Customer Service in 2020:Winning in a Digital World

Table of Contents

Introduction 4

Customer Service 2020: Co-creation in Crowds 6

Chapter 1 Engaging with the “New” Customer: An Individual in a Community 10

Chapter 2 Managing the Shift of Control: Finding an Equilibrium 16

Chapter 3 Moving to Vendor Relationship Management: Customers as Empowered Partners 20

Chapter 4 Standing Out from the Crowd: Being the Customer’s Trusted Partner 24

Chapter 5 Managing a Mix of Channels: More Contacts, More Often 28

Chapter 6 Working in an Uncertain Environment: Responding to Change Fast 30

Customer Service in 2020: Conclusion 34

Five years ago, who could have predicted the dizzying rise of the digital world, and its impact on customer service? Take the growth of Facebook, now with over 750m active users, 50% of whom log on every day. This rate of change will only accelerate. There is no doubt that by 2020 the world of customer service will have been transformed by changing needs and new styles of interaction between customers and companies. And at the center of this digital revolution will be the way in which customer service is delivered. Where will we be 10 years from now? No one knows precisely, but the winning companies will be those that anticipate and prepare for this digital future.

In Spring 2011, Capgemini Consulting brought together customer service directors from leading global organizations, plus industry experts, to take forward this debate. We challenged the norm, stepped out of our comfort zones and looked to the future.

This ebook is the result. It describes our collective vision of customer service in 2020, underpinned by six key trends. The implications for individual companies will be different depending on the products and services they provide. Whatever business you’re in, our ideas will provoke conversation and enable you to prepare and win in an increasingly digital world.

We’d love to hear what you think. Please join the debate by contacting:

Patrick JamesGlobal Head of Marketing, Sales & Service +44 870 366 0262 patrick.james@capgemini.com

Introduction

4

Welcome from Patrick James, Capgemini Consulting

Patrick James is the Global Head of Marketing, Sales & Service Consulting at Capgemini. He specializes in delivering and realizing the benefits of large complex customer-focused programs, having worked with an extensive range of high profile clients such as the UK Department for Education, Lloyds TSB, Vodafone, General Motors, Deutsche Bank, Capital Group, Orange and Virgin Atlantic.

Already companies are working more closely than ever before with their customers to “co-create” new products and services – a trend that will gather force as we move towards 2020. By forming “crowds” which include other companies and customers, they will collaboratively deliver true end-to-end customer service. Customers and companies will provide service to and with each other, delivering integrated solutions that will transcend boundaries between companies and products.

A driving force behind this transformation is the global rise of digital channels (including online, social media, mobile websites and applications), alongside the emergence of an increasingly knowledgeable, emotional and empowered customer. Winning companies will adopt a proactive approach that embraces the digital revolution, and that anticipates customers’ shifting habits and preferences rather than just reacting to them. This journey must start now.

What services should a company provide? Who should it partner with? The challenge for companies will

be to maintain competitive advantage and maximize sales while recognizing that it will take a crowd to fulfill customers’ needs. Increasingly, customers will demand that companies fit around what they want, the way they want it. We will also see more customers helping one another with queries, taking on the role of advisers.

How does customer service work in a digital world where services/products are delivered by a crowd of companies, with customers helping to determine what companies do? Customer service centers will become well oiled machines that will act as interaction hubs allowing customers to shift seamlessly between channels. Intelligent routing will allow information from customers to flow into organizations so it can be used to improve the way they deliver products and services. Sophisticated virtual agents will replace human interaction. Agents can then focus on dealing with complex customer queries and deliver true value-add services to customers. Figure 1 shows our vision of Customer Service 2020, and the six key trends that companies must address.

Customer Service 2020: Co-creation in Crowds

How will your organization respond to the digital revolution?

6

Figure 1: Our vision of customer service in 2020

Key Customer Service Trends for 2020

1. Engaging with the “new” customer As customers become more knowledgeable and their requirements more complex, they will require a more tailored service – a truly differentiated experience. To meet this demand efficiently, companies must understand customer needs, emotions, and expectations. How do you do this from inside a crowd of services and organizations? How do you understand customer emotion through digital channels?

