Customer service is finally receiving the support and recognition it deserves. After decades of disregarding customer service centers as costly, unproductive areas of business operations, leaders are finally understanding how top-notch support can become a serious asset for brand recognition and long term customer loyalty.
This new appreciation for customer service is partially being driven by leading tech companies, many of which are utilizing digital tools and artificial intelligence to make customer support centers more productive. Two companies in particular, Microsoft and Salesforce, are attempting to claim a bigger piece of this pie by becoming primary destinations for all customer service software support.
According to a recent report by Bloomberg, both Microsoft and Salesforce are attempting to form new partnerships with other customer service software vendors, in order to offer businesses holistic support systems from a single company. Competition among business software is becoming extremely competitive, and customers who utilize these programs often combine options from different brands to meet their needs. For example, businesses may turn to RingCentral for phone support, while also utilizing Cisco or Microsoft solutions for video communications. This approach is becoming too complicated to manage on the technical side for many organizations, creating an ample opportunity for tech leaders to become a complete source for customer service support software.
Although companies like Microsoft and Salesforce have the expertise and resources to dominate customer services, the growing popularity of services from companies like Five9, Zoom, Zendesk, Avaya,Dialpad, and many others will make it a challenging task. Not only are the services these companies offer comparable in functionality, their leaders are becoming more aware of the growing importance of customer service in the digital age. This means the leaders of these brands may become less willing to join forces with tech giants, and may instead attempt to build upon their own portfolio.
The customer service software space will likely become a battleground for developers in the coming months and years, but this is great news for both company leaders and customers. Customers will finally get the care and attention they’ve always craved, which means businesses will increase their customer retention rates. Businesses will be able to ease customer support operations with digital integrations from a single vendor, allowing them to enhance operations in a more simplistic manner.
Who will reign supreme in the customer service software space? That’s still up in the air. But as customer service continues to generate interest, tech companies will be working hard to claim the top spot.
Edited by
Maurice Nagle
