Can You Hear Me Now? New Technologies Are Beefing Up Call Centers And Other Customer Service Operations.

March 20, 2007.- New technologies are beefing up call centers and other customer service operations.
Brandweek

Insurance companies are especially notorious for making their customers jump through hoops just to get their most basic questions answered. So imagine the surprise of Humana customers who recently received a telephone call from the company letting them know that their applications had been received and their ID cards were in the mail.

That one-on-one bit of customer service did not involve a Humana rep—or, at least, a live one. Rather, the call was the result of a sophisticated, automated-voice technology that allowed Humana to not only process thousands of insurance applications, but also improve its customer satisfaction. Humana programmed the recorded system to interact with customers on the other end of the line, so that if, say, a member's spouse picked up the phone, the voice would ask to speak to the subscriber. The tactic worked: Seven in 10 customers who received the call stayed on the line. Thirty percent said that if the company hadn't called them, they would have called the company. By eliminating incoming call volume, Humana estimates that it saved a neat $2 million.

The above example is just one indication of how companies are implementing new technologies to bolster their customer service infrastructure, whether in call centers, e-mail response networks or online help. Marketers, too, are well aware of the frustration consumers often encounter in trying to navigate these systems, particularly automated phone loops. Witness last year's ad campaign for the Citibank "Dial 0" Simplicity Card in which one desperate customer tried in vein to reach a live operator while parts of his kitchen caught on fire.

A number of technology providers are promising to make things better. One is RightNow Technologies, Bozeman, Mont., which counts Motorola, Kodak and Nikon as clients.

Kodak, for example, uses the speech-recognition features of the RightNow Voice tool to respond to a growing volume of inquiries for its EasyShare Gallery, an online service for managing digital pictures. "We have significantly reduced the number of customer calls our outsourcer's agents have to handle, and can answer many types of questions around the clock without adding a third shift," said John Allum-Poon, the brand's director of customer support.

Despite such advances, more consumers are going online for help. HP, for instance, notes that its volume of e-mail requests and live chat has increased 50% over three years. Responding to this trend, Nikon uses the RightNow Service tool to create a single repository of information that integrates data from customer interactions via phone, e-mail, Web self-service and fax. The software enables the company to track all inquires with a single customer record so that its call center staff can provide more informed service. Said Jason Mittelstaedt, RightNow Technologies vp: "It allows [customer] insights to be shared with other groups in the company."

Imagine: Customers getting the all the help they need in a single e-mail or phone call. Now that would be a surprise. —M.A.