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ustomerR E L AT I O N S H I P M A N A G E M E N TFocusing on Customer Satisfaction and Retention Fall 2016c

12 3 ways to win at digital customer service16 How pharma can leverage social customer care20 10 customer experience trends to watch

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Fall 2016 • Customer Relationship Management • 1

4 Look Before You Leap Into Omni-channel Support and Customer Care By Michael Mills Whether you’re implementing omni-channel support or enhancing your offering, here’s what you need to know.

8 If the Answer Is “It’s Just Policy,” You’re in Deep TroubleBy Aaron DignanFour reasons you should be reexamining your “policies.”

12 3 Keys to Winning at Digital Customer ServiceBy Shellie VornhagenIt’s time to implement the “3 Cs” … conve-nience, conversation, consistency.

16 What’s Holding Pharma Back From Social Customer Care? By John MacDanielThe concerns may be real, but social media can be another tool to developing positive relation-ships with patients and caregivers.

20 10 Customer Experience Trends to WatchBy Lauren Kindzierski-ZiskieAs we look forward to 2020, we’re going to experience everything from disruption to digital transformation.

26 Why Cybersecurity MattersBy Craig NaylorWhat we see now is a ripple compared with the cybercrime tsunami bearing down on all of us.

30 Issue and Crisis Management in the Digital WorldBy Mary Ann PlattInformation can spread at an unprecedented speed. Here’s what you need to know before an issue or crisis hits.

columns features

FALL 2016 • vol. 21 • no. 3ontentsc

2 Editor’s Letter

3 TrendingNews and trends for customer care professionals.

36 SOCAP Spotlight: DJ Capobianco and Jeff Lesser of Twitter Faster, Easier, Personalized Service … With Twitter

2 • Customer Relationship Management • Fall 2016

SOCAP International is proud to bring you this special issue of CRM Magazine focused on digital

consumer care. It’s full of valuable insights on the impact that the digital world has on customer care. It’s also the theme of our 2016 Annual Conference that takes place Oct. 23-26 in Orlando, and we purposely developed this issue to reinforce many of the discussions we’ll be having at our conference and to offer our members a broader view on digital consumer care.

The feature articles really set the stage for ways to leverage digital consumer care. In “3 Keys to Winning at Digital Customer Service,” Shellie Vornhagen of Astute Solutions discusses the elements of convenience, conversa-tion and consistency when it comes to delivering effective digital customer service. In “10 Customer Experience Trends to Watch” from Lauren Kindzierski-Ziskie of HGS, we examine the customer of the future and trends that will impact customer care. She cites the “explo-sion of digital, the empowered customer and the acceleration of enterprise-wide innovation” as factors that are forcing brands to “transform the way they communi-cate and service their customers.” Finally, in “What’s Holding Pharma Back From Social Customer Care?” John MacDaniel of Telerx offers us a case study of the pharmaceutical industry and proposes some help-ful ideas to integrate social media more fully within this sector.

In addition to our feature pieces, we have other great articles that address important aspects of cus-tomer care. Aaron Dignan, digital strategist and a keynote speaker at our conference, contributed an article (“If the Answer Is ‘It’s Just Policy,’ You’re in Deep Trouble”)

that reminds us about the need for sensible customer policies within your organization. Also, we venture into the world of cybersecurity and customer care in “Why Cyberse-curity Matters” by Craig Naylor of Cybersafe Solutions. We also tackle recalls and omni-channel—two im-portant evergreen topics in custom-er care—with articles from Mary Ann Platt of RQA (“Issue and Crisis Management in the Digital World”) and Michael Mills of CGS (“Look Before You Leap Into Omni-channel Support and Customer Care).

I’m also excited to highlight our Trending column, which includes new and relevant data from SOCAP’s Customer Engagement Framework. We’ve increased the number of brands (affectionately called SOCAP Trailblazers) com-pleting our online assessment, which has allowed us to generated this data. We look forward to hav-ing more SOCAP brand members participate in our Framework so they can reap the benefits of this tool.

Please share your comments and feedback on this special issue of CRM Magazine at [email protected]. CRM

Marjorie Bynum, CAEManaging Editor

Managing Editor Marjorie C. Bynum, CAEManager, Learning & Communications Diana TungAdvertising/Sales Ken SilversteinSOCAPPresident & CEO Brian Costanzo, CAE

SOCAP Member Services Committee

Committee Chair Pamela Teamer-Yisrael Coca-Cola Refreshments

Board Advisor Andy Begnoche Holdcom

Design and Production www.touch3.comProduction and Distribution Documation

Founded in 1973, SOCAP International represents a thriving global profession of best-in-class customer care experts across all industries. SOCAP is a member-driven organization committed to promoting customer care and customer engagement as a competitive advantage in business. The Association’s members include vice presidents, directors, managers and super-visors of customer care and consumer affairs from top Fortune/Forbes 1000 companies as well as hundreds of business partner organizations. SOCAP provides the educational tools and professional resources to help its members drive business transformation within their companies. Additionally, SOCAP’s exclusive network gives members access to thousands of customer care experts across the globe. Visit www.socap.org for more information on SOCAP International.

Statements of fact and opinion are made on the responsibility of the authors alone and do not imply an opinion on the part of the officers or the members of SOCAP International. The opinions expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect the official positions of employers. Materials may not be reproduced with-out written permission.

COPYRIGHT© 2016 by SOCAP International625 N. Washington St., Suite 304Alexandria, VA 22314(703) 519-3700FAX (703) 549-4886Email: [email protected]: www.socap.org

ustomerR E L AT I O N S H I P M A N A G E M E N Tceditor's letter

59%

SOCAP’s Customer Engagement Framework Tool by the Numbers

63% of our Framework Trailblazers are responsible for providing social-media responses at their organizations. However, only 26% are currently responsible for monitoring, reporting and analytics of social-media data and fewer still (11%) act as the community manager for company-owned social-media sites.

SOCAP’s Customer Engagement Framework is a strategic tool used to assess the current status of a customer care and

engagement function and point the way to future enhancements—primarily B2C. It allows you to assess your present-day

processes and methodologies, understand where you currently are, benchmark against

best practices, and forecast for future improvements and performance. Here’s where we stand of

as of August 2016.

We’ve had 40 Trailblazers participate, representing the following industries:

34% Food & Beverage Manufacturer28% Airlines15% Retail Consumer Goods10% Travel & Hospitality3% Automotive

3% Government3% Household & Personal Care3% Technology & Consumer Electronics3% Cosmetic/Beauty/Hair Care3% OTC (Over-the-Counter Drugs)

Nearly 60% report that consumer affairs is viewed by the company as a value-added resource. But it appears we’ve only begun our strategic journey, as only 7% report corporate stakeholders view this function as a strategic asset..

While a majority (59%) report having some kind of career development and career pathing for their associates, formalized and defined career development plans were used by less than a third of our participants.

To learn more about SOCAP’s Customer Engagement Framework or to participate, please visit: www.socap.org/framework

26%60% 7%

TRENDINGNews & Trends for Customer Care Professionals



Nearly two-thirds of Americans have a smartphone, ac-cording to Pew Research. And, as that trend increases, so does the number of users turning to digital devices

for a wider range of services. In fact, Pew found that 57% rely on their smartphones for online banking, 44% have looked up real estate listings and 43% sought job information, among many other uses.

As consumers increasingly rely on smart devices for everything from shopping to job searching, companies must be able to deliver omni-channel technical support and customer care via apps, chat and text. Here’s why: Companies with well-defined omni-channel customer experience management programs achieve a 91% higher year-over-year increase on average in customer reten-tion, according to the Aberdeen Group (Omni-Channel Contact Center: The Smarter Way to Engage Customers).

