A survey released yesterday by research company World Wide Worx and self-service specialist, Consology, has revealed that, where self-service was once a tactical move, intended to reduce costs, or increase customer retention, it has now become a strategic imperative for many organisations.
The survey polled 12 organisations across the telecoms, insurance, banking and retail sectors, representing some 49.8 million customer accounts. It shows that the Web is becoming the channel of choice for customer self-service, although World Wide Worx head Arthur Goldstuck notes that South African companies lag their international counterparts in not linking IM/chat facilities on Web sites to company call centres.
It further shows there is a strategy versus implementation disconnect, as well as other key gaps. Says Goldstuck: "What is implemented is often different to what companies state as their 'ideal self-service' (ie, what they would like to implement) and what is actually implemented."
The survey further shows that, while 84% of companies expect self-service to be driven by marketing departments, few (18%) of them involve marketing in the decision to adopt self-service channels. Additionally, while IT is expected to implement self-service functionality in 55% of organisations, it is only involved in the decision-making process in 18% of organisations.
That said, companies are taking a strategic view of their self-service initiatives, and spend is on the rise. According to the press release announcing the results, "Most respondents indicated that customer care budgets were expected to climb by between 15% and 25% in 2007, and 10% to 20% from 2008 to 2010. Estimates for annual increases in investment in self-service ranged from 10% and 25% in 2006, about 10% in 2007, and anywhere between 5% and 30% growth from 2008 to 2010."
Said Consology head John Ziniades, in the same statement: "In many industries, self-service options that were once a nice-to-have or a competitive edge have simply become a ticket to play. Most consumers today wouldn't even think about joining a bank that doesn't have a solid Internet banking platform. Expect self-service to become as central in many other industries over the next few years."
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