Astute aberdeen multi-channel_service_delivery

Multi-Channel Service Delivery Getting Customers the Service they Want, Where and When they Want it

June 2010

Sumair Dutta, Aly Pinder, Jr.

Multi-Channel Service Delivery

© 2010 Aberdeen Group. Telephone: 617 854 5200

Executive Summary Research Benchmark It is often a misnomer that with the increased use of multiple non contact-

center based channels to deliver customer service, organizations are afforded the opportunity to reduce and eliminate service interactions with their customers in order to cut costs. This strategy isn't reflective of the multi-channel framework supported by Best-in-Class organizations; those that do leverage multiple channels to eliminate unnecessary dispatches or service calls, but are most interested in enveloping their customers with the right level of effective service information via the channels where customers prefer to receive their service information. As a result of truly connecting with their customers, these organizations are significantly outperforming their peers with regards to key customer-facing and financial metrics.

Aberdeen’s Research Benchmarks provide an in-depth and comprehensive look into process, procedure, methodologies, and technologies with best practice identification and actionable recommendations

Best-in-Class Performance In May and June 2010, Aberdeen Group surveyed over 170 service professionals to distinguish Best-in-Class companies from Industry Average and Laggard. Those defined as Best-in-Class exhibited the following:

• 86% current performance in customer retention (74% for all others - including Industry Average and Laggard companies) and 85% performance in first-call resolution (56% for all others)

• 3.9 (out of 5.0) score for current level of customer satisfaction as compared to 3.0 (out of 5.0) score for all others

• 21% reduction in total support costs over the last 12 months as compared to a 1% decrease for all others

Competitive Maturity Assessment Survey results show that the firms enjoying Best-in-Class performance are: “We are no longer perceived

as an expense center, now we are viewed as a critical part of the service organization enhancing the customer experience and firm as a whole.”

• More than two-times as likely as all others to provide their support agents with real-time access to customer and service information

• Nearly 30% more likely than all others to leverage web-based self-service solutions

• Three-times as likely as Laggards to instantly collect customer feedback after a service interaction and more than four times as likely as Laggards to proactively monitor customer sentiment

~ Ed Billmaier, Senior Director of Relationship

& Interactive Marketing, ScottsMiracle-Gro

Required Actions To achieve Best-in-Class performance, companies must:

• Empower stakeholders with real-time access to information

• Educate customers on the availability of non-contact center-based support channels

• Support multi-channel delivery with cross-channel agents

www.aberdeen.com Fax: 617 723 7897


© 2010 Aberdeen Group. Telephone: 617 854 5200 www.aberdeen.com Fax: 617 723 7897

Table of Contents Executive Summary....................................................................................................... 2

Best-in-Class Performance..................................................................................... 2 Competitive Maturity Assessment....................................................................... 2 Required Actions...................................................................................................... 2

Chapter One: Benchmarking the Best-in-Class.................................................... 4 More Channel Options........................................................................................... 4 The Maturity Class Framework..........................................................................11 The Best-in-Class PACE Model ..........................................................................12 Best-in-Class Strategies.........................................................................................13

Chapter Two: Benchmarking Requirements for Success.................................15 Competitive Assessment......................................................................................16 Capabilities and Enablers ......................................................................................18

Chapter Three: Required Actions .........................................................................25 Laggard Steps to Success......................................................................................25 Industry Average Steps to Success ....................................................................26 Best-in-Class Steps to Success ............................................................................27

Appendix A: Research Methodology.....................................................................29 Appendix B: Related Aberdeen Research............................................................31 Figures Figure 1: Reasons for Incoming Service Requests ................................................. 6 Figure 2: Drivers for Multi-Channel Service........................................................... 8 Figure 3: If Only I Had Coupons - Cost Cutting Initiatives...............................14 Figure 4: Measuring Service Success - KPIs Tracked ..........................................23 Tables Table 1: Opening up Service Options ...................................................................... 5 Table 2: Channels for Incoming Requests and Resolutions ................................ 6 Table 3: Changing Focus on Channels in the Next 12 Months.......................... 7 Table 4: Top Performers Earn Best-in-Class Status............................................12 Table 5: The Best-in-Class PACE Framework .....................................................13 Table 6: Supporting a Multi-Channel Service Framework.................................13 Table 7: The Competitive Framework...................................................................17 Table 8: Empowering Information for Support Agents......................................20 Table 9: Tools to Build a Multi-Channel Roadmap .............................................21 Table 10: Giving Customers What they Need ....................................................22 Table 11: Getting Social with Service.....................................................................24 Table 12: Multi-Channel Report Card ...................................................................28 Table 13: The PACE Framework Key....................................................................30 Table 14: The Competitive Framework Key........................................................30 Table 15: The Relationship Between PACE and the Competitive Framework .30



Chapter One: Benchmarking the Best-in-Class

More Channel Options Fast Facts

√ 86% level of customer retention reported by the Best-in-Class compared to a 74% performance by all other organizations

√ 21% reduction in total support costs experienced by the Best-in-Class over the last 12 months, compared to a 1% decrease for all other organizations

√ 47% of all organizations looking at their multi-channel frameworks to drive revenue, compared to 34% of organizations in 2009

√ 65% of organizations looking for more self-service options as a primary means to cut service costs

√ 3% potential decrease in total service costs from a 5% decrease in unnecessary dispatches

The existence of numerous communication platforms and tools is changing the way we choose to interact with our personal and professional networks. This is not only in reference to outbound communication to a person or a group of people, but also in the way in which we gather information from others. Instead of picking up the phone to connect with colleagues at work, one can choose to use instant messenger or email to establish a direct personal line or use a company-based forum, social network, or an intranet to tap into company information. On the personal side, tweeting, texting, chatting, posting on walls, nudging, and buzzing are really just means to communicate and tap into the lives of others without ever having to speak a word. While we may talk less, we are communicating more.

The extended network of communication tools and platforms also impacts the way customer service can be delivered. By no means is the phone the only way one can get in touch with a product manufacturer or servicing organization. As customers, whether in the form of consumers or businesses, we are afforded a variety of channels to capture service information, make service requests, share feedback and purchase additional products and services. These channels are also available to employees of an organization looking for information regarding their resources and benefits. We are no longer tethered to the phone for all of these requirements. In response, servicing organizations, whether direct manufacturers or third-party providers, are afforded a variety of platforms to deliver service. This can be in the form of reactive service in response to a particular customer query or proactive service on the channels in which customers are active. These channels also allow for better visibility into issues of customer sentiment and customer feedback, all of which can greatly impact customer service strategy.

In a recent study of over 170 service and manufacturing organizations, a majority indicated that they were using more than just the contact center as a means to capture customer requests and deliver service. While the contact center, fax, and email have been the traditional channels available for customer service requests (Table 1), channels such as live chat, customer-specific web portals, and others have seen increased support in the last three years. Looking ahead, organizations are actively looking to increase investments in live chat, social media, SMS, and technical forums and discussion boards.