Next StepsWhether you are implementing omni-channel

customer support for the first time or enhancing your current offering, you must understand which digital channels the majority of your customer base currently use to connect: phone, social media, online chat or smartphone apps. If you’re trying to engage customers on an underutilized support channel, you’ll be wasting valuable time, effort and resources.

After identifying the digital channels that best align with your existing customer base, the next step is to create or modify the specific digital support “swim lane” process based on the contractual delivery model. For

Whether you’re implementing omni-channel support for the first time or enhancing your

current offering, here’s what you need to know.

4 Tips for Implementing Omni-Channel Support

As you chart your omni-channel journey, keep these things in mind.

1. Make sure your customers are actually using the channel you’d like to add.

2. Factor in new technology and agent training when adding channels.

3. Make sure conversations are personal, regardless of the channel.

4. Be prepared for potential service disruptions, with other channels picking up the slack.

Look Before You Leap Into Omni-channel Support and Customer Care

By Michael Mills


Look Before You Leap Into Omni-channel Support and Customer Care


example, if you’ll be imple-menting text or chat capa-bility as a support model, then traditional service lev-els for voice/phone support will need to be modified to ensure that agent utiliza-tion isn’t compromised. If it’s social-media support, it will be imperative to build a comprehensive workforce management model to ensure that your staffing model is both scalable and flexible during peak times.

Plan AheadThe availability of omni-

channel customer support does not necessarily equate to a company being able to implement it successfully with its customers. Once the required digital customer support channels are identified, it’s important that they align with existing and future technology capabilities.

As a first step, look at the organization’s current resource skills, support processes and technologies and decide what enhancements are needed to support com-prehensive and mature omni-channel customer service, including new technology and agent training. Then, make sure that the organization’s corporate strategy/budget can keep pace with the required financial invest-ments for training and infrastructure. A detailed transi-tion or project plan will be needed so that minimal to no disruption occurs to the existing customer service levels during any potential digital customer support channel implementation.

Make It PersonalWhile channels such as chat and social media may be

perceived as less personal, there are ways to overcome that challenge. In fact, training agents to maintain and deliver communications in a conversational manner in these channels has shown to reduce the stress levels with customers in an omni-channel support environment.

There are many methods that can be employed to allow for personalized and productive conversations on digital channels. This can include staying positive with a frustrated customer by relaying a similar experi-ence when walking through a complicated task, such as troubleshooting a new device or setting up a new account. It’s also important to personalize the conversa-

tion by acknowledging the customer by name, regard-less of the channel.

Factor in DisruptionsFinally, as with any tech-

nology upgrade, an organi-zation must plan for poten-tial service disruptions. If a social-media platform goes down, how can customer inquiries be rerouted? It’s crucial to prepare for po-tential service disruptions and have the ability to scale other support platforms to answer customer inquiries. If an organization fails to plan, then the support envi-ronment created is a “plan to fail” environment for the customer.

Support for customer care via digital channels is expected to grow exponentially. Prior to leaping into an omni-channel support environment with multiple digital support channels, consider whether the channels chosen for your support model are the best fit for your customer.

Furthermore, perform an assessment of your current skills, technologies and infrastructure to ensure that there are no gaps in your ability to provide the desired omni-channel support. And, above all else, keep in mind these famous words, “A happy customer tells a friend; an unhappy customer tells the world.” Providing a positive, efficient customer experience consistently will create a satisfied customer that will continue to drive recurring revenue for your company. CRM

Michael Mills is senior vice president of call center solutions firm CGS. He has led BPO-related organizations special-izing in technical solution design and development and project/transition management delivery for more than 20 years. With his diverse client industry

experience, he has been working with various global com-panies, helping to develop best practices for their world-wide organizations.

Companies with well-defined omni-channel customer experience management programs achieve a 91% higher year-over-year increase on average in customer retention.

[email protected] 800-477-7845 www.tmpwdirect.com

Champion for the world’s best customer experiences.

OmnichannelCustomer Care,Sales Solutions and Fulfillment

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SOCAP is proud to have Aaron Dignan as a keynote speaker at SOCAP's 2016 Annual Conference this October 23-26 in Orlando. He’ll be presenting “The Ever Better Organization: Care in the 21st Century,” where he’ll explore the implications for care in the digital age, as well as the emerging and potential trends that will shape the next decade. His challenge to attendees is to bring a mindset of urgency and possibility to this issue.

As we know, good customer care is predicated on the personalized attention we want to give every customer. This article by Dignan gives insight into how our “analog” interactions with customers still matter just as much as our digital outreach.

I recently visited the headquarters of a Fortune 500 company and asked if I could drop a small notebook at the front desk for a friend who works there. Here’s the exchange that followed:Them: We don’t accept packages of any kind.

Me: Why not? Them: Because we can’t be held respon-sible for loss or damage. Me: It’s a journal still sealed in cello-phane. What could happen? Them: It’s just policy. Me: Could I sign something, relinquish-ing my right to claim any damages if you lose or damage it in the 30 minutes between now and when he picks it up? He really needs it. Them: No. Me: OMG. Them: It’s just policy.

This is not the first time I’ve heard that line. We hear it all the time — whenever we ask for a favor or an exception or a presently unmet customer need. If you’ve heard these words in your workplace, consider that the following might be true:

1. Your policies have unintended consequences. Typically, these sorts of policies are attempting to be one-size-fits-all when the complexity of modern life demands more nuance and flexibility. Our obsession with mini-mizing risk has created umpteen policies that are not user friendly. The policy I encountered above is designed to protect the company from the one-in-1,000 chance that they lose a laptop at the front desk, get sued and lose. But in the process, the other 999 of us get inconvenienced.

2. You don’t trust your own people. Policies that don’t afford people at the front lines the ability to improvise are built on the assumption that consis-tency matters more than context, that the people you’ve hired are morons, and that they can’t be trusted to make decisions. In this case, one of two things is true (and both are bad): Either we have indeed hired poorly, or we aren’t get-ting the full capacity of our people as thinkers and keepers of the customer experience. Based on what we’ve seen in real world examples of self-organizing companies with hourly employees, let’s be clear, the problem isn’t the people.

Here are four reasons you should be reexamining your “policies.”

If the Answer Is “It’s Just Policy,” You’re in Deep Trouble

By Aaron Dignan



3. Your people don’t know why your policies exist. More often than not, when I ask a front-line employee why some-thing isn’t possible, the person on the other side of the desk just shrugs. Tragically, this means they have the burden of enforcement without the benefit of understanding and ownership.

4. Your policies don’t change based on real world data. No one has ever re-sponded to my request by saying, “Sir, our current policy says we can’t accept packages, but I can see how silly that is when we’re talking about a journal, so I’m going to bring this issue to our next policy meet-ing and see if I can’t change it to make it better for you and our other guests. And, of course, today I’ll make an exception for you. Give me the journal and I’ll see that they get it.” That never happens.

When you add up all the assumptions and over-simplification that goes into a “It’s just policy” work environment, you can see how much potential energy is there, trapped and waiting to be free. People are wait-ing to be trusted, waiting to be educated, waiting to participate in their own roles and rules.

In the absence of trust and the ability to change, the organization is brittle. It cannot bend, so it can only break. It can’t evolve at the hands of the people with the most information — the ones at the edge. A firm saddled with dogmatic policy will (usually) avoid the risks it feared, but almost certainly miss the risks it didn’t see — the opportunities to capture new markets, to delight and retain customers, to transcend its current state.

