Change doesn’t knock on the door, it barges in. This COVID-19 pandemic has clearly illustrated the need for businesses to prepare ahead for all unforeseen disasters.
The challenge for most businesses is this—nobody can afford such massive upheavals every few years or so. How do you ensure that you are fully prepared for the next global medical emergency of this magnitude? How do you future proof your business?
The answer lies in leveraging advanced business communication via cloud communication and all the benefits they bring with them.
This pandemic, especially given its ever-expanding duration and multitude of upheavals, will leave behind in its wake a completely changed consumer. This is a consumer who is likely to be more conservative, cautious, with less cash to spare and is overall much harder to win over.
Consumer expectations will evolve, and businesses will evolve too to keep up with them. Old playbooks on how to manage operations and service consumers are near irrelevant at this point.
Businesses will have to fundamentally restructure how they operate, grow and serve the demands of their consumers. A plan that can account for these massive changes and future-proof the business has to be put in place.
Future proof your business using cloud communication –
There are four primary trends that are only going to gain further ground as we head into this new decade. Additionally, there are a specific set of tools that businesses can embrace to leverage these trends.
They are as follows –
1. Embrace digitisation in its entirety –
The COVID-19 outbreak has fast-forwarded many existing trends instead of birthing newer ones. Digitisation of our day-to-day activities tops the list.
Online is where more and more people are coming to interact with businesses. It is also where potential consumers end up buying or transacting from.
The Internet is a convenient medium for customers to place service requests or lodge complaints. As the world moves towards a more digital space, this trend merits consideration when it comes to future-proofing your business.
Most businesses that still function on yesteryear premise-based systems won’t be able to cope with the emerging customer-service demands birthed by digitisation. This is something only cloud and business communication systems like UCaaS, VoIP solutions etc. can provide and enable.
There are numerous benefits like immediate gains in efficiency, unlocking new service opportunities, greater customer retention, faster turnaround times, cheaper cost per action performed, and so on.
Speaking of digitisation, two aspects that attract attention. First, the fact that the digitisation of most businesses means that customers’ interactions always happen via a touch screen.
Secondly, this allows customers to have access to certain information; how the business runs, what they stand for etc. When it comes to the growth and survival of an organisation, customer service’s role is more crucial than ever.
2. Be wherever your customers are, and beyond
With people shut indoors for months and barely any movement on the streets, the world of marketing and business communications has undergone an overhaul.
The core idea is that going ahead, people will be more careful about stepping out. This is one reason why customer retention and experience top the chart as far as priorities for businesses are concerned.
More importantly, customers are exploring several newer, less traditional platforms and mediums of getting in touch with businesses than what they otherwise would have.
For example, a lot of serious businesses and brands have recently joined TikTok, cementing their presence and adding it as a platform for ensuring good customer experience. This was unthinkable as recently half a year back.
Future proof your business, get on board modern and highly advanced business communication and cloud communication tools. They help you unlock efficiencies such as setting up cloud phone systems, installing VoIP solutions for seamless telephony and so on.
Many companies now make use of these advanced, cloud-based contact center solutions to wholly fulfil their customer demands instead of running service operations on multiple setups. After all, consumers remain the heart of any business and focussing on their needs remains the best practice.
The history of global pandemics and other medical emergencies tells us that COVID-19 isn’t the first pandemic, and it likely isn’t the last one either.
Especially given human consumption trends, the likelihood of such events will only go up. Businesses need to account for this as they plan the way ahead.
3. Let data aid all your decision-making
As customers have evolved over the years, their expectations of quality and service demands have grown steadily. Even the nature of service requests has changed more rapidly than was ever envisioned. Businesses need to evolve and embrace this whole new world of providing excellent customer service, day in and day out.
Impersonal, mass mailers don’t work as a form of business communication anymore. Organisations increasingly need to make use of modern data and analytics to keep their customers in loop.
Businesses generate massive quantities of data at all steps. They store most of that data generated in due process, and newer data is generated with every single transaction, service request etc..
This gives an organisation the opportunity to gather and implement valuable feedback and take corrective steps accordingly. Moreover, analysis of data makes it very easy and efficient to ensure top-notch customer service at all levels.
This is the best possible way to future-proof your business, create a shift to data-driven decision making. Cloud-based VoIP solutions, cloud phone systems etc. are eminently integrable with modern CRM systems. This brings us to our next point.
4. Customise and Personalise –
The best kind of customer experience is that which helps with customer retention. One excellent way to achieve that is by personalising the user experience.
There are two aspects to this—it needs businesses to have all the data on their engagements with a particular customer. Second, data needs to be collated, processed and put to use for customising customer experience individually.
For anyone who’s running a business, the outcome is very obvious at this point. Legacy tools and systems only serve to degrade your levels of service and act as a hindrance. Cloud communication and business communication solutions remain the best bet for any organisation looking to grow and thrive in a world of uncertainty.
The most important component of any data-driven customer service management is CRM systems. Customer Relationship Management systems are advanced tools which upgrade the capabilities of businesses to serve their customers. The primary usage of such a system is data capture, management and analysis, with regards to customer service.
Apart from data gathering and analysis, CRMs enable service agents to track the preferences and service histories for every consumer. They also then allow an organisation to access and collaborate using different devices/platforms.
Businesses can transform traditional setups into holistic, personalised service systems. There exists a proven relation between consistent, personalised service and consumer loyalty. Hence, this isn’t something businesses can likely skimp on.
For any business to thrive in the post-pandemic world, the old ways and tools of going about your job don’t make the cut anymore. It’s a new breed of consumer, and organisations have to adapt accordingly. Adopt advanced business communication and cloud communication systems and future-proof your business for the years to come!
Contact 1888-859-0450 to talk to experts or visit the Acefone website for more information on the same.
Acefone provides a broad range of cloud communication services to businesses of all sizes, which includes Hosted Phone Systems, Free Phone Numbers, and Cloud Contact Center Solutions. Being the UK’s leading provider of VoIP service provider, we always strive to provide excellent customer service and high-quality custom solutions to our customers.
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