Nuance Business Consulting Services

Just the other day I was thinking about all of the buzz words and hype that inevitably pop up every couple of years around the latest "new thing" for contact centers.

I have been doing this long enough to remember the TQM craze and how that was going to revolutionize the way we did business. Then came CRM - again changing the landscape of how we interact with customers.

Now, the latest buzz word is "Customer Experience."

First, let me say that "Customer Experience" is not new to the contact center. The most successful contact centers have always fully embraced the idea of happy, loyal customers as invaluable assets. They have always strived to make sure that every interaction with their company meets (and exceeds) their customers expectations.

But as part of the "new" Customer Experience buzz there's now a lot of talk about Web 2.0 and Unified Communications. Unified Communications refers to both real-time and non-real-time delivery of communications based on the preferred method and location of the recipient.  While Web 2.0 leads one to believe that customers will be flocking to use things like Twitter, Web chat and other social mediums to interact with companies.  These Web 2.0 "hypesters" (my new word) want us to believe that Twitter users will be tweeting with companies and agents as a way to have meaningful customer service interactions.

I have to admit though, I'm just not buying it. Back in the 90s we were told how the universal agent was going to be able to handle Web questions, emails, take voice calls and mix a mean Tom Collins.  Although some companies made inroads into realizing this state of nirvana, it has not been the norm and for a lot of good reasons.

Maybe I'm just too old or have heard too many "next big things" that never really lived up to their hype. But what I really think is that I'm one of those people who believes that all that companies need to do is treat customers like they were a critical element to the survival of the company to the exclusion of everything else. 

A great "Customer Experience" is achieved by using well-trained agents, relevant technology and good old common sense - to make customers feel meaningful and to provide timely, accurate information to them.  That's what makes customers happy with our companies. 

Doesn't it make sense that if we provide intuitive customer service channels that are accessible, usable and relevant to customers' situations that we wouldn't have to hype the latest and greatest "new trend" to try and hold market share?