2. Managing the shift of controlCustomers will gain influence over companies’ brand and market position as they increasingly support and advise one another via digital channels, and “co-create” products with organizations. This shift will necessitate greater empowerment of customer service agents: they will spend less time on everyday problems and more on complex issues, and value-add activities such as cross-selling and up-selling. What is the right equilibrium for your company? Agents will also play a growing part in

brand management, and in working with the rest of the organization to use customer insight effectively. How will your customer service adapt?

3. Moving to Vendor Relationship Management (VRM)Customers will use data about companies (vendors) to decide when, how and by whom they want to be serviced; digital VRM tools will emerge to help. Companies will need to utilize rich customer data available via digital channels and open up their systems to allow more access to customers and other organizations. Are you ready to work with customers as your empowered partners?

4. Standing out from the crowdThe focus will move first from products to services, and then to composite solutions, provided and supported by a crowd of organizations and customers. There is a risk of becoming just one of the crowd; to retain competitive advantage, companies must be seen as the customer’s trusted partner. How will you work with other companies? What are your responsibilities in the crowd?

Will yours be the organization that customers choose in the future?

8

5. Managing a mix of channelsThe rise of digital means the number and frequency of contacts will rise: Facebook, tweets, texts...

Organizations must use the right channel with the right customer for the right interaction. This means developing an appropriate channel mix, delivering an integrated response across channels, and shielding customers from complexity. Are you ready for more contacts? How can you use digital channels to make your company work better?

6. Working in an uncertain environment Customer and company focus on ethical and green issues will strengthen, as will regulatory requirements and concern over globalization. How can you be global and local at the same time? Do you need to be? Increasing use of digital channels like social media will mean that information will travel fast around the world and affect reputation. Companies must monitor customers’ shifting priorities and evolve customer service accordingly. Is your company flexible enough to handle the impact of unforeseen global events? How fast can your company react?

The next pages invite you to step into the world of 2020. Together, we explore these trends and their implications further, and identify the actions required to make sure customer service adapts to this change.

9Customer Service in 2020: Winning in a Digital World

Social media has created an online society with more knowledgeable, complex and emotionally aware customers. As 2020 approaches, what these customers expect from companies is changing dramatically. Crucially, although belonging to communities, a customer will want a highly tailored service. Companies will really need to have a deeper relationship with customers, understand their needs, emotions and expectations, to give them what they want.

How is it possible to provide personal service while maintaining low costs? The answer is to offer a service that feels personalized yet is delivered at a group level. Companies can take advantage of a concept called “many groups” (figure 2), which can be harnessed with new digital strategies and new ways of analyzing customer relationships through sophisticated analytical tools.

Chapter 1

Engaging with the “New” Customer: An Individual in a Community

1950 2020

Bigidentity

Many groups

“Scattered”individualizedbut polarized

customers

Figure 2: “Many groups” – how individuality and group membership are developing over time

10

The Emergence of “Many Groups”

The development of identity over time is illustrated in figure 2. In the past, customers typically saw themselves as part of a single group: a UK Labour Party activist would buy a Labour-leaning newspaper and be part of a union. Over time, this kind of grouping has broken down and customers have become individualized and polarized. Even so, organizations have continued to group individuals into segments sharing similar

traits, and to handle them according to these segments. By 2020, people will belong to more and stronger groups, formed predominately through digital channels as shown in figure 3. It will be membership of these multiple groups that builds a person’s (increasingly complex) sense of individuality. Products, services and brands will mean different things to different groups, and organizations must be flexible enough to respond to each in the right way.

Figure 3: Membership of online communities will help to shape identity

11Customer Service in 2020: Winning in a Digital World

Personalization at Group Level

Customers will want experience that is both individual and social. And, although reasonably receptive to self-service, they won’t want to feel they are being treated as a number, or as part of a segment.

It can be prohibitively expensive to give customers a completely personalized service, but fortunately there are a couple of factors that will help:

� Communities/groups – the fact that customers naturally group themselves together means that service can often be tailored to the group rather than the individual. Designing the process to take account of different customer groupings means that a single process can provide “personal” experiences for many customers.

� Digital transformation – as a result of VRM activity by customers, organizations will have access to rich real-time personal information such as name, age and behavior, with which they can easily personalize the service further.

Automation Plus Personalization

Digital technology makes it possible to personalize some aspects of service automatically, further reducing costs. Virtualizing a shop, customer and staff in an environment like Second Life can make shopping into a social experience that delights customers who are already used to avatars and virtual worlds. For example, when purchasing a product, customers can buy a virtual copy for their avatar and a physical copy for themselves. In this way, the customer can get an experience that is individual, local and social, at reasonable cost to the company.

