Leading customer interaction analytics software developer Tollring is predicting that omnichannel will be at the top of the list of customer experience priorities for SMBs in 2019 as the technology is becoming accessible to smaller businesses.
Having long been an essential part of a successful customer experience strategy for larger enterprises, the latest cloud developments and greater availability of APIs will bring omnichannel capabilities within reach of all businesses.
“The customer landscape is changing with the rise of the younger ‘millennial’ generations.”
“These customers are more tech-savvy and are looking for a better experience when considering different channels of communication at their disposal such as online chat, SMS, email and social media. They are adopting and adapting to these easier and more effective ways to communicate,” explains Tony Martino, CEO of Tollring.
Tony cautions that there needs to be a change in the way that resellers approach the conversation with their customers as it’s no longer simply about supplying a voice solution with a few added extras. Whilst Tollring make solutions as accessible and easy to work with as possible, resellers will need to move away from simply offering telecoms as a standalone product.
“Before discussing any communications requirements, resellers must help business customers to achieve a clear understanding of how end customers want to communicate with them,” continues Tony. “In this way they can work together to create the optimal customer experience and more effectively manage and continually improve the customer journey. Resellers can play a vital role in helping business customers to leverage the latest technologies and make the customer experience central to their offering.”
According to Tony, the move to omnichannel services is going to be gradual and shouldn’t be daunting to resellers. Having analytics to monitor and understand how customers interact with each channel will be vital to their success. Tony adds, “When armed with rich analytics around customer interactions across the business, organisations of all sizes can monitor the resolution time of enquiries or issues alongside averages over time. This helps organisations to review the journey from the customer’s perspective and achieve the ultimate objective of resolving customer issues on first contact.”
When resellers get it right and support their customers in attaining exceptional customer service, the rewards can be significant. Resellers that understand their customers’ businesses and can advise on the right technology to suit their needs will differentiate themselves from their competitors and win valuable long-term customer relationships.
“As we look at what we’re selling around cloud-based services, collaboration and UC, these fantastic tools and services really help the reseller, their business customers and the end consumer.”
“It’s a two-pronged attack for us in that we’re making sure resellers are comfortable in how they switch on and manage our services, whilst ensuring the end customer gains significant business benefits. There’s a massive opportunity for the channel to augment these services with additional value in the pursuit of exceptional customer experience and really increase the average revenue per user for resellers as a result,” concludes Tony.
