The Power of Choice: Optimizing Multi-channel Support

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Today’s consumers have access to a myriad of channels to connect with the companies they patronize. If we have a question about our latest phone bill or want to switch electricity providers, we can initiate a conversation with these companies in numerous ways. As consumers demand new and increasingly flexible ways to access support, companies are responding by increasing customer service channels, including call centers, email, Live Chat, self-service portals and even social media.

In the business IT space, a similar trend is emerging, although the rate of change has been much slower. The traditional support framework, structured around a single call center with some ancillary self-service resources, is becoming obsolete. Users are beginning to expect a wider range of options for gaining support for their workplace technologies.

This ISG white paper explores how leading companies are embracing multi-channel IT support by providing users with access to a number of different support channels and by strategically guiding user traffic to optimize that support framework, an approach that is becoming the gold standard in the provision of end-user support.
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About the author

Lisa Borden

Lisa Borden

Lisa is part of an ISG team that provides business-to-business satisfaction measurement and benchmarking. She has led more than 200 research programs for companies across a range of industries, including Financial Services, Manufacturing, Retail, Logistics and Hospitality. A hallmark of Lisa’s approach is that the insights she produces drive real and measurable change for her clients, rejuvenating and remediating supplier relationships in some of the world’s largest organizations. Lisa developed the proprietary framework which forms the foundation of the ISG Business Relationship monitor and has successfully implemented this framework in organizations spanning Asia-Pacific, North America and Europe. Lisa has a strong analytical capacity, which enables her to distil complex reports into succinct, actionable insight, backed by statistical rigor. She believes strongly in the power of statistical tools to deliver business insight and considers the presentation of findings as a dialogue and an opportunity to highlight the responsibility of both the supplier and the client in the success of engagements.