Virtual agents, as shown in our InteliWISE video, are another way to deliver personalized customer service.

Your current performance management systems and metrics will be irrelevant

12

InteliWISE – next generation chat virtual agent for insurance

InteliWISE is a leader in delivering cloud-based, intelligent chat virtual agents, enhancing customer experience and boosting online sales.

Customer value

Low High

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Figure 4: Plotting relationship type against value

Different Relationships, Different Treatment

Some, but not all, customers will continue to need more traditional (and expensive) types of personalization. By understanding different customer groups’ unique needs at different times, you can target your investment for the best returns.

It’s important to identify whether your relationship with a customer is more functional

or more emotional (figure 4). Customers may have a functional relationship with a power utility company, but a more emotional one wnecessith a company like Starbucks. Technology providers could have either a more emotional relationship (like Apple) or a more functional one (like Dell). One company could have different relationships around different products.

Emotions can be detected online, not only through voice communication

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Even for a single product, there could be different relationships: an iPhone is a smartphone for some customers but a way of life for others.

Developing and maintaining an emotional relationship is more expensive than maintaining a functional one, so it’s also necessary to know the value of the customer, as shown in figure 4. Analyzing customer relationships in this way requires questions to be answered: for example, what constitutes a high-value customer? How do you understand and use emotional information about customers specifically through digital channels? However, this analysis repays effort because it makes it possible to realize the objective of personalization at group level. Once you understand how customers can be grouped together, you can create experiences that customers feel are “just for me” without the cost of tailoring processes for each individual customer. And that’s a cost-effective way to win their loyalty and trust.

Understanding the Customer of 2020

The customer of 2020 will expect more from customer service, but will also have more control. Customers can play an active part in the success or failure of a company by acting as its agents through social media channels.

Companies will need to strike a balance between personalization of service and cost. Several factors will determine where the right balance lies. While standardized processes may be appropriate for certain products and services, a personalized customer experience can be achieved by tailoring it to the groups to which customers have the greatest attachment. The level of tailoring will vary according to brand, product or service, and the nature of the relationship with the company.

This type of tailoring can delight the customer, creating loyal agents for the company. Delivering the right offer to the right group can also reduce costs.

Personalization remains at the heart of your digital strategy

15Customer Service in 2020: Winning in a Digital World

Chapter 2

Managing the Shift of Control: Finding an Equilibrium

Control is shifting away from organizations and towards customers. As a result, we’ll see the development of a new generation of customer service agents, empowered to “co-create” products with their customers and make the most of their knowledge via digital channels.

However, this is by no means a “one size fits all” solution. How can your company find its optimal balance of control?

Customers are Taking Control

Customers are keener and keener to interact with one another in social networks such as Facebook groups. They review products, rate content and suggest ideas for product and service improvement, among other activities.

These new social customers are happy to answer each others’ queries. Already, an expert customer may know more about your products than an average customer service agent. Other customers are looking to these super users for advice and answers to problems, publishing their questions online first and contacting a

service center only as a last resort. In one YouTube video, a customer shows how to set up a car seat for a baby – a demonstration which other customers found more helpful than the manufacturer’s instruction manual.

It isn’t just that customers know more. They can be even more passionate about your brand than your customer service agents and, with encouragement, do a great job at building the right brand image. Customers increasingly trust reviews from their peers over information from customer service agents, who are perceived as trying to sell the brand.

How Do You Integrate Customer Activity into the Customer Service Center?

Some companies are actively extending customer service processes to include customers in digital communities: either existing channels like Facebook or their own sites. They encourage customers to “co-create” products and collaborate by participating in the construction of knowledge bases, contributing ideas and posting solutions to problems.

“By 2014, Gartner predicts that 10% of the problems currently solved by customer service agents will be resolved or influenced by customer communities

Source: Predicts 2011: Customer Service Innovations in a

Collaborative World, Gartner, 2010

“

16

giffgaff – the mobile network run by members

giffgaff is one example of doing things differently – by encouraging its community members (customers) to get involved in the business; from answering customer queries online, getting new members or helping make them famous. giffgaff does not employ a single customer service agent – just a handful of staff who manage its online community. Customers are rewarded for their involvement with credits towards their phone bill.

