Effective Effortless Omnichannel Customer Service Solution

In whichever business you embark on, commerce truly makes the world GO-ROUND. Sitting in a “mamak”, a typical local Malaysian (Malay-decent) eatery stall or a warung as they call it in Indonesia, one can’t help but to experience the hustle and bustle of commerce filled with wholesome customer relationships that’s going on. At this particular stall, it’s a bit more localized, hence the banter between customers and owners are such a “joie de vivre” to experience. Of course coupled with the combination of great food and good humor. It makes a pleasant morning, lifting up the spirits of even an “outsider-customer” … obviously “me-the-copywriter”.

An eureka moment lighted 💡! Why not deploy omnichannel powered chatbots to lay the ground for the perfect forefront meet & greet. Many businesses have always faced the problem of constant quality customer service. How can one transfer this “genuine light happy banter” before kicking in to the more serious business of closing down the sale? In my humble opinion, yes your business might be worth much much more than this humble stall, however if you take a step back and analyze deeper. In the end, isn’t most customers’ behavior the same? The key word is GENUINE = GREAT CUSTOMER SERVICE. A truth applicable across industries.

I’m sure the many business owners or customer service agencies have employed – Customer Service staff or external CX agents. It takes time to train by imparting the company’s DNA or culture, equipping them with an overview of the company policies (while hoping they might read-up through the night) which usually don’t happen i might say, and then poof! They are placed up-front in the front lines to battle the onslaught of customer’s inquiries and managing complaints.

How far do you think these newbies can cope before they hit a burn-out? What is the ratio of your hiring versus retention of talent? That’s where Omnichannel Customer Service Solutions come into play. Here are the many benefits that will help you with the first-customer-response and at the same time help you retain valuable talent. Talent which you have place in resources of time and money to train.

🔥4 Effective Effortless Omnichannel CX Solution!!

“Gartner has predicted that, by 2020, customers will manage 85% of their relationship with the enterprise without interacting with a human. However, in the following decade, even these simpler apps and automated systems will be replaced with advanced AI technologies designed to improve the overall customer experience by being proactive, anticipating customer needs and engaging on an emotional level.”

Before immersing into Big AI, Chatbots are the best front-line soldiers to assist in giving out the first impressions. As compared to traditional CX agents, calls must be answered in 3 rings. Comparatively a chat with a chatbot will accord the customer an instant response! Psychologically you have scored a point. The next step that a chatbot can do is to identify the type of question. Should it be an FAQ, the bot will direct the customer accordingly. *Company’s should have a set of FAQs prepared for the chatbot system to qualify accordingly.

After filtering, the chatbot can then direct to the right Live Agent who can then help the customers. Chatbots are able to filter based on preliminary customer profile. This will help to lessen the emotions such as anger and allow the customers to think more rationally before speaking to a Live Agent. Reducing the friction of high-temper emotions. A very valid example!

Ensuring there’s a connection between CRM support is vital. An implementation of Accordia Desk, your agents gain a 360 degree view of customers’ data. In return, they are able to provide a fulfilling customer’s journey as they are able to address the customer’s history. Enhancing the experiences for both parties, while fostering brand loyalty, and your business gains customer retention.

Not forgetting CRM integration helps in reducing cost in the long run. At the same time increasing sales, in a more personalized manner. Instead of just an off-the-mill sales call pitch. A bonus point is that the system allows integration with your preferred CRM partner, or you can also explore the different CRM platforms Accordia works with!

When choosing a system, one should go for flexibility. Catering to both SMEs or well established corporations, deployment with scalability is a luxury. There’s certainly no requirements to lock the system in.

We grow in pace with your business, Cloud deployment affords you flexibility with a “Plug-and-play concept”. Or should your company have a collocated budget fitting with the business plan expansion, opt for On-Premise deployment. Choosing your own team of IT Support to manage the systems closely.

“The Digital Advertising market is growing because people’s behavior has shifted from the offline to the online world. Within 10 years, the number of internet users has grown to twice its size from 2.3 billion in 2012 to 5.1 billion in 2022. (Source: Digital Advertising – Malaysia, Statista) ”

Big data at your fingertips. Enhancement for Marketing or Digital marketing campaigns for your company is possible. Now with digital marketing taking flight, there is a need among many SMEs who are looking to engage in these routes for marketing. With an Omnichannel system in place, you are able to draw out data for marketing strategies or even reports.

