Business White Paper
Taking Customer Service to the Next
Table of Contents
Introduction: Today’s Customer
Service Challenges ............................. 1
Customer Service Today Is
All About Answers................................ 2
CRM + KM = Smart CRM........................ 2
Smart CRM Yields
Breakthrough Gains.............................. 4
Adding Knowledge to CRM:
A phased implementation . ................. 5
Start with voice agents in the
customer contact center . ............. 5
Implement multi-channel routing
with universal knowledge .............. 5
Deflect interactions to
knowledge-infused self-service .. 6
Conclusion............................................. 6
December 2010
Level with Smart CRM
Realizing New Returns from your CRM Investment
A re you getting the most out of your contact center? Is the CRM desktop that your
agents use helping or hindering how you service your customers? How can you
make the most of this strategic investment, optimize costs, and improve customer service?
A Knowledge Management solution, when integrated with existing CRM and contact
center infrastructure, can extend and multiply the value of those infrastructure investments
by delivering marked and measurable cost reductions in the contact center, as well as
improvements in customer service.
Introduction: Today’s Customer Service Challenges
The quality of the customer service experience directly impacts customer loyalty and
retention. Improving customer service can have a direct impact on the bottom line by
reducing churn and increasing the lifetime value of the customer.
Chances are that your business already has a significant investment in customer service
— such as CRM software, contact center infrastructure, and agents — and yet still has
room to improve the customer experience.
A customer might reach the right agent quickly on an incoming call, but if that agent
cannot answer their question on the first call, or provides the customer with incomplete
or incorrect information, then the customer experience is compromised. If customers
receive inconsistent answers when speaking with different agents, or when interacting
with a company across different channels, then again the customer experience and loyalty
are at risk.
While customer service is a competitive necessity, economics are working against you.
Many customer service organizations are seeing operational budget cuts, and at the same
time customers are becoming more demanding — and more vocal on social networks
— when service does not meet their expectations.
You have already invested in CRM software and contact center infrastructure — now
infuse those systems with the right information to address customers’ questions accurately
and quickly. Adding knowledge management capabilities to your customer service
organization helps agents deliver more advanced, responsive, and effective services by
leveraging your existing investments and putting the core knowledge of your organization
to work to improve the customer experience.
Business White Paper: Taking Customer Service to the Next Level with Smart CRM
What’s on your agent
desktop today?
Sub-par customer experi-
ences are largely the result
of low agent productivity.
The tools that contact
center agents have at their
disposal limit their ability
to effectively interact with
customers. Agents are
forced to work with many
applications and spend a
great deal of time searching
for answers, which results
in high average handle times,
low first contact resolution,
and frequent transfers to
other agents.
Contact centers must do
something to ensure that
customers’ issues are
resolved effectively on
first contact, and the
best place to attack this
problem is typically on
the agent desktop.
Do your agents have the
answers they need to
address customer issues
directly from the agent
desktop? Is it easy to use
and can it be leveraged
across channels?
| page 2 of 6
Customer Service Today Is All About Answers
A survey of companies in the U.S. and U.K. conducted by Accenture revealed a clear mandate
for customer service organizations. Almost half of the survey’s respondents said that the most
important aspect of ensuring a satisfying customer experience is having a representative who
can meet all of a customer’s needs — without having to forward inquiries to other representatives
— and over 10% said the most important aspect is being able to discuss a problem with a service
representative. The bottom line is that consumers want answers.
Businesses so far have focused much of their customer service efforts on connecting the
customer to the agent and deflecting the “easy” incoming calls through IVR or Web self-
service. By applying intelligent skills-based routing, however, you can get the customer to the
right agent quickly.
The more important, and possibly lengthier, part of the interaction is the process of understanding
and then answering the customer’s questions. In the financial services industry, for example, the
increasing complexity of products creates a challenge for the agent to arrive at the right answer.
You can monitor how well you are doing on this most important part of customer service
delivery by tracking metrics such as first contact resolution rates, average handle time, and
escalations.
Traditional CRM alone falls short in delivering several key requirements that today’s customer
service organizations require:
>>Intelligence. Customer service agents don’t just need a list of resources — they need a
good understanding of what the customer is asking, and the ability to find the right answer
quickly; raw search alone cannot provide this capability.
>>Insight. CRM systems may provide good insight into metrics, but no real understanding
of what customers need. For example, they do not identify which questions customers
are asking most often, and which problems take the longest to resolve. Without this kind
of knowledge intelligence, it is difficult to provide the correct answer or to optimize the
customer experience.
>>Agility. Today’s business environment is fluid and your customer service needs to keep
pace by adjusting in real time. When things change, you need to push new knowledge
out to agents quickly. And when an agent discovers and answers a new question, they
need to be able to share that information instantly with the entire customer service
organization.
These limitations are becoming increasingly important in an economic climate in which
businesses are trying to do more with less, and where every customer counts.
CRM + KM = Smart CRM
By infusing CRM with knowledge management (KM), customer service organizations can
overcome the limitations of traditional CRM solutions to differentiate based on service and
increase customer loyalty, while making the most efficient and effective use of customer service
resources.
For example, the Genesys Knowledge Management solution enhances the CRM environment
with natural language processing and context-driven search to identify the true intent of a
question and deliver the right information. It gathers “smart excerpts” with contextual
summaries matching queries, so agents don’t have to spend extra time reading and digesting
information while on the phone with a customer.
Business White Paper: Taking Customer Service to the Next Level with Smart CRM | page 3 of 6