17Customer Service in 2020: Winning in a Digital World

The World in 2020: Climbing the Control Staircase

What constitutes the right balance of control between companies and customers? The “shift of control” model (figure 5) shows the range of possibilities. At the bottom of the staircase, companies have complete control over their customer service (a typical situation a few years ago). Further up, the company’s influence decreases while that of the customer increases. At the top, the customer has total control, with support taking place in digital spaces like internet forums and chat rooms that are not managed by the company. As 2020 approaches, more companies will move up the stairs, though few will relinquish total control.

Why Give Customers Control?

Encouraging “co-creation” can increase a company’s productivity and efficiency. For example:

� Customers will become advocates for the brand image; taking on more of the work of advising and supporting one another.

� Customers can generate ideas for future products; the customer service center will be the interaction point, collating this input and disseminating it across the company.

� Customer service agents can focus on value-add tasks such as cross-selling and up-selling.

Managing the Shift

A company should determine how far up the shift of control staircase it wants to climb for each of its products and services. Experiment with low-risk products first, then apply the lessons learned to higher-risk categories. Control over the riskiest products and most important services should remain with the company, as must certain services (such as those related to invoices).

Careful change management will be needed. Customer service agents’ responsibilities will alter beyond recognition, as will the skills they need. The agent’s role may be mainly that of a facilitator, moderating user communities, and ensuring inquiries receive a satisfactory response from a supplier or super user.

The rise of social media has put brand ownership in the hands of consumers

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Lego encourages its devoted customers to design everything from robot operating systems to construction sets

Company

Customer

Low High

High Low

Shift of c

ontrol t

o custom

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Bottom of staircase

Top of staircase

Level of control

Figure 5: The shift of control staircase

Team leaders will work with teams of customers over whom they have no real authority, and who possibly know more than they do themselves. Lower-level agents may no longer be needed.

The shift of control merits careful planning. Deliberately giving a voice to customers will build trust in the company and its products. Standing by while customers wrest control away could have the opposite effect.

19Customer Service in 2020: Winning in a Digital World

CRM is dead…or is it? We have seen how power is moving away from companies and towards customers. Here we discuss a related theme: the likely move from Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to its inverse, Vendor Relationship Management (VRM)1.

CRM is a widely-adopted strategy that helps companies capture customer data and manage customer interactions. By contrast, VRM allows customers to manage their relationships with companies proactively. Choice and power then lie with customers, who decide when, how and whether they want to be serviced by an organization.

A New Style of Vendor-Customer Interaction

The rise of digital channels has made the customer’s voice more powerful than ever before, pushing companies to rethink their methods of customer interaction. New models such as Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM) allow companies to listen and respond to the real-time needs and expectations of customers, and to gain their trust and loyalty.

Chapter 3

Moving to Vendor Relationship Management: Customers as Empowered Partners

Until that trust is gained, online communities have a particularly important part to play in mediating vendor-customer interaction. Customers that do not yet have a relationship with the brand will tend to rely on the community for service. As the relationship deepens, the customers’ knowledge and trust increases, so that they are more likely to deal with the vendor, particularly when they need a tailored response.

Why Customers Want Change

Today’s customers are becoming less tolerant of generic, product-centric sales pitches and standardized customer service. Instead they expect customization, and want organizations to come prepared with knowledge of their circumstances and preferences. This demand for personalization means that unique end-to-end business services will often be needed for a single customer and a single transaction.

1 According to Wikipedia the term VRM was first used by Mike Vizard in conversation with Doc Searls on a 2006 Gillmor Gang podcast

Customers can be active partners in their relationship with you

20

Fortunately, the information needed to drive this level of personalization is becoming available, as customers increasingly create and maintain their own profiles through social media. This customer-generated data can augment the customer records maintained by the company itself. Privacy controls and the opt-in nature of Facebook fan pages and Twitter allows companies to generate high-quality – and highly qualified – leads while respecting individuals’ privacy preferences. “Hypertargeted” communications can be achieved by using the

information that individuals share about themselves on their profiles, including home town, school or university attended, job and hobbies.

A further change to interaction styles is that, as customers realize the true value of their personal information, they want to be more selective about sharing it. Instead of getting multiple vendor offers that may or may not meet their needs, customers often prefer to receive just a few offers that match their exact specification, and come at the time they require, from parties that they trust.