Employee or agent retention is another plus point to adopt this solution. Saving you time and effort plus gaining higher employee satisfaction overall.

The key to customer satisfaction is through smooth first greetings, sufficient given information mid-journey, and a satisfied ending of the whole experience. Gaining genuine trust and loyalty for many years to come. Happy customers are the strongest product and service advocates.

Take a step further by engaging with us on how we can help you reach your Customer Service goals.

B2B communication involves multiple touchpoints, ranging from lead generation and customer support to sales and post-sales engagement. Omnichannel chatbots play a vital role in streamlining these interactions by offering the following benefits:

Omnichannel allows private educational institutions to provide a seamless and consistent experience to students throughout their journey.

The world economy has experienced four global recessions over the past seven decades: in 1975, 1982, 1991, and 2009: Source – Global Recessions by M. Ayhan Kose, Naotaka Sugawara, Marco E. Terrones

“Almost two-thirds of chief economists believe a global recession is likely in 2023; of which 18% consider it extremely likely – more than twice as many as in the previous survey conducted in September 2022,

These challenges are expected to lead multinational businesses to cut costs, with many chief economists expecting firms to reduce operational expenses (86%), lay off workers (78%) and optimize supply chains (77%).As reported by the World Economic Forum.”

Not so much as a whisper but seemingly coming to pass, economists predicted this year would be the year of recession. Some corporations have begun experiencing recessions. As reported by The Star news portal, Singapore’s retrenchments have doubled towards the end of 2022.

Building resilient business with an Omnichannel in place, gives SMEs a head start, firm foundation, agility and the flexibility in growing even through tough times. Here are three reasons why Omnichannel is great for businesses:

By deploying chatbots, or WhatsApp chatbots, that can be linked directly to your social media, you are indirectly cutting down requirements for human presence. It’s a brilliant first implementation towards automation.

Allow these miracle workers to ask qualifying questions, troubleshoot or even solve simple customer’s issues with just a few clicks. Assisting your CX agents to dive right-in and resolve the matter professionally, allowing more time for the soft skills side of customer relationship retention strategies, with small talks, leading to promoting the latest product or services. A great conversationalist creates a happy experience for customers, and in-return customer loyalty!

The Marketing team too is able to benefit with an Omnichannel linked CRM system. Live inventory reporting made possible. The team is able to track live, what are the products which are not moving, and immediately come-up with a marketing solution. Capitalizing on time, and disposal of un-movable inventory capitalizing on the return-of-investment (ROI).

BNM has assured fellow Malaysians, especially SMEs who make-up 98% of businesses in Malaysia, that we will weather through this recession. But, it’s always best to have some strategy and preparedness ahead that can help towards laying a strong foundation.

Many businesses in Malaysia are still hesitant to invest in an Omnichannel with reservations that it requires a hefty investment. With Accordia’s Omnichannel, an option to have it Cloud based is possible. As it’s much more cost effective, by subscription basis therefore cheaper as compared to fully owned, and the great news is that it’s scalable to your business size.

Allow the Omnichannel to grow with your company, while you maintain the cost of investment. Or if you have the means, adopt a fully owned solution. The government of Malaysia also has different initiatives headed by Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), and grants in encouraging businesses to adopt digitization and automation.

Tapping on the strength of partners, and vice versa is crucial for business growth. In such challenging times human capital management is crucial to take care of your company’s hiring and training cost.

An Omnichannel contact centre helps to address these needs by a seamless integration to your preferred CRM Partner. Allowing multiple teams of Agents a unified 360 view of customer’s data, enabling confidence in solving the customers issue. In directly promoting high customer satisfaction and retention. With the system in place you can also limit the access of customer’s information, should you be worried about PDPA, and generate real-time tracking reports.

One should not wait when times are good, don’t get caught should recession hit instead be well prepared. As we’ve recently experienced the uncertainties back in the blip years of the year 2020 Covid19 era. SMEs who had digitized their businesses could survive better and excel. Lay your foundation for the future. We can’t deny digitization is the way to go. Hence, why not start now with an Omnichannel, building the platform and expanding further when your business grows.

Speak to our Omni experts today for the best solution to your business. On which level of digitization you should adopt today.

The recent news of the end of 6-month’s trial which started in June 2023, the infamous 4 – days Work Week programme has been reported widely across major news channels. Citing great success both in terms of employee wellbeing, and most importantly work performances, and revenue of the companies which had taken part in this pilot programme.

