The impact of the information revolution in this digital age has barely begun to be felt in customer service.
Advances in technology and managing technology to leverage the customer experience will transform the nature of customer service in the future.
Think of the change customer service and customer service management has seen in the last 20 years. In 1995 customers were barely getting online, dial-up speed was the best you could expect and the Internet was a novelty, something for computer geeks and little business could actually be conducted online.
Today, it seems like almost everyone carries a smart phone, even my little kids are complete comfortable taking dad’s iPhone and navigating the operating system, playing games as a baccarat online, texting, and consuming videos on demand. Consumers are more connected, more digitally experiences, and rely less on traditional sources of service. Self-service, and customized, unique service experiences are more important for today’s savvy customers.
Customer service in the Internet age
The Internet has been a revolutionary force for change. It has changed the nature of distribution of goods, distribution of services, it has changed the nature of managing systems and people. This force for change has affected markets, economies, industries, and entire professions. It has also begun to revolutionize the impact that customer service professionals can have in the customer experience customers encounter when working with your organization.
The history of customer service
Customer service used to be something that involved face-to-face interaction with a customer. It was about smiling, point out items, going with customers to find needed goods, or presenting service options. With the information revolution, more and more of the traditional customer service interactions have shifted to the digital form. Customer service interactions today for business professionals are more heavily emphasize in phone, email, and live chat customer service interactions. So does a smile matter when the customer can’t see you? Probably not, but other behaviors, word choices, and voice tone replace eye-contact, and maybe even have a greater impact on the service experience itself.
The future of customer experience
As technology continues to advance and new innovations and opportunities arise, what will you do to stay up-to-date in your deliver of exceptional customer service experiences? What trends are you seeing in your organization that will affect the future of your customer service offering. Does your customer experience strategy take into account disruptive technologies that could dramatically impact customer service? Are you on the lookout for those disruptors or will you be caught by surprise?
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