21Customer Service in 2020: Winning in a Digital World

From CRM to VRM

The power shift towards customers, combined with the increasing sophistication of digital platforms, may eventually turn the current interaction model on its head, moving the emphasis away from CRM and towards VRM.

CRM is about companies capturing customer information for sales and marketing engagement. In the VRM model, by contrast, customers will maintain their own data profiles and manage their relationships with suppliers, on their own terms. Both individual customers and social communities will be able to allow or disallow vendor interactions, based on trust and the supplier’s ability to meet their requirements flexibly. In this way, VRM can be seen as improving the balance between customer demand and vendor supply.

The idea is currently at an early stage, but has already received support and interest from organizations such as the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University (Project VRM)3.

Preparing for VRM

For companies, VRM raises one of the key challenges for Customer Service 2020: the management of the cultural changes associated with the growing power of the customer. VRM also underlines the importance of building relationships and managing the trust of customers and social communities – suggesting a continuing role for CRM.

The future of VRM is not yet clear, but one thing is certain: in the product and service markets of 2020, the customer will not be a passive player, but an empowered partner. Emerging channels of interaction require constant evolution of vendor-customer communication capabilities, and organizations need near-instant reaction times.

2 http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/projectvrm/Main_Page3 http://projectvrm.net/index.php?page=about-vrm

“Free customers aremore valuable than captive ones... 2

Source: Project VRM, Harvard Business School

“

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What is VRM by Gagandeep Gadri

Gagandeep is part of the leadership team of our Marketing, Sales and Service practice in Capgemini Consulting UK and focuses on delivering customer focused multi-channel solutions for our clients. He is a leading thinker on customer service and led our Customer Service 2020 strategy session which brought together customer service directors from across the world to build the future vision for multi- channel service using new technologies such as social media and 4G technology.

We are moving towards a future where customer needs are met not by a single organization but by crowds of companies and customers working together. But how can companies work within the crowd to stand out from the crowd, and so gain competitive advantage?

Solutions that Come from the Crowd

We will see a move away from individual products and services towards complete solutions provided by a crowd or network of suppliers and customers. The example in figure 6 illustrates how co-creation can work in crowds.

In our example, Terry needs better storage for his toiletries. He goes online to seek advice from a home improvements community site. That gives him an idea of what is available and how much it costs, and helps him to locate a reputable local retailer. Having measured the space available with an app from the site, he visits the retailer to buy his unit. The store downloads details of his requirement from his mobile, which Terry also uses to pay. Back home, he puts together his unit, getting help from another app.

Chapter 4

Standing Out from the Crowd: Being the Customer’s Trusted Partner

A few days, later the community site contacts him and he gives his feedback. One of his suggestions is picked by the retailer, who makes a change to the product and invites Terry to join their product development community.

Soon afterwards, Janet wants a new bathroom unit. She goes on to the home improvements community site that Terry used initially. Seeing that Terry has done something similar, she contacts him for help...

In Terry’s scenario, the solution is delivered jointly by a retailer, various internet services, bank, and customers. The crowd provides a full range of end-to-end services, and the customers play a central role in helping each other, and companies, to fulfill their needs.

In this model, the retailer’s customer service unit may no longer exist as a recognizable entity. The crowd members coexist on a platform like Facebook, and a customer with a problem will post their question there and expect to receive answers from anyone in the crowd. The retailer will not create the crowd – different crowds will arise on an ad hoc basis depending on the nature of the customer query.

We are seeing a move away from individual products and services towards complete solutions provided by a crowd of suppliers and customers

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Figure 6: The crowd model of customer service

5. A customer adviseris ready to help

3. Downloads designapplication

Co-creation in crowds:An illustrative scenario: Terry would like a better

storage solution for his toiletries

9. The next week, Janet wantsa new bathroom unit.

She contacts Terry via sameonline community

4. Finds the nearest storeand quickest route

6. Pays via hishandheld device

7. Back home, he puts the unit together,getting help via the online help app

8. Provides feedback viaonline community

1. Searches the internet2. Gets information about products

and retailers from online community

25Customer Service in 2020: Winning in a Digital World

In some cases (for example, damaged goods inquiries) the retailers’ personnel will provide the answers themselves, but often all they will do is manage the process. Customers will not normally care who answers as long as they receive a good-quality service.