Genesys Knowledge Management can also provide predefined answers to common questions,
and historical context for queries and responses. Agents can rank the relevance of resources to
specific queries, and create and share new resources for new questions. All of these measures
make the agent’s job easier, and speed the time to resolution

With the addition of KM, customer service organizations gain the centralized intelligence they
need to deliver answers — fast, accurate, relevant answers. This centralized intelligence is the
best way to foster the knowledge and confidence that agents need. Below are just a few of the
ways smart CRM can benefit today’s customer service organizations:
Enhance agent efficiency and effectiveness. After downsizing, customer service
organizations sometimes lose some of their more experienced customer service agents. It is vital
to move from a service model in which knowledge and expertise walks out the door when
seasoned employees leave, to a more collaborative service model in which solutions to customer
issues are developed, managed, and shared as part of the daily resolution process. This not only
helps with overall morale and confidence, but also empowers new agents to become more
proficient in a shortened period of time. Smart CRM systems can provide answers in real time
with minimal agent involvement. For example, as a customer service representative is working
in their agent desktop, an integrated KM solution can automatically leverage the context of the
interaction, and provide immediate advice to assist with the resolution process.
Minimize call resolution times. To reduce costs, many organizations have been forced to
consolidate contact centers or business units, which can lead to longer call times, increased
escalations, and decreased first contact resolution rates. By arming agents with one-click access
to better information, you can significantly reduce call times by 30 seconds or much more,
depending on the complexity of the question. With access to knowledge through their existing
CRM agent desktop, problem resolution becomes fast and seamless for the agent.
Improve consistency. By enriching your CRM solution with a universal knowledge base, you
can ensure consistency across individual agents, in-house or outsourced agents, and different
channels. Customers get the same, correct answer regardless of the channel they use or the
agent they speak with — thus eliminating one of the greatest frustration sources that customers
have with their contact center interactions.
Consistency is a hallmark and fundamental strength of top-performing customer service. But
achieving consistency at the agent level requires more than simply giving everybody access to
the same screen pops, call scripts, and escalation protocols. It requires being able to identify and
anticipate the needs and interests of a customer, and ensuring that the right steps are taken —
every time — to satisfy those requirements in a timely, predictable manner, and in a way that
is on-brand. In the contact center, consistency hinges on the organization’s ability to know
everything relevant about the customer and deliver accurate and consistent answers, regardless
of the contact channel or agent handling the interaction.
Business White Paper: Taking Customer Service to the Next Level with Smart CRM | page 4 of 6

