Average Person Will Spend 44 Hours Looking at Devices – and That's before Covid!” Study Finds (December 26, 2020), https://www.studyfinds.org/screen-zombies-average-person-spends-44-years-looking-at-devices/#:~:text=NEW%20YORK%20%E2%80%94%20As%20millions%20of,some%20kind%20of%20digital%20screen.
SECTION One The Problem with Customer Service and the Digital Opportunity
This book is divided into seven chapters that fit into three major sections.
In this first section, we will begin with a frank examination of why customer service as practiced at most companies isn't as successful as it ought to be (and why that isn't anyone's fault!), but more importantly, what you can do about it. These first three chapters are the leadoff leg of the book and have been designed to get things off to a fast start.
In Chapter 1, we will describe the “right now” opportunity for every company that is willing to rethink the way they serve their customers. The overall reputation of customer service is at an acute inflection point that will likely make or break the future success of many companies. But what we've discovered is a strategy – one that can be employed by any company – that appears to be creating an extraordinary confluence of positive results.
In Chapter 2, we will uncover how customer service as a collective discipline has gotten to where it is today, by tracing the evolution of our profession, starting from the days of the first call centers in the 1980s. If you've been around for a few decades, this chapter will take you back to some places you probably haven't thought about for a while. If you're a little newer to the field, it will feel like a trip to the customer service wing of the Smithsonian.
In Chapter 3, we will describe why digital self-service has become both the biggest opportunity and the biggest obstacle for the service profession. This is not a chapter about technology, but rather, about psychology. When you understand more about why customers behave the way they do when they're engaging in digital self-service (and how they feel about their interactions afterward), the necessity for digitally transforming service will become crystal clear.
CHAPTER 1 The Win-Win-Win-Win
What we'll share in this chapter:
Customer service is experiencing a unique moment of opportunity. While the partial “digitization” of customer service may have sufficed in the past, now is the optimal time to take the final steps toward true digital transformation.
Companies that are transforming customer service into an experience that takes place entirely on a customer's screen are reporting their service operations have become much more economically efficient, while they are also achieving greater customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Those executives and leaders who are spearheading this transformation at their companies are recognizing an array of benefits – including making their jobs easier and more rewarding.
CUSTOMER SERVICE AT AN INFLECTION POINT
Over the past few decades, the perception of customer service has experienced a repeating pattern of ups and downs. Throughout the next few chapters, we'll trace the evolution of the prevailing perception of the service industry (almost like looking in the mirror) as it has changed several times over the past few decades – starting from the days of the first-ever call centers in the 1980s, all the way to today's digital world.
In an industry that has experienced two major peaks and two corresponding valleys – each about a decade apart – you'll see evidence that the next few years will result in either an unprecedented upward spike or yet another downward plunge. We are at an acute inflection point.
The choices you and your organization make right now about the digital transformation of customer service will define your future success (or failure) in the years to come.
When call centers were first introduced in the 1980s, the idea of enabling customers to call companies directly on the phone was considered new and exciting. The experience was generally excellent. But over time, as companies put more pressure on Service to cut costs, the experience of phone service began to suffer, causing the first dip.
Then, once customers got used to self-service, the experience improved and the curve rose again. But over time, as customers began to expect everything to be digital – and effortless – what they realized is that too many service experiences were still disconnected from their digital experiences, forcing them to restart their journey on the phone. And the phone reps they were speaking to weren't connected in any way to the digital experience customers were having on their own screens.
This mismatch resulted in disjointed “seamful” experiences that caused the second major dip.
Therefore, we are at an inflection point right now. If customer service embraces a full and complete digital transformation it is well within our power to rise to new heights, well beyond what we have ever accomplished before. Or, if not, to plummet once again, as we have twice before. The choice is yours, and the time to decide is now.
Who Wins When Customer Service Achieves Digital Transformation?
Based on the experiences of those companies that are now going all in, the key beneficiaries are … everyone:
The company, by spending less, and getting greater returns
The customers who are experiencing the kind of low-effort digital service interactions that make them feel smarter about themselves
The frontline teams who interact with customers – as their jobs have become more engaging and personally fulfilling
The executives and leaders who manage customer-facing functions – as their jobs have become more visibly connected to the overall success of their companies
There are only a few win-win propositions in life, and fewer win-win-win-wins. But as you will see, transforming to a DCS-based service model appears to be one of them. There doesn't seem to be any trade-off, or economic sacrifice, or give-to-get required. The companies that are further along in this transformation are universally reporting that everyone is coming out ahead.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN “DIGITAL CUSTOMER SERVICE” AND DCS
The problem with the term digital customer service is that it could mean a lot of different things:
Adding a chat function to a website. That could be described as digital customer service.
Switching your telephony platform to VoIP (voice-over internet protocol). That's digital.
Getting customers to adopt new web self-service features. That's customer service, and it's digital.
Enabling more frontline
