A number of South African contact centres are sadly antiquated.
What makes these centres especially miserable to deal with is that the majority of South Africans are early adopters of new technology and being a social lot, the population has embraced the social media platform with vigour.
The disparity between an archaic customer engagement platform and a modern customer can spell disaster for a brand. It is a relationship that simply cannot work, mainly because, as all relationship books advise, "to have a good and healthy relationship, communication is key". The old non-stop dialling to reach an operator is today a completely different language to @brand #assistme.
An answer to solving the customer engagement gap is to thus find a common language using social media engagement tools. Ocular Technologies' partner company, Aspect Software, says: "Augmenting social care with social media software automation can prove to be a strong competitive advantage by improving your ability to quickly engage followers, identify opportunities and defuse problems."
According to Chris O'Brien, digital content manager at Aspect, adopting a social media strategy offers the following benefits:
* Convenient customer touch-point - many customers (South Africa included) are already using social media.
* Display for superior social customer engagement - counter highly visible public shamings from angry customers with quick and adroit responses.
* More-conversational interactions - compared to scripted answers that customers often hear over the phone.
* Eliminates frustration of being put on hold - customers can send a message and get on with their day.
In any business scenario, it is two-way communication that leads to work satisfaction and trust. The same counts for your customers. True engagement is a two-way street, and the digital highway has offered us a channel to speed things up.
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