IT managers: Customer service trumps managing costs
For IT managers and decision-makers, it's not all about getting jobs done quickly and efficiently. It's also about getting the work done with a positive attitude.
A new survey from Enghouse Interactive, a provider of interaction management solutions, approximately seven out of every ten IT decision-makers believe that good customer service is more important to their companies than managing costs.
Furthermore, roughly 65 percent of IT decision-makers would go as far to say that they feel "personal pressure" to maintain good customer service.
Enghouse Interactive CTO Alex Black argued in the report that most U.S. businesses are actually pushing for better customer service:
But businesses are in transition. They need to incorporate new methods of customer interactions into their portfolio. We can see from the data that newer technologies like mobile apps and social media are being treated seriously even though they currently make up a minority of customer interactions.
The major concern we have is that newer technologies could make customer interactions more siloed if they are not handled within the context of a broader plan which can incorporate structured, unstructured and self-service interactions.
In terms of how IT departments are providing customer service, email trumps all other forms of communication and is used the most frequently at approximately 84 percent of the time.
Call centers are still considered vital to at least 67 percent of businesses, and other forms of communications are catching on -- albeit quite slowly.
Social media only makes up two percent of customer interactions. Mobile apps in general seem to have piqued the interests of 65 percent of IT departments, but only 7 percent are actually using this medium.
For reference, this survey is based upon the responses from 227 IT decision-makers at U.S. companies with yearly revenues between $50 million and $1 billion according to public opinion company Kelton Research.
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