Have you seen The Customer Experience Factbook?

In this 180+ page report, you'll find all the information and support you need to build a profitable, effective CX Improvement Program that spans every part of your business. You'll be able to implement and manage meaningful and profitable change, and grow your bottom line despite a slowing economy.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)

Top five customer service technology trends for 2020

What's impacting customer service organizations most?

The company found that technology plays an integral role in the operations and future strategy of service organizations, from self-service to improving the customer service rep experience and, according to Lauren Villeneuve, senior principal in Gartner's Customer Service & Support Practice, "Knowing which technologies to invest in and when is critical for customer service and support leaders, especially those managing ever tightening budgets."

The five emerging trends revealed by the survey were:

1. Service and Support Leaders Are Bullish on Technology
   Gartner research shows that customer service and support leaders are not only vocally optimistic about technology for 2020, they are backing their optimism with action. Deployment of technologies has increased to 55% of respondents, up 10% from 2018. In addition, customer service and support leaders believe these investments will increase in value - with 80% of technologies deployed expected to return more value in the next two years than they do now.
2. Returns Aren't Immediate
   Service technologies that have been deployed for more than two years deliver the most value, according to Gartner. This means customer service and support leaders should expect relatively lower ROI during the first two years of deployment. Amid increasing pressure to demonstrate immediate returns from significant investments, customer service and support leaders must exercise caution when setting expectations on returns.
3. Self-Service and Channel Optimization Command the Most Investments
   Gartner research shows the technologies that command the most investments are those related to customer-facing channels, such as self-service, and channel optimization. Investments continue to grow in web chat, chatbots/virtual customer assistants (VCAs) and video conference, as well as technologies that optimize channels such as search engine optimization, voice biometrics or co-browsing/collaborative interfaces.
4. Rep-Facing and Back-Office Technologies Hold the Most Promise
   Customer service and support leaders report seeing the highest ROI - current and anticipated - from technologies that support back-office operations and optimize rep performance. These include technologies such as workforce management/scheduling software, assistance and task management, learning management systems and unified communications. When customer service reps feel the systems or tools they use enhance their ability to handle customer issues and simplify their day-to-day work, their productivity can increase by up to 20%, customer satisfaction increases by 11% and customer effort decreases by 9%.
5. Analytics Have Promise and Limitations
   Despite a desire to pursue and adopt new analytics technologies (predictive, social media, digital, text and speech), customer service and support leaders report they are often held back by staff capacity and expertise or budgetary limitations. In fact, 50% of customer service and support leaders indicate there are analytics technologies that they view as being potentially valuable to their operations, but they have no current plans to implement them due to limitations.

Additional details about the Technology Roadmap Survey and the Service Technology Bullseye have been made available to Gartner for Customer Service & Support Leaders clients in the report, Technology Trends in Service 2020.

Have you seen The Customer Experience Factbook?

In this 180+ page report, you'll find all the information and support you need to build a profitable, effective CX Improvement Program that spans every part of your business.

You'll be able to implement and manage meaningful and profitable change, and grow your bottom line despite a slowing economy. Grab this goldmine of easily adaptable and up-to-date strategies, walk-throughs, trends, technologies, research, suppliers and partners, plus all the supporting arguments you need to build a solid CX strategy.

While most marketers could list maybe a dozen key points for improving their brand's Customer Experience (CX), the researchers and writers at The Marketing Factbook have identified FORTY main 'CX Keys' which will help you drive your customers to new levels of delight, loyalty, advocacy and profitability.

The areas in which customers have direct contact with your organization are perhaps the most obvious places in which CX improvements can be made, and this report addresses all 24 of these 'Direct CX Keys', applicable to offline and online businesses alike.

At the same time there are many other areas that indirectly affect CX (such as the supply chain, policies and processes) in which every business can make simple but far-reaching improvements. This report guides you through the problems and solutions for all 16 of these 'Indirect CX Keys', many of which are often forgotten or under-played even in the best CX strategies.

Get it on Amazon (Kindle/Print)