Customer Service Management the ServiceNow Way: To Do Digital, Be Digital.

keeshenniphof · ‎09-29-2016

Wouldn't it be great if the technology we use to serve our internal customers could also serve to delight our external users — the end-customer? If it's all about delivering enterprise-class, integrated, omnichannel service, then as a first step let's stop using multiple platforms whenever we have the opportunity. For ServiceNow customers, this is the time to consider our platform for Customer Service Management.

Reviewing the presentations for our upcoming NowForum events, I am particularly excited to see more and more examples of customers opening the ServiceNow platform up to the outside world, to connect the world of their customers with the internal realm of the organisation. It's a big step. This year for the first time, we see customer facing service portals, workflows for automated customer demand management, and standardized escalation paths for complaint management come into the stories shared at NowForum. And it makes sense.

&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;Compared to all service&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;We all say we put the customer at the heart of our business. But all too often, we can't live up to that ambition. In this &lt;a title="og.sagecrm.com/detail.php?id=27782/14-experts-on-the-biggest-customer-service-challenges-faced-by-today-39-s-businesses" href="http://blog.sagecrm.com/detail.php?id=27782/14-experts-on-the-biggest-customer-service-challenges-faced-by-today-39-s-businesses"&gt;excellent post by Sage CRM&lt;/a&gt; (if you're able to read beyond the sales pitches, you'll find some genuine nuggets in there), a host of experts share their view on the biggest challenges facing customer service operations today. Clearly, it's a tough job. Your customers are comparing your service not&lt;em&gt; just&lt;/em&gt; to your competition, but to &lt;em&gt;all &lt;/em&gt;services they choose to consume out there. Amazon, Zappos, Uber, and… well, we all know the usual examples of extremely well executed customer service management. According to your customer, your service needs to be "personal, omni-channel, real-time and offering tailored customer journeys," as one of the writers summarizes.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;And it's true&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;The customer is changing fast. Service can no longer be depending on email and telephone calls alone.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;In &lt;a title="ww.salesforce.com/blog/2016/09/customer-service-age-of-mobile.html" href="https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2016/09/customer-service-age-of-mobile.html"&gt;the words of Salesforce.com's COO, John Hernandez&lt;/a&gt;: "I know for a fact that when my daughter becomes an adult consumer, she's going to try to exhaust all other possible service channels before dialing an 800-number — that's the absolute last resort. […] The first step in moving towards mobile-first service is for business leaders to understand and admit that they have a problem — that they are not providing the level of omnichannel service that their customers are asking for." &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;Hernandez is right. Without doing any desktop research, I am sure that engaging customer service is among the top-10 of most annoying experiences for modern (wo)man. And — again without checking any source of research — it's getting worse as the thresholds to starting a business are lower than ever before. It's actually easy and cheap to launch an e-commerce website; it's hard as ever to build and sustain a solid customer service process. It's daunting to meet the expectations of the modern consumer.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;If — &lt;em&gt;if&lt;/em&gt; — the webshop that just delivered the wrong package to your doorstep has a published telephone number, and if they actually pick up the phone, and if the agent picking up the phone actually knows the shop and the product you're calling for, and if the agent has access to your order, and if the agent has enough knowledge to… well, you know what I mean. Too many ifs. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;Learn To Be Digital the Hard Way&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;And it's getting worse, not just in B2C customer service management — in B2B just the same. As more organisations push hard on digital transformation, on adding online channels and revenue streams, on replacing or augmenting offline channels with online channels, there is a lot to be learned when it comes to servicing those new channels and customers. The hard way. "If you want to do digital, be digital", one of the experts consulted by Sage says.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;Traditional Customer Relationship Management capabilities do not suffice in this new paradigm of the connected customer, who is used to engaging through multiple channels, used to a rich, mobile and intelligent service experience, used to be served quickly and adequately.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;Therefore, providing smart customer service to delight this new breed of buyer is likely to become an even bigger competitive differentiator over the coming years.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;h2&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;It's right in front of you&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;If you are using ServiceNow to deliver excellent service to internal customers, then why not use that capability to service your external customers? &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;&lt;a title="w.servicenow.com/lpvid/beyond-crm-3-strategies-to-modernize-customer-service.html" href="http://www.servicenow.com/lpvid/beyond-crm-3-strategies-to-modernize-customer-service.html"&gt;Watch this recent webinar&lt;/a&gt; by &lt;a title="ww.linkedin.com/in/tchesire" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tchesire"&gt;Terence Chesire&lt;/a&gt; on how ServiceNow's approach to customer service is different from traditional Customer Relationship Management practices.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;&lt;li-image id="405254" migrate="true"&gt;&lt;/li-image&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;Unlike Salesforce.com, the ServiceNow platform is unified; over time, we've expanded its capabilities without bolting on any acquired technology. It's all still one codebase and one single system of record. When we acquire, we acquire talent and intellectual property — the technology is recoded and implemented as a truly integral part of the ServiceNow platform. That's how Performance Analytics and later on ServiceWatch were added. The same is happening with &lt;a title="w.servicenow.com/company/media/press-room/servicenow-acquires-cloud-management-provider-itapp.html" href="http://www.servicenow.com/company/media/press-room/servicenow-acquires-cloud-management-provider-itapp.html"&gt;ITapp&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a title="w.servicenow.com/company/media/press-room/servicenow-acquires-brightpoint-security.html" href="http://www.servicenow.com/company/media/press-room/servicenow-acquires-brightpoint-security.html"&gt;BrightPoint&lt;/a&gt;. &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;ServiceNow is multi-tenant, single instance. Our customers share one cloud infrastructure, but each customer operates their own instance of our service automation platform. The result: they trust their data to the industry-leading Enterprise Cloud, whilst remaining in full control of the software, without compromising on any of the benefits of cloud-delivered enterprise software. Read &lt;a title="ervicematters.servicenow.com/author/allanleinwand/" href="https://servicematters.servicenow.com/author/allanleinwand/"&gt;Allan Leinwand's blog series&lt;/a&gt; for details.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;For Customer Service Management specifically, this means that all data — on products, infrastructure, customers, suppliers and distributors — residing within your ServiceNow platform (Knowledge, CMDB, Business Maps, Financials and so on) is at all times available to your agents — seamlessly and securely, in the office, in the field, on mobile, 24/7. Customer Service can now become the charter of your entire organisation — not just of the heroes who happen to be lucky enough to pick up your phones day in, day out.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style="font-size: 14pt;"&gt;&lt;a title="w.servicenow.com/nowforum.html" href="http://www.servicenow.com/nowforum.html"&gt;Join NowForum in October. Check us out. Register here. &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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