Table 1: Opening up Service Options

Percentage of all respondents, n=172 Channel In Place for more

than 3 years In Place for 1-

3 years In Place for less

than 1 year Not in Place, Will

be in 1 year Mail / Fax 74% 6% 3% 1%

Email 73% 11% 6% 3%

Contact Center 70% 8% 5% 5%

Help Desk (Internal) 56% 8% 5% 7%

Website Queries 43% 12% 8% 10%

Customer Service Desk (Physical Location) 41% 6% 4% 3%

Customer-specific Web Portals 34% 14% 13% 15%

Remote Support 31% 13% 9% 8%

Web-Based Technical Forums / Discussion Boards 13% 12% 9% 23%

SMS / Texts 12% 11% 7% 16%

Live Chat 9% 8% 10% 21%

Social Media 3% 10% 19% 22%

Source: Aberdeen Group, June 2010

With the availability of and familiarity with a great number of channels, customers are actively leveraging non-contact center based channels for their service requests. In fact, while organizations reported that they received an average of 1.15 million service requests through the contact center (including escalations) in the last 12 months, they received 316,000+ service requests through non-contact center based channels in the same time frame. With reference to incoming requests, customers are leveraging email as the primary non-contact center-based support channel with varied use of web-based queries and mail / fax. Other newer channels such as social media, instant messenger / chat and SMS still only account for 6%, 4%, and 3% of overall requests respectively.

"[We have seen] significant reductions in administrative questions to our L1 tech support when we integrated a live chat function.”

~ Mark Bath, Director, Customer

Service/Support, Overland Storage

A majority of incoming requests are either for issues around technical support or troubleshooting (Figure 1). Thirty percent (30%) of all incoming requests are to schedule service appointments with 29% tied to the purchase of a part / product or additional service. Billing queries and changes as well as other account changes were indicated as reasons for incoming service requests by approximately 23% and 16% of respondents respectively.




Figure 1: Reasons for Incoming Service Requests

"As with all organizations we find that our customers have different preferred channels for service and even have multiple channels to obtain information on service. Providing great phone support does not address the needs of a customer who prefers self help tools on a web site. We want to make sure that we address the customer’s needs in the channels that they are using." 29%

30%

33%

37%

58%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Purchase of part/product/service

Request repair / maintenace appointment

Request for product information

Troubleshooting

Technical support request

Percentage of respondents, n=172

~ Don McNair, Senior Director - Customer

Interaction, Yaskawa America Inc. Note: Respondents were asked to select their top three answer choices


The contact center remains the major medium of issue resolution accounting for more than a quarter of all service issues resolved (Table 2). Field support, email and remote support are other channels that are highly leveraged to resolve service issues. Nearly 8% of all issues are resolved through self-service channels (company branded or otherwise) and an additional 4% of issues are resolved via online search engines. It is interesting to note that while social media accounts for approximately 6% of all incoming requests, less than 1% of all issues are actively resolved via social media.

Table 2: Channels for Incoming Requests and Resolutions

For Incoming Requests For Issue Resolution


(Last 12 Months) (Last 12 Months) Top 1- Contact Center - 35% 1- Contact Center - 26% Channels 2- Other Email - 15% 2- Field Support - 20% (average 3- Web Query - 11% 3- Email - 14% result - 4- Customer Service Desk percentage 4- Remote Support - 9% (Physical Location) - 11% of requests) 5- Customer Service Desk - 8% 5- Mail / Fax - 10%


Looking ahead over the next 12 months, while nearly 30% to 50% of organizations report the maintenance of the status quo when it comes to use of channels for incoming requests, more than 40% of respondents indicate the increased use of website-based service queries and email for the creation and logging of service requests. Fifteen percent (15%) of organizations also see a significant 5%+ increase in the use of company-branded social media channels for incoming service requests. On the



opposite end of the spectrum, the contact center and regular mail or fax are the most likely to see less traffic in the next 12 months.

Table 3: Changing Focus on Channels in the Next 12 Months

Percentage of all respondents, n=172 Proportion of Requests through Channel (Next 12 Months)

Increase Significantly (5%+)

Increase Slightly (Less than 5%)

Remain the Same Decrease

Website Query 24% 22% 30% 2%

Other Email 20% 20% 33% 8%

Contact Center 17% 14% 34% 16%

Social Media (Company Branded) 15% 17% 37% 1%

Instant Messaging / Chat 13% 16% 39% 2%

Company Blog 13% 9% 44% 1%

Discussion Board 12% 14% 41% 1%

Helpdesk 9% 12% 47% 5%

Social Media (Third party) 9% 12% 44% -

SMS / Messaging 8% 13% 29% -

Customer Service Desk (Physical Location) 8% 6% 49% 6%

Mail / fax 8% 6% 43% 16%


Pressing Needs - Dispatch Avoidance, Not Customer Service Avoidance As companies look to leverage multiple channels to enable the delivery of service and support, they are doing so in the face of increasing customer demands for better and faster service coupled with the need to control service-related costs. The trend towards multi-channel service delivery isn't just to push the cost per contact or cost per transaction to the lowest common denominator, but to provide the customer with improved service resolution regardless of the channel that is chosen. An isolated focus on cost reduction without taking ultimate service issue resolution is short sighted, just as a lack of focus on cost management in the current economy is dangerous. As such, service organizations need to balance the pressures of cost and customer satisfaction in their pursuit for the optimal mix of service delivery channels.



Figure 2: Drivers for Multi-Channel Service

41%

47%

53%

68%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Need to drive productivity / utilization across theentire service organization

Need to drive revenue opportunities

Need to control and reduce service-related costs

Customer demand for faster service resolution -improved time to repair and first-call resolution

Percentage of respondents, n=172

41%

47%

53%

68%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%

Need to drive productivity / utilization across theentire service organization

Need to drive revenue opportunities

Need to control and reduce service-related costs

Customer demand for faster service resolution -improved time to repair and first-call resolution

Percentage of respondents, n=172 Note: Respondents were asked to select their top three answer choices


Service organizations are also looking to their expanded service delivery networks as a means to increase overall revenue opportunities. Multiple channels of service delivery that envelop the customer not only breed increased customer loyalty, but also offer multiple outlets of promotion that ensure that the customer is aware of complementary products and services offered by the servicing organization. The pursuit of revenue has been highlighted in past Aberdeen research (


The Chief Service Officer's Guide to Service Revenue January 2010 and in the 2009 Chief Service Officer Summit) as a key goal for service organizations in 2010. This active interest in revenue in 2010 is further evidenced by the fact that the percentage of respondents that indicated that revenue was a key pressure jumped from 34% in Aberdeen's 2009 research on multi-channel research to 47% in this year's research. The ranking and priority of most other pressures have remained the same over the last two years of surveying.

Case Study — ScottsMiracle-Gro

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company (Scotts) is a marketer of branded lawn and garden care products. Scotts delivers customer support through a number of channels, including contact center, email, phone, and social media tools. The company handles approximately one million customer contacts per year.

Scotts has a long history of focusing on the consumer and their needs. In fact, the originations of the existing contact center date back to 1935. While this focus on the consumer and their needs has a long history, the amount of investment in this area has varied over time.

continued

"[Migrating customers to less expensive channels of support] is probably more important than ever. With all departments looking to cut their allocated support costs and product management being driven to lower and lower margins, less costly support is almost mandated.”


Service/Support, Overland Storage.

http://www.aberdeen.com/Aberdeen-Library/6315/RA-chief-service-officer-revenue.aspx





In 1993, Scotts viewed its customer support contact center as an expense center and therefore did not invest in key processes, knowledge sharing and technology to enable greater customer service. As a result, support agents in the contact center were equipped with large binders and manuals to refer to in order to offer resolution scenarios to their customers. This manual process for support led to more than half of all incoming calls being abandoned, a major problem for any service organization that prides itself on providing a quality customer service experience. In turn, this manual process led to support agents having no ability to exchange best practices across the company while also having no way to capture customer data in order to leverage this information in future communications or internal processes. This lack of information also hindered the organization from gaining insights into any product development and marketing information that could have been inferred from customer feedback.

