2013 Predictions for Customer Service – Customers Will Expect Service Right Now

Written by Stefani Amini

There I said it!  2013 will be the year of instant gratification.   

Challenges in CRM never become easier to meet. In this digital age, customers have made it absolutely clear that they want fast customer service response, they want it customized for their individual needs, and they’re not going to settle for anything less.

Companies have been struggling to handle this new customer and client attitude, and we’ve all seen examples of how calamitous and sweeping failures to meet these needs can be. Major software firms, for example, have nearly gone under in recent years due to their inability to effectively communicate with their customers. This has resulted in the inability to provide via service what customers need (we all remember the Vista incident well). Furthermore, when a dude like that is launched, poor CRM methodologies have resulted in the damage furthering itself, with the inability to console and aid customers to the degree they rightfully demand.

This new marketplace is a fast-paced and demanding one, and there needs to be some adaptation made by way of companies to get with the times and develop frameworks for fast, efficient customer service that meets the on-demand mentality of their demographics. This is a sink or swim factor, and it’s only going to increase in times to come.

In their 2013 forecast, Ovum predicts that better analytics tools, parallel metrics and quick response CRM platforms are a must in the immediate future, or many companies that have been otherwise successful will begin to rapidly lose business.

Most forecasters such as Ovum predict there is an impending need for a shift from traditional help desks and phone trees to a social media response system, and soon. Customers have grown accustomed to communications being instantaneous across the world, with the click of a button or the tap of a screen, from anywhere they happen to be.

They’re not going to settle for something as crucial as customer service being slower than their ability to order a pizza or send a tweet to their mother, and for obvious reasons.

Technology to unify the social platform with smarter SaaS analytical tools and centralized logistics are already being rapidly developed and tested. The question is ultimately, are companies ready to take this step into the future, and embrace the instant nature of the digital millennium?

We’re already thirteen years into this new age, and time has shown just how quickly technology and convenience shift the attitudes of customers and entire demographics on a steep curve. The communications revolution, which began in the late 1990s has yet to slow down, and it won’t in the foreseeable future.

Companies need to realize that deprecated systems in use for CRM and quality assurance metrics just don’t work anymore. The technology is already here to remedy the problem, it’s all about the companies taking that step into the brave new world. If they cannot keep up, like stragglers in a herd, they’ll be picked off and forgotten soon enough.

There are new, young businesses just waiting for the opportunity to squeeze into a spot left by a company that can’t keep up with the times. Some companies have enjoyed decades of assured success and stability, but in this new digital millennium, the fleas are a threat to the elephants.

Today guest blogger is Stefanie Amini who is a Marketing Director and Specialist in Customer Success at WalkMe, the world’s first interactive online guidance system.  She is chief writer and editor of I Want It Now, a blog for Customer Service Experts.

Follow her @StefWalkMe