Digital Customer Service

Preface: Now It's Our Turn

 

Digital transformation is the ongoing integration of digital technology into all areas of the business and culture of a company.

This is the #1 priority for many CEOs and CIOs today. Almost all organizations recognize the need to fundamentally change how they operate and deliver value to customers. You can see examples of digital transformation reaching near full maturity in almost every area of a business:

• Just about all forms of marketing are now digital marketing. Even offline tactics like print ads, billboards and direct mail primarily drive customers to digital properties.
• In retail, there's almost no such thing as “a commercial enterprise” that doesn't include some element of e-commerce as well.
• Most back-office functionality and analytics have now transformed to become entirely digital.

But one thing we've been seeing in our research – as a collective function, customer service has lagged behind many others on the priority list for digital transformation.

Sure, there have been across-the-board investments in self-service functionality for company websites and mobile apps. And yes, what's been happening across the industry – adding chat, video chat, email, text/SMS communication, social media interactions – has made service somewhat more “digital.”

But the differences still feel more iterative than transformative.

Here's the problem ...