Along with the manual process to handle customer calls, agents were scheduled in a static manner which could not handle the seasonality of the lawn / garden care business. Call volumes can fluctuate from peak levels in the summer and fall of 160,000 calls per month to 6,000 calls per month in the winter - leading to unutilized or overstretched resources. Therefore to turn things around, it was integral for Scotts to transform its service business, gain greater access to customer information, and develop internal capabilities in order to equip their support agents and customers with the necessary information for the delivery of the right customer experience. In 1994, Scotts embarked on a support group reorganization that was structured around:

- The capture, storage and accessibility of customer data - Training in the use of data by support agents - Workforce staffing levels

The company needed to formulate a strategy to change the culture and information flow of the business prior to any investment in technology. With insight into customer request volumes and trends, service leaders recognized that the seasonal nature of Scotts’ business made its current static support agent scheduling sub optimal. There was no need for a full time staff of employees year round from eight to five, and thus the organization moved to a dynamic staffing model which combined full-time workers with seasonal non-traditional staff to mirror the business needs and demands. With a part-time staff, it was integral that the accessible data was easy to use in order to provide customers with an “expert” at all times regardless of the employee being contacted. As a result, any new systems or information architectures had to allow for faster time to productivity for new / part-time agents and increased data capture. The system also needed to be scalable enough to accommodate the rapid growth of the organization through acquisitions.

continued




Scotts’ has grown both organically and through acquisitions, and thus needed a system that could integrate disparate knowledge management systems in order to quickly create a uniform support offering for the customer. With its restructuring in 1994, the organization was able to see a significant reduction in dropped or missed service calls (from 250,000 in 1993 to 40,000 in 1994) and a significant improvement in productivity - all at a minimal cost investment. Once the service organization was able to show the value of an improved customer experience and the need for improved information-related automation, the company decided to move ahead with the implementation of a broad customer management and interaction system in 2001.

As a result of these investments, customer support agents have the ability


to capture data in real-time while having immediate access to customer history, call patterns, and weather information. This maturity in customer support delivery has led to measurable results with regards to service organization performance. Most importantly for the company, the customer experience has been improved in regard to a more personal interaction with support agents as real-time information is accessible at each channel and can be leveraged to provide resolution and recommendations.

The company has also been able to reduce new agent training times by 25% through the user-friendly interface of the customer management solution and the overall robust nature of the information that is available. Scotts has also been able to leverage the customer data being captured to increase product sales and personalize marketing efforts. With the breadth of customer information / trends being captured, Scotts has the capability to efficiently identify and provide an early warning email alert to notify their customers of potential negative issues (i.e. insect infestations) being identified and educate them on the right products to purchase to eliminate the problem. This type of proactive insight not only leads to increased product sales resolving an impending issue, but also a significant percent of all email alert recipients purchase products after receiving an email. Another added benefit of this interaction is that it also reaffirms the expert relationship of the Scotts team to the consumer.

As Scotts continues the journey to perfect the customer experience there is an opportunity to further enhance the knowledge base, specifically with regard to increasing opportunities to leverage customer insights and data by supporting business units (i.e., sales, marketing, and engineering) further improving the service offering. The company would also like to extend the knowledge base to its customers to greater enhance their access to overall service information.

continued

“The goal for the technology investment was to get more value. It was never sold as a cost saving tool but one that enabled strategic differentiation.”






Also, as social media (i.e. chat, blogs, discussion boards) continues to be internally validated and expected by the consumer, the company is actively developing its customer interaction strategy via social media platforms and is well positioned to continue efforts in delivering consistent customer support through all channels that are leveraged by its customers.

The Maturity Class Framework Cost per Contact (Average

The ability to manage the highlighted pressures (Figure 2) is the true measure of a Best-in-Class service organization. As a result, these companies excel in metrics (Table 4) that tie directly to:

Result)

√ $248 Field Support

√ $58 Contact Center • Customer satisfaction. Best-in-Class organizations indicate that their customers rank them at 3.9 on a 1 to 5 scale of customer satisfaction. This is compared to a 3.0 average for all other organizations.

√ $31 Email

√ $27 Chat

• Cost. Customers of Best-in-Class organizations are more likely to see resolution for their service requests on first-call basis, therefore leading to higher levels of satisfaction at lower overall costs. For service requests in the contact center, leading organizations report an 85% level of first-call resolution performance when compared to a 56% level for all other organizations. In fact, Best-in-Class organizations report a high first-time resolution performance across multiple service delivery channels such as email, e-service and chat. In addition to excelling at overall service efficiency, Best-in-Class organizations are also more successful in directing their customers to the most cost-effective service channels. These organizations report that 22% of requests could have been handled by a more cost efficient channel over the last 12 months, compared to 26% of service requests for all other organizations. As an overall result, leading service organizations have seen a 21% reduction in total support costs over the last 12 months when compared to a 1% reduction for all other organizations.

First-Time Resolution Rates

√ E-Service Best-in-Class - 72% All Others - 44%

√ Email Best-in-Class - 74% All Others - 53%

• Revenue. While a 3.9 scale of customer satisfaction still indicates significant room for improvement for the Best-in-Class, they successfully retained 86% of their customers over the last 12 months when compared to an overall 74% retention rate for all other organizations. Aberdeen's research on service revenue (

√ Chat Best-in-Class - 77% All Others - 33%

The CSO's Guide to Service Revenue January 2010) highlighted that organizations reporting a 70% to 80% level of customer retention experienced a 4% decrease in total spend from existing customers over the last 12 months, when compared to a 3% increase in total spend for companies reporting an 80%+ level of customer retention.






• Productivity. The cost and customer satisfaction performance advantages experienced by Best-in-Class organizations are also tied to significant improvements in support agent productivity and utilization driven by these organizations. Over the last 12 months, leading organizations have driven a 38% increase in support agent productivity when compared to a 6% increase for all other organizations.

Table 4: Top Performers Earn Best-in-Class Status

Definition of Maturity Class Mean Class Performance

Best-in-Class: Top 20%

of aggregate performance scorers

3.9/5.0 level of customer satisfaction 86% customer retention in the last 12 months 85% first-call resolution performance in the contact center 38% increase in support agent productivity over the last 12 months 21% reduction in total support costs in the last 12 months

Industry Average: Middle 50% of aggregate

performance scorers

3.5/5.0 level of customer satisfaction 84% customer retention in the last 12 months 66% first-call resolution performance in the contact center 8% increase in support agent productivity over the last 12 months 3% reduction in total support costs in the last 12 months

Laggard: Bottom 30% of aggregate

performance scorers

2.1/5.0 level of customer satisfaction 57% customer retention in the last 12 months 35% first-call resolution performance in the contact center 1% increase in support agent productivity over the last 12 months 4% increase in total support costs in the last 12 months


The Best-in-Class PACE Model Aberdeen’s PACE framework is designed to highlight the key strategies and capabilities employed by firms that attain Best-in-Class status through their excellence in meeting and overcoming internal or market pressures. The framework serves as a roadmap for non-Best-in-Class firms to duplicate the strategies enforced and capabilities developed by Best-in-Class firms to improve their service performance (Table 5).



