IT is the new front door!

By Rowdy McLean. November 2008

IT and customer service is an interesting topic. It has moved from a supporting role and an internal service provider to a driving force of service delivery and an external service provider.

The perfect example of this is my relationship with Virgin airlines. I fly with Virgin somewhere in Australia 2 or 3 times a week, yet I never talk to the company. I am even a gold member of their rewards program as a result of all the flights and yet have never talked with them.

WHY?

Because I book online, pay online, check in online, make changes online, manage my reward points online, my statements are delivered online, they text or email me flight information and updates. They do all this so well that I am now a customer of the IT department at Virgin because the IT manages all my interactions and information.

We live in the age of FAST, speed dialing, speed dating, even instant coffee is not fast enough for us these days. We want fast service, fast information and fast response and your IT department is responsible for delivering it.

So check out these things from a customer service perspective.

1. Website - Is it easy to navigate, what level of information is provided and customer user options and interface

2. Telephone communication - Some companies use automated answering, do your customers get the run around press 1 for X, press 2 for Y etc etc only to end up back at the main menu in an endless loop.

Do calls get answered quickly and directed to the right person, are left messages responded to quickly and efficiently. How many times does someone have to ask you to send something, investigate something or sort something out (I will give you a great example of this below)

3. Email - how quickly does your company respond to email enquiries and how good is the information supplied.

4. Database - If I return to do business with you, have you stored my information to make it easier to transact? e.g shipping information, payment method, membership rewards and discount information.

5. Social Networking -  You are being judged and commented on by all sorts 
of customers. Websites such as eatability.com, tripadvisor.com rate your services and facilities all the time. Your customers talk about you on Myspace, facebook, blogs, twitter and numerous other forums. 

You cannot afford to get it WRONG because before you know it hundreds of thousands of people have heard, if you don't believe me ask the Coogee Bay Hotel about the effect the bad gelato had on their business!!

As part of a presentation I did for the Gartner Symposium I did some research with the delegates. One of the people I spoke to was Chris Holland the Vice President of Strategy, Research and Emerging Technologies at NEDBANK in South Africa. He told me of how they have a policy in their company called 'ASK ONCE'.

You can contact their company and ask any of their employees (they have 30,000) to provide information or solve a problem and they guarantee you will only have to 'ASK ONCE'. How good is that!!!!  

If you have to 'ASK TWICE' they will donate $50,000 to a  charity of your choice. NOW THAT WHAT I CALL SERVICE!!!!!!  

This policy is made possible by an integrated IT system that ensures efficient and effective communication.   Great work NEDBANK!!!

Never been a better time to develop a service culture. Creating Synergy helps organisation develop a service excellence culture that is the envy of their competitors and delivers them "devoted and loyal customers" 

"The cold hard facts are that after 12 months we have a better club, a happier more motivated staff than we had prior..."

"Rowdy has provided The Epping Club with dynamic customer service tools and motivation to build on our mission statement of Sydney's 5 Star Club" 

"We have won awards for our business performance, Creating Synergy certainly played a role in our success..."

Why not arrange an obligation free consultation with me to discuss the advantages of developing a service excellence culture for your business. 

Telephone me direct on +61 414 347 667 to arrange a suitable time.

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