“A recent study in the United Kingdom followed the experiences of 2,500 workers in 61 organizations across various industries who changed their schedules to work four days a week versus five. The researchers found that the change increased team members’ happiness, reduced stress and burnout, and did not hurt productivity. Employees reported feeling less stressed and overwhelmed and said they were better able to manage their workloads. Stress, of course, is a major contributor to poor mental health and can lead to physical health problems. Source article, Is The 4-Day Workweek The Next Big Thing? by Adrian Gostick, Forbes.”

Here in Malaysia, surprisingly enough, a small number of home grown tech-startups are adopting it. It’s understandable why the take-up would not be popular with local employers, either calculating cost of each employee in-put, the time it takes to complete the task on hand, or simply the trust between employer and employee.

However, fellow employers should not totally dismiss the idea, instead let the possibility of the idea brew while taking proper steps towards laying the foundation either in the near or far future. AUTOMATION is the key to laying that strong foundation. “Never say never” is a motto that one should carry in this time and age. Especially for those whose businesses fall within SME’s range. Think about it as attracting quality talent such as Gen Alpha’s, versus having to be in the constant limbo of dangling the carrot of higher-pay which might not work for the new generation. Instead work-life balance is what they seek.

Laying a strong Foundation with Automation comes with unparalleled benefits regardless if your company’s work culture is the standard five days or a four days work week arrangement. Attracting the right talent, and retaining the current generation – Gen Alpha will be more inclined to new technology, growing-up in an environment where they’re constantly connected.

With automation in place, employers can be rest assured with peace of mind. The systems can be programmed to function till a “human agent” is available to take over, training this new generation to be an efficient workforce of CX support will be a breeze.

One should always zoom out to see the bigger picture, while at the same time being able to meet in the middle with the current workforce that makes up most of the current workforce.

According to research, Call centers in the US are made up of a gender ratio of 69.2% female and 30.8% male, and the average age of call center agents is 40 years old. Source, Call Centre Agent Demographics and Statistics in the US by Zippia Career Expert.

The current situation of many CX contact centers is to contain the high turn-over, and combat the current employee’s focus. A disgruntled CX agent does more harm than help to your overall business.

A 4-day work week would be benefiting the current CX workforce by having lower employee turnover, higher employee satisfaction, and lower medical leave application. With the demographic report above, working mothers and single mothers which makes-up the larger pie of the female ratio therefore a 4-day work week will benefit you greatly, boosting morale and increasing motivation in completing and at the same time excelling on given tasks.

Thus with automation, the possibility of migrating to a 4 day work week is not far off, and should not be the only reason for automating your CX Support.

Across industries, allowing your customers to be able to reach you in an instant is the key to success. Be it if your business caters to B2B customers or B2C customers alike. Not only external customers, but also internally – your employees, middle management as well as stakeholders. With automation, it can solve many of the traditional problems which require human presence.

The introduction of OMNICHANNEL is not new, but it is also not widely adopted as yet. Many are hesitant at the cost, but can’t deny some form of automation is required. A team to handle WhatsApp inquiry, might be different from the team that is handling queries through social media or from the website. However, this only leads to customer confusion and frustration.

By implementing Omnichannel solutions, it helps companies who wish to automate by integrating all channels of communication on a single platform. Meeting companies at where they are, and growing together through a flexible approach where the resources are scalable by Cloud implementation.

📌 Connecting the dots with Chatbots, or WhatsApp bots implementation, who are the first in-line to greet customers instead of the constant ringing tone when lines are busy.
📌 Automating the simple task such as tracking delivery status, to simple tasks such as setting of appointments thereby saving time.
📌 Probing and screening through the call-in before connecting to the right live agent who can handle customers well, will surely earn your company loyalty.
📌 Further to these, supervisors are able to monitor agents all on a single platform, draw out reports for the management team, enabling the latest updates and when updating stakeholders.

When there’s a strong foundation in your CX Support for both internal and external customers, confidence in your brand will come naturally. Using the tools an Omnichannel has in place would be the next best step for Marketing strategies having all data on hand. Especially for companies within Malaysia where the target market is key to the greater market share.

Test and experience an Omnichannel’s ability with a FREE DEMO by our Omni-experts. Seek advice on which solution suits your business best.

2023 WINS for MSMEs – Malaysia Madani Revised Budget 2023

Let not your customer’s beauty be only Skin Deep, but Flourish Online!