Table 5: The Best-in-Class PACE Framework

Pressures Actions Capabilities Enablers Meet customer


demand for better service - enhance speed and effectiveness of service delivery

Increase access to customer- and service-specific information across the organization Invest in technology solutions or platforms to enable multi-channel support

Real-time capture and storage of Optimized support agent schedules customer and service information CRM Solutions with multi-channel Standardized escalation protocols support capabilities Service information made available Service or contact center analytics in central knowledgebase Customer feedback management Immediate capture of customer solutions feedback following a service Web self-support platforms interaction Knowledge management solutions Front-line support agents have real-time access to complex resolutions steps and schematics


Best-in-Class Strategies In Aberdeen's 2009 Delivering Customer Service via the Contact Center and the Web report, it was highlighted that Best-in-Class companies are enabling market leading service delivery frameworks around the 5Es: Educate, Eliminate, Escalate, Evaluate, and Empower. While the priorities of these actions has changed in 2010, the Best-in-Class are still looking to these principles to enable a true multi-channel service model in order to ease cost and customer satisfaction pressures (Table 6). For instance, leading organizations continue to look to empower their service agents with real-time access to customer and service-specific information to aid issue resolution efforts. This empowerment is enabled with the evaluation and implementation of solutions and knowledge platforms that allow for the efficient capture, storage and distribution of information. With investments in multiple service delivery platforms, the Best-in-Class are also looking to ensure the accuracy, validity, and efficacy of information across all channels so as to eliminate inconsistent service experiences and unnecessary follow up service requirements. Ultimately, education regarding the value and efficacy of available service channels is enabled through the proactive capture of customer feedback regarding the overall service experience.

Table 6: Supporting a Multi-Channel Service Framework

Note: Respondents were asked to select their top four answer choices Source: Aberdeen Group, June 2010

Percentage of Respondents Action Best-in-Class All Others

Increase access to customer- and service-specific information across the organization 63% 59%

Invest in technology solutions or platforms to enable multi-channel support 54% 44% Proactively capture / monitor customer feedback via surveys (phone, web) and via web traffic and social media 46% 39%

Enable a multi-channel service structure / strategy encompassing the contact center, web, remote, and other outlets 43% 33%

Ensure accuracy and consistency of service information across all points of customer interaction (field, contact center, web) 40% 31%

"[The most vital action that our organization has taken to ensure the success of our multi-channel solution is] tight integration between the CRM system, ERP system, and business communication systems which enable us to have a central depository of information obtained during the different touch points with the customer."


Interaction, Yaskawa America Inc.

http://www.aberdeen.com/aberdeen-library/6102/RA-customer-contact-center-web.aspx




Aberdeen Insights — Cutting Cost in the Service Organization

In meeting cost containment needs, organizations are actively looking to improve the self-service options available for service resolution, primarily as self-service only accounts for 8% of resolutions. Increased use of self-service channels can be accomplished through the enhanced promotion of non contact center-based avenues available to the customers and via attention to the benefits of using those channels. Ultimately, the most valid proof point and subsequent promotion avenue for non-contact center-based channels is in the ability of these channels to quickly and effectively meet the customer's needs. A single negative experience on a web-based or other channel will pretty much ensure that the customer returns relying on the contact center regardless of the amount of promotion that is done.

Figure 3: If Only I Had Coupons - Cost Cutting Initiatives

27%

34%

37%

39%

65%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70%

Invest in / leverage remote support

Minimize unnecessary field dispatches - primaryvisits

Educate customer regarding availability on non-contact center-related service channels

Improve escalation processes and information toensure least amount of transfers and resolution time

Provide more self-service scenarios to customers

Percentage of respondents, n=172 Source: Aberdeen Group, June 2010

To optimize their cost structures, organizations are also looking to minimize unnecessary service field dispatches. While 34% indicate that they can trim costs by reducing unnecessary dispatches of a primary nature (initial visits for repair or service that could have been avoided), another 24% of organizations are looking to minimize unnecessary secondary dispatches tied to inadequate first-visit resolution. Aberdeen's research finds that nearly 12% of dispatches over the last 12 months were unnecessary, and a 5% reduction of the unnecessary would have resulted in a corresponding 3% decrease in total service costs. This is attributed to the fact that the cost per contact for a field dispatch for the average service organization is nearly five times the cost in the contact center and eight times the cost of a transaction via email.




Chapter Two: Benchmarking Requirements for Success


The success of all initiatives and programs adopted in support of effective multi-channel service delivery and customer management ultimately depends on the supporting cast of organizational capabilities and processes in place. The identification of these vital capabilities, specifically around the capture, availability and management of service information, and the organizational gaps that need to be overcome to put these in place will help service firms ascend to the status of Best-in-Class.

Case Study — Yaskawa America Inc.

Yaskawa America Inc., a wholly owned corporation of Yaskawa Electric Corporation of Japan, is a high-tech manufacturer of AC Inverter Drives, Servo and Motion Control, and Robotics Automation Systems with a focus in the North, Central, and South American regions. Products are sold through direct sales, distributors, dealers, and partners throughout the Americas. Internally, Yaskawa has 30 support agents that manage either the technical support or inside sales aspect of customer service.

The challenge facing Yaskawa 10 years ago was one that is similar to most service organizations; how does it provide the best customer experience possible while maintaining a profitable business? Also, how does the company deliver a consistent service experience through its vast partner network? During this time, the company funneled all customer issues and requests through its contact center. However, Yaskawa was unable to capture any customer information and thus had no ability to maximize the value of this customer interaction (i.e., ability to understand the customer’s latent and overt needs and provide that service offering). Not being able to understand the customer led Yaskawa to a point where exceeding customer expectations would be difficult.

As customers continued to expect faster service, it was integral that Yaskawa provide the right information to the right people in real-time. The company, in order to create a unified voice to the customer, implemented a strategy to centralize contact center operations / information and map the process flows within the organization. As process and information flows were identified and standardized, the company made sure to involve / engage various stakeholders in order to extend the level of ownership across the company. Yaskawa, once the process flows were standardized, implemented an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Resource Management (CRM) solution to better manage its information workflows. The integration of the these management tools allowed Yaskawa to equip the support teams with the information necessary to both resolve customer issues and explore other products / services of need for the customer.

continued

Fast Facts

√ 60% of Best-in-Class organizations provide their agents with standard escalation protocols compared to 17% of Laggards

√ 54% of Best-in-Class organizations optimize service agent schedules compared to 24% of Laggards

√ 49% of Best-in-Class organizations provide their agents with access to complex resolution steps and schematics when compared to 28% of all others

√ Best-in-Class organizations are three times as likely as Laggards to immediately capture customer feedback after a service session

√ Best-in-Class organizations are two times as likely as Laggards to use web self-service solutions

“About eight years ago, our sole channel of customer service contact was via the phone. We could not capture much user data, and thus would say hi and goodbye with no ability to leverage past call history. We needed to better understand the customer in order to improve their overall customer experience.”

~ Don McNair, Director – Customer Service / Support,

Yaskawa America Inc.



Case Study — Yaskawa America Inc.

Yaskawa has seen measurable returns from the implementation of their CRM solution and subsequent transformation of their multi-channel customer support. Yaskawa has achieved improvements in customer retention and overall customer satisfaction; as seen through annual customer surveys and a subsequent willingness of customers to recommend the service offering to others. The customer satisfaction survey program is a tool Yaskawa is using to not only gauge customer sentiments but also to better understand the customer in order to more effectively lead them down the path to issue resolution while also tracking overall service performance. Over the last 12 months, Yaskawa has seen measurable gains in both internal performance metrics and overall future revenue generating metrics. The company has achieved an


increase in leads of 172% due to data / need validation. Also, Yaskawa has been able to close 19% of these leads that would otherwise migrate to a competitor.

