In most businesses, customer service (CS) has long been considered a cost centre, or a department which provides no direct profit to organisations. This is due to the fact that while operational metrics are easy to calculate and are well defined, it is difficult to accurately calculate CS return on Investment (ROI). It factors in many abstract and intangible elements which change based on the organisation's nature.

However, a report on ROI of Customer Service and Customer Experience reveals that CS should not be classified as a cost centre because the proper use of the right software can increase a business's ROI. Agile CS software, such as Giva's eCustomerService can achieve this by:

1. Increasing first contact resolution (FCR) to decrease contact centre costs
   This allows organisations to minimise their customer support expenses by lowering the number of follow-up calls, emails and messages.

2. Improving employee productivity by empowering them to decrease their average handle time (AHT)
   Fast and agile CS software allows agents to seamlessly move through the necessary operations and reduce their AHT and support costs.

3. Reducing agent related support by developing useful self-service options
   Well-integrated knowledge bases such as FAQs drive efficiency and help decrease incoming calls and accelerate ticket resolution.

4. Minimising agent training
   The simplicity of software such as Giva's eCustomerService make on-boarding CS employees fast and easy and allows them to stay up to date with new changes and updates real-time.

   Not only does deploying Agile software improve efficiency, but it also makes generating a revenue possible. Empowering an organisation's staff through flexible and reliable CS software plays a key role in improving the business's FCR, AHT and other efficiency metrics. Additionally, it increases a customer's spending in an establishment, cements customer loyalty and makes expanding a customer base more feasible. Customer service is not only a way of making customers happy, rather it indirectly functions as a marketing scheme through word of mouth.

Customer service (CS) and data security are two equally important aspects of any successful organisation. While a great customer experience (CX) will bring in more foot traffic, no amount of "wow" experiences and smiles will restore a customer's trust in your security capabilities once it is broken. This brings about the difficult discussion of choosing between prioritising CS or data security. But while many mistakenly believe that one must be compromised for the sake of the other, the reality is quite different. Organisations should consider data security to be a part of their CS and find a way to reach a solid middle ground in both areas. Good CS and strong data security are not mutually exclusive so long as an optimum balance is achieved between the two.

[More]

While the core elements of excellent customer service are generally always the same, there are stark differences in the way it is managed within the healthcare industry and outside of it. Customers typically do not want to visit their medical practitioner or the hospital, but when they have no choice but to do so, their nerves can quickly be worked into a frenzy. Consequently, healthcare entities should go the extra mile in providing their patients with exceptional customer service. Below is a list of 5 tips that can enhance customer service strategies among healthcare entities:

[More]

As a service provider, you use your help desk to assist end users with their problems. However, if the software you deploy lacks vital features, it will become quite difficult for you to keep your customers satisfied. Below is a list of components that will make your help desk software and systems outstanding:

[More]

Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) are information systems used by businesses to share, store, regulate and maintain organisational knowledge. They are used to assist employees in retrieving, understanding and implementing the stored information. Users can also input their own knowledge to enable colleagues in the organisation to benefit from it. This helps in building effective work teams and creating more productive and efficient organisations.

[More]