Digital customer service and business both move at the speed of now. Agility and flexibility are key, and responsiveness needs to be non-stop. This is why digital customer service is such a good fit for business and why integration needs to be seamless. There’s simply no time for mistakes.
The case for digital customer service integration is clear: Companies using digital channels for customer service can increase customer engagement and answer more customer queries without any additional resources.
It’s all about increasing efficiency in the contact center. But making the transition from a legacy system to more up-to-date call center software doesn’t happen automatically.
Digital customer service integration is one of the pain points we hear about most from customers. There are many options available, and every platform is different. So is every company.
Let’s take a closer look at the steps you should take to make sure everything goes smoothly, and you start seeing the positive results of digital customer service integration sooner.
1) Know your needs and what’s out there
The key to streamlined digital customer service integration is looking before you leap. It’s important to first recognize your needs, and this means assessing your business, your future goals, and the demands of your customers. Here are a few things to consider:
a) Define your current and future digital customer service needs. Plan for future growth and chart how much you expect demand to increase.
b) Determine the most useful channels for your customers. Just because you’ve always had a call center doesn't mean this is all you need. Determine the most in-demand channels for customers — they’re probably digital channels.
c) Research the best solutions on the market. There are many digital customer service solutions. The reality is most companies need digital-first omnichannel solutions. Standalone voice or digital-only solutions no longer meet the needs of your customers.
After you’ve seen what’s available on the market, you’re one step closer to choosing the right digital-first omnichannel customer service software. Then it’s time to make some changes to your existing contact center.
2) Change the mindset of the contact center
If you’re used to a legacy call center software system, there are some important changes to be made when transitioning to digital-first omnichannel customer service.
Even when you’re already communicating with customers on social media, it’s important to be sure that contact center KPIs and roles are tuned into the style of service today’s digital-first experience customers demand.
The role of the call center agent is changing. In the future, all agents will be blended agents, communicating with customers on multiple channels like social media, email, live chat, and voice.
Contact center software gives them the ability to work more efficiently across channels, so it’s important that management knows this and becomes ready to use agents as efficiently as possible.
When hiring new agents, it’s important to emphasize empathy, and follow up with the right training.
3) Choose a scalable software
One key element of digital customer service integration is that the integration needs to be as fast as possible. Who wants to spend months learning how to use new software, or waste hours with IT installations?
This is why SaaS is the way to go — there’s virtually no installation, and you’ll be seeing the benefits of digital-first omnichannel customer service in no time.
When things go well, your business will continue to grow, even more so when you start delighting customers with great service on the channels they demand. So, it’s important that your digital customer service solution is easy to scale.
The digital age is changing customer expectations. Check out our webinar, Digital – First Customer Service: The Future is Here Today, to learn more.