Yaskawa has been successful at providing their customers with a great service experience while also leveraging the valuable information captured throughout the service process to create opportunities to both cross- and up-sell new products. As Yaskawa moves into the second half of 2010, there are further opportunities to expand and enhance the current web portal to provide an even friendlier, more intuitive user interface in order to create an even better customer experience. This improved web portal will also be leveraged by Yaskawa’s distributor network to increase the functionality of the product ordering tool allowing for even more opportunities to extend the selling cycle. The benefits of providing a better experience to the customer while creating an easier access point for the distributor network will in turn lead to Yaskawa’s ability to reap the value of its efforts.

“Customers want accurate information. They want good and accurate information. We must lead them down the path to solving their customer service issues in order to build their trust and loyalty.”

~ Don McNair, Director – Customer Service / Support,

Yaskawa America Inc.

Competitive Assessment Best-in-Class service firms, as determined by their performance in key indicators, exhibit several of the capabilities highlighted in Table 4 that fall into the five categories of Aberdeen's Competitive Framework: (1) process (workflows for contact management, escalation, and feedback management); (2) organization (corporate focus on the opportunity for improved customer service through multiple service delivery channels, coupled with increased visibility and oversight); (3) knowledge management (making asset and service data available to stakeholders that can act on the information to impact profitability); (4) technology (the selection of appropriate tools and the intelligent deployment of those tools); and (5) performance management (the ability of the organization to track / measure performance and drive further improvements with necessary modifications to processes in place).



Table 7: The Competitive Framework

Best-in-Class Average Laggards Real-time capture of service, asset and customer-specific service information

71% 55% 33%

Standardized escalation procedures - higher tier agent has immediate access to call history and customer information


60% 50% 17%

Immediate capture of customer feedback following contact center, web-service, or other specific service sessions

Process

46% 41% 15%

Frequent and periodic training of CSRs or web agents in accurate diagnosis, resolution, and escalation procedures Organization

67% 59% 30%

Front-line support agents have real-time access to customer service history

86% 80% 50%

Front-line support agents have real-time access to complex resolutions steps and schematics

Knowledge

49% 35% 15%

Optimized service agent schedules to account for high-demand service times

54% 44% 24%

Customer Management technology currently in use: “We needed to create an information architecture in our system to give information to the consumers when they need it and make all our reps sound like experts.”

51% CRM 44% CRM 24% CRM

Technology

Solution with Contact Center functionality 49% Web Self-Service Solution 43% Knowledge Management 43% Contact Center or Service Analytics 34% Contact Center Management Solution

Solution with Solution with Contact Center Contact Center functionality functionality 48% Web Self- 24% Web Self-Service Solution Service Solution 38% Knowledge 17% Knowledge Management 41% Contact Center or Service Analytics 18% Contact Center Management Solution

Management 24% Contact Center or Service Analytics 13% Contact Center Management Solution



Proactive tracking and capture of customer feedback (sentiment) on web Performance

43% 35% 9%




Capabilities and Enablers The Competitive Framework (Table 7) highlights that Best-in-Class performance isn’t predicated on excellence in just one of the support categories. Best-in-Class organizations exhibit a comprehensive focus on all of the following support structures to strengthen the planned strategic actions illustrated earlier (Table 6) in this research. In the context of the discussion around multi-channel service, a majority of the capabilities continue to fall into the 5E framework described earlier - Educate, Eliminate, Escalate, Evaluate, and Empower. In addition, 2010 data indicates that Best-in-Class organizations are taking significant steps to proactively track, capture, and act on customer feedback.

Process Insight: Standardized Escalations Sixty percent (60%) of the Best-in-Class indicate their organizations provide

their support agents with standardized escalation protocols when compared to 38% of all other organizations. These escalations can occur across the same delivery channel (contact center to contact center) or on different channels (live chat to contact center). As a result, if support agents are unable to resolve a service issue at their level, they are provided with guidance into:

√ On average, organizations that have standard escalation protocols in place report a 74% first-call resolution performance as opposed to a 55% result for those that do not

• when an escalation needs to take place

• who it needs to be escalated to

• how that escalation takes place with the smallest disruption and inconvenience to the customer

• how to track the result of that escalation

The investment in standardized escalation protocols can be greatly marginalized if the higher-tier agents or managers do not have immediate visibility into the current service issue and steps that have already been taken to resolve the issue. Therefore, the Best-in-Class strategy is not only to standardize the upward escalation of service issues but also to ensure that the agent receiving the escalated issue has full visibility into service issue information prior to correspondence with the customer. As a result of the focus from the Best-in-Class in ensuring that a first service call / email finds the right service person, they are able to report higher first-call resolution results. On average, organizations that have standard escalation protocols in place report a 74% first-call resolution performance as opposed to a 55% result for those that do not.

Immediate access for higher tier support agents to service information is made possible due to the Best-in-Class focus on real-time capture of and visibility into service, asset or customer-specific information. This real-time mode of capture is in place at 71% of Best-in-Class organizations as opposed to 47% of all other organizations. As seen in the context of escalation protocols, leading organizations are also taking significant steps to invest in making this collected information available to all relevant service




stakeholders to ensure an improved and expedited resolution experience for the customer.

Aberdeen Insights — Voice of the Customer

Increased access to service knowledge continues to be a key pillar in the Best-in-Class multi-channel service delivery framework (further detailed in the proceeding section). In addition, Best-in-Class organizations are making significant investments in increasing their insight into customer feedback regarding the efficacy of their service delivery and the strength of the overall service experience. The success of any internal process can ultimately be measured on the final service experience felt by the customer. As a result, nearly 50% of Best-in-Class organizations immediately capture customer feedback at the end of a service session to not only understand whether the session was successful or not, but also to understand if there are gaps in the service delivery process that need to be addressed. Only 32% of all other organizations are looking to immediately capture customer feedback.

Knowledge Management and Organization As discussed earlier, Best-in-Class organizations are making significant investments in their knowledge infrastructures to ensure the availability of valuable customer and service information to all support agents as well as to other teams across the organization. Effective knowledge management forms the backbone of a successful multi-channel service strategy, and this is evidenced by the dual Best-in-Class focus on:

"Complete integration of data across all support channels is critical to not only efficiency but customer satisfaction as well.”


Service/Support, Overland Storage.

• The storage of service information in a common knowledgebase so as to expedite access to vital service and customer information. Such a central knowledgebase is in place at 31% of leading organizations when compared to 26% of all others. As a result, interactions with a customer on one channel can be leveraged for subsequent discussions on another channel, thereby enabling visibility into resolution practices or other service information that can improve the overall customer experience.

• The type of information that front line support agents are empowered with at Best-in-Class organizations (Table 8). As a result of the available service information, support agents at Best-in-Class organizations aren't required to blindly enter into an unprepared service interaction with a customer and are immediately alerted to past service instances or resolution scenarios that may expedite the service delivery process. From the perspective of service revenue, access to trends in customer service queries can also alert the support agent to complementary services and offerings that the customer might not be aware of. While this cross-pollination of service and sales activities requires a focus on training, Best-in-Class companies are much more likely to provide their front




line agents with access to such sale offerings based on customer usage and service history.

