Navigating the Complicated Customer Support Tech Stack
In 2021, Forrester released a report showing that only 37% of customer support executives were satisfied with their current tech stack. Most were stuck with outdated tools that hadn’t scaled with digital approaches.
Part of the problem is strategy. With the evolution of new digital channels, many businesses kept adding new technologies to their stack. So, customer service representatives are now stuck with multiple new technologies they must master.
However, new Generative AI chatbot platforms can solve this problem. But, before we get to the solutions, it’s essential to understand the issues.
Diagnosing the Problem
XKCD released a comic about standards that perfectly encompasses how most businesses deal with new technologies and channels. Somewhat counterintuitively, businesses often add another app to the system when they try to incorporate a new channel into their customer service process.
Because of this overload of new technologies, 50% of customer support agents juggle multiple apps throughout their workday. This restricts their reach and capabilities.
This is essentially a strategy problem, and it happens because:
- Leaving Old Technology is Expensive — Multi-year software deals are standard in enterprises. Add the significant training required to prepare the customer support teams; any new technology can be expensive.
- Different Providers Have Different Solutions — Customer service is a big issue, and people tend to look at it differently. This gives you multiple apps that only solve part of the problem without integrating with anything else.
- Un-unified Technologies — Since modern digital channels are complex, legacy solutions have yet to expand. The customer service representatives are thus left with multiple apps that cannot interact with others.
These strategies have led to the current complicated technological problem. However, there’s a solution, too. Let’s talk about it.
The Way Out — Adapting the MAANG Strategy
MAANG companies (Meta, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google) usually follow the same principles for customer service. Their primary focus is on:
- Personalization — Providing personalization at scale requires machine learning algorithms. So, these large companies leverage AI to create personalized products and experiences at scale. This includes recommendation engines (Meta, YouTube, Amazon) that personalize the content that you see on their platforms.
- Omnichannel Presence — These large companies are present on every channel to give customers a seamless experience when communicating with them.
- 24/7 Chatbots — Every MAANG company has invested heavily in AI and provides chatbot services for customers to interact with. A classic example is Apple’s Siri, which solves customer problems on the iPhone.
- Community Engagement — Google’s constant blog updates, the AWS blog, Netflix’s presentation across different channels, and Meta’s constant updates are all community engagement methods. This helps people connect with the brand on a personal level.
All of this is enabled using modern technologies that balance the new digital channels with call centers. It works because these companies have mastered the art of being channel agnostic in their tech. And here are the ways you can do it for your customer support.
Becoming Channel Agnostic with Modern Tech
The way you strategize your use of technology influences customer experience. That’s why we use technology with a channel-agnostic strategy; here’s what we prioritize:
- Integrations — The critical point to note in all your technological decisions is whether it seamlessly integrates with your existing tech stack. Ripping out existing systems can be costly and effort-intensive, so we prioritize integrations. It’s also why we have so many built-in integrations at Kommunicate, making the process easier for our customers.
- Ease-of-Use — You already know that human agents aren’t contributing to your business when they’re in training. While we emphasize training for the successful use of any product, it’s also essential to use simple products. Cutting that three-month customer support boot camp into a three-day one increases productivity and helps your agents spend more time with your business.
- Automation- Gartner predicts that 1 in 10 customer service queries will be automated by 2026. Therefore, it is essential to prioritize technology that can use AI effectively from the start. Any application that can seamlessly integrate with AI serves this purpose. Also, it is vital to find products that incorporate AI and human-driven functionality into the customer service process.
- Customer Needs — If your technological choices don’t align with customer needs, it’s not good enough. Find personalization options that work on channels that your customers frequent. For example, if your customers are primarily on Instagram, using customer support technology that integrates with Instagram business chat is essential.
In our experience, prioritizing these criteria while choosing your technologies immediately improves productivity across customer support. With increased productivity, you can raise CSAT scores and enhance customer loyalty overall,
Parting Shot…
Most enterprises look at their technological stacks as a constant addition problem. However, a leaner technological base makes more sense to create a better customer experience and help customer service reps perform better.
Following cues from MAANG companies to prioritize integrated solutions with AI and automation that are easy to use and fulfill customer needs is the way out. It’s essential to bring in tools that can work across channels seamlessly.
In recent years, we’ve seen more enterprises use this approach, and the benefits are clear. We must move away from the old tech stacks to increase productivity and provide the best customer experience.