The way we are experiencing technology has evolved greatly, and is still evolving at a tremendous rate. Quantum leap in technology has given birth to new businesses and gig economies. Enabling both new and traditional businesses to prosper, covering different industries booming in a short span of time.

However, the amazing science behind human DNA is an undeniable truth that humans crave communication. It has never changed since the dawn of time, even boldly saying all humans need a certain level of attention. The more attention is given, and if the outcome is a happy conversation, the more favour one is bestowed upon.

Perhaps with this need to connect, the introduction of the era’s very first idea of how “modern” customer service is established. Made possible with the creation of the Telephone by Alexander Graham-Bell back in 1876. Why modern? Because a discovery of one of the earliest “customer service complaints’ ‘ dates as far back as 1750BCE in ancient Mesopatamia. Source:Complaint tablet to Ea-nāṣir

Today, Customer Service is much improved as compared to even 5 years ago, attributing to the acceleration of changes caused by the Covid19 pandemic. However Customers have an insatiable need to be heard, coupled with changes of behaviour according to the times. These days, customers want to be heard INSTANTLY!

The question one begs to differ is are you happy with your customer service team turnaround time? What are they lacking, and most importantly how can you improve your team’s productivity?

Immersive Customer Service or for short – Immersive CX is the confirmed new era of Customer Service, solidifying it’s position this year in 2023.

Birth from the evolution of customers behaviour, where they emerged from the pandemic phase. Customers know that communication through a virtual assistant – chatbots can give them an instant answer. But at the sametime they also need human elements of speaking to a live agent, creating a more real experience. Or perhaps sub-consciously validating that their issues have been resolved. Therefore corporate companies or SMEs should not slow down in upgrading their CX technology solution.

One sure way is by automation with Omnichannel. Building an omnichannel-first workspace allows your agents to reach respectively their and your goal of an easy and seamless experiential customer service for your customers.Connecting all the dots between your Social Media account, web, integration of WhatsApp business, and a call centre.

All these are achievable by a BROWSER BASED IP Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) contact solution which can facilitate remote work, it also enables SMART ROUTING where it directs customers request by applying precise routing for a particular case to the correct agent who is able to handle it. Therefore, boosting customer confidence that your brand really knows them personally. Not only that, cost is manageable as it is scalable and flexible. Meeting businesses with a budget in mind.

With automation of these in place, it allows for the customers to fully immersed in the experience and enhance a greater appreciation of your product or services.

“Nine out of 10 consumers want an omnichannel experience with seamless service between communication methods. Source: CX Today”

“FACT: E-commerce sales rose by about 35 percent year-over-year since the onset of the pandemic, and online penetration remains about 30 percent higher than pre-COVID-19 levels. Source McKinsey”

Short Term Direction: A Social Media CX Team support

Traditionally, the Marketing and Customer Service department in an organisation takes care of Social Media. Replying to customer service ad-hoc at a time. However, the climate is changing and to remain competitive some companies have empowered a group of CX teams to directly answer customers on these social media platforms itself.

Thus training is important, as the responses are published where everyone can view. Relying on this alone is insufficient, because if the team does not have the right tools/access to information, how will they address the customer’s problem?

Therefore Automation is also important where in one click, the agents are able to access required information.

Near Term Direction: AI takes over.

Perhaps in the near term, ai powered bots are able to answer the different questions posted. Blurring the lines between bot and humans. Ever heard of ChatGPT? A new era has truly begun.

Long Term Direction: Visual and audio solutions could be the future, instead of text.

Short video clips of explanations are not new to society. Be honest, we “Google” how-to-do this on “Youtube” and even “TikTok” all the time. These have been popular channels to gather information.

Experts have foreseen this could be the future of customer service engagement as well. Where customers prefer a virtual visual bot to interact with instead of only typing a text.

Automation such as Omnichannel allows your business to achieve optimization of FRT – First Turnaround Time. Will FRT be even relevant in the near future on how you grade your agents performance?

With these automation in place, it allows for the customers to be fully immersed in the experience and enhance a greater appreciation of your product or services. Optimizing turnaround time is achievable. Allowing your supervisors to focus on more meaningful team engagements. Driving better results in both customers and employees.

Find out more from our experts on how Automation can help. A FREE DEMO on real-time experiences and the wonders of Omnichannel is able to help your customers service team to bring it to the next level.