An e-customer can be anywhere in the world. They can contact you anytime 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. They have endless choices and they can shop just about anywhere. Now a customer can knock on your door any time. It does not matter if your office is closed. Practically every business is turning into an around-the-clock and around-the-year business. Distance and the time of the day do not pose any problems any more.

The convergence of telecommunications, Internet and information technology has made it possible for enhanced customer interaction 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year at unbelievably low cost. This is because convergence of technologies allows companies:

(a) To locate their call center or customer service centers far away from their customers at locations where the infrastructure and labor cost is low. Companies are now able to interact with their customers all over the world from anywhere in the world cost effectively. This allows companies to either lower their customer service costs or provide higher level of services without any increase in costs. For instance, India has a large pool of educated young people available at comparatively low cost which has attracted a number of multinational companies to establish call centers in India.

(b) To direct all customers to a central location which allows them to achieve economies of scale in every function related to customer service. Imagine the cost of establishing a call centre or service center in every city as compared to establishing one where all customer calls end.

(c) To provide uninterrupted customer service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year cost effectively by directing all customer service calls to a few key locations. If one had to open call centres in every city, one cannot even dream of providing 24/7 customer service in every city as it would be prohibitively costly to do so. Handling all customer service calls at a central location also allows companies to cost effectively devote high quality experienced manpower as well as acquire latest technical resources including equipment so as to provide effective after-sales-service.

 
Let us compare customer service of the past with that of the present, that is, after adopting CRM and related technologies. In the past, if the customer had a problem with some product or service late in the evening, he had to wait till company offices opened the next day. No prompt solution was possible. After getting in touch with the Customer Service Representative (CSR), resolution of complaint would follow in due course. Majority of the times, the CSR would not have the required information or necessary technical skills to resolve the problem immediately. The customer would feel like tearing his hair out. Let us see what CRM solution can do in such a situation. Now with CRM solutions, the customer does not have to suffer. He does not have to wait till morning for the company’s office to open so as to resolve his problem. He can take various actions. For instance, he can call the company’s call center.  He can also visit the company's website and review the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs). If his problem is still not solved, he can click on the "Need Live Help Now" button and can talk to a Customer Technical Support Representative (CTSR) through web-chat. The CTSR resolves the problem. In case he has any difficulty in resolving the problem, he can access the knowledge database for assistance to resolve the customer’s problem. After the problem is resolved, an e-mail is automatically sent on behalf of the CEO of the company to the customer asking him if he was satisfied with the resolution of the problem.

For instance, I had called GE’s 800 number late in the evening. Now it seems that the CSR who attended my call was familiar with the problem and immediately offered the solution. In case, she was not familiar with the problem, she could have easily accessed their knowledge database for information to resolve the problem.

(Copyright @ Avinash Narula – All Rights Reserved. This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Avinash Narula, M-53, IInd Floor, Lajpat Nagar-II, New Delhi-110 024 (India), Telefax:011-41625771/41625772, E-mail:info@customermath.com)

Permission to reprint can be granted on payment of nominal royalty. Please contact us at info@customermath.com.