Dave Matson

2015 has been a year of progress on the customer service excellence front.

Just consider what happened with the
Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) in
Massachusetts.  In November 2015, 74 percent of RMV branch customers were served in under 30 minutes, as compared to 59 percent during the same month in 2014, Governor Charlie Baker said in a Boston Business Journal article.

The governor indicated that their goal for 2016 is to have 90 percent of all RMV customer transactions completed in half an hour or less, and to have 100 percent of transactions completed in less than an hour.  For the RMV, that feels like good progress!

So what do we have to look forward to in 2016?

1) Scale Matters

In their recent FutureScape report, IDC makes it clear that 2016 is all about scale.  As companies make the leap from the 2^nd to the 3^rd platform of IT, this is one of the key ingredients.

Custom one-off service agreements can seem like the ultimate expression of customer service excellence. On the contrary, one-offs can set IT vendors up for failure. Unless they are set up with redundancies in place,  custom agreements often rely on manual processes and people remembering when certain actions need to take place.  This just can’t scale.

At EMC we are enabling agile and intuitive processes that will allow us to scale new capabilities and offerings for various customer segments.

2) Personalization Is Critical

“The level and quality of contextual, personalized experiences will be a key determinant of who wins mindshare and share of wallet,” says Carrie Johnson from Forrester Research in a Computerworld article.

We’ve found success in focusing on the cultural psychology of employees so they can be empowered and adapt to changing customer expectations.  This, coupled with the right technology, is what ultimately delivers a personalized and contextual experience.

3) Big Data Has To Serve Customers (Not Just Help Sales & Marketing Sell Them More Stuff)

Data helps companies identify service trends and issues early on, avoiding escalations and minimizing downtime. Data also provides customer feedback that is used by engineering, product, and marketing teams.

Blake Morgan’s 5 predictions for 2016 mentions the example of Tableau—a provider of compelling data visualization technology.   This technology can be effective for relaying data stories and meaning to senior executives.  Investing in this type of technology and providing real-time, predictive analytics is a high priority for EMC and our services teams.

A 4^th Prediction That Needs More Time?

One trend that popped up in a number of different “2016 predictions” lists this year was the use of video support.  Analysts smarter than I are using a wealth of data on this nascent trend to make their predictions, but I’m not so sure there are lots of use cases for this, particularly on the consumer side.  Not yet, at least.  When I call American Express (a company known for experimenting with video support), I don’t want to come face-to-face with someone I’ve never met to activate my new card or dispute a charge.  Phone, chat, or email will do just fine.

On the other hand, video support use cases in B2B will have legs.  A remote engineer who can see what’s happening live in the customer’s environment can transform the outcome of that issue – in real time.  And that can translate into an excellent customer service experience.

Which predictions are in line with your plans for 2016?

“The opinions expressed here are my personal opinions. Content published here is not read or approved in advance by EMC and does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of EMC nor does it constitute any official communication of EMC.”

3 Customer Service Excellence Predictions For 2016
Dave Matson