Customer Data is Becoming Shared Data

As Forrester4 notes, the universal customer record is becoming a reality for some companies. This record contains multiple social identities from channels such as Facebook and Twitter, mapped to a traditional customer record. Both types of data can be analyzed together to provide real-time customer insight and support for business decisions.

Increasingly, part or all of this universal customer record will be accessible by multiple service providers. All the players involved in the customer lifecycle have equal access to the data that customers choose to share in social spaces. With many multinationals and governing bodies also committing to open data initiatives, data transparency will likely become the norm, with customers choosing which service providers can access their data.

In this world of shared data, companies can no longer rely on privileged information to create competitive advantage. For example, competitors will often be able to approach your customers with offers based on knowledge of their usage patterns. That means that companies need to find other ways to gain an edge, such as personalization and superior customer service, and perhaps resale of services from third parties – even from competitors.

Becoming a Trusted Partner to Retain Competitive Advantage

In the crowd model, service will often be decoupled from product and provided by another company or by an expert customer, so that service activity no longer takes place at the brand level. Making this model work will require suppliers in the crowd to ensure that their CRM systems can collaborate.

However, customers will probably still retain an emotional attachment to the company to whom they pay money, even when that company is sharing responsibility for providing service. If customer expectations are not met, then the company’s brand will suffer.

You don’t own your customer data: you share it with your competitors

4 Forrester’s Top 10 Trends for Customer Service in 2011

26

The company therefore needs to maintain control over the customer experience, ensuring that its service commitment to the customer is met by the crowd collectively.

In summary, a company should aim to turn its service function into a trusted partner for the customer (see figure 7).

Trust implies, among other things, that the boundaries between internal and external become blurred, that customer and company have a transparent view of one another’s activities, and that there is full co-operation between them. Companies that achieve this trusted status will retain competitive advantage in a world of transparent data and crowd-based solutions.

Figure 7: What does it mean for customer service to be a trusted partner?

A company needs to aim to turn its service function into a trusted partner for the customer

“Customer serviceis the trusted partner

for the customerwhich facilitates the

interactions in the networksin a transparent and

co-operative waycreating the true

win-win situation”

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27Customer Service in 2020: Winning in a Digital World

Customers and companies are interacting via a growing variety of channels, including social media and mobile commerce, resulting in an expanding array of customer touch-points. It is becoming increasingly challenging to manage the channel mix in an effective, integrated way. How can organizations ensure that they are using the right channel with the right customer for the right type of interaction?

Rapid Proliferation of Channels

The range of channels has expanded fast over the past two decades, with self-service channels like cash machines, vending machines and information kiosks appearing alongside traditional bricks-and-mortar and telephone channels. In many industries, customers now prefer self-service, at least for straightforward transactions.

The internet has enabled more channels, like social media, online chat and virtual agents. Now 75% of Marriott’s hotel reservations are made online; internet sales have helped retailers like M&S and Next to buck a downward trend on the high street.

Chapter 5

Managing a Mix of Channels: More Contacts, More Often

The rise of smartphones is another factor in channel proliferation, with apps and mobile commerce allowing more targeted, persistent interaction. In 2009 m-commerce value in the U.S. tripled to $1.2bn. As smaller, cheaper smartphones appear in the near future, “phone” may well become synonymous with “smartphone”.

By 2020, today’s internet and m-commerce channels will have matured and been joined by others. Online TV and video interaction with customer service agents will increase, thanks to 4G networks and greater bandwidth. Contactless payment cards, video analytics, speech analytics and emotion detection will also be widespread, as will online communities.

Challenges and Opportunities

Companies ignore channel proliferation at their peril. Disregarding emerging channels can lead to reputation risk (a brand can be destroyed in one day by customer conversations in social media forums), and to customers taking their business to competitors offering a better choice.

How do you ensure consistency between interactions when they are all driven by customers’ unpredictable emotions?

5 Forrester, “Mobile world congress 2010: smartphones are the new phones”, 2010

28

At the same time, the expanding range of channels opens up new opportunities: to provide better customer service, and to develop more personalized customer relationships, additional revenue streams and more efficient customer service.

