Configuring Customer Service Management

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Configuring Customer Service Management

    This guide outlines the essential steps for ServiceNow customers to configure Customer Service Management (CSM) effectively. It covers setting up foundational components, organizing agent workspaces, enabling diverse communication channels, implementing intelligent automation, creating self-service portals, and extending system capabilities. Following these steps helps ensure a seamless and efficient customer service operation.

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    Set up your environment

    Begin by planning and configuring your CSM environment, including importing foundational data such as accounts, contacts, users, and groups. Establish access controls and configure case management tools to prepare for live operation. This foundational setup is critical to enable core service and support functions.

    Organize agent workspaces

    Configure intuitive and productive agent workspaces by setting up interfaces, landing pages, and record pages. Implement advanced case routing and management features to streamline workflows and improve agent efficiency. Integrate tools like Configurable Workspace to customize agent experiences and boost productivity.

    Enable communication channels

    Set up multiple customer communication channels such as voice, email, chat, web, messaging, and social media. Providing diverse channels ensures customers can connect through their preferred methods, enhancing satisfaction and engagement. Tools like Engagement Messenger can integrate chat capabilities directly on your website.

    Implement Intelligence

    Leverage intelligence features to automate routine tasks and offer recommended content to agents. Features like Recommended Actions and AI-powered search help agents resolve issues faster and more consistently, allowing focus on complex cases and improving overall service quality.

    Set up self-service

    Create self-service portals that allow customers to independently find information and resolve issues. Integrate knowledge bases, communities, service catalogs, chatbots, appointment booking, and walk-up experiences to empower customers and reduce agent workload.

    Extend capabilities

    Enhance your CSM environment by integrating additional applications and analytics tools. Extending functionality enables better process management, improved agent performance tracking, and richer insights into customer interactions, leading to more effective and efficient service delivery.

    Set up the features, components, and integrations that you must provide service and support to your customers.

    Table 1. Configuring Customer Service Management overview
    Implementation phase Description Example
    Set up your environment

    Begin your customer journey by setting up your Customer Service Management environment. This setup involves planning and configuring your system with essential components such as data models, customer data, product data, and user management tools. Additionally, import your foundation data, set up access controls, and configure case management tools to go live.

    Sarah, an administrator at Company A, has successfully activated Customer Service Management along with all necessary plugins. The next step is to start importing the foundational data, such as accounts, contacts, users, and groups.
    Organize agent workspaces

    Configuring your agent workspaces is crucial for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of your customer service team. To get started, set up and optimize your agent workspaces by configuring interfaces, landing pages, and record pages. This process involves setting up case routing, implementing advanced case management features. It also includes integrating agent tools for smooth case handling and streamlined workflow management.

    Sarah is prepared to organize the agent workspaces. Sarah uses guided setup to implement Configurable Workspace for Company A's customer service agents. It enables Sarah to configure branding, chat settings, and other necessary elements to enhance agent productivity.
    Enable communication channels

    To facilitate seamless customer interactions across various platforms, it’s essential to set up and configure multiple communication channels. This approach confirms that customers can reach your service through their preferred methods, enhancing their overall experience. Set up and configure a variety of communication channels to facilitate customer interactions. Such methods include voice, email, chat, web, messaging, phone, engagement messenger, and omnichannels.

    With the agent workspaces organized, Sarah is prepared to set up communication channels, including chat, email, phone, and social media. Sarah has chosen to use Engagement Messenger to integrate customer support capabilities via chat on Company A's website.
    Implement Intelligence

    Implementing intelligence features in Customer Service Management helps you achieve a quicker and more personalized customer experience. Set up these features to automate routine tasks and deliver relevant content to you, helping you to focus on more complex case resolutions.

    Sarah implements Recommended Actions to guide agents in assisting customers quickly and consistently. Agents can use AI search for fast access to relevant information to resolve customer issues.
    Set Up Self-Service

    Creating and enabling a self-service portal equips you to resolve issues independently and access information. Set up self-service portals by integrating features such as knowledge bases, communities, service catalogs, chatbots, walk-up experiences, and appointment booking.

    Now it’s time to add support for B2C consumers with Customer Service Portals. Customers can book appointments, access knowledge base articles, or join user communities.
    Extend Capabilities

    To extend your Customer Service Management environment, integrate additional applications and features. This expansion broadens your system’s functionality, enhances process management, and improves support tasks. As a result, you experience more efficient interactions and better overall support.

    Sherry, a director at Company A, asks Sarah for tools to analyze agent performance and customer interactions. Sarah begins configuring Performance Analytics for Company A’s ServiceNow instance.