70 Percent Of Executives Cite Quality Service and Cost Control as Top Customer Service Challenges.Business Editors LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 28, 2001 Customer Service and Operations Managers of Leading Companies Struggle to Find the Right Balance When top customer service managers, operations directors and business development executives were asked to name their most pressing customer service issues, 70 percent cited either Service Quality or Cost Control. Forty percent identified Service Quality as their organization's number one challenge, and 30 percent named Cost Control the most pressing issue. The survey was conducted in January 2001 via Web interviews of senior executives of large enterprise companies by PeopleSupport, Inc., a leading provider of multi-channel Web-based customer service solutions (email, voice, live chat). These results highlight the dilemma that numerous retail, healthcare, financial services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. , technology and communications companies face as they merge their off-line sales and service strategies with newer Web-based channels. Companies are challenged to increase multi-channel service quality while keeping costs in check. Other pressing issues ranked by importance of top managers at these companies included having up-to-date technology (17%), having skilled employees (10%), and retaining and recruiting employees (3%). According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Lance Rosenzweig, CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of PeopleSupport, "As consumers' service quality expectations increase in both online and offline environments, we are seeing numerous companies struggle with managing their call centers and contact centers effectively. Companies must find the right balance of technology, skilled representatives who can handle multiple channels of communication, and integrated customer management Integrated customer management (or its acronym, ICM) is a business strategy for improving support by sharing information between discrete departments. ICM brings together three business principles: alignment, agility, and customer-centricity. solutions. Companies must evaluate their needs carefully to determine whether to provide services in-house, outsource, or use some combination of the two approaches." "Additionally, the best way to meet customers' expectations is to understand what is important to them. For example, which customers prefer email versus voice versus chat? As a company becomes more familiar with its customers' preferred medium of contact, the company can create a customer service strategy that incorporates the right mix of customer service agents and technology -- ultimately improving service quality in a cost effective way," Rosenzweig added. The survey participants included vice presidents, directors, and other customer service, IT and operations professionals from leading retail organizations. The survey was part of an interactive Webinar conducted by PeopleSupport, Inc. About PeopleSupport, Inc.(R) -- "The Power of Experience(TM)" PeopleSupport enables companies to offer multi-channel Web-supported customer care with a complete view of customer interactions through its CRM (Customer Relationship Management) An integrated information system that is used to plan, schedule and control the presales and postsales activities in an organization. platform. The company can provide clients with these outsourcing services or help them achieve this in their own contact centers. PeopleSupport's clients include Fortune 500 companies and leading businesses such as: Fleet Bank, Time-Warner (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :TWX (TeletypeWriter eXchange Service) A U.S. and Canadian dial-up communications service that became part of Telex. In 1971, the Bell System sold TWX to Western Union. TWX transmitted 5-bit Murray code or 7-bit ASCII code at up to 150 bps. See Telex. ), GE Card Services The software support for PC Cards. PC Card applications talk to Card Services. See PC Card. and Marriott. PeopleSupport has received $75 million of venture financing from leading financial and strategic investors including Accel Partners, Benchmark Capital Benchmark Capital is a venture capital firm responsible for the early stage funding of some very successful startups, including eBay. In 1995, the firm invested $6.7 million in eBay, which became worth more than $5 billion by the spring of 1999 and resulted in one of Silicon , Cambridge Technology Partners, Extraprise, Hewlett-Packard Company, idealab Capital Partners, Rustic Canyon Group, and Siebel Systems Siebel is a brand name of Oracle Corporation. Siebel Systems, Inc., founded by Thomas Siebel in 1993, was principally engaged in the design, development, marketing and support of CRM applications. , Inc. For more information, visit http://www.PeopleSupport.com. |
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