Self-service solutions, when well implemented, are beneficial for businesses and their customers, says John Ziniades, CEO of Consology.
He cites the following benefits: "Reduced customer churn. Customers who can quickly resolve service issues at their own convenience are less likely to churn than those who struggle through call centres to get a query answered or a problem sorted out," he says.
"Self-service solutions can also be effectively used for customer relationship management applications, for example cross- and up-selling."
According to him, cost containment and reduction self-service solutions let organisations contain and reduce customer support costs by migrating customers from high-cost channels such as agent-staffed call centres and physical branches, to low-cost channels such as interactive voice response, kiosks and the Internet.
In addition, he says businesses can avoid mailing and paper costs and streamline customer payment cycles, as they receive their accounts faster than they would through the mail and can pay quickly and easily online.
Business process automation is another benefit, adds Ziniades. "Self-service solutions allow companies to gain an integrated view of customer service and sales activity, and to offer a consistency of service that is generally not possible with manual processes."
He says customers have convenient channels that they can use for common tasks, such as accessing account information, analysing statements, investigating problems, or initiating common requests. "These channels can be accessed 24/7 and are quick and low-cost for the customer to use.
"Customers gain more visibility into their accounts and relationships with the companies they interact with," he continues. "They can access account information at any time, rather than needing to wait for monthly statements in the post."
Ziniades says self-service offerings often include tools such as activity or usage analysis, categorisation and reporting that provide visuals and in-depth statistics.
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