PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED TO TMCNET’S OMNI-CHANNEL CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT
As decent-sized business, expanding services to overseas clientele, you might wonder how you fit into “the mix.” Is your company considered a mid-sized business? Or, is it an enterprise? Both come with distinctive needs, and yet it always comes down to whatever it is that the business is looking to achieve.
When understanding which grade of solutions your business requires, take a step back and analyze your business. Identify your direct needs – and what solutions would best help your business to excel. The same is no different from customer service solutions.
What you will find out is quite surprising, really. In a time of productivity and meeting clients where they “hang out” the most, enterprise customer service centers are still primarily phone-based, with agents numbering in the thousands.
While services are scalable, they are usually meant to serve agent populations of over 10K or more. Because many of these call centers are specialized in their line of expertise, they are often preferred in providing vertical customer service solutions.
Enterprise vendors are, slowly but surely, moving away from on-premise solutions and are starting to adopt cloud-based systems. In a way, they seem old-fashioned compared to the mid-sized services that tend to appeal to the more millennial generation. They do provide a plethora of services, including CTI (News – Alert) integrations, allowing client computers and telephones to interconnect, and agent guidance through the system.
Enterprise customer service solutions also include reporting and analytics, data management and additional case management. Businesses that have been grandfathered into existence or have carved a major chunk out of the marketplace may deem this type of customer service more efficient and cost-effective for their brand. They may feel no need to connect via online platforms with Marketing already controlling a persona amongst audiences online.
While enterprise solutions tend to be more affordable, because they are based on prepackaged pricing, they cost more upfront, as mid-size solutions cost more on the backend. Mid-sized businesses work off of a time-to-value model. Solutions are enabled based on budget, quote or need. Businesses will pay for servicing based on time period for servicing, an outline of scope, a price quote for resources used, upkeep and maintenance, storage and even how large internal teams would become.
Mid-sized customer service solutions, however, tend to get the biggest bang for the buck, serving multiple customers simultaneously in a cloud contact center or work-at-home environment. Dedicated agents number only in the 100s and are available to service customers around the clock and via multiple service platforms, such as social media, mobile delivery and e-mail correspondence, in addition to traditional call center options.
Mid-sized vendors tend to target specific divisions within the organization. Dedicated teams will engage in specific tasks, while much of the solution-based servicing is self-initiated. Cloud solutions allow for internal help desks to access knowledge bases, omni-channel usability and integrated controls. Mid-sized solutions tend to involve more platforms and more automation than enterprise customer service solutions.
Why have all the bells and whistles but no clue how to use them?
Will learning these tools save time and investment in the long run? Or, will they be unnecessary to your organization even if learned? Will it cost a pretty penny to train internal teams to use these tools, or would the company excel having someone else handle your customer service externally? These are the differences between enterprise and mid-sized solutions.
Whether an enterprise customer service experience is taking place or a mid-sized solution, Aspect (News – Alert) Software has been recently making a name for itself as a business that does more than monitor call center activity.
Aspect combines solutions from both types of servicing to connect agents to solutions, immediately, and better serve customers on the first call. With enhanced customer service features, this suite of enterprise solutions supports high interactivity, automated controls, video and audio integrations, while promoting productivity.
Aspect allows key relationships to be documented and maintained, ensuring each customer receives personalize treatment, where they feel appreciated for their continued business. While enterprise solutions normally aren’t focused on contact center options, the integration will allow for future utilization, as call centers are becoming more focused on how to best serve our millennial generation, who now comprises over $2.45 trillion of our annual marketplace.
Enterprise customer service solutions may find that keeping their current model is not enough, and Aspect helps them stay with the times in caring for audiences of all shapes and sizes. Like mid-sized solutions, enterprise service solutions will need dedication teams for both social and digital customer service needs through larger, more focused contact center systems.
