The demand for access to the latest innovations tends to be a common trend among the business sector. While the enterprise may be slow to adopt, those with more agile environments want the latest in cloud technology and customer support software in order to effectively set themselves apart from the competition. The buzz may sound good, but without a focused investment in security, the momentum may fall short.
Customer support software provider, TeamSupport recently posted a blog on the topic, pointing to the importance of delivering exceptional business to business customer support and experience in security. This is especially true for businesses that offer Software as a Service (SaaS (News - Alert)). According to data shared by Kissmetrics, 49 percent of companies have expressed concern about the security of their information when it is stored, managed and accessed in the cloud.
Such concern demonstrates a failure to properly educate the audience as cloud computing technologies have been proven to be more secure than solutions the smaller business can generally deploy on their own. Plus, SaaS companies can provide clients with significant value when it comes to operational alignment, efficiency and accessibility. Advisory company, Ovum (News - Alert) suggests that the perception of cloud risk is higher than the actual risk, yet SaaS companies have the opportunity to tackle this level of distrust by simply delivering the right customer support.
This support is important as SaaS companies and others involved in delivering cloud-based solutions spend a lot of time talking about the benefits of their solutions, especially when it comes to security. If they fail to meet customer expectations when it comes to interactions, response times and even a standard approach to care, the trust originally earned is quickly gone. Implementing proven customer support software that allows customer service to collaborate with IT teams is a great way to combat this risk.
The adoption of best practices is also important, as it sets a higher standard for the company so that promises made are promises kept. For instance, SaaS companies need to ensure the IT team is informed of unique security issues; enterprise security controls must be built to manage both customer support and client teams; regular security reviews are a must throughout the relationship; and robust security controls, tokenization and data encryption must be firmly in place.
Once best practices are in place, the provider is better positioned to deliver on customer service expectations, living up to the promises of the SLA, managing the right tools and delivering on customer expectations. Anything less and the competition is just a click away.
Edited by Kyle Piscioniere