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Generative AI for Customer Service – Lessons LearnedNEW
Gartner Research predicts that by 2025 (we are almost there), 100% of all virtual assistant projects (in customer service) lacking integration with modern knowledge management systems will fail to meet their objectives! This white paper explores the lessons learnt from early GenAI projects in customer service automation, focusing on foundational need for knowledge management.
Generative AI For Customer Service: 8 Best Practices For SuccessNEW
ChatGPT has reignited interest in the broader domains of generative AI, AI and knowledge management (KM). In this article, we will focus on how generative AI can be harnessed for customer service automation and contact center agent augmentation. Here are eight best practices for success.
Generative AI and KM for Customer Service: BFFs that Assure Mutual Success
Generative AI has reignited interest in knowledge management (KM). KM is not only a BFF for gen AI but a foundational one at that! Gen AI accelerates each step of the KM lifecycle on a modern knowledge platform.
10 Use-Cases for Leveraging Generative AI for Better CX and AX (Agent Experience)
As a consumer searching for content or ideas, generative AI offers the promise of a clear, concise response that can be clarified or refined, albeit with a chance that it may be incorrect or out of date. Business needs, especially for customer service, are different from consumer needs.
Elevating the Contact Center Agent Experience (Ax) in the Hybrid Work Era
Training and onboarding new employees plus keeping tenured employees up-to-date with their knowledge and skills can spell the difference between boom and doom for organizations. Nowhere is the knowledge challenge more acute than in the customer contact center.
Knowledge and Training: Peanut butter and jelly for the customer contact center toast
Training and onboarding new employees plus keeping tenured employees up-to-date with their knowledge and skills can spell the difference between boom and doom for organizations. Nowhere is the knowledge challenge more acute than in the customer contact center.
The Looming Contact Center Agent Experience (AX) Crisis and What to do About it
There is a looming contact center agent experience (AX) crisis. This Forbes article tells us what it is, what to do about it, and how knowledge-powered conversational and process guidance can help eliminate or avoid this crisis.
Digital Customer Service Predictions for 2022 and How to Excel
While customer service digitalization had been under way even prior to the onset of COVID, the pandemic elevated it to the top of CxO agendas. We predict that demand will continue to grow exponentially not only for DCS but also for modern knowledge management that is up to snuff to meet today’s requirements for handling more complex customer queries and automate compliance at scale. Here are the megatrends we see for 2022.
Knowledge Management: The Cure for Contact Center Agent Training Ills in the Variant-Era
According to recent research published by the ILO (International Labour Organization), a whopping 90% of companies reported that their training programs have been disrupted. With the post-pandemic era still out of reach, these challenges will continue. Knowledge management can help businesses tide over the issue by training and guiding agents on the job. Know more in the article.
Millennial Market Share: How Banks Can Grab an Unfair Advantage
A huge gap exists between the need of Millennials for financial guidance and the skills and resources of bankers to provide it. That leads to bad experiences that hinder growth. With Millennials now the largest demographic group and in their prime earning years, banks need to find ways to close that gap before others do. Here’s how they can do it.
Knowledge Management: Killer ROI Examples from the Global 1000
Done right, a modern knowledge management system (KMS) can transform contact centers. This article has some sample metrics and real-world examples from our Global 1000 clientele to show you how.
Thought Leadership From Forbes
The Key Missing Ingredient In GenAI Transformation Of Customer EngagementNEW
According to McKinsey, generative AI (GenAI) can deliver up to a 45% productivity improvement in customer engagement. However, many GenAI projects have hit roadblocks that have prevented enabling it at scale. This article examines the foundational role of knowledge management in the GenAI transformation of customer engagement.
Generative AI For Customer Service: 8 Best Practices For Success
ChatGPT has reignited interest in the broader domains of generative AI, AI and knowledge management (KM). In this article, we will focus on how generative AI can be harnessed for customer service automation and contact center agent augmentation. Here are eight best practices for success.
Modern Knowledge Management Systems for Contact Center Agents: The Benefits and How to Choose One
Working as a contact center agent was never for mere mortals. You needed to be Einsteinian in brains and Clintonian in empathy while working within often Taylorian management techniques. And the job has gotten even harder. What’s missing and what’s the solution? This article tries to answer.
Customer Self-Service: How to Take it to the Next Level
Per Gartner, a whopping 91% of customers wind up escalating issues to human agents because of the failure of self-service. Today’s customers are looking to accomplish far more with self-service, not just check their account balances and order status. This Forbes article deconstructs the self-service process into four steps, details what the pitfalls in each step are, and describes how to fix them by leveraging modern technology, adoption methods, and best practices. Read to know more.