That’s why many organizations today are striving to put adaptability and learning at the center of their operating model, something I wrote about at length in “The Last Re-org You’ll Ever Do.” One of the best first steps comes to us from Fred Laloux’s “Reinventing Or-ganizations.” This exercise is simply to question the as-

sumptions behind our policies.

If we ask people to clock in and out, per-haps we are assuming they’re untrustworthy or bad at time man-agement. If we give bonuses to individu-als instead of teams, perhaps we’re assum-ing that individuals influence outcomes more than teams. The point isn’t that any as-sumption is necessar-ily wrong or right, but that we confront the beliefs that underlie our status quo. That alone can be the start of a real conversation

about change.And that conversation is critical, because a policy

isn’t just a policy, it’s a signal into our way of working and engaging with the world — ideally not as a place to be controlled, but as a dynamic system to navigate and learn from.

P.S. Just for kicks, I took the journal to the mail room around the back of the building. They accepted it with a smile. Take that policy! CRM

Aaron Dignan dressed up like a super hero for 180 straight days of first grade, which marked the beginning of his life as an iconoclast, observer, theorist and per-former. Now, as a founding partner of the digital strategy firm Undercurrent, based in New York, he advises global brands like GE, PepsiCo, Ford and Disney on

their future in an increasingly technophile world. He is also the author of “Game Frame: Using Games as a Strategy for Success.”

They have the burden of enforcement without the benefit of understanding and ownership.

Providing Solutions fromConcept to Consumption


By Shellie Vornhagen

It’s time to implement the “3 Cs” … convenience, conversation, consistency.

3 Keys to Winning at Digital Customer Service


The world has gone mad digital! While this isn’t really news, it’s worth understanding the impact. In a recent global study of digital usage, it was reported that 46% of the total world population uses the internet,

31% are active on social media and 51% are mobile users. Not impressed? What if I told you that those same statistics had year-over-year growth of 10%, 4% and 17% respectively? Those are some astounding statistics. Chances are, even if you were a hold-out initially, you are now using SMS or some social network on a daily basis.

So, how does all of this love for digital channels relate specifical-ly to customer service? According to Gartner, more than 70% of all consumers report they would rather start with self-service. Addi-tionally, 85% report they would rather chat with an agent than talk to them on the phone. Connect Mogul reports 43% of smartphone owners use their phone to make calls, but over 70% of smartphone users text from their phone. The evidence is overwhelming that digital is here, it’s growing and it’s not going away.

Brands are attempting to deliver the outstanding service cus-tomers expect, while constantly trying to cope with the next big thing—no wonder so many are overwhelmed! No doubt these are tricky waters to navigate, but the great news is that customers would rather see companies making an effort and being imperfect than limiting their options to only a few channels. As you think through your strategy, keep in mind a few simple guidelines that will move you closer to what your customers really want: be conve-nient, be conversational and be consistent.

Be convenient. The days of promoting an 800 number and expecting people to wait patiently in a queue for their call to be answered in the order it was received … are long gone. Today’s consumers want to be met where and when they choose. So, where are they?

Some are coming to your website and some are using your app and a bunch of them are using social media. But, the fastest growing digital channel is messenger apps. Nearly one in seven people on the planet use the messaging app WhatsApp monthly. Facebook Messenger has just exceeded 1 billion (with a B) users a month, with WeChat just behind that at 700 million users every month. It only makes sense for brands to go where the consumers already are.

Another aspect of being convenient is being available on your customers’ time, not just your own. Self-service options are an essential part of the answer. The more robust your self-service, the less pressure to have human agents available in off hours. Imagine a solution where self-service is provided by a bot that can under-stand the intent of the question, then determine the best available way to answer the consumer’s request, then provide the answer back to them consistently and accurately, no matter the time of day. This is the future of customer service.

The “3Cs” in a Nutshell

Here is food for thought on provid-ing superior digital customer service now and into the future.

u Be convenient: Consumers want to be met where and when they choose. So where are they? Nearly one in seven people on the planet use the messaging app WhatsApp monthly, and 85% say they’d rather chat with an agent than talk to them on the phone.

u Be conversational: By 2020, 85% of all customer service interactions will be done without a human, so technology needs to be able to interpret the informa-tion into a human friendly answer and provide it back in the channel where the question was originally asked.

u Be consistent: Consum-ers want to feel like they can float freely among channels and devices and know that you’ll be right there with them. If it feels like starting over, there is a much higher chance they’ll start over with your competitor instead.


Gartner reports that by 2020, 85% of all customer service interactions will be done without a human. Don’t get me wrong, there will always be a need for human interaction, but reserving those for when it is really needed is key to scaling. And having robust capabilities in that area reduces the chance of fric-tion when someone isn’t available for a customer to escalate to.

Be conversational. Customers want to have a relationship with your brand, not to interface with it. They want to find you on channels where they are, and then be able to have a conversation. They have grown tired of filling out forms and submitting requests. They just want to talk, in a way that feels natu-ral. Are you feeling warm and fuzzy yet? Probably not, if you are thinking about the amount of resources needed to provide this level of service to every consumer. But this is where technology can help.

Natural language processing (NLP) allows a con-sumer to ask a question the way they would speak it. The technology is then able to analyze the question, break it apart and determine the intent of the question. For example: Asking a coffee shop, “Where do I buy your cof-fee beans?” has an entirely different intent than “Where do you buy your coffee beans?” While only one word is different in the sentence, the question being asked is not the same. Having the ability to interpret plain language is the first step to being conversational.

Once the system understands the question, it needs to be smart enough to figure out the right way to answer it. For example, it may be necessary to engage in a dialog to collect additional information in order to provide the right answer. That information can then be used to decide whether the answer should come from a knowl-edgebase, another resource on your website, a trusted third party website, or an integration into a related business system.

Regardless of the source of the answer, the technology

needs to be able to inter-pret the information into a human friendly answer and provide it back in the channel where the ques-tion was originally asked. In some cases, the system will not be able to serve up an answer, in which case the request should be seamlessly escalated to a human.

The key is to make it feel like you are having a conversation, rather than forcing your customers to figure out how to interact with your website, app, etc. Even better is if you can have a continuous conver-sation with them by having relevant context follow the consumer from channel to channel. This way, they never have to start over, making the interaction feel

that much more natural.

Be consistent. Consistency is equally important across devices and channels. Consumers want to feel like they can float freely among them and know that you will be right there with them, like a trusted friend. Many brands have separate teams building out experi-ences for different channels. For example, their website team might have mapped out a beautiful self-service model for the company site. But, the experience to get help with that same question in the app is completely different (or non-existent). This creates friction in the journey as the consumer has to reorient themselves and may not be able to continue the conversation with your brand when switching from laptop to phone. If it feels like starting over, there is a much higher chance that they will start over with your competitor instead.

Design a single framework for self-service and intel-ligent escalation that can be applied across different devices and channels. Bring together the teams that are involved and think through how the experience can be provided, including:

• How can it be optimized for the size of the device? • How can you have the right data flow among chan-nels to ensure that the customer can pick up where

Design a single frame-work for self-service and intelligent escala-tion that can be applied across different devices and channels.

they left off? • What’s the best way to de-liver answers for each of the channels you will support? • How can technology help ensure this is a seamless process? Not only will this make

maintenance of your existing channels easier, it will also allow you to add the newest channel more smoothly. Finally, you can realize some economies of scale by not having to redo the entire process for every new channel that emerges. And if there is anything we’ve learned dur-ing this digital revolution, it’s that there is always “the next channel.”

