Improved mobile customer service must for customer engagement: Gartner

:New Delhi: Weak mobile customer service hampers customer engagement as it is the quality of customer service that differentiates one enterprise from another, according to research firm Gartner.

Nearly 60 percent of customer service interactions required the intervention of a human support agent in 2014. It said that by 2017, one-third of all customer service interactions will still require the support of a human intermediary. At the same time, by 2018, five percent of customer service cases will be initiated by Internet-connected devices, up from 0.02 percent in 2014.

No rallying principle in the enterprise matters more than the creation of superior customer engagement and IT leaders will need to innovate in engaging customers on all channels and have the metrics to choose the right projects.

"Marketing may fill the sales funnel, and the sales department can close a deal, yet it is the overall impression of the enterprise generated by the quality of customer service that differentiates one enterprise from another," said Michael Maoz, vice president and distinguished analyst at Gartner.

Automation and intelligence agents are reducing the percentage of customer support interactions that require a human to solve. However, the pace of introduction channel choice and the focus on personalized customer experiences will require companies in most industries to retain a highly trained core of customer service professionals.

"Businesses need to focus on what key customer experiences would benefit from customer engagement with a human," said Mr. Maoz. "It is important to poll customers and internal stakeholders such as those in marketing, sales, customer support and inventory/shipping/billing, where the availability of a human customer support representative can mean the difference between a sale or no sale, the acceptance of an offer or its rejection, and/or a quality customer experience."

"Translating this general and departmental customer engagement concept into operational components across the enterprise is transforming the definition of customer service from an isolated function into an enterprise objective delivered across all points where the customer "touches” the business,” Maoz added.

Gartner also said that the installed base of  things, excluding PCs, tablets and smartphones, will grow to 26 billion units in 2020. By this time, a home could have more than 500 smart objects collaborating in a personal Internet of Things (IoT).

As things, places, people and systems become increasingly connected, the ability to monitor operations, statuses, service levels and many other metrics become possible. The added connectivity, communications and intelligence of things make many of them agents for services that are currently requested and delivered through people.