Succeeding in a Digital Multi-Channel World

How do you give a consistent experience by phone, over the internet and in store? The multi-channel challenge has been around for a while, and by 2020 it will be far more complex. We have suggested some ways to tackle it – by following these steps, companies can start to embrace the opportunities of channel proliferation and ensure they use the right channel with the right customer for the right type of interaction.

1. Offer a set of channels to suit your product mix and customer preferences If customers frequently carry out straightforward transactions like grocery shopping or checking bank statements, self-service may suit both them and the business. With complex products like mortgages, video instructions or virtual agents can complement or replace human agents. If an energy provider has a customer group that’s active on Twitter, tweeting could be a good way to publish service updates.

2. Ensure channels are integrated You should be able to recognize your customer however they contact you, offering correctly targeted products and services. Allowing the option to switch between channels during an interaction will enhance customer experience and improve outcomes.

3. Manage complexity and offer consistency Again regardless of channel, customers should receive a consistent experience in line with your brand values. Align processes, data management and technology behind your channel mix to create this seamless customer journey. If you can’t avoid putting the customer through a complicated process to complete a transaction or resolve an issue, then offer guidance via suitable channels.

4. Keep up with the changing channel landscape Proliferation will continue, so your channel mix must keep adapting. Monitor customer behavior to detect changes in channel preferences early on. Ensure your technology platform is flexible enough to accommodate new channels and channel enhancements.

5. Go where customers are having their conversations For example Facebook and Twitter – rather than creating your own forums. This approach can help save costs and help draw in new customers as well.

Five Ways to Tackle the Multi-Channel Challenge

29Customer Service in 2020: Winning in a Digital World

The world is getting smaller, more connected and more interdependent. Companies are increasingly held accountable for the way they conduct their business, and environmental factors are among those they need to account for. They must demonstrate active compliance with the spirit of the law, ethical standards, and international norms.

Increasing use of digital channels, and specifically of social media, is opening companies up to unprecedented public scrutiny. Customer opinion and experience travels fast and can easily end up as, for example, a “viral” video on YouTube. The case studies later in this chapter illustrate how dramatically this scrutiny by the crowd can affect a company’s reputation for good or ill.

Companies can’t hope to control the flow. Instead, through their customer service centers, they need to respond rapidly to social media activity, particularly in times of crisis. Already, more and more companies are actively using social media to monitor and, where possible, manage customer feedback, ensuring for example that customer service agents address Twitter complaints promptly.

Chapter 6

Working in an Uncertain Environment: Responding to Change Fast

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a form of corporate self-regulation that is increasingly integrated into business models. It requires the company to embrace responsibility for its actions, and to strive for a positive impact on the environment, customers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere.

Key CSR Themes

� Companies will have to provide both global and local services: customers want global consistency but also an appreciation of local culture. Global companies that currently standardize their products and services to provide a more efficient and effective service could in future be forced to take more account of local nuances in the interests of better customer service.

� There are global standards and local differences in regulation, for example in relation to customer data. Companies need to find ways to satisfy both local and global standards – potentially a difficult challenge.

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� Companies will need to strengthen their response to customers’ evolving ethical concerns (e.g., regarding business impact on the environment, provenance, and fair trade). In matters like elimination of underage working in suppliers’ factories, it is better to get your house in order yourself than to be forced to do so by the press, public or regulators. Customers are coming to expect greater transparency: when you make a mistake, admit it.

� Employee inclusion and wellbeing will be vital. Companies must make sure their employees are involved and looked after, and respect their varying needs. In addition to the ethical reasons for doing so, happy employees tend to make for happy customers. Considerations here include:

− Diversity. This makes commercial sense as well as fitting in with CSR. One study showed that with more than 35% of executive positions held by women, P&L results improve.

− Work-life balance. Digital technology can help here by enabling remote working, which means you can have a more mobile, flexible workforce. In future, many of your customer service agents could be home-based. The more options you can offer, the easier it becomes to attract resources with the right skills sets.

Case Studies

Nestlé and palm oil

Greenpeace published a video on YouTube alleging that Nestlé’s use of palm oil caused deforestation and endangered orangutans. On Facebook, members changed their profile pictures and posted extreme comments on the Nestlé fan page. Instead of answering, Nestlé threatened to delete posts that used an altered version of its logo. This triggered even more virulent comments and the fan page had to be closed.