Table 8: Empowering Information for Support Agents

Percentage of Respondents



Looking ahead, Best-in-Class companies are also looking to empower their support agents with increased access to past customer feedback or the ability to direct customers to take post-service feedback surveys immediately after a service interaction. More than a quarter (26%) of Best-in-Class organizations are prioritizing the increased access to customer feedback history for front line service agents.

In support of the increased information available to support agents, Best-in-Class organizations are actively supporting training programs to enable their agents to actually use the enhanced information and capabilities that are afforded to them. Two-thirds of leading organizations, compared to 48% of all others, periodically train their customers on leveraging available service information to improve diagnosis and resolution rates or to understand the required escalation procedures to ensure that a service issue that can't be handled at the front lines gets guided to the appropriate agent with a minimal number of transfers.

Technology The organizational focus on developing a true multi-channel service infrastructure, as reflected in the focus on knowledge management, training, escalation processes, and feedback capture and management, is also reflected in the investments made by leading organizations in service and customer management tools and applications.

With regard to the backbone of knowledge management, 43% of leading organizations are currently leveraging a knowledge management application in support of their service environments, when compared to 30% of all other organizations. As a result, these organizations have a more structured

Reporting In Place Customer Support Agent Ability / Access to:

Best-in-Class All Others Basic customer information (address, product usage etc.) 86% 73%

Customer service history 86% 69%

Basic troubleshooting steps 69% 40%

Instantly connect customer to higher level of support 60% 47%

Complex troubleshooting steps / Product schematics 49% 28%

Resolution steps / decision trees as determined by experts or past product history 40% 31%

Customized sale offers based on service history 39% 23%

Add / remove features to products/services leveraged by customers 26% 23%

Solution Selection Attributes (Percentage of respondents, n=172)

√ 40% Integration

√ 35% Total cost of ownership

√ 33% Configurability of solution

√ 30% Out-of-the-box functionality provided

√ 26% Scalability of application

Note: Respondents were asked to select their top four answer choices



focus on automating the capture, storage and distribution of data as opposed to more unstructured and paper-based knowledge transfer systems of non-Best-in-Class organizations.

This knowledge in turn needs to be integrated with customer management systems that allow for the lifecycle management of a service customer. Fifty-one percent (51%) of Best-in-Class organizations reveal the use of broader customer relationship management solutions when compared to 37% of all other organizations. These solutions allow for an integrated view of the customer while supporting the multiple support environments tied to the contact center, email, chat etc. described earlier in Chapter One. Specifically in the context of the contact center, 34% of Best-in-Class companies report the use of stand-alone contact center management solutions. These firms are also nearly 1.5 times as likely as all others to use contact-center related Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) technologies that enable the more intelligent routing of customer queries once made through the contact center.

Table 9: Tools to Build a Multi-Channel Roadmap

Percentage of Firms Reporting Solution in Place Solution

Best-in-Class All Others CRM Solution with Contact Center Management Functionality 51% 37%

Web-Based Self-Service Solution 49% 39%

Service or Contact Center Analytics 43% 35%

Knowledge Management Solution 43% 30%

Customer Feedback Management Solution 37% 25%

CTI / IVR and Customer Routing Solutions 34% 24%

Stand-Alone Contact Center Management Solution 34% 16%

Contact Center Workforce Optimization / Shift Planning 31% 19%


Best-in-Class organizations are also more likely (54% vs. 37% for all others) to optimize the schedules of their service agents to match the variability in the service demands. Thirty-one percent (31%) leverage workforce optimization solutions in the contact center (not all support agents) when compared to 19% of all other organizations. In fact, 30% of all other organizations indicate that they leverage static service schedules for their support agents regardless of level of service demand, compared to 17% of Best-in-Class organizations. Optimized schedules that take service demand peaks and dips into account, help Best-in-Class organizations ensure the adequate utilization of their support agents by reducing underutilized workers in times of low demand and by eliminating overburdened agents in times of peak demand. Not only does this optimization increase the utilization of workers, but it also helps eliminate labor-related costs tied to

"Our Case Management System is the most critical element, because it ties everything together.”

~ John Meaney, EVP/SVP, Business

Development, Digitalrep, LLC.




overtime in peak times or excessive service representation in low-demand times. It also helps improve the customer experience by reducing wait or hold times particularly during high demand service periods. Aberdeen's past research (Advanced Scheduling Execution, December 2009) has indicated how optimized scheduling of field workforces drives overall productivity and utilization. The same principles of optimization also apply to call center-based or other support agents.

Aberdeen Insights — Self Service

Best-in-Class organizations are also distancing themselves from their counterparts through investments in self-service platforms and portals (49% vs. 39% for all others). As seen in Figure 3, the increased focus on self-service is a major step towards the elimination of unnecessary service costs while enhancing the speed of service delivery, particularly for basic troubleshooting and information needs. As this stage most of the self-service information afforded to customers is in the form of FAQs and downloadable product information (Table 10). Best-in-Class companies are actively taking the lead in the provision of all described self-service capabilities, primarily as they relate to customized customer portals with product service and customer account information.

Table 10: Giving Customers What they Need


Self-Service Capabilities Available Percentage of respondents, n=172

Frequently asked questions 65%

Downloadable manuals / drivers 56%

Keyword search box 52%

Customer-specific portal with product service information 35%

Customer-specific portal with customer account information 30%

Product forums 25%

Resolution videos 16%

Natural language search 13%

Virtual assistant / conversational agent 7%

Resolution decision trees 6%

Performance Management In addition to the above mentioned investments in self-service, customer management and knowledge management solutions, Best-in-Class companies are also investing in contact center and other service analytics to accurately

http://www.aberdeen.com/Aberdeen-Library/6024/RA-scheduling-execution-service.aspx



"Our overall customer satisfaction scores have increased three points since implementing a multi-channel CRM system. [We have] increased leads by 172% to cross-sell and up-sell products resulting from the ability to data mine information collected through multiple channels. [There has also been an] increase in speed of service through automatic populating of customer information as contacts are made."

track the performance of their multi-channel service environments. Forty-three percent (43%) of leading organizations currently have analytical tools in place when compared to 35% of all other organizations. The real-time capture and presentation of service data to executives enables the prompt evaluation of investments in processes or technology and allows for improved planning and forecasting of parameters such as service demand, resource availability, service resource costs, and overall service performance. Executives at Best-in-Class organizations are most concerned with visibility into customer satisfaction and efficiency metrics to evaluate the performance of their service organizations which link directly to the top pressures being faced by these organizations in today's service environment.

Figure 4: Measuring Service Success - KPIs Tracked

26%

34%

37%

69%

83%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

Total service andsupport costs

Customer retention

SLA compliance

First-call resolution

Customer satisfaction

Percentage of Best-in-Class

26%

34%

37%

69%

83%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

Total service andsupport costs

Customer retention

SLA compliance

First-call resolution

Customer satisfaction

Percentage of Best-in-Class



Note: Respondents were asked to select their top five answer choices


Aberdeen Insights — Social Media and Service Performance

As noted earlier, Best-in-Class organizations are also taking a greater interest in capturing customer feedback to get a true customer view of the performance of the service organization. Nearly 50% of Best-in-Class organizations currently have processes in place to immediately capture feedback after a service interaction. However, for these organizations, the customer feedback capture and management strategy goes beyond post-interaction feedback, as 43% of Best-in-Class organizations are currently proactively tracking and monitoring customer feedback and customer sentiment regarding their organizations on the web, compared to 25% of all other organizations.

continued




Aberdeen Insights — Social Media and Service Performance

Social media tools and applications afford service organizations with increased opportunities to track customer sentiment. While most organizations have yet to develop an overall social media strategy around customer service (72% report not having a strategy in place), or leverage social media extensively for the creation of service requests, 25% of organizations indicate that they currently leverage social media to monitor customer sentiment with another 12% indicating the use of these tools to monitor the health of the organization's brand.

