Sync Your Front and Back Office Teams to Create Better Service Experiences

Companies are racing to implement capabilities that will enhance digital engagement and the end-user experience, but they’re failing to address the total experience. Let’s say you need to return a piece of clothing to a retailer. You’re able to effortlessly navigate their website and engage in self-service (say, using a 24×7 chatbot), but after you submit your ticket…crickets. The seamless communications experience on the front-end doesn’t translate to the back. If a customer experience doesn’t cross the finish line with front- and back-office synchronization, then the experience is a poor one.

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In 2016, researchers had found that at least 20-25% of queries received by service representatives are impacted by back-office inefficiencies. A winning approach considers the whole experience, front to back.

Here’s what key decision-makers need to think about… 

Process automation 

Process automation helps organizations keep projects moving while getting the right information in front of the right people (workflows are automatically triggered by specific “events”). Automated alerts can also be set up to notify back-end workers when service goals are at risk (something only 20% of companies currently do, according to KPMG).

Consider financial services: McKinsey estimates that up to 80% of transactional operations (i.e., general accounting operations, payments processing) and up to 40% of more strategic activities like financial controlling and reporting can be automated on the backend. Imagine instead of a customer having to wait one month to get approval for a mortgage, the approval process could be automated – reducing the customer’s wait time to days or even minutes. That customer’s satisfaction would skyrocket, and the bank would be able to make significant improvements in profitability and return more capital to its shareholders. 

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There is no reason organizations can’t connect their front- and back-office in this way. The technology is available, and it’s now simpler than ever with tools like Communications Platform-as-a-Service (CPaaS) – more on this below. 

Enhanced Team Collaboration With Converged Communications 

Consider this scenario: you get double-billed by a medical firm, and so you call them to resolve the issue. The service representative can see the issue with the bill but needs someone in accounting to help further. They transfer you to accounting, you leave a voicemail, and they get back to you three days later. This outdated communications process is unacceptable for today’s customers who expect accurate answers fast – over half of customers say a few hours is a reasonable timeframe for a company to respond to an issue or complaint. 

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Every person in the organization, regardless of where they are located or where service expertise resides, should be connected and readily available to collaborate and get the answers customers need in real-time. 

Converged communications via an all-in-one, the Cloud-based solution empowers employees with “anytime, anywhere access to information” via a full range of integrated capabilities including calling, meetings, messaging, video conferencing, task assignment, screen sharing, and more. One of our clients, Engagent Health is using our Cloud technology across its front- and back-office departments to solve problems in real-time while prospects are on the phone. Users can share information about things like policy changes and customer qualifications quickly through one simple, easy-to-use solution. 

Composable Communications Infrastructure 

Not only do customers want answers fast, but the ways they want those answers are constantly moving and changing. Front- and back-office teams need to be able to keep up with evolving preferences, expectations, and aversions.

 The key here is composability. The goal of composability is to make infrastructure, business capabilities, and decision-making as modular as possible so that an organization can quickly create the right experiences to keep pace with rapid change. In doing so, it is not only prepared to embrace disruption but is able to turn it into an advantage using technologies that are flexible, fluid, and continuous. 

An open, adaptable communications platform built on CPaaS is the way to go, as it allows organizations to quickly customize and deploy automated processes with the ability to flexibly communication-enable applications. For example, using CPaaS, you can create cloud-based proactive notifications that automatically reach the right back-office person or team with alerts when service goals are at risk. These alerts can include optional response tracking, location requests, text interaction, and more. 

Consider how unique, composable communications services can help your company sync front- and back-office to create real experiences that matter for customers.

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[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]