Allowing customers to interact with you when and how they want is no longer a dream. Smart technology makes it possible by allowing you to reach your consum-ers on their laptop, tablet, phone … on your website, in-app, or via a messenger platform. It provides a frame-

work that lets you use your re-sources to the absolute fullest while giving your customers fast, friendly, accurate service that keeps them coming back.

Close your eyes and envision one model that allows you to be convenient, conversational and consistent. Ah, yes! Now you are seeing the future of

digital customer service and your customers will love you for it. CRM

Shellie Vornhagen is the vice presi-dent of marketing for Astute Solutions, a leading provider of smart consumer engagement solutions. A veteran in the software industry, she is passionate about using technology to improve people’s day-to-day lives.

Customers want to have a relationship with your brand, not to interface with it.

24-7 IntouchAbercrombie & FitchAce Center for ExcellenceAdvantone, Inc.Ainsworth Pet NutritionAllPoints Foodservice Parts & SuppliesAlta ResourcesAmerican Honda Motor Co.Andersen Windows, Inc.Ann, Inc.Ansafone Contact CentersAnswerNet, Inc.Anthem - AIM Specialty HealthAryztaAspect SoftwareAssociated BankAstute SolutionsAvtex Solutions LLCBayer HealthCare LLCBeech-NutBeiersdorf, Inc.Bimbo Bakeries USABlue Diamond GrowersBMW of North AmericaBolthouse FarmsCampbell Soup CompanyCanada Bread CompanyChurch & Dwight Co., Inc.Coca-Cola RefreshmentsColgate-Palmolive CompanyCombe IncorporatedComputer Generated Solutions (CGS)ConAgra Foods

ConsumerAffairs.comContactUS CommunicationsConvergent OutsourcingConvergys CorporationCoty Inc.Crayola, LLCCX SolutionsCybersafe SolutionsDanoneDean Foods CompanyDelta Airlines, IncDirect WinesDiva International Inc.Domino’s Pizza LLCDonnelly CommunicationsDr. Pepper Snapple GroupE&J Gallo WineryEconomical InsuranceEdgewell Personal CareElizabeth ArdenElmer’s ProductsEmblemHealthEstee Lauder CompaniesEventus Solutions GroupExpressFCAFido SolutionsFlagstar BankFord Motor CompanyGeneral Mills, Inc.General Motors CompanyGeorgia-Pacific CorporationGlaxoSmithKline Consumer HealthcareGM Voices, Inc.Guthy-Renker Corporation

Harte HanksHGSHKT TeleservicesHOLDCOMHyundai Motor AmericaInfoCision ManagementInktel Contact Center SolutionsInteractive Intelligence, Inc.InterContinental Hotels GroupIpsosJarden Consumer SolutionsJohnson & JohnsonKellogg CompanyKelly Services, Inc.Kia Motors America, Inc.Kimberly-Clark CorporationKraft Heinz CompanyL’OrealLand O’Lakes, Inc.Lilly USA, LLCMAI BPO SolutionsMaple Leaf FoodsMarriott Vacations WorldwideMars, IncorporatedMcCain Foods USA, Inc.McCormick & Company, Inc.Molson Coors CanadaMorley Companies, Inc.Morton SaltNBTY Inc.NestleNewell RubbermaidNext Caller

Niagara Bottling, LLCNissan North AmericaOmaha SteaksOraclePalladio USPeoples Natural GasPepsiCo Beverages and FoodsPier 1 Imports, IncPost Consumer BrandsPremiere Response/ American Customer CarePro OutsourcingPublishers Clearing HouseRB LLCRDI CorporationRed LobsterRevlon Consumer ProductsRoche Diabetes Care, Inc.RQA, Inc.Sargento Foods Inc.Shutterstock, Inc.Silver Star BrandsSkybridge AmericasSleepy’sSnyder’s-LanceSpectrum BrandsSPi GlobalSpokeo, Inc.Starwood Hotels and ResortsStericycle ExpertSOLUTIONSStrategic Products and ServicesSurePayroll, Inc.Sutherland Global ServicesSweetwaterT. Marzetti Company

TelerxTeleTechThe Clorox CompanyThe Hershey CompanyThe J. M. Smucker CompanyThe Scotts Miracle Gro CompanyThe Toro CompanyTMP DirectTMS Health, A Xerox CompanyTravelzooUnileverUnited AirlinesUniversal OrlandoValue Pay Services Inc (Subway)Vera BradleyVIPdesk ConnectVirgin AmericaVolkswagen of America, Inc.Wakefern Food Corp.Walmart.comWalsh Media, Inc.Warehouse GoodsWellPetWells Fargo Bank N.A.Whataburger RestaurantsWhiteWave Foods CompanyWileyWilke GlobalWorld Connection, S.A.

(List as of 9/14/2016)

SOCAP Proudly Acknowledges our 2016 Corporate Members

Become a corporate member today! Visit socap.org


Social Media and Pharma by the Numbers

These stats give a quick take on social media in the pharmaceutical industry, and are from the report published by C3i Healthcare Connections (Telerx):

u 60% use social media for public relations monitoring

u 60% are currently targeting patients

u 57% use it for brand monitoring

u 43% use it for customer service

u 40% offer product inquiry support through social platforms

u 40% say their social-media pro-grams are “effective” or better

Concerns include:u 53% = quantifying ROI

u 43% = volume of posts and re-sources needed to monitor/engage

u 40% = have no social-media roles staffed

u 36% = integrating social media with other channels for reporting

u 30% = ability to respond in a timely and consistent manner


Recently, C3i Healthcare Connections completed a benchmarking report designed to evaluate the current life sciences social-media landscape. Not surprisingly, the survey of global pharma professionals found that a

lingering apprehension over social platforms continues to shape social-media participation.

These concerns aren’t rooted in purely regulatory or operational factors either. For more than half of the survey respondents (53%), quantifying return on investment was a primary concern and the main reason why some companies are still hesitant to invest in social media. This is despite the fact that social media is an integral source of information sharing and gathering, especially among healthcare consumers.

Furthermore, when implemented as a tool to provide consumer support, effective social-media interactions can result in improved patient satisfaction, program adherence and consumer retention.

Shifting the Focus to the PatientWhile the public relations and brand monitoring purposes of

social media are more common among those who are currently participating on social media (used by 60% and 57% of survey re-spondents, respectively), the consumer care aspect of social media is often overlooked within the life sciences industry. Less than half of respondents—43%—are using social media for customer service, and even less, 40%, offer product inquiry support through social platforms.

Providing customer care via social media has not been a point

The concerns may be real, but social media can be another tool in the arsenal to developing positive relationships with patients and caregivers.

By John MacDaniel

What’s Holding Pharma Back From Social Customer Care?


of focus for the pharma industry. Yet today, consumer and patient expectations have been set by other industries, and social customer care has become the status quo. The survey found that patients are an “audience of interest,” with 60% of respondents currently targeting patients and another 13% planning to focus on patient engage-ment within the next 12 months. (Keep in mind that these numbers reflect content development, not social interaction that would take place once a patient or caregiver posted a comment on the initial content.)

At a time when many pharmaceutical com-panies are seeking to become more patient-centered, not product-focused, social media can be another tool in the arsenal to developing positive relationships with patients and caregivers.

Outlining Strategy Before InteractionEven within the highly regulated life sciences envi-

ronment, it is possible to provide consumer care, with consideration to these strategic steps.

First, companies need to define clear expectations. Compliance within the regulatory framework is key. Some conversations simply cannot take place in public social forums, but others can. When developing a so-cial-media customer care program, life sciences compa-nies need to clearly outline the scope and parameters of social customer care efforts: the who (would be trained to interact), what (post can and cannot be responded to) and where (interaction can take place).

As in any public forum, documented engagement strategies should precede interaction. By developing specific guidelines that outline clear and consistent interaction, content approval, social adverse event identification and escalation procedures, pharma com-panies can adequately prepare for interaction on social

media.Keep these tips in

mind:• Once a plan is in place, remember to be flexible.• Prepare for live engage-ment by identifying expected inquiries and needs. • Develop preapproved response templates and provide training to em-power support personnel to freely provide respons-es for standard requests. • Outline clear escalation procedures to expedite unique inquiries, keeping in mind that the tradi-tional week-long approval processes just won’t cut it on social media.

Addressing Barriers to Implementation

Successful engagement initiatives often begin with a single brand or

project. Companies interested in venturing into social consumer care are best suited to first test the waters with a limited scope to gain experience and hone in on best practices before expanding.

For many, mapping out processes to logistically man-age social-media activities (regarding consumer care, and beyond) can be daunting. This challenge is evident with 43% of survey respondents citing concerns with the volume of social-media posts and resources needed to monitor and engage, 36% citing concerns with inte-grating social media with other channels for insight-ful reporting, and 30% concerned with their ability to respond in a timely and consistent manner.

Perhaps these practical concerns stem from staffing issues, as the survey found that 40% of survey partici-pants have no social-media roles staffed at all. Although other industries are rapidly expanding their social-media footprint—and are further along in defining social-media roles and support within their organiza-tions—many within this industry are still in the process of identifying the best method for structuring social-media activities across brands and departments.

53% say quantifying return on investment

was … the main reason why some companies are still hesitant to invest in

social media.

Integrating Customer Care to Improve Program Effectiveness

Relevant social participation is important, and the effectiveness of social programs is the true measure of success—and what will influence pharmaceutical companies to continue to adopt and advance their social-media programs. In the survey, respondents rated their own social program effectiveness, with a majority calling their programs “somewhat effective” (57%) and only 13% citing that their programs are “very effective” or “extremely effective.”

Less than half of the respondents (40%) described their social-media programs as “effective” or better. This rating indicates an industry whose confidence in social media is still maturing, and points to the tremen-dous amount of opportunity to improve social-media presence and participation, including customer care programs. As experience with social listening, targeted

content and valuable two-way interaction expands, the industry can expect to see greater confidence and suc-cess with social media. CRM

John MacDaniel is senior director of digital and voice of the consumer at Telerx and has more than 25 years of experience in the contact center industry. Since 2008, he has focused on social media, and works with a number of Fortune 500 companies, helping them leverage their contact center operations to provide engagement and

monitoring, and providing them a reporting solution that ana-lyzes social media and traditional contact center activity.

Companies need to clearly outline the scope and parameters of social customer care.

℠ We are a team of experts with years of experience who provide practical solutions that assure compliance to the satisfaction of regulatory authorities. Is your CRS system validated? Are you ready if FDA comes knocking? Do you have a recall plan? Are you prepared if you experience a security breach? Check out our website for more info!

CONTACT US TODAY Office: 862-701-6222

[email protected] Www.GalanteLLC.com

℠ We are a team of experts with years of experience who provide practical solutions that assure compliance to the satisfaction of regulatory authorities. Is your CRS system validated? Are you ready if FDA comes knocking? Do you have a recall plan? Are you prepared if you experience a security breach? Check out our website for more info!

CONTACT US TODAY Office: 862-701-6222

[email protected] Www.GalanteLLC.com


We are living in the age of the customer. Today’s consumers know more, expect more and demand first-class service, yet are significantly less loyal.

With 2020 just around the corner, who will win? Argu-ably, the world’s most innovative companies—those that can anticipate the future needs of their digital customers and use those predictions to create memorable customer experiences.

In the past six years, digital disruption has revo-lutionized industries around the globe. Research presented by Sandy Carter at IBM for Entrepre-neurs in 2015 nicely demonstrates that disruption has already happened; the world’s largest taxi company owns no taxis (Uber), the largest accom-modation provider owns no real estate (Airbnb), the most popular media owner creates no content (Facebook), the largest telecom operator owns no telecom infrastructure (Skype and WeChat), the world’s largest software vendors don’t write the apps (Apple and Google) and the world’s largest movie house owns no cinemas (Netflix).

Customer Service Is No ExceptionThe customer service industry is no exception to

disruption. The explosion of digital, the empowered customer and the acceleration of enterprise-wide innovation has forced brands to transform the way they communicate and service their customers.

The customer of 2020 will be more informed and in charge of the experiences they receive. They will expect companies to know their needs as an individual and then personalize the experience. Even immediate issue resolution will not be fast enough; customers will expect the brands they do business with to proactively anticipate their needs, and provide self-service options that go far beyond a simple FAQ page.

To prepare for the expected customer experi-ence in 2020, customer service professionals must

By Lauren Kindzierski-Ziskie

10 Customer Experience Trends to Watch

As we look forward to 2020, we’re going to experience everything from disruption to digital transformation.


10 Trends in 2 Minutes

As 2020 approaches, keep these trends on your radar.

1. Millennials demand effortless experiences and immediate answers, profoundly chang-ing customer engagement strategies.

2. Customer-centric organizations must know what the customer is thinking in the mo-ment, so analytics are key.

3. When it comes to the Internet of Things, self-service is leading the way.

4. Augmented reality is a strategic differentia-tor for companies to evolve tech support.

5. Teams that have been siloed must align and work cohesively for successful digital transformation.

6. Chatbots will unlock a brand’s ability to pro-vide personalized communication for much cheaper than a traditional call center.

7. Contextual knowledge bases will be created for personalization and prediction.

8. Customer intelligence and real-time dash-boards will help personalize engagement.

9. Text and mobile will help teams offer proac-tive service, giving the customer an option to fix an issue before it occurs.

10. Self service will evolve to become a more dynamic help center, presenting the best channel for resolution based on the ques-tions being asked.


reflect upon the disruption, changes and trends that have impacted the service industry, and ultimately help move their organiza-tions towards transforma-tion … digital transforma-tion, that is.

Here are the disruptions, changes and trends that are shaping today’s service industry

1. Customer experience is driven by omni-channel, mobile and Millennials. Millennial customers—75.4 million in the United States alone—are about to become the most impor-tant (and disruptive) customers that businesses have ever seen. Millennials have surpassed the Baby Boomer genera-tion, and are about to control the largest share of wallet as well. According to Forbes, it’s estimated they will spend $200 billion annually by 2017 and $10 trillion over their con-sumer lifetimes.

Millennials are ultra-connected with their social networks, value individualized experiences, transparency, as well as vocalizing their feedback. Armed with multiple devices and on-demand content, this group has the highest expectations when it comes to service. They demand effortless experi-ences—and answers within seconds, not minutes—profoundly changing customer engagement strategies across the globe.

2. Customer intelligence and analytics is es-

sential. Over the past decade, data analytics teams have learned how to decode contact center transcripts made up of unstructured data to provide an accurate and holistic view of the customer experience. Deci-phering the customer experience has been pivotal in shaping business decisions across the enterprise. For this reason, brands are moving away from information delivery and towards enterprise accessibility.

Last month’s reports are too outdated to make any immediate actions needed to better the experience of customers. To keep up with the competition, customer-centric organizations must know what the customer is

thinking at the time they are thinking it. Therefore, the demand for analytics teams, data and real-time dashboards has increased over the past few years, and their presence is help-ing companies shape their future customer engage-ment strategies.

3. The Internet of Things is increas-ing the emphasis on self-service. The Internet of Things is one form of digital dis-

ruption forcing customer service professionals to rethink their customer engagement and service

delivery models. The Internet of Things is wirelessly connecting physical objects like

thermostats and door locks so they can interact with software and sensors and also collect and exchange data. The connectiv-ity allows these physical objects to be controlled remotely via smartphone apps.

Customer service teams tasked with servicing these

products are finding that lead-ing with a self-service strategy is key. For companies, it is es-

sential to ensure their knowledge base is accessible from all products, devices and mobile apps and is updated with easy-to-read product manuals that contain more visuals and videos and are organized by subject. If self-service fails, the customer service pro-fessional has the ability to tap into the physical object to diagnose and predict problems, assist via video and access past purchase history to provide a better person-alized experience.

4. Augmented reality has been a game chang-er. AR is a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment with augmented elements created by computer-generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. The best way to describe AR is a blur between virtual reality and gamification—think Pokemon Go. AR technology has been a strategic differentiator for companies to evolve tech support. With the help of augmented reality, consumers can aim their smartphone at a product, and a 3D version of the product will pop up on the screen, along with interac-tive guides, how-to videos, helpful tips or even the abil-

The customer of 2020 will be more informed

and in charge of the experiences

they receive.


ity to connect with a customer service representative via video.

5. Teams will be reorganized to optimize and integrate digital touch points. Right now the formal process of digital transformation is still in its infancy. With the explosion of digital, organizations are in the process of realigning themselves to serve mar-ket demand, which affects the roles and objectives of marketing, public relations, sales, social media, website development, mobile and customer service. These once siloed teams must align and work cohesively for suc-cessful digital transformation.

Brands must also make additional investments in technology, people and new business models to effec-tively engage digital customers at every touchpoint in the customer journey. One of these investments will be in data analytics to learn about digital customer behavior, preferences, emotions and expectations to better service their needs. Other investments will include outsourced partner-ships with BPOs, or business process outsourcing firms, with the people, processes and technology needed to service digital customers and charge on an outcome basis, or per conversation.

One of the biggest benefits to this variable pricing mod-el is no heavy upfront capi-tal investments are needed for technology and tools that may become outdated in a few years as technology changes so fast. Once these investments are made, expect the customer experience of 2020 to be effortless and personalized.

6. Get ready, the bots are coming. By now, most have heard of the chatbot, short for chat robot, that has quickly become the hottest new tech innovation. A chatbot is a computer program that simu-lates human conversation, or chat, through artificial intel-ligence. Chatbots can respond to customers with structured messages including text, im-

ages, links and call to action buttons. The bots allow a customer make a reservation, pay a bill, find the nearest store, review an e-commerce order and more, all with-out human interaction.

Chatbots unlock brands’ ability to provide personal-ized, conversational communication similar to talking to a human customer service or sales rep, but at scale, for much cheaper than a traditional call center. For this reason, be prepared to see chatbots (and other forms of automation) being deployed across service channels such as chat, social and SMS by 2020, as organizations undergo digital transformations.

7. Contextual knowledge bases will be cre-ated for personalization and prediction. Customer engagement is fueled by customer data. Understanding what customers have done, what channels they’ve used, what products they’ve purchased, and what service interactions they’ve had, are all important data sources

that can be used to build predictive models for issue resolution.

As companies gain a deeper understanding of customers through research and predic-tive analytics, they will use that information to develop more individual-ized customer experiences. Delivering the customer experience of 2020 will require more than a knowledge base. Instead, it will leverage a contex-tual knowledge base that

can be used by both agents and customers, which predicts the right answer based on that

particular customer’s data, situation, location and needs. The end result is faster responses, increased

issue resolution, reduced customer effort and happier customers.

8. Customer intelligence and real-time dashboards will help personalize engagement. Customer experience in 2020 will include real-time voice-of-the-cus-tomer dashboards for service

professionals to keep a pulse on customer sentiment and

With the help of augment-ed reality, consumers

can aim their smartphone at a product, and a 3D version of the

product will pop up.


feedback. This single dash-board will capture relevant data points in real time and use text analytics to decode what’s being said and the sentiment towards each topic, such as: phone call transcripts (voice-to-text), social-media conversations, product rating and reviews, chat logs, idea portals and customer online community discussions.

This customer intelligence will help cus-tomer care centers proactively identify a PR crisis waiting to happen, capture new ideas and uncover quality or warranty issues, spot trends, fix problems, and most importantly, personalize engagement with the customer.

9. Text and mobile com-munication will help teams offer proactive service. Historically, customer service has been viewed as a reac-tion to customer needs. For example, if the customer has a problem, they call customer service. It’s rarely the other way around, where customer service proactively reaches out to the customer. Michael Solomon, author of “High-Tech, High-Touch Customer Service” describes the concept of anticipatory customer service, where companies predict customer needs and proactively address them before the customer even realizes they have a need.

Anticipating a customer’s needs gives companies an opportunity to provide a “WOW” experience or fix a problem before it amplifies. Customer experience in 2020 will have more proactive SMS alerts and mobile app push notifications to customers to alert them of is-sues like a credit card on file about to experience, fraud alerts, order status updates, bill charges out of the norm or subscriptions due to expire. All of these examples could prevent a customer from having to engage a cus-tomer service agent by giving the customer an option to fix an issue before it occurs.

10. Consumers will use “strategic” self ser-vice. The mobile revolution has consumers placing high demand on customer service to evolve support models and resolve issues on the go, via mobile or tablet devices. The trend towards self-service is growing significantly, es-

pecially due to the cost-sav-ings benefits achieved. There are many different forms of self service—from FAQs on a website, how-to videos, peer-to-peer communities, idea portals, top tip guides and more.

Consumers ultimately want to resolve their issues quickly without having to

go through the hassle of picking up a phone to speak to an agent. However, it’s not enough to

just have these self-service channels available to customers. The 2020 customer experience will take a

strategic self-service approach. For example, organiza-tions will know and understand

what the current issue resolution rate is on the help center. Brands will leverage interaction ana-lytics to understand the top con-tact drivers and top-searched questions by customer location to evolve their service offerings. Lastly, self service will evolve beyond a simple FAQ page to a more dynamic help center presenting the best channel for

resolution based on the ques-tions being asked.

With technology emerging and changing so fast, orga-nizations have no choice but to innovate and transform, or else risk becoming obsolete. Digital transformation represents the next big evolution in the customer service industry. Those companies that embrace it early on, and make strategic investments, will hold a significant com-petitive advantage over those that choose to figure it out later. CRM

Lauren Kindzierski-Ziskie is vice president of solutions and capabili-ties at HGS, a leader in optimizing the customer experience and helping clients become more competitive. HGS provides a full suite of business process manage-ment services, from traditional voice

contact center services and transformational DigiCX services that are unifying the customer experience. To learn more or ask a question, follow her on Twitter @LaurenZiskie or email her at [email protected].

Customers will expect the brands they do business with to

proactively anticipate their needs.

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Why Cybersecurity Matters What we see in the news

now is a ripple compared with the cybercrime tsunami bearing down on all of us. Here are five steps you can take now.


In April 2015, the Federal Communications Commission an-nounced that it had fined AT&T $25 million for failing to protect its customers’ personal information. The names and Social Security

numbers of hundreds of thousands of wireless users were stolen from AT&T call centers. This information was then sold to unauthor-ized third parties and used for nefarious purposes.

AT&T is certainly not alone. The number and severity of data breaches has increased considerably over the past several years. Although there is significantly more media attention on cybercrime in the last two years than there has been in the previous 20, what we see in the news now is a ripple compared with the cybercrime tsunami bearing down on organizations of all sizes and all industries.

The NumbersAs cybersecurity has become more mainstream, our overall

understanding of the impact that cybercrime has on business-

Getting Cyber Fit

Here are some best practices that your orga-nization can implement as you move toward becoming cyber secure.

u Know what hardware, software and data you have in place.

u Have a rapid detection and response com-ponent to your cybersecurity program.

u Monitor all internet traffic as well as traffic to and from critical assets.

u Have an incident response plan in place—one that you’ll execute.

u Implement standard and secure con-figurations, sometimes known as a “Gold Image.”

u Limit who in your organization has admin-istrator privileges.

u Require all employees to take annual secu-rity awareness training.

By Craig Naylor


es is gaining more fidelity:• Cost per compromised record is $158. (Fortune, June 2016)• Successful attacks jumped 176% year over year. (Bloom-berg, July 2015)• The average time an intruder goes undetected within an organization’s network is 205 days. (The Economist, November 2015)• Cybercrime surpassed traditional crime in the U.K in 2015, accounting for 53% of all crimes. (Forbes, August 2016)However, not all businesses report data breaches for

a variety of reasons (bad press, brand protection, avoid-ance of law enforcement scrutiny, etc.), so estimates vary widely as to cybercrime’s adverse effect on businesses. Additionally, many small and medium-sized businesses whose systems have been compromised go out of busi-ness soon after suffering a data breach, unwilling and unable to follow data breach laws as they struggle to keep their business solvent while it is in its final death throes. As a result, the real numbers are not entirely reliable.

What the experts do agree on is that cybercrime is in its infancy and the reward/risk ratio is heavily skewed toward the reward side, especially when taking into ac-count jurisdiction considerations. Hackers in Russia and China, for instance, have little to fear if they compro-mise millions of U.S. records (customer, patient, bank accounts, etc.).

The Real Impact of a Data BreachUnfortunately for AT&T, as well as other organizations

that have been victimized by cybercrime, the costs of a data breach can be enormous, even though there is great difficulty quantifying cybercrime costs. While there is some alchemy involved in coming up with hard num-

bers, there are a handful of business-impacting areas that are generally accepted as intersection points for cybercrime, which are in the accompanying chart.

1. Know your network. The first step in securing an organization against a cy-ber threat is knowing what needs to be secured.

• Know what hardware you have.• Know what software you have.• Know what data you have.

2. Continually look for weaknesses and compro-mises—and take action. While perimeter security is a worthwhile endeavor, prevention eventually fails. There-fore, organizations must also include a rapid detection and response component to their cybersecurity program if they wish to prevent a small compromise of an employ-ee laptop from escalating into a full-blown data breach and public relations nightmare.

• Scan for external and internal vulnerabilities. • Monitor all internet traffic as well as traffic to/from critical assets.• Aggregate, correlate and monitor logs from strategic assets (DNS, servers, firewalls, etc.) since most intru-sions leave breadcrumbs.• Take action when vulnerabilities and anomalies sur-face, which means having an incident response plan.Proactively look for compromises as opposed to as-suming your network is secure.

3. Patch and securely configure everything with an IP address. Default configurations and unpatched IT assets not only enable the initial compromise, but once an intruder has gained a foothold within an enterprise,

a lack of good configuration and patching hygiene allows an attacker easy access to the rest of an organization’s internal assets. • Aggressively patch and update all operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.), third-party applications (Java, Flash, Adobe Reader, etc.) and network devices (switches, routers, firewalls, Wi-Fi, etc.)

Cost Increases Revenue DecreasesInvestigation/detection/recovery/containment Brand/reputation/public relationsWire fraud and bank account access Direct customer impact (ID theft)Productivity loss C-suite and board-level liabilityFines/litigation/settlements/legal fees Customer trustCustomer notification Customer acquisition impactCustomer credit monitoring service (Experian, etc.) Customer retention impact

Impact on Businesses Victimized by Cybercrime

Cybercrime is in its infancy and the reward/risk ratio is heavily skewed toward the reward side.


• Implement standard and secure configura-tions across the enter-prise, sometimes known as a “Gold Image.”• Use robust configura-tion management and change control processes to identify unauthor-ized modifications to IT assets.

4. Limit administrator privileges. Much of the malware used to compro-mise systems requires a user with administrative privileges. Otherwise, the malware will not install if it is clicked on inadvertently.

• Do not allow end users to have administrator access to their worksta-tions.• Do not allow system administrators to log into email or surf the web with administrator accounts.• Do not allow software to run with administrator privileges.• Force software vendors to explain why their applica-tions require administrator privileges.

5. Implement a robust cybersecurity awareness training program. The majority of compromises that are successful occur due to an employee clicking on a link or attachment in an email, or visiting a malicious site. While it’s unrealistic to expect employee training to result in perfect compliance, a modest security awareness train-ing program can bring down an organization’s click rate (the number of employees who are prone to click on mali-cious content) from 30% to 3%.

• Require all employees to take annual security aware-ness training.• Baseline your employees’ predisposition to click on malicious emails, which is the primary vector that ransomware and other malicious code enters an orga-nization.• Simulate phishing attacks against your employees on an ongoing basis.• Track training metrics, such as who completed the

training and who didn’t, and see if this correlates to actual click rates during simulated phishing at-tacks.• Throughout the year, require employees to take short, on-demand refresher courses as the cyber land-scape changes and as click-ing metrics dictate.

The above recommen-dations go a long way towards helping organi-zations strengthen their security posture. While they don’t address all cyber threats, they can help put an enterprise on the path to a strong cybersecurity program. What is impor-tant for all organizations to understand is that cyber-security is not a one size fits all, “set it and forget it” proposition. Instead, it is an important busi-ness process that must continually evolve as your company grows and as the

cyber threat adapts. Also, SOCAP members can provide a united front by requiring commonly used contact center and CRM products to follow cybersecurity best practices. CRM

Craig Naylor is the chief technology officer for Cybersafe Solutions, a leading cybersecurity firm specializing in rapid detection and response. As a highly ac-complished practitioner in cybersecuri-ty, he advises senior executives, presents at seminars, participates on panels

and is an adjunct instructor at the first NSA-certified Cybersecurity Center. He has broad industry experience in government, having worked for NASA, Nielsen, AT&T, Dell, NASDAQ and JP Morgan over the course of his career.

A modest security awareness training program can bring down the number of employees who click on malicious content from 30% to 3%.


Issue and Crisis Management in the Digital WorldInformation can spread at an unprecedented speed, especially in the hands of consumers. Here’s what you need to know before an issue or crisis hits.


The evolution of digital communication and social media has for-ever changed how consumers react to the powerful images that inevitably emerge in crisis situations. In today’s digital world,

business policies and procedures need to recognize the potential impact of information that can travel at an unprecedented speed. Understanding what is being said about your company or brand is fundamental, and companies have responded by adding head count, entire departments or using media tracking services that monitor the company’s name and flag it when associated with potentially nega-tive stories.

Consumer affairs organizations play a key role in taking appropriate actions during the emergence of an issue so that it doesn’t become a crisis. Should a serious issue such as a recall occur, consumer affairs can be a primary con-duit of the company’s message.

Crisis management plans and call center training manuals should be periodically evalu-ated and refreshed to reflect emerging issues. Several approaches are available to predict future issues, so that proper strategies can be developed to quickly and effectively counter negative responses and mitigate risk, wherever and whatever the source. A comprehensive review of potential issues may include these issues.

Ingredient sourcing has become an area of controversy. GMO, or genetically modified organism, and country-of-origin labeling has exposed formulated products to intensive scrutiny.