Currently, most use of social media tools for customer service is for directly responding to customer queries or general customer feedback (Table 11). Very few organizations are successful in leveraging captured feedback to improve service performance or quality as survey respondents rate themselves a 2.9 (on a scale of 5.0) in being able to actively synthesize and use feedback data to improve performance. Service organizations need to be more proactive in leveraging customer feedback to improve their service and customer management processes. Along the lines of being more proactive, organizations would be well served to use the extensive network afforded by social media tools to proactively lead service discussions or notify customers regarding service updates.

Table 11: Getting Social with Service


Use of Social Media for Customer Service Percentage of respondents,

n=172 Respond to direct customer inquiry 40%

Promote upcoming product / services 35%

Respond to general customer feedback (e.g., customer posts comment regarding organization) 29%

Monitor customer sentiment 25%

Proactively reach out to customer regarding updates 16%

Monitor the health of organization's brand(s) 12%

Proactively lead and moderate discussions 9%



Chapter Three: Required Actions

Fast Facts Whether a company is trying to move its performance in service delivery and customer satisfaction from Laggard to Industry Average, or Industry Average to Best-in-Class, the following summarized actions structured around the development of a multi-channel service delivery framework, will help spur the necessary performance improvements.

√ 33% of Laggards do not measure or are unaware of their customer service performance

√ 5:1 ratio of incoming requests via the contact center to non-contact center channels for Laggards compared to a 2:1 ration for Best-in-Class organizations

Laggard Steps to Success When evaluating the performance of Laggard organizations in key service-related performance indicators (Table 4), it is found that they significantly trail both the Best-in-Class and Industry Average in all metrics tied to customer satisfaction, cost control, and overall workforce productivity. To progress down the path to Industry Average and ultimately the Best-in-Class, these organizations can take steps to:

√ 55% of Industry Average organizations capture and store service information in real-time compared to 71% of Best-in-Class organizations

• Understand how customers rate service performance. In an effort to improve customer service performance, it is vital for Laggard organizations to first understand where they stand in terms of key metrics such as customer service and retention. Thirty-three percent (33%) currently don’t know or don't measure their performance in a customer service-specific metric compared to 8% of Industry Average organizations. These organizations show a similar lack of visibility into other financial, operational, and customer-facing metrics. Prior to making any investments in processes or technology to improve performance, it is imperative that these organizations develop a clear line of sight into their performance in basic customer satisfaction metrics.

√ 49% of Best-in-Class organizations are looking to increase investments in educating their customers around the existence of non-contact center-based support channels

• Capture customer feedback. Some insight into customer service performance can be gleaned from the proactive tracking and measurement of customer feedback. Only 15% of Laggards indicate that they immediately capture customer feedback after a service session compared to 41% of Industry Average organizations. Immediate feedback on a service interaction is a simple way to poll customer sentiment without requiring a significant investment from both parties in a follow-on customer feedback appointment.

• Support multi-channel delivery with cross channel agents. Laggards report a 5:1 ratio of requests that come in via the contact center as opposed to non contact-center-related channels. This proportion is similar for Industry Average organizations but a far cry from the 2:1 ratio seen by Best-in-Class organizations. To support the broader acceptance of multiple service delivery channels, Laggard organizations can start by increasing the use of non-contact center channels for basic issue / request notification needs.




The move to a multi-channel environment can also be supported with changes in the workforce structure of service agents. While 59% of Laggards indicate that they currently have an integrated workforce across service delivery channels, as opposed to channel-specific workforces, this proportion lags the 65% of Industry Average and 86% of Best-in-Class groups that have integrated workforces. In an effort to expedite the success of a multi-channel environment, the use of a flexible cross-channel workforce can greatly assist in the delivery of a consistent service experience across all channels.

"From our customer satisfaction surveys we have found that there is a high correlation to the accuracy of information provided not only with overall satisfaction, but also with loyalty and retention. With tight integration between CRM, ERP and business communication systems [we have] the ability to continuously cleanse and enrich the customer data. This information can not only be used to address the immediate customer concerns, but through analytics we can assist in the design of future service offerings."

• Standardize escalation protocols and increase investments in support agent training. Laggard organizations can also benefit from equipping their support agents with standard escalation protocols to allow for the expedited handling of customer requests by the right level of support. Currently 17% of Laggards have standard steps communicated to their service teams when compared to 50% of Industry Average organizations. Forty-three percent (43%) of Laggards are prioritizing the investment in standard escalation protocols indicating a clear understanding of the cost and customer satisfaction ramifications. Along the lines of better visibility into protocols, Laggards can also increase the focus on training for service agents in the accurate diagnosis, resolution, or escalation of issues. Compared to 59% of Industry Average organizations, only 30% of Laggards have periodical training programs in place.



Industry Average Steps to Success When compared to Best-in-Class performance, Industry Average organizations do reasonably well in customer service ratings and overall customer retention. However, the delivery of service comes at a price as these organizations severely lag the Best-in-Class in terms of operational efficiency and the ability to deliver exemplary service while controlling service costs. To progress down the path to the Best-in-Class, these organizations can take steps to:

• Empower support agents with information in real-time. Best-in-Class organizations report a 85% performance in first-call resolution compared to a 66% mark for Industry Average organizations. The additional cost associated with repeat service transactions adds a significant cost burden to the organization. Therefore these organizations can take significant steps in improving the capture and distribution of customer and service information in real-time. Fifty-five percent (55%) of Industry Average organizations currently capture and store service information in real-time compared to 71% of Best-in-Class organizations. More so, support agents at Industry Average organizations are less likely to have access to information such as past customer service history, basic




troubleshooting steps, complex troubleshooting scenarios, and product schematics.

• Move away from static support agent schedules. In an effort to drive higher levels of productivity of support agents and to minimize instances of agent over- or underutilization, Industry Average organizations should transition away from the static scheduling of service agents on standard time increments. Currently, 40% of these organizations follow static schedules compared to 17% of Best-in-Class organizations which prefer a more optimized format of workforce scheduling that accounts for peaks and dips in service demand.

• Increase self-service opportunities for customers. Industry Average organizations indicate that 28% of service issues could have been resolved by a more cost-efficient available service channel over the last 12 months, compared to 22% for the Best-in-Class. In addition, to focusing on the consistency and efficacy of information available across all channels, Industry Average organizations should increase the amount of self-service information that is available to their customers. It isn't surprising to see 35% of these organizations evaluating self-service solutions in the next 12 to 24 months.

"The end user in today’s world wants personalization and ease of use. In the service business our charter is to ease any pain felt by customers due to product issues and help keep them as loyal customers.”

~ Manager, Customer Service/Support,

Large Computer Equipment Hardware Organization. Best-in-Class Steps to Success

• Continue investment in common knowledgebase and expand access across the organization. To make inroads into the 3.9/5.0 average customer satisfaction rating or to improve the 86% level of customer retention, Best-in-Class companies can benefit from a continued focus on knowledge management, particularly in the form of information availability across the entire organization. Sixty-three percent (63%) of the Best-in-Class indicate that the increased access to customer and service-specific information is a key strategy in their service roadmaps for the next 12 months. Beyond the bounds of the service organization 37% of leading organizations are also looking to enhance the sharing of service data with other teams such as sales, marketing, and product design in an effort to boost product quality, enhance service practices, and drive service revenue.

