While most of the world uses Google’s (News - Alert) browser on a daily basis, many of the same people look to the technology giant for basic services like e-mail, document sharing and storage and maps and navigation. Some even turn to Google for advertising, translation, and a host of other services. Where the company isn’t a recognized brand name, however, is in customer support. This isn’t because the company doesn’t offer good customer support…it simply does so rather quietly.
Google began with a rather narrow set of online self-help tools for customers, but has expanded far beyond this. Today, Google offers live phone support in more than 40 languages. Its support centers are open 24/7, and the company even offers live video chat to many of its customers. Judith Aquino of 1to1Media recently spoke with Deepak Khandelwal, vice president of global customer experience about the company’s views on multichannel and multilingual customer support.
"Providing a differentiated, positive customer experience is critical," Khandelwal told Aquino. "Especially in the technology field where there are always newer and better products that are coming out, I firmly believe that it is one of the key success factors for companies to stay successful for long periods of time."
When it comes to building great customer support, the idea of getting buy-in from every department and every company is an often-repeated one. Unfortunately, many companies simply pay lip service to this idea, and Khandewal told 1to1Media that it can’t be. No company can achieve customer service excellence without “cross-functional ownership” of products.
"In Google's lingo, that means getting people onboard across products, marketing, finance, and sales and then tying that into senior level objectives," he said. "You need people to understand that this is an important goal."
Another important goal is getting buy-in to the customer support objectives from all employees and not just those on top. Employee engagement, a critical element for success, comes with appreciating the efforts of front-line employees such as call center agents and rewarding them for a job well done.
Google is at the front of efforts in employee engagement. The company provides recognition programs for employees who provide a great customer experience, according to Aquino. It also sponsors monthly customer satisfaction (CSAT) awards for agents who score perfectly in customer satisfaction rankings, conducts regular employee surveys and online discussions to gather valuable feedback from employees to find ways to improve.
Collaboration – one of the core elements of a customer excellence plan such as Google’s – is vital for a cross-channel and cross-departmental strategy. For this reason, contact centers looking to boost the level of cooperation, collaboration and engagement in their customer support programs would be well placed to search for a customer support solution that is built around collaboration. Collaboration solutions such as those offered by TeamSupport provide visibility to every member of a team and provide tools that support complete collaboration to resolve customers’ questions and issues.
While collaboration may not feel “natural” to the contact center today – many companies are still striving to get customers off the phone as fast as possible – it’s part of an involving way that customer expectations must be met across channels and throughout the customer lifecycle. Companies unprepared to take a multichannel, collaborative approach are likely to get left behind.
Edited by Alisen Downey