• Camera on mobile phones have turned everyone with a cell phone into a photogra-pher. If a consumer finds an objectionable product on the shelves and starts blogging about it, your label may be prominently displayed in a photo or video. • Incidents may involve a competitive brand, but all of the same product type, e.g. all peanut butter, airbags or ground beef, may experience the fallout.

By Mary Ann Platt

Staying Ahead of the Issue

Here are some factors to keep in mind as you prepare your organi-zation for a potential crisis or issue. u It’s important to know what is

being said about your com-pany or brand in real time.

u Proactive engagement on so-cial media may help develop a solid reputation before a crisis.

u Know who “owns” online communications in a crisis, before it happens.

u Make robust procedures and training in the event a product tampering or threat a priority.

u Ask yourself: Do all call center agents know how to handle a call, email or text like this?


• Food scandals outside your normal sphere of sourcing and distribution may prompt rumors about your products. Does your honey supplier source from China? Could you be impli-cated in their ongoing antibiotic scandals?• Consider topics that might evoke strong emotional reactions, such as stories of illness and death among children, elderly, immune-com-promised and preg-nant women. Injuries or fatalities related to your industry’s sec-tor or products and the associated response should be incorporated into complaint and crisis management procedures.There are significant regulatory considerations in the

management of consumer complaints and are currently top of mind for those in the Food and Drug Administra-tion (FDA) regulated food and beverage industries.

• Large companies must comply with the Food Safety Modernization Act’s (FSMA) Preventive Controls for Human Food in September of this year. Once preven-tive controls are established, verification activities are required to ensure they are consistently imple-mented and effective. While the final rule does not establish a requirement to review consumer com-plaints as a verification activity, the FDA does encour-age such a review to improve the facility’s food safety system. • The FDA has had unprecedented records access since 2012, under the FSMA Interim Final Rule on Records Access. In the past, the FDA needed to have “credible evidence” that a food would cause adverse health consequences in order to request access to the records—including consumer complaint records. Today they need only have “reasonable belief.”• Historically, for a food associated with a serious adverse health consequence or death, the FDA was authorized to access records directly related to the implicated foods only. Today they have the authority to view and copy the records of other foods that may have been impacted, including complaint and adverse

event records. • The FDA expects to see closure of com-plaints in a timely fashion, with the ap-propriate actions taken if complaint records indicate meeting a threshold for a potential recall. Complaint han-dling procedures should include escalation triggers with targeted response times.• Electronic records must also be retained and protected accord-ing to a company’s established records retention policies, meet-ing consumer privacy act requirements as well as complying with

such diverse regulations as California’s Electronic Discovery Act and comparable legislation in other states. This law states that in the event of threatened or actual litigation, email or other electronic docu-ments may not be destroyed. • FSMA’s Focused Mitigation Strategies to Protect Food Against Intentional Adulteration highlights the need across all industries for robust procedures and training in the event a product tampering or extor-tion threat is received. Do all call center agents know how to handle this call, email or text? Are there clear steps and current contact information available to all stakeholders?Companies should enhance traditional crisis commu-

nications plans with specific strategies to handle online crises and facilitate the rapid release of messaging. The single most important part of your digital crisis plan will be to identify who “owns” online communications in a crisis. Interdepartmental disputes between market-ing, public relations and consumer affairs departments will only be distracting when you face a crisis online.

• Script templates, dormant interactive voice re-sponse architecture and dark websites are useful tools to quickly react to crises. Dark site webpages are developed and fully functional but not acces-sible to the general public until activated. Identify industry related issues such as outbreaks and recalls to construct appropriate pages. Specific information may then be easily populated and rapidly deployed.

The single most important part of your digital crisis plan will be to identify who “owns” online communications in a crisis.

Remember, your company’s website is one of the first Internet search destinations for most consumers.• Proactive engagement with social media might be one of the best ways to develop a solid reputation before crisis strikes. Fielding “Q&A” pages on your website, engaging in active discussion to dispel false rumors, or offering transparency may guide consum-ers to seek answers directly from the source—your company.• Consider developing a clear policy that encourages your employees to learn and use social media. This policy could demonstrate best practices for differen-tiating between personal and professional activities and establish clear guidelines for appropriate com-mentary. A well-trained and connected workforce is one of

the best resources for correcting misinformation and reclaiming your online narrative. As a guardian of your

company and its brands, understanding and expanding the lines of digital communication may enable you to maintain brand trust in the face of a crisis. CRM

Mary Ann Platt is the executive vice president of RQA, Inc. and president of CNS/FoodSafe. Following her position as vice president of global manufacturing for Monsanto’s nutrition and consumer products division, she joined RQA in 1999. With more than 40 years of food and consumer products industry experi-

ence, she is a member of SOCAP, the International Associa-tion for Food Protection, the Institute of Food Technologists and the American Society for Quality. She is a frequent speaker and contributor to publications in the area of crisis management and operational excellence.

Remember, your company’s website is one of the first Internet search destinations for most consumers.

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SOCAP SPOTLIGHT: DJ Capobianco and Jeff Lesser of Twitter

In the world of digital consumer care, Twitter rises to the top when it comes to how people reach out to and want to be reached by companies they buy from.

SOCAP is pleased to have two Twit-ter executives present “Small Tweets. Big Impact: How to Maximize Value by Providing Customer Care on Twitter” at our annual conference Oct. 23-26 in Orlando. DJ Capobianco is a senior analyst who design research to measure how behavior on Twitter, Vine and Peri-scope shape consumer perceptions and behaviors on what to buy, who to vote for and what to watch; and Jeff Lesser is senior product marketing manager, responsible for leading the marketing of the customer service initiative.

In anticipation of your conference session on how to maximize the value of customer care on Twitter, can you share one important takeaway for attendees (and readers!)?

The worst response a business can give is none at all. Every customer wants to be acknowl-edged, and businesses create incredible value for themselves—specifically, revenue potential, cus-tomer satisfaction, recommenda-tion—by simply responding to their customers. Every day, customers publicly reach out to businesses on Twitter. It's much better to be there, respond and capture that value than to leave your customer think-ing you’ve abandoned them.

The SOCAP conference theme is digital consumer care. What are your thoughts on the future of digital care?

Digital promises everyone ef-

ficiency: People now expect to get help faster and easier than ever before, and with a personal touch. Finding that

balance between speedy and personal—at scale—is the chal-lenge we are designed to meet. Twitter may be 10 years old, but it was built for a future we’ve just entered: It’s mobile-first, real-time and filled with public conversations about your indi-vidual passions and interests.

Twitter is considered one of the most innovative compa-nies on the planet! How has it shaped the way customer care is delivered?

Customer service was the one of the earliest behaviors on Twitter because it’s aligned with what the modern customer expects: always-on, fast, accountable and person-alized service that’s frictionless and fun. Since we realized what a powerful tool Twitter can be in this space, we have led the way in build-ing tools and product features that make the customer experience even better.

We’re super excited about the customer service-specific tools we’ve rolled out over the past year. They allow businesses to integrate Twitter into their existing opera-tional and reporting workflow. This integration is part of the key: Not only can businesses better track their impact, at a low cost, they can quickly provide more personalized service that generates even stronger business value moving forward. CRM

Faster, Easier, Personalized Service … With Twitter

The worst response a business can give is none at all. Every customer wants to be acknowledged, and businesses create incredible value … by simply responding to their customers.

Jeff Lesser

DJ Capobianco

Wilke Global 614.792.6900545 Metro Place South Suite 200 [email protected]

Dublin, OH 43017 facebook.com/WilkeGlobalwww.wilkeglobal.com @WilkeGlobal

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ustomer - SOCAP International

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