How Digital Customer Service (DCS) Can Improve Internal Operations
Many surveys over the years have shown that happy customers are the result of happy employees. In the age of the “Great Resignation,” there is a renewed emphasis on the importance of the employee experience and the value of meeting employee needs. The business case for improved customer and employee service can be summarized with a seemingly simple statement: Increased employee satisfaction leads to better service delivery, which in turn contributes to happier customers and employees.
Emphasizing Employee Satisfaction
Businesses often view supporting internal needs as a secondary priority behind customers, especially when it is seen as a cost center versus a profit center… But what if we served employees with the same vigor that we serve our customers?
“When I started out, business school professors liked to pose a conundrum: Which do you put first, your employees, your customers or your shareholders? As if that were an unanswerable question. My answer was very easy: You put your employees first. If you truly treat your employees that way, they will treat your customers well, your customers will come back, and that’s what makes your shareholders happy.”
—Herb Kelleher, Southwest Airlines co-founder
Empowering employees with tools and techniques to guide and teach customers (whether internal or external) can lead to a sense of empowerment and fulfillment. If your employees feel like they can be outstanding with the tools that they have at hand, they are more likely to experience job satisfaction and express commitment to positive outcomes. Even better if employees can utilize their tools to empower others to complete tasks. At Glia, mastery and collaboration are two of our core values. Our team embraces both mastery and passing knowledge along to one another to help everyone else become masters too. The result: we respect one another as subject matter experts, and are continually helping others grow and self-serve. Imagine if every company was set up with a collaborative, “each one, teach one” culture!
Putting employees first does not have to be a costly endeavor. Consider: the costs associated with employee turnover has been estimated as ranging from 30% of the employees’ annual salary, to as high as 200%. Imagine if you could reroute a portion of those funds to improving internal employee support; meeting employees where they are and offering them IT and human resources assistance on their screens.
Seamless Employee Experiences
A national insurance carrier has extended their Glia Digital Customer Service (DCS) implementation beyond their external agent portal and customer properties to serve their employee base. Employees are efficiently routed to human resources and IT support staff using intuitive business rules, and users can engage in their preferred digital format – chat, voice, or video. The back-office staff use CoBrowsing and screen sharing tools to show their teammates how to complete online tasks or efficiently locate resources. Employees appreciate personalized service while support staff are empowered to efficiently deliver outstanding service.
Leveraging Digital Customer Service technology for employee support can result in:
- Increased employee satisfaction
- Improved intranet/portal adoption / usage
- Responsive, personalized service to employees
- Reduced reliance on traditional phone support/communication
- Decreased back-and-forth communications (pay disputes, IT support, etc.)
The benefits of offering seamless Digital Customer Service extends beyond your customer base. Employees who are empowered and supported by their companies will deliver better service and naturally strive to make happy customers. Who wouldn’t want that?
