A guide for transforming Customer Service Management with SAP Service Cloud
SAP Service Cloud: Turning your Customer Service Department Into a Revenue-generator
As omnichannel buying becomes easier and easier across industries, the most memorable interactions your customers may have with your brand are filtered through the lens of seeking solutions for pre- or post purchase problems.
As a critical touchpoint in both B2B and B2C customer experiences, service is an ongoing opportunity to win lifetime loyalty that fortifies your business and, ultimately, drives growth. The converse also holds true: poor customer service interactions can push consumers directly into a relationship with your competitors.
This future-forward view of customer service as a central pillar of intelligent customer experience (CX) is clearly reflected in the following five emerging trends that every technology leader needs to know about.
Trend #1: Tear Down the Walls – Smash Silos for Best Results
Connected Agents, Happier Customers, Better Bottom Lines
Organizations empowering their service teams with technology that supports swift, accurate, and satisfying resolutions to customer problems – with fewer handoffs and less confusion – can win loyalty and brand equity. In fact, many respondents in a recent survey conducted by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, sponsored by SAP, report that customer service drives brand value (94%) and revenue (92%).1
Getting it right the first time means having access to the right data and internal resources at the right moment to serve the customer the right way. Executing flawlessly means front-line agents must be connected to the entire organization, including sales, operations, logistics, and e-commerce. Smashing these legacy silos is a huge competitive advantage when fewer than half of enterprises say they’re capable of cross-department collaboration.2
Trend #2: Robots to the Rescue
Automation Starts to Deliver on Its Promise
The smart use of AI and automation – in combination with real, live human beings – helps streamline operations, reduce employee turnover, and support the excellence that customers demand in their service interactions.
More than half (61%) of B2B organizations plan to invest in automating routine customer service activities in the next two years.3 This willingness to spend on automation reflects both the business benefits of AI and other intelligent technologies and customer affinity for automated channels.
The efficiency of automation supports profitable growth and lower employee turnover. Freed from mundane, repetitive tasks, service agents are better able to find creative solutions to complex customer issues – especially in a connected enterprise. The data generated by tools such as machine learning also supports better service in the form of greater, more actionable insights across the entire company.
Trend #3: Adapt on the Fly with Composable Customer Service
React to Disruption Without Disrupting Your Business
Customer service – and by extension, the entire customer experience industry – is at an inflection point. Omnichannel engagement is no longer a theory. It’s an attainable goal across B2B and B2C brands. Now, technology leaders can turn their focus to creating a composable business, and customer service offers the perfect starting point.
A composable enterprise can shift departments, organizational elements, and even channels as modular components of a greater whole. The result is an ability to create highly customized business models that adapt to rapid change as it happens.
Customer service is well suited to composability, providing big benefits to service agents who are often on the front lines of shifting consumer demands and unanticipated global conditions.
The ability to meet these challenges with agility keeps customers happy and prevents attrition. The most successful brands see the opportunity in disruption by building a composable business that’s able to take advantage of conditions that might damage their less agile competitors.
When you’re up against a forced change, the ability to pivot quickly and give people what they want is a huge advantage. Turning those opportunities into value for your organization and your customers is key to survival.
Trend #4: Be the Change – Service as a Sustainability Advocate
Amplify Sustainability Options to Win Loyalty, Create Long-Term Revenue
More consumers want to spend in a way that aligns with their values, and sustainability is high on the list of brand differentiators. Service agents have a unique opportunity to amplify your sustainability message. Moreover, they can further support your sustainability goals by guiding and supporting purchasing decisions.
Sustainability is no longer an optional business goal. In a survey conducted by SAP, 61% of brands agreed that environmental issues will be important to their business results within the next decade, and 80% see a positive relationship between sustainability and long-term profitability. Those who invest in sustainability are also more likely to see higher revenue for the current fiscal year.4
A service agent could encourage a utilities customer to use paperless billing or online support documentation, or they could assure a retail consumer that their product return won’t go into a landfill. With these actions, they’re making sure your brand stays competitive and meets the growing expectation of environmental responsibility.
Trend #5: Customer Service Can Sink – or Save – a Brand
Customer Service as Brand-Value Generator
The service that customers receive deeply affects their brand perception, for better or for worse – and at the same time, customer expectations continue to rise. Customer service is all about what you’ve done lately, and the basics (friendly, helpful, and convenient service) are easy to understand. What’s not so simple is the ability to stay current with those rising expectations.
According to an Economist Intelligence Unit report sponsored by SAP, customer retention rates as low as 5% can increase profits anywhere from 25% to 95%.5 This report focuses on the relationship between business growth and customer service excellence, which continues to grow stronger.
Striving for service excellence to retain customers also requires businesses to place a high value on the employee experience. As front-line brand ambassadors and problem-solvers, service agents are the lifeblood of customer experience – particularly as purchasing is increasingly automated.
Final Thoughts: Service as Savior
Customer Service Is a CX Star – Let It Shine
It’s time to stop thinking about service as the last piece of your CX puzzle. A responsive, composable, empathetic customer service organization supports the kind of profitable growth the C-suite demands, as global conditions enter an era of constant change.
Knack Systems is your trusted partner for revolutionizing customer service management with SAP Service Cloud. With deep platform expertise and industry experience in strategy, implementation, and transformation, we empower businesses to turn customer service into a growth driver.
By aligning your service operations with cutting-edge trends like automation, composable strategies, and sustainability, we help you create seamless, empathetic, and value-driven experiences that resonate with customers. This approach not only fulfills your brand promise but also cultivates long-term loyalty and drives revenue growth. Partner with Knack Systems to deliver exceptional customer service and set your business apart in a competitive landscape.
To learn more about these trends in customer service and how they can help your business, contact Knack Systems
Sources:
SAP CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE and The Future of Commerce
- “HBR Pulse Survey: Changes Ahead for B2B Customer Service in a Digitally Driven World,” Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, sponsored by SAP, 2022.
- “HBR Pulse Survey: Changes Ahead for B2B Customer Service in a Digitally Driven World,” Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, sponsored by SAP, 2022.
- “The Balance Sheet Blind Spot: How Sustainability Affects Competitiveness and Profits,” SAP® Insights research center, 2021.
- “The Bigger Picture: Driving Business Growth Through Excellence in Customer Service,” Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by SAP, 2021.
