Technology has made a huge impact in every sector, including customer service. In earlier days, customer service involved calling a service person and talking with him over the phone or in person. The entire process would be time-consuming and would depend on the availability of a service person.
Today, technology has changed the face of customer service. It has made service more accessible and more customer-friendly.
Cloud Computing and Customer Service
Cloud computing has revolutionized the way technology is used. In cloud computing, software and data are located on a cloud server that is secure and robust. It can be accessed from anywhere and at any time.
Whenever a customer contacts a company, they can access the data from the cloud to get complete information about the customer.
CRM or Customer Relationship Management
CRM allows companies to store complete details of a customer using software. Details about the customer, customer preferences, past orders, sales made, previous queries asked, complaints raised, etc would all be available.
When a customer contacts a service person, all these details would be available. This would allow the service executive to handle the customer in a proactive way. This helps in strengthening the relationship with customers.
Mobile computing
Today, majority of the people use their mobile phones to access the internet. Mobile phones come with larger screens and more computing power. This allows users to do more using their mobile phones.
Mobile apps are technology solutions that allow companies to reach out to mobile users. A company can create an app to offer service to customers. The customer can use the app to chat with service executives, ask queries, search for information, and raise complaints.
The service executives can then take action on the complaint and update it through the app. They can even use video calls to interact with the customer using the app.
Social media use
Social media refers to the use of platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. These social media platforms allow companies to interact with customers and potential customers. Since most customers are available online on these platforms, customer service can be offered through these platforms.
Updates on service issues, chat with service executives, and other such interactions can be carried out using social media.
AI Customer Service
Customer service has for long been associated with the people who actually offer the service. Thanks to technology, it is today possible to provide service to customers without having a large team of service executives.
AI or Artificial intelligence can be used to provide call center automation services. Companies deploy these AI bots on their websites and other tools to interact with customers.
The AI bots carry on a conversation with customers showing them different options and asking questions. This is used to interact with customers and provide them the information they want. The chatbot can thus handle most customers. Only if the chatbot cannot provide an answer, the customer would be redirected to a real executive. This ensures customer service is provided and at the same time, it reduces manpower and saves money for companies.