Up Your Query Handling Ante with Modern Knowledge Management to Differentiate CX
Pundits have long talked about the importance of customer experience for business performance. But CX benchmarks, such as the Forrester CX Index, show that CX scores have plateaued or dropped and not a single organization has delivered “excellent” customer service in Forrester’s evaluation. In this article first published on Forbes.com, explore an approach to knowledge-powered CX differentiation based on the ability to solve customer queries, and also know what to look for in a provider.
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Digital Customer Service Predictions for 2022 and How to Excel
While customer service digitalization had been under way even prior to the onset of COVID, the pandemic elevated it to the top of CxO agendas. We predict that demand will continue to grow exponentially not only for DCS but also for modern knowledge management that is up to snuff to meet today’s requirements for handling more complex customer queries and automate compliance at scale. Here are the megatrends we see for 2022.
Knowledge Management: Don’t Do Digital Customer Service Without It
Some of you may be familiar with the American Express ad slogan, “Don’t leave home without it.” I was reminded of it when I looked at the findings of various research studies in the realm of digital customer service. Not to violate any copyright law here, I think businesses would be well-served to remember the advice, “Don’t do digital customer service without knowledge management.” We tell you why.
Knowledge Management: The Cure for Contact Center Agent Training Ills in the Variant-Era
According to recent research published by the ILO (International Labour Organization), a whopping 90% of companies reported that their training programs have been disrupted. With the post-pandemic era still out of reach, these challenges will continue. Knowledge management can help businesses tide over the issue by training and guiding agents on the job. Know more in the article.
3 Ways to Modernize Your IVR and Transform the Customer Experience
IVRs are the entry point for voice callers for most, if not all, businesses. Yet too many companies stumble on this critical first step in the customer journey. In fact, a hot-off-the-press SurveyMonkey-eGain consumer research study showed that IVR experiences are miserable end to end. Know how to modernize your IVR and transform the customer experience.
Customer Service Mistakes to Avoid (Series)
As you plan your CX initiatives, a big mistake you could make is to think that digital customer service will become less important as we get back to post-pandemic normalcy. The reality is that the digital genie ain’t going back into the bottle, per Forrester. Here are some common mistakes that you should avoid.
- Customer Service Mistakes Companies Should Avoid Making
- 5 Customer Experience (CX) Mistakes for Government Agencies to Avoid After the Pandemic
- 7 Customer Service Mistakes Health Care Companies Should Avoid in the Post-Pandemic Era
- 5 Mistakes for Retailers to Avoid in the Post-COVID Era
- Customer Service Mistakes Financial Institutions Should Avoid
Missed Opportunity to Boost Business-to-Consumer Sales
While both business-to-consumer (B2C) sales and business-to-business (B2B) sales involve similar steps—connect, sell, and optimize—there are differences. In B2C sales, customer service and sales are far more converged—a single interaction may include conversations from product selection advice to purchase and even onboarding. How can your business ensure that all your sales reps are equally good at these conversations and closing the sale? Through conversational AI.
The Transformational Value of Conversational AI for Customer Service
Agents and self-service systems need to have conversations with customers to resolve their issues and provide advice. That is, ask the next best question and perform the next best action, based on historical and real-time context, situational knowhow, and compliance requirements—which would require agents to have a 20-pound brain! Thankfully, technology in the form of conversational AI is here to save the day.
The New Knowledge Management Required for Customer Service in the COVID Era
COVID-19 has triggered a tsunami of demand for customer service. The challenge is aggravated by dislocated agents and agent absenteeism, who are being replaced by staff from other departments and gig workers. How can this knowledge displacement be addressed? To be able to handle the range of queries in the pandemic era and beyond, businesses need a new kind of KM.
Clone Your Best Bankers, Ignite Sales, and Turbocharge Growth
We all know that there is no growth without sales. But according to research conducted by BCG (Boston Consulting Group), top sales reps outperformed worst performers by 8x in key metrics such as new account acquisition and sales conversion of inbound calls. Why are some so good at selling and some not? There are many reasons. This article enumerates them and also spells out the solution to improve bank sales across the ranks.
Sustaining Customer Experience Amidst the Coronavirus Threat
The coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on people’s physical as well as economic wellbeing. Businesses are not untouched, either, with events getting canceled, travel minimized, and employees being asked to work from home. The one thing companies can ill-afford to mess up in this difficult environment is their customer experience (CX). Here are four things they can do to sustain and even improve CX in the face of this new threat.
