - I want answers. Service providers of today should look to customer care as their beacon to save them from becoming relegated to just the dumb pipes business with too many consumers calling for reasons and increased customer care operating expenses. All those unhappy customers and associated expenses of getting poor care or increasing handle times for services where margins are thin enough. Instead of drowning in a sea of problems, why not see this as a call to action? Perhaps the service providers can answer this call as all the fledgling, flailing companies out there struggle to understand customer care by taking lessons learned and best practices and new experiences and add this to their own offerings.
Consider a look at Best Buy’s Geek Squad or Apple’s in-store Genius Bars. 1:1 personal care. Face to face may be great, but this isn’t the only answer. Of course, we don’t staff our home with an IT department. But the complexity of our household network represents an early view of the big red flag warning of the hurricane approaching as it waves over our roof waiting for someone to say, "How can I help you?"
Originally posted on http://community.nuance.com/blogs/expertsblog/default.aspx
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