BP oil spill

Following the oil spill disaster, BP’s official Twitter account @BP_America had 15,000 followers, but a parody account, @BPGlobalPR, attracted 175,000, and was far more active. By poking fun at BP, this fake account may have damaged the brand significantly. BP’s efforts to get the account banned were unsuccessful since Twitter policy allows parody accounts as long as they do not mislead or deceive.

Toyota recall

Unexpectedly, Toyota’s Social Influence Marketing (SIM) score increased during the recent vehicle recall. One reason is that frequent conversations (including neutral and even negative ones) built brand awareness. More consumers were talking about Toyota than any other brand, some probably coming to its defense. In time, Toyota may be able to use this new follower base to promote offers and products.

31Customer Service in 2020: Winning in a Digital World

Get Ready to Deal with Uncertainty

The one certainty is that organizations will have to evolve continuously to meet ever more exacting demands from customers and regulators. Some CSR activities, moreover, are closely linked to customer service. For example, hiring a diverse employee base makes it possible to service a diverse customer base (one bank provides service in 23 languages). Then there are ethical issues around offshore call centers: the ethical standards of both the call center location and the company’s markets need to be taken into account.

The social media revolution, too, has fundamentally shifted the balance of power towards the customer. Customers are in control, defining how, when and where they interact with brands, content and services. How can customer service managers use customers’ increased involvement to

How can companies keep pace with shifting and tightening regulations, both globally and locally?

their advantage? They will need new tools to listen into conversations on the web, and must use their knowledge, experience and expertise to respond intelligently. Social media objectives should be aligned to enable companies to understand, manage and influence these conversations.

In a digital world, information will travel fast, and customer service centers must respond rapidly. That means having processes in place to change alerts on all channels and update scripts for agents globally.

Customers’ and regulators’ priorities are hard to predict, and in a digital world it will be impossible to control the spread of information. Therefore, organizations must utilize digital technology to monitor change, and adopt techniques that will give them the flexibility to adjust their own priorities. Don’t be caught off guard.

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In the challenging digital world of the future, visionary companies will shape the customer service landscape. By anticipating trends intelligently, organizations can achieve a genuine win-win for themselves and for their customers.

Which trends could have the most impact on your business? Are you ready to capitalize on them with the right customer service offerings?

Addressing your customers’ evolving needs in an increasingly digital world today will be critical to winning tomorrow. For those that get it right, the benefits will be great:

� Increased loyalty, as your organization is seen as a trusted partner in life

� Improved brand reputation, as customers act as advocates for the brand

� Higher customer satisfaction, because customers can easily reach the experts they need, and interact with them in the channels they prefer

� More satisfied employees who manage customer service in the crowd, and have higher-quality contacts with a smaller number of customers

� Increased efficiency as the company finds ways to automate service without sacrificing the “personal touch”

� Lower costs, for example through reduced headcount as customers and other crowd members take over support responsibilities

� Increased revenue and profits as your organization becomes a leader in the marketplace

The obvious winners will be customers. However, by reading the trends correctly and using digital capabilities effectively, companies too can derive competitive advantage from the transformation of customer service. Are you ready to win in the digital world?

Touch the Future, be the Future

Customer Service in 2020: Conclusion

33Customer Service in 2020: Winning in a Digital World

Corning – a day made of glass

For Corning Incorporated, the future of customer service revolves around digital technologies, enabled by glass. In writing this ebook, we have been inspired by Corning’s way of thinking about its future world, as depicted in this video.

What is your vision of 2020?

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About Capgemini ®®

Arnaud BouchardFrance Marketing, Sales and Service Co-leadTel: +33 149 675 942arnaud.bouchard@capgemini.com Paris

Sherif ChoudhryUK Marketing, Sales and Service LeadTel: +44 879 194 6536 sherif.choudhry@capgemini.com London

Scott Clarke North America Marketing, Sales and Service Lead Tel: +1 415 691 1504 scott.clarke@capgemini.com California

Steffen Elsaesser Central Europe Marketing, Sales and Service Lead Tel: +41 44 560 2578 steffen.elsaesser@capgemini.com Zurich

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Stanislas De RoysFrance Marketing, Sales and Service Co-leadTel: +33 149 675 701stanislas.deroys@capgemini.comParis

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Lorenzo Sterzi Italy Marketing, Sales and Service Lead Tel: +39 335 6003613 lorenzo.sterzi@capgemini.com Milan