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Everyone in business knows that the 21st century presents many technological challenges, yet at the same time the capability to deliver maximized customer service increases. The key factor to a successful customer experience and thus a successful business enterprise is to use technology to your advantage. In other words, do not get left behind in the swirl of technological updates. People today are using technology in more ways than ever before. Last year 68 % of American adults owned a smartphone and 73 % own either a desktop computer or laptop. Customers are accustomed to fast accurate delivery of customer service. So, just how can your business tap into this knowledge to maximize profits while offering customers the convenience they crave. A multi-channel help desk streamlines your customer service experience ensuring no patrons slip through the cracks. Let’s take a look at 4 reasons why a multi-channel help desk would be so helpful to your business.

Multiple Channels Allows Your Customers Options to Contact You

Customers or potