In your opinion, what has been the greatest challenge the contact center industry has faced in the last 12 months?
Social technologies are transforming our world and customers are increasingly using the Internet as their first touch point to get answers quickly and easily and turning to discussion groups or social networks such as Twitter and Facebook to find answers to their questions—and to air their grievances. This is bringing a whole new set of challenges to customer service representatives— it can be challenging to handle questions and complaints in public.
Why do you believe has this been a challenge?
With social media, keeping customers satisfied means connecting with them everywhere they turn for service. You don’t need to be a user of social media to know that it’s changed business as we know it. Engaging with customers has become an entirely different proposition from what it was even five years ago. When real-time technology demands real-time answers, old-style hierarchies no longer work. Customers want immediate results, and they waste zero time tweeting or posting their frustrations. Delays can hurt brands and cut into a company’s top line. The high volume of interactions, the public nature of those interactions, and the real-time need to respond to them has made engaging via social media both the greatest challenge – and the greatest opportunity – the contact center industry has encountered this year.
In 2012, what do you think will be the top priorities in the contact center industry for:
a) Contact Center Directors
Contact center directors will need to understand that the pace of the game is changing. Customers are increasingly demanding instant responses from the customer service teams, and they definitely don’t want to feel like just another number. Directors will need to utilize social tools to engage their customers quickly and personalize the experience in a way that makes them feel special. The reward for this is greater brand loyalty and in some cases, you can create a brand ambassador who spreads the word about your company.
b) Company Executives
A social revolution is taking place today. The number of social networking users has surpassed e-mail users. Nearly a quarter of all time spent online is spent on social networks like Facebook. People access the Internet more from mobile devices than from desktops. Today, company executives must change the way they collaborate, communicate and share information with customers and employees to stay competitive. That’s because social media has blurred the lines between sales, service and marketing. Company executives need to be focused on this social enterprise strategy which will help them meet the challenge of the social revolution.
c) IT Directors
IT Directors have been hearing about the benefits of cloud computing for years. In the past, the focus has been on how the cloud can impact the IT department. The conversation has now shifted into the C-suite, and the focus has shifted to how social enterprises can deploy the cloud to delight their customers. It will be important that IT directors help executives understand how the social enterprise, which can only be delivered via the cloud, can impact their business strategy. They will need to serve as guides as their business leaders embrace the social enterprise.
d) Human Resources Directors
The power of the social enterprise doesn’t just extend to customer engagement. It can also facilitate a greater level of collaboration internally as well. Embracing social communication tools to better connect and interact with the entire organization will be vital for HR directors as the pace of business catches up to customer demand.
What technology do you believe will have the biggest impact on the industry over the next 12 months?
Social enterprise technologies that enable companies to engage with and delight their customers will have the biggest impact over the next year. There are now more people on social sites than any other place on the web. Listening to and engaging with your customers on social networks will allow contact center executives and directors an unprecedented amount of insight and flexibility in enhancing the conversation between them and their customers and facilitate better customer experiences overall. And to be social you need to be in the cloud – social, mobile, and open cloud computing technologies go hand-in-hand with the social enterprise and putting customers at the heart of the business.
What impact have "external events" even had on your company, and how have you adapted your business?
We’ve seen the resurgence of the "power of the people" and the democratization of information not only in the business sector but around the world. We’ve seen it in the Arab Spring, in the uproar over Netflix’s proposed—and then canceled—changes to its business model, and in Molly Katchpole’s ability to almost single-handedly get Bank of America to reverse its decision to charge debit-card users a $5 per month fee. The old paradigm of top-down control and dissemination of information no longer applies. Salesforce.com has embraced this shift, and we are working to help other organizations harness social tools to operate in this new, highly-democratized world.
Do you feel the service you personally get as a customer is better or worse than it was a year ago?
The economic downturn showed everybody just how valuable each customer is. Retaining your customer base and building better brand loyalty has become the bedrock for growth. In the past year, I’ve seen many organizations make a concerted effort to improve customer engagement.
What developments are you planning to launch in 2012 and how will they benefit the industry?
This year, salesforce.com made the social enterprise a reality for customers with several announcements that reflect its commitment to innovation and customer success. In the past year, salesforce.com launched Chatter.com, Data.com, Database.com, and the Radian6 Social Marketing Cloud, and announced the acquisitions of Heroku, Radian6, and Assistly, which will accelerate social app adoption in the enterprise.
What contact center technology or other innovation excites you the most as an Executive in the contact center industry?
In 2011, salesforce.com delivered to the market an exciting innovation with customer service for the social enterprise, as more consumers turn directly to the web to get answers and help. What I’m most excited about is the Salesforce Radian6 Social Hub – which is the first process automation engine for the social enterprise. This latest social media innovation from Radian6 enables companies to quickly and efficiently track and react to comments, questions and complaints as they happen on the social web. Companies can now transform and empower their businesses by scaling social media across every department within the organization.
Lastly, what do you think 2012 holds for the industry? (good or bad and where/how etc)
To be successful in 2012, companies must transform themselves into social enterprises that can meet the challenge of today’s social revolution and delight their customers. To do so, companies will need to embrace social enterprise technologies, which leverage social, mobile and open cloud computing technologies to revolutionize companies’ relationships with their customers.
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