Speedy Customer Service resolutions and adherence to SLAs

Service Level Management

One of the keys to providing excellent customer service is making sure that you use a centralised, automated platform that provides Service Level Management (SLM). This function allows you to document and track all the agreed-on commitments between your customers and you and create a Service Level Agreement (SLA) that can be tracked.

Maintaining service performance

A customer’s SLA outlines the type and level of service you will deliver. It spells out such things as the metrics you ned to meet and the penalties you will pay for violating the agreement. These metrics help a service provider understand the performance being delivered against the service commitments made. The system should also automate notifications and keep all parties informed about progress and compliance.

Having a trackable SLA helps you:

• Avoid service degradation - You can spot trends to prevent breaches.
• Increase customer satisfaction - By adhering to (and hopefully exceeding) agreed-on commitments, customers value your work.
• Remove organisational silos - Gives you the ability to use data across the organisation, for everyone’s benefit.

Establishing process and rules to avoid delays and breaches

The ability to control your entire operation using automation, data, technology and agents creates a system that’s ready for anything. With automated SLAs, you can notify an agent about a task he should take to prevent a breach or inform a supervisor if an SLA is about to trigger an escalation.

Setting and managing for all customer types

When dealing with SLAs, it can be challenging to manage changing customer call/chat/email volumes. To help address this, look for a platform solution that can set SLAs based on:

• The type of customers they are.
• The type of product(s) they purchased.
• If they have purchased a premium service agreement.

In this way, you can easily manage different SLAs that match what has been contractually obligated or used as a method of prioritising which types of customers get faster service.

Providing an end-to-end Customer Experience 

Delivering outstanding customer service has taken centre stage as customers could leave after just one unsatisfactory experience. Making sure that you monitor and improve the customer experience whenever possible is critical.

An end-to-end customer experience is made of all the contacts your customer has with your brand. It involves monitoring the entire customer journey and ensures that at each point, the experience is satisfying. Delivering good service consistently is a tall order as new technology and processes develop.

So, when looking for a technology solution that you can integrate across all departments, look for the following capabilities:

• One platform that connects the front, middle and back-offices together.
• Agents given information proactively.
• Automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning to find things you can’t find with manual inspection.
• Real-time data to help you track trends and see how to get to the root of the problem the first time.

Three key capabilities to help deliver proactive Customer Service 

1. Deliver proactive notifications. With the right proactive tools in place, you can alert customers to issues they may encounter. This activity delivers a significant competitive advantage.
2. Provide self-service. Catalogs of automated solutions, knowledge bases, chatbots and a lively online community can be excellent places for customers to satisfy their requests.
3. Rely on workflows. Workflows can help mitigate the disruption that employees are dealing with. Everyone knows what to do, and they can see the current state of all the customer issues assigned to them.

For more information on achieving excellence in Customer Operations download the free eGuide below.