Self-serve mobile care coming soon

Research firm Ovum has predicted one mobile carrier will introduce a self-serve customer care option taking advantage of new mobile technologies, reports Smart Company.

Many self-serve customer care options work by presenting users with a number of options on their mobiles for troubleshooting, rather than relying on often lengthy calls to technicians.

"It is on the radar for a lot of carriers. It is just a matter of time before they get the resources, internal planning and processes together but I'm pretty confident by December this year you'll see a major deployment [by an Australian mobile operator]," says lead analyst for customer interaction, Daniel Wong.

Centrelink has upgraded its Web site to offer easier access and better information delivery to its clients, says PSnews.

“Centrelink's new Web site design makes it easier to find important information and do your business online using self-service,” says Centrelink GM Hank Jongen.

According to Jongen, new features will be added in coming weeks, including a function allowing customers with vision challenges to print pages in large type and a 'really simple syndication' feed that will allow the media to access Centrelink announcements as they happen.

Kiosk deployments are continuing to grow in numbers; however, many executives are surprised to learn about the challenges that emerge as deployments grow, states SelfServiceWorld.

They face complaints about out-of-control service costs, as well as out-of-date kiosk hardware, software and applications. They also wonder why the company is not doing more with the data it is gathering.

The worst situation is an 'out-of-order kiosk' which will signal to consumers that the self-service system is faulty and unreliable. In fact, 40% of customers surveyed for the 2009 Self-Service Consumer Survey, reported the quality of service was most important to them when dealing with a self-service application.