• Make customers aware of non contact center support capabilities. While Best-in-Class companies do the best job of directing customers to the most appropriate service channel, there is significant room for improvement in making customers aware of non contact center-based support channels. Currently only 17% of these organizations have active education programs for their customers around these channels with 49% looking to implement and invest in outreach programs over the next 12 months.




Aberdeen Insights — Summary: Recognition is the First Step

Increasing availability and use of newer communication channels is


changing the landscape of customer service, both in ways that service is requested and delivered. For the servicing organization, the cost reduction incentive tied to the use of channels such as chat and social media is lucrative, but shouldn’t be the only yardstick leveraged to measure if a specific service delivery channel is worth pursuing. If the service delivered on a more cost efficient channel doesn't provide an effective customer experience, the cost incurred in retaining and cajoling a disgruntled customer can well exceed the initial money saved.

There is significant room for improvement for most service organizations, not only in the delivery of customer service through multiple channels, but also in figuring out the true mix of channels to leverage while providing customer support (Table 12). Those that are Best-in-Class aren't necessarily the organizations that are using all available channels, but are those that have focused on the delivery of a consistent, effective customer experience that ultimately results in issue resolution while allowing for proactive improvement of service processes based on the continuous capture of customer insights.

Table 12: Multi-Channel Report Card


Criteria

Average Performance (1-Poor, 5 - Excellent)

Direct customer requests to appropriate channel / agent 3.3

Resolve customer issues on a first-touch basis 3.1

Ensure accuracy / validity of information on all channels 3.0

Provide support agents with appropriate tools to resolve customer issues 3.0

Provide support agents with standard escalation protocols 3.0

Act on customer feedback to improve service quality 2.9

Ensure consistency of information on all channels 2.8

Capture customer feedback 2.7

Proactively alert customers 2.6

Make customers aware of non-traditional support channels 2.4

Provide customers with sufficient self-service information 2.4

Leverage social media to deliver customer support 1.6

"On the contrary, we do not believe it is best for our business to migrate customers to inexpensive support channels. In fact, we believe that it is critical that we give our customers the channels they prefer to utilize. Some want to speak to a human being live; some prefer live chat; others like email interaction; finally, some like to log a case and watch its progression.”

~ John Meaney, EVP/SVP, Business

Development, Digitalrep, LLC.



Appendix A: Research Methodology

Between May and June 2010, Aberdeen examined the experiences and intentions of more than 170 service and manufacturing enterprises in the use and selection of non-field based service delivery channels.

Study Focus

Responding service executives completed an online survey that included questions designed to determine the following:

Aberdeen supplemented this online survey effort with interviews with select survey respondents, gathering additional information on best practices in customer request and relationship management, identifying desired contact center and other support functionalities, and in understanding the resulting benefits of investments in improved customer management capabilities through a variety of service delivery channels.

√ The degree to which various support channels are leveraged and the financial implications of reliance on these channels Responding enterprises included the following:

• Job title / function: The research sample included respondents with the following job titles: C-Level executive (21%); Vice-President or Director (32%); and Manager (23%).

√ The structure and effectiveness of existing customer support technology implementations • Industry: The following industries had the largest representation in

the study: Software (13%); Manufacturing (11%); Office and Computer Equipment (11%); IT Services (9%); High-Technology (8%); and Medical Devices (7%).

√ Current and planned use of tools, functionalities and applications to aid service processes

• Geography: The majority of respondents (66%) were from North America. Remaining respondents were mostly from the Asia-Pacific region (12%) and from EMEA (18%).

√ The benefits, if any, that have been derived improved customer service and customer management initiatives.

• Company size: Twenty-four percent (24%) of respondents were from large enterprises (annual revenues above US $1 billion); 28% were from midsize enterprises (annual revenues between $50 million and $1 billion); and 48% of respondents were from small businesses (annual revenues of $50 million or less).

The study aimed to identify emerging best practices in support of customer service in a multi-channel delivery environment, and to provide a framework by which readers could assess and map their own customer service management capabilities.

• Support Agent Headcount: Twenty-two percent (22%) of respondents were from large service enterprises (support agent headcount greater than 500); 24% were from midsize service enterprises (support agent headcount between 50 and 400); and 54% of respondents were from small businesses (support agent headcount less than 50).




Table 13: The PACE Framework Key

Overview Aberdeen applies a methodology to benchmark research that evaluates the business pressures, actions, capabilities, and enablers (PACE) that indicate corporate behavior in specific business processes. These terms are defined as follows: Pressures — external forces that impact an organization’s market position, competitiveness, or business operations (e.g., economic, political and regulatory, technology, changing customer preferences, competitive) Actions — the strategic approaches that an organization takes in response to industry pressures (e.g., align the corporate business model to leverage industry opportunities, such as product / service strategy, target markets, financial strategy, go-to-market, and sales strategy) Capabilities — the business process competencies required to execute corporate strategy (e.g., skilled people, brand, market positioning, viable products / services, ecosystem partners, financing) Enablers — the key functionality of technology solutions required to support the organization’s enabling business practices (e.g., development platform, applications, network connectivity, user interface, training and support, partner interfaces, data cleansing, and management)


Table 14: The Competitive Framework Key

Overview


The Aberdeen Competitive Framework defines enterprises In the following categories: as falling into one of the following three levels of practices Process — What is the scope of process and performance: standardization? What is the efficiency and Best-in-Class (20%) — Practices that are the best effectiveness of this process? currently being employed and are significantly superior to Organization — How is your company currently the Industry Average, and result in the top industry organized to manage and optimize this particular performance. process? Industry Average (50%) — Practices that represent the Knowledge — What visibility do you have into key average or norm, and result in average industry data and intelligence required to manage this process? performance. Technology — What level of automation have you Laggards (30%) — Practices that are significantly behind used to support this process? How is this automation the average of the industry, and result in below average integrated and aligned? performance. Performance — What do you measure? How

frequently? What’s your actual performance?


Table 15: The Relationship Between PACE and the Competitive Framework

PACE and the Competitive Framework – How They Interact Aberdeen research indicates that companies that identify the most influential pressures and take the most transformational and effective actions are most likely to achieve superior performance. The level of competitive performance that a company achieves is strongly determined by the PACE choices that they make and how well they execute those decisions.




Appendix B: Related Aberdeen Research

Related Aberdeen research that forms a companion or reference to this report includes:

• Unified Communications: Improve Customer Satisfaction and Workforce Productivity; May 2010

• Providing a 360-degree View of the Customer; March 2010

• The Chief Service Officer's Guide to Service Revenue; January 2010

• Delivering Customer Service via the Contact Center and the Web; September 2009

Information on these and any other Aberdeen publications can be found at www.aberdeen.com.

Authors: Service Management Research Sumair Dutta, Senior Research Analyst, ([email protected]) Aly Pinder, Jr., Research Associate, ([email protected])

Since 1988, Aberdeen's research has been helping corporations worldwide become Best-in-Class. Having benchmarked the performance of more than 644,000 companies, Aberdeen is uniquely positioned to provide organizations with the facts that matter — the facts that enable companies to get ahead and drive results. That's why our research is relied on by more than 2.2 million readers in over 40 countries, 90% of the Fortune 1,000, and 93% of the Technology 500.

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