The Challenges of Outdated Customer Service Systems

Kia ora Ivor, thanks for sharing your wisdom with us today.

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What challenges do businesses face today when dealing with outdated customer service systems?

Before I go into the more practical issues, I think it’s worth saying that one of the first challenges is dealing with the widespread frustration arising from an inadequate system. If we’re talking about customer service systems in particular, this could vary from call handlers struggling to find the information they’re looking for to business leaders lacking big-picture visibility (and becoming limited with data-informed decisions).

Some of the other more ‘practical’ challenges include the following:

• Inability to scale up and down as the business changes – this can be a considerable cost overhead.
• Manual upgrades and maintenance – again, a significant cost overhead. They can also be quite disruptive to the business.
• Lack of integration – older systems don’t integrate well with other core systems, resulting in manual, repetitive tasks such as re-entering information and delays in query resolution. I am astounded by the level of manual processes I still see today. A good example is customer service and CRM systems not talking to each other.
• Inability to ‘test out’ new features and capabilities, such as AI, that could provide efficiency gains.  
• Poor visibility over important information, like incoming call stats, query resolution, individual/team tasks and goals.  
• Inability to manage multiple channels effectively – website live chat, form submissions, emails, calls, texts…

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What are the changes you’re seeing in the world of customer service software?

I think the biggest one is the introduction of AI.

We’ve seen massive progress in this over the past year or so, and it has great potential. Although there’s still a lot of education and trust-building to be done, lots of NZ businesses are getting on board with it and testing out how it can help with small efficiency gains. An example here would be AI call transcription. Although this isn’t an entirely new concept, it’s more accessible now that it’s readily available within many day-to-day apps. People have easy access to it, so they’re testing it out more and more.

Aside from AI, the demand to have real-time visibility (dashboards, reports) over multiple channels has increased. This was especially pronounced in the shift to hybrid work, where it’s not as easy to monitor ‘the room’ the see and hear what’s going on.

There’s also a generational shift in how people communicate with businesses. Younger generations prefer digital communication – social messaging, live chat etc. Any business that has a busy customer service department really needs to be able to meet the demands of these evolving preferences.

Companies cannot afford to be complacent in customer service. The propensity of frustrated customers to turn to social media when they have poor service is very real and can have a huge impact.

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How can businesses succeed in this rapidly changing environment?

We’ve seen the best success when businesses are willing to take on change. What worked 15 years ago doesn’t withstand today’s rapid evolution of customer service. Having an open mind to explore new routes for efficiency and taking a couple of risks for long-term return on investment is the difference between growth and those left behind in the dust.

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Ok back to AI, because it’s the hot topic. When it comes to customer service software, how practical is it, really?

I’ll base my answer on my experience with Microsoft Dynamics 365. I’m an advocate for it, so I am a little biased - but for good reason.

(For those unfamiliar, Microsoft Dynamics 365 is the umbrella term for the many apps that sit underneath it. Microsoft Dynamics 365 ‘Customer Service’ is the customer service app).

As we’ve already mentioned, AI capabilities are increasingly being built into these types of systems. Dynamics 365 Customer Service is no exception.

Talking on a positive note, here are a few AI capabilities within Dynamics 365 Customer Service that we’ve seen businesses benefiting from:

• AI summarising: AI-generated summaries of phone calls help reduce the time call agents spend drafting manual summaries.‍
• Sentiment analysis: AI assesses the sentiment expressed in the Case, including reading the linked emails, the data captured, documents and actions. The results can be organised and presented in an executive dashboard for a comprehensive view. When connected to a telephony platform the actual call can also add to this analysis.
• Live feed dashboards: Real-time dashboards provide stakeholders and managers with valuable insights into key metrics such as call handling time and customer satisfaction, supporting more informed decision-making.

That said, it’s important to note that we’re still in the early stages of this technology. My advice would be to find the small efficiencies where you can. It’s ok to jog and not sprint - for now!

There’s no doubt that this technology will keep improving and people will become more confident and trusting of its capabilities. We’re very lucky at Theta to have a GenAI Centre of Excellence team to consult with who can provide more support where needed. It’s also something we see our customers benefiting more and more from in the future.  

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Exciting times ahead. Thanks, Ivor, for your insight.

And if you're keen to get started, check out our Dynamics 365 Customer Service rapid start package.