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Can Partnerships Improve Customer Service Software?

TMCnews Featured Article


March 03, 2015

Can Partnerships Improve Customer Service Software?

By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor


Can partnerships improve the customer service experience? There’s long been a saying in business – the only ships guaranteed to sink are partnerships. This generally applies to environments where two people try to marry their passions into a business with a single goal. The partnership is doomed from the start when those involved aren’t able to stay true to their own passion for the sake of the partnership.


When two companies combine efforts as a way to drive into new markets, the partnership can be successful when managed correctly. For Apple and IBM (News - Alert), the partnership makes sense, even if it shocked more than a few industry leaders when announced. A recent TechCrunch post examines the apps resulting from this partnership. Author Ron Miller points to the desire within Apple (News - Alert) to meet the needs of the business world through the simplicity for which Apple is famous. 

In the customer service software world, the goal is to develop solutions that enable companies to easily meet the needs of the customer base. This often demands agility and flexibility on the side of the company offering the customer care, not an easy task to accomplish while still trying to meet business goals. When Apple and IBM brought their technologies together, the idea was to offset the shortfall of the other.

Consider post-Jobs Apple – a company more willing to get into the enterprise space. Jobs was heavily focused on the consumer, even when the introduction of the iPad altered the perception of how software should perform. IBM recognized this value and is now focused on bringing the wow factor to software in the workplace. When this wow factor applies to customer service software, the outcome is bound to be good.

How does this really apply in the customer service space? If you’re an Apple user at all, you then know the ease in which you can find information, download an app, use an app, make a purchase, etc. The user experience was definitely the point when developing the Apple experience. In the enterprise, however, the operation has been mainly clunky as software was not designed for the user, it was designed for IT.

Driving the change away from the clunky to user-facing is about more than just the employee’s experience at work. It’s also about the consumer using self-service channels to complete transactions, get information and report issues. If the user interface isn’t designed to be as user friendly as Apple’s, customer satisfaction could easily be affected and not for the better. From a customer service software perspective, it has to be excellent to use, navigate and understand.

The partnership between Apple and IBM is likely the first of many to come that will focus on improving the consumerization of IT and focus on the user experience. Software and technology are changing – with the right strategies it can always be for the better. 




Edited by Maurice Nagle







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