Customer Support Software Featured Articles

The company that focuses on a quick response time and high first call resolution numbers may easily assume they have the customer service priority down. They know they need to listen to the customer and they do – every time they call in to the call center. While this sounds like an optimal approach to quality customer care, it’s really only being responsive and customers will quickly tire of the approach.

To be competitive in today’s market, it’s not enough for companies to simply be responsive. They also need to invest in customer support software that enables them to anticipate the needs of the customer base and proactively deliver service. This is especially critical for B2B markets where companies must consistently look for ways to not only deliver better service, but actually serve as partners for their clients.

A blog posted recently by customer support software provider, TeamSupport, suggests that organizations will continue to explore ways to be more proactive, leveraging insights from interactions they have with customers on an ongoing basis. Forrester (News - Alert) researchers support the assumption, predicting that in 2016, the goal will be on improving operational performance and predicting future behavior. The adoption of proactive strategies will continue in importance as client-provider relationships continue to evolve and customer support expectations rise.

In B2B relationships, businesses sign contracts with service providers because they need to tap into third-party expertise to take their visions and operations to the next level. These companies that serve other businesses are directly tied to the success of that client. As a result, customer support software needs to do more than just offer support; it needs to enable support of the relationship where value is maintained. To do so, providers need to anticipate needs and recognize when their client is struggling, reaching out to offer suggestions that can help the customer’s operations.

This is where technology can make the difference. Collaborative customer support software is vital in the B2B space as it enables cross-team collaboration, allowing businesses to share insights and innovate in an effort to find new ways to improve the client’s experience with their service or product. Such software can empower staff to access in-depth customer databases so that service teams understand their clients at the company level. Plus, in-depth insights enabled with the right tools allow customer support software users to assess patterns and threats that deliver a visual understanding of the customer’s situation.

Essentially, the B2B provider has a greater responsibility to the client to anticipate needs and deliver the proactive experience. A failure to do so can easily leave room for a competitor to fill the void.