CRM - April 2008 - (Page C11)

Sponsored Content April 2008 11 amounts of toxic chemicals – including methane gas – are released into the air. Not to mention the millions of tons of wood and trees destroyed when you make the decision to do nothing by continuing to receive and pay paper bills offline. Doing away with that paper trail in lieu of paying online also means reduced fuel consumption by the planes, trucks and automobiles that transport paper checks. Pressure is mounting to curb carbon emissions, contain the greenhouse effect and essentially slow down global warming by ‘going green’. A recent McKinsey quarterly global survey on business and society claims that “environmental issues, including climate change, have soared to the top of the sociopolitical agenda in executive suites around the world. Executives expect that the environment will attract more public and political attention and affect shareholder value far more than any other societal issue.” The good news is that the message is resonating. Businesses and consumers are now actively seeking out ways to do their part to save the environment. Be it recycling, using CFL lightbulbs, turning off appliances when they are not in use or going to their inbox instead of their mailbox when the dreaded monthly bills are due. The E-Billing phenomenon has caught on. According to Forrester Research, in 2000, only 26% of US homes had Internet access. In 2007, 75% of US homes had Internet access and 75% of those homes had broadband/high speed access. By 2010, half of all homes that have Internet access will be paying bills on-line. Other survey results found that 2007 actually marked the first year where consumers in households with internet access paid more bills online than by check – 39% online vs. 34% paper! (Harris Interactive and The Marketing Workshop, 2007) The question is, are users going to your website to pay bills or to your competitor’s website? TRANSFORMING YOUR CUSTOMER CONTACTS the people who matter the most – their customers. Why do your customers contact you? In their eyes, what aren’t you doing well? Why do they do business with you? Yes, many questions, but each very important when considering the vision and strategy for your Customer Self-Service platform. Does your organization succeed or fail when meeting your customer’s expectations? Spoiled by intuitive, user-friendly sites on the Internet, today’s customers expect answers online immediately and easily. Businesses today could learn a thing or two from today’s leading sites. To date, most E-Billing, eCommerce and eService Customer Self-Service offerings have not followed lessons learned from these Internet sites. Too many companies still do not realize that if their online experience is not ‘better-than-phone-and-paper’, customers won’t return to the site to conduct business. Consider the following when evaluating your solution: How would you rate your website’s ability to: • QUICKLY & EASILY FIND LINKS TO THE TOP 15 REASONS WHY CUSTOMERS CONTACT YOU customers will not adopt your solution. If your customers do not adopt your solution, you risk losing them while grossly negatively impacting the environmental benefits and the return on investment (ROI) of your offering. Users need a secure, ‘better–than-phoneand-paper’ customer self-service experience online where they can find anything they need and have any question answered within 1-2 clicks. From the moment they sign up for E-Billing in a secure environment, they should have extensive personal bill history available with one click to analyze, sort, filter and manipulate as they deem fit. Only then will they opt out of receiving a paper bill once they have made the decision to pay online. And only then can your business say goodbye to pallets of lengthy paper invoices, return envelopes, remittance slips, paper checks and bills delivered in boxes. And how about the paper-intensive practice of faxing marked up invoices back and forth when there is a dispute to be settled? When users realize how easy it is to conduct complex dispute adjudication online, the incessant back and forth can finally stop. Marketeers and communications departments can also start reducing their carbon footprint by leveraging the power of the web to conduct intelligence-based promotional marketing and advertising campaigns. Online customers enable the conversion of all communications to electronic media versus paper-based media. The days of direct mail marketing are long behind us. Today, with best-of-breed online technologies that truly personalize the online customer experience, marketing effectiveness is greatly enhanced. ANALYZE THIS: YOUR CURRENT PLASTIC, PAPER, & TOXIC CHEMICAL PRODUCTION • PROVIDE A CONSISTENT, INTEGRATED LOOK AND FEEL ACROSS THE PORTAL • SUPPLY MORE BILLING INFORMATION AND HISTORY THAN THE USER WOULD EVER NEED • DELIVER USER-DEFINED PAYMENT RULES THAT ALLOW THE CUSTOMER TO MAKE A ONE-TIME PAYMENT, ENROLL ONLINE FOR AUTO-DEBIT, OR MAKE A CONVENIENCE PAYMENT • MEASURE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CAMPAIGNS TO REDUCE CUSTOMER TURNOVER Smart companies realize the importance of stopping to take the time to consider The competitive landscape has changed dramatically. Not only are you competing over the same customers, you are competing with state-of-the-art online usability and functionality from top sites. If you do not deliver a truly spectacular experience, your Think about how often you produce and distribute CDs with critical business reports on them. With Customer Self-Service functionality that provides real-time reporting & easy to use out of the box reports, toxic chemical producing plastic CDs are no longer necessary. Dashboard http://www.oracle.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - April 2008

CRM - April 2008 Contents Front Office Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point A Tenancy of One’s Own The Rebirth of Taxes destinationCRM Dashboard Labor Disputes Reach The Contract Center The Plight of the Wirelines Required Reading The 2008 Service Awards The 2008 Service Leader Awards Customer Self-Service Microsoft Genesys Oracle eGain Astute Solutions The 2008 Rising Stars The 2008 Service Elite Awar Re:Tooling Scouting Report Pint of View

CRM - April 2008

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