Smart CRM Yields Breakthrough Gains

Adding knowledge management to existing CRM investments extends their reach and delivers
breakthrough gains. For example, many organizations have already invested in workforce
optimization, skills-based routing, and/or outsourcing within their contact centers. Infusing
these technologies with knowledge delivers new returns on existing investments.
Workforce optimization. This approach employs technologies to understand peak performance
times and optimize the scheduling of resources around those peaks. Adding knowledge to the
CRM environment speeds call resolution, improving the performance of your workforce so
you can handle greater capacity with existing resources within traffic peaks.
Skills-based routing. Smart, skills-based routing ensures that incoming calls or contacts are
directed to the agent or group of agents best skilled to optimize the experience. Connecting
the caller with the right agent is a first and essential part of delivering customer service. Smart
CRM empowers this agent to answer their questions, without time-consuming research or
escalations, for an even better customer experience.
Outsourcing. For many organizations, a certain percentage of interactions are offloaded to
external providers, such as service bureaus, during times of peak customer demand. The risk is
that the customer experience will not be consistent across outsourced and in-house agents.
Providing a universal knowledge base to all agents, no matter where they are located, ensures
that outsourced agents are providing the same responses that in-house agents are, and that the
customer experience is consistent in all cases.
Web self-service. Customer service organizations can develop an effective, online self-service
channel to push low-value interactions to the Web. Optimizing the right channel for each
interaction with a centralized knowledge platform is at the core of smart CRM. Customers,
regardless of channel, receive consistent answers and the only way to meet the demand for
service with a diminishing supply of people is to expand access to answers through more self-
sufficient channels.
By accomplishing any one of these knowledge initiatives, organizations can typically enjoy a
20-30% improvement in operational efficiencies. Simply put, even after significant budget cuts,
organizations can still deliver improved customer service.

The Evolution Toward Smart CRM

Next level of
customer service

IVR Skills Based Workforce Web Smart

Self-Service Routing Optimization Self-Service CRM

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE YARDSTICK

Business White Paper: Taking Customer Service to the Next Level with Smart CRM | page 5 of 6

Adding Knowledge to CRM: A phased implementation

Given the significant cost savings and efficiency gains that smart CRM can deliver, the financial
justification is clear. But to minimize the up-front cost outlay and resource investment, we’ve
seen many organizations phase in their implementations so that the gains derived from an initial
implementation phase can be realized and help fund subsequent phases and support the extension
of service across new channels.

Start with voice agents in the contact center

Start by enriching the agent desktop with integrated knowledge — enabling agents to answer
questions more quickly and to close the “feedback loop” on knowledge by providing and
sharing new answers, and rating the relevance and usefulness of existing resources.
Enriching the agent desktop with integrated knowledge can deliver measurable improvements
in customer service, including:
>>Improved first contact resolution (FCR). When agents can provide the right answer at
the first contact, unnecessary repeat contacts are avoided.
>> Decreased average handle time (AHT): With the right answers integrated in the desktop,
voice agents can spend less time fumbling through standard response libraries and static text
documents, and therefore find the right answer for the customer’s intent quickly.
>> Reduced escalations: When every agent has access to the same answers as your most
skilled agents, you can reduce the number of case escalations, thus improving customer
service and reducing costs.

Implementing all of these improvements simultaneously creates a multiplier effect. By getting

the interaction to the right agent with skills-based routing, populating the agent desktop with
information via screen pop, and then providing the knowledge to address the customer’s
inquiry, agents are empowered to deliver the differentiated customer experience that many
companies are seeking. Instead of providing basic responses, agents have more time and
knowledge to add to each interaction, and can now go beyond the basics and deliver truly
compelling customer service that builds up customer loyalty.