Solving the Contact Center Knowledge Crisis from the Great Retignation
Older workers have been retiring in droves amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The question is how does it impact the contact center and the customer service organization? After all, it’s no secret that knowledge is critically important to providing great customer service. This article suggests a way to stop the knowledge exodus.
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COVID-19, aka Coronavirus, has changed everything. Consumers, including the older demographics, concerned about virus exposure, are moving to digital like never before. However, the same old limited digital service capabilities do not cut it in the new environment.
Know about the new digital engagement that is required in the new (ab)normal.
Vendors are promising the world with their virtual assistants! Still, a customer called the virtual assistant of a business he was dealing with a “virtual idiot”! How do you prevent your virtual assistant from this fate?
This article tells you the 12 mistakes to avoid and how you can avoid them.
Featured Articles
Knowledge management for customer service and support
Knowledge and AI Augmentation: The Essential Complement to Agent Training in the Modern Contact Center State of CX The Forrester CX Index trend says it all. The percentage of companies offering “excellent customer service” (score of 85% to 100%) has been: 1% in 2016, 0% in 2017, and 0% in 2018. Know the key reasons and the solution… Read more…
Digital CX
Cobrowse for Customer Engagement: What, Why, and How Agent: “Click on the second item in the menu near the middle of the screen.” Customer: “Which menu?”…and on and on. Conversations like these make for terrible customer experiences… Read more…
Omnichannel customer experience
Agent experience
Making Next-Gen Contact Center Agents Successful in the Digital Era For the purpose of this article, we are defining “next-gen” as millennials (born 1980–1995) and Gen Z (born 1996–2000)… Read more…
Agent Experience: The Weak Link in the Experience Chain We know customers have gone digital. Less talked about is the fact that today’s contact center agent workforce — dominated by Millennials and increasingly Gen Z — is also digital. But, these agents are stuck with phone-centric desktop tools from the 1990s. The solution? The digital desktop. So, here are the 7 must-have traits of a digital agent desktop. Read more…
Top CX Hurdles for Consumers and Contact Center Agents, and How to Fix Them The verdict is in. According to Forrester’s 2016 US Customer Experience (CX) Index Report, consumers said that only 1% of US businesses deliver excellent customer service. Among…Read more…
Hot topics for Banks, Credit Unions, and Insurance
A huge gap exists between the need of Millennials for financial guidance and the skills and resources of bankers to provide it. That leads to bad experiences that hinder growth. Here’s how banks can close that gap.
Mission Failure: The Banking Industry’s Approach to Financial Health
Know the 6 reasons why financial institutions fail to move the needle on financial health despite the best intentions. Also know how they can be overcome.
How Banks Can Turn the Credit Decline Lose-Lose to a Win-Win
The economic crisis, triggered by the pandemic, has left millions of people needing credit at a time when banks are tightening lending standards. The result? A lose-lose situation, where the consumer gets a credit decline and a horrible experience, and the bank loses a potential customer. Know how to recover the customer and turn it into a win-win for both the bank and the customer.How Credit Unions Can Deliver Digital-First, Omnichannel Customer Experience
Credit unions are under siege from not only banks but also other kinds of financial services competitors such as online banks and diversified financial services companies. On top of it, consumers have gone digital. Credit unions need to go digital in a hurry. Here are 7 steps that can help them get there.
According to research by BCG (Boston Consulting Group), top sales reps outperformed worst performers by 8x in key metrics such as new account acquisition and sales conversion of inbound calls. Why are some good at selling and some not? This article enumerates them and also spells out the solution to improve bank sales across the ranks.How to Fix Banking’s Broken Sales Model
Sales practices in branch and digital channels are broken. New consumer and industry trends require new sales strategies. Banks and credit unions need the sales strategies that are grounded in five fundamental principles. Read to know more.
Humanizing the Digital Experience: How Virtual Financial Coaching Can Help Credit Unions Win Again on Member Service
Credit unions face an existential crisis. But they need not panic. There is a defensible, winning strategy that builds upon credit unions’ historic strength in deeper relationships and better member service.
Customer Experience
Proactive customer service. The act of providing contextual customer service at the right time, right place, and the right way, even before customers ask for it or know they need it! When guided by best practices, proactive customer service creates memorable customer experiences…
5 Innovative Use-Cases for Customer Service Transformation
Customer experience (CX) innovation is no longer a luxury, with 89% of companies expecting to compete mostly through CX (Source: Gartner)…
Excellent CX Doesn’t Have to Be So Elusive
The verdict is in. Per Forrester’s 2016 US CX Index Report, only 1% of US businesses deliver excellent customer service. The state of CX has remained stagnant among Canadian businesses, and none of the UK companies received an excellent score…
“Smart” customer service is a journey. Know more about the five parts of it and how your business can get to smart customer service…
The Omnichannel Imperative: Best Practices in Customer Service
Your customers are omnichannel. Most transactions between them and your business now involve multiple channels and touchpoints…
Cost-Effective Ways to Deliver Multichannel Customer Service
Your customers are multichannel—they expect multichannel customer service as a rule rather than as a “nice to have.” So, how can companies provide service experiences that are cost-effective…
Chat & Messaging
Customer service messaging is a relatively new domain where the dos and don’ts for its success are just starting to emerge. Here are some best practices…
Video Engagement for Customer Service: Dos and Don’ts
In a series of Amazon Kindle™ ads, we see Amy help out a busy family man and stop him from looking like a technology ignoramus when his trendy friends are over to watch the footie…
Web chat continues to experience explosive adoption, driven by generational preferences, growth of the web as a business channel, and proven ROI based on improved customer…
Unleash business value from next-generation chat: 6-step approach
Savvy businesses have successfully used web collaboration tools to engage customers. However these tools pay off only if you leverage best practices from selection to deployment and…
Digital Self-Service & Engagement
Web self-service has become the preferred method for consumers to buy products and get service, and keyword search…
Remove Web Sales Obstacles by Becoming Your Customer’s “Digital Best Friend”
Think about the last time you bought something based on the advice of a trusted friend. Chances are that your friend listened…
Social media present a great opportunity for businesses to extend service options for customers, grow revenue, and reinforce brands…
Knowledge & AI
Getting value from digital transformation investments requires businesses to not only put in place digital connectivity for easier customer connection but also modernize their knowledge management…
AI and Knowledge: Bread and Butter for Digital Experience Transformation
Businesses have to balance AX, BX, and CX in their DX transformation initiative to improve its odds of success. We call it the Theory of Experiences™…
CUSTOMERS SPEAK OUT Why has knowledge rapidly become an imperative for CX (customer experience) and AX (agent experience)? One can attribute it to the following forces…
Contact Center
Cloud-based CRM is nearly a billion dollar industry and analysts agree that it’s poised for tremendous growth in the next few years. And, while over the last few years…
Customer service has emerged as one of the few sustainable differentiators in today’s hypercompetitive markets. The companies winning…
Digital Engagement
Who work 24×7, engage customers and answer questions in a smart and fun way, give website tours, show relevant web pages, and…
When social started to become hot, businesses rushed to acquire point tools for social presence and monitoring. While these have helped…
Knowledge & AI
Contact center and digital CX leaders are often tasked with doing the impossible—Improve service productivity and the customer experience while reducing costs. AI is the tech…Read more…
Knowledge‐Enabling Microsoft SharePoint for Superior Customer Experiences
In the words of a leading analyst I talked to recently, content management is a bit like an organized information closet…
Knowledge-Centered Customer Support: Best Practices for Success
Great customer support remains one of the few differentiators that businesses can sustain over time. Companies that are…
Content management (CM) solutions and processes offer businesses a scalable framework to create, store, publish, and archive…
Keep Your Products ‘Sold’ and Avoid Returns
Product returns cost UK retailers and manufacturers up to 100 million every year. Returns are caused by many factors – impulse purchases of un-needed products…
Leverage Knowledge to Expand the Business Value of CRM
CRM applications are systems of record that manage customer data. Knowledge Management (KM) systems, in the context of customer…
Industry Best Practices
With 80% of insurance shoppers touching a digital channel during their purchase journey, digital experience (or DX) is now an imperative This article lists innovations and best practices on how insurance companies can implement DX to retain and expand customer relationships…
Retail | Want to Transform Shopper Experiences? Staple Yourself to Their Queries!
In 1992, HBR published a seminal business process reengineering paper, Staple Yourself to an Order. Read how the same stapling approach can be used to find and fix roadblocks to good shopper experiences in the retail sector…
70% of midsized companies think CX is an important basis to compete on, but only 21% think they have been effective at digitalizing CX (Source: 2017 NCMM Survey)…
Retail / eCommerce | 5 Ways to Out-Amazon Amazon in Online Selling!
First off, we’d like to acknowledge that Amazon, the preeminent online retailer, has one of the best retail websites when it comes to the relative ease of finding and buying things! The title of this article…
Business Experience
Selecting a solution provider is complicated and challenging. How do you pick the right solution provider, succeed in your initiative, and avoid holding the bag, when all is said and done? View article to learn about traps to watch out for as you set out to achieve your seemingly impossible mission.