Implement multi-channel routing with universal knowledge

Next try adding multiple channels, as appropriate, for your business, such as e-mail, SMS,
or chat. Giving your customers the choice of multiple channels enhances their perception
of service.
As you add channels, you must ensure the consistency of the user experience. You can do this
with a multi-channel CRM solution served by consistent, rules-based routing and a universal
knowledge base so that every agent has access to the same information. You can even support
cross-channel conversations that begin on one channel (such as e-mail) and move to another
(such as voice), without requiring the customer to repeat themselves or agents to duplicate work.
Benefits of the universal knowledge base across channels include:
>> Improved quality of experience, as customers can choose their preferred channel
>> Better workforce optimization using non real-time channels during off-peak times
>> Reduced costs through leveraging more cost-effective channels
Business White Paper: Taking Customer Service to the Next Level with Smart CRM | page 6 of 6

A major provider of Deflect interactions to knowledge-infused self-service

insurance, retirement plans,
and annuities has adopted
Genesys Knowledge
Management to improve the
consistency and quality of
the customer experience.
Faced with a broad and
complex product set and a
lack of processes for
managing and distributing
current knowledge, the
company’s agents were
struggling to find the
information they needed in
a legacy knowledge base.
Today, Genesys Knowledge
Management is handling
more than 48,000 “hits”
each month, giving agents
fast and easy access to the
right information and the
ability to deliver consistent,
accurate answers in every
customer interaction.
The next step is to add Web self-service capabilities fueled by the same universal knowledge
management solution. Genesys Knowledge Management lets you identify which information
would be available only to agents and which to Web self-service, so that you could deflect
incoming interactions as appropriate.
It’s critical that the Web self-service be able to quickly and accurately identify the intent of
the customer’s question and provide accurate answers in response. Genesys Knowledge
Management offers natural language search capabilities and can identify the actual intent of
questions for fast problem resolution. Plus, you can provide seamless escalation to assisted
service channels as needed.
Deflecting calls with effective Web self-service benefits businesses by:
>> Decreasing contact center interactions and corresponding costs
>> Improving the customer experience by helping customers to quickly and easily find the
right information themselves
Conclusion
Ultimately, adding knowledge to the contact center is a critical strategic imperative — one
that can fundamentally transform the way businesses interact with their customers. With
smart CRM capabilities, customer service organizations can:
>> Truly understand the intentions of customers and use that understanding to optimize
every interaction
>> Save operational costs by pushing low-value inquiries to Web self-service channels
>> Better capture and share knowledge among individuals, as well as across teams and
departments, thus enabling agents to be more responsive, efficient, and effective
>> Optimize the customer experience to boost satisfaction and loyalty

Genesys Worldwide Americas Europe, Middle East, Africa Asia Pacific

Genesys software solutions from Alcatel-Lucent manage Corporate Headquarters Genesys House APAC Headquarters
customer interactions over phone, Web and mobile devices. The
Genesys software suite handles customer conversations across 2001 Junipero Serra Blvd. 100 Frimley Business Park Australasia Pty Ltd
multiple channels and resources – self-service, assisted-service Daly City, CA 94014 Frimley Level 17, 124 Walker Street
and proactive outreach – fulfilling customer requests and USA Camberley North Sydney, NSW 2060
optimizing customer care goals while efficiently using resources.
Surrey GU16 7SG Australia
Genesys software directs more than 100 million customer +1 650 466 1100
interactions every day for 4,000 companies and government United Kingdom
+1 888 Genesys (436 3797) +61 2 9463 8500
agencies in 80 countries. These companies and agencies
leverage their entire organization, from the contact center to Tel: +44 1276 45 7000
the back office, while dynamically engaging their customers. For Fax: +44 1276 45 7001
more information, go to : www.genesyslab.com

Genesys and the Genesys logo are registered trademarks of Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All other company names
and logos may be registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective companies and are hereby recognized. © 2010 Genesys
Telecommunications Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved.
3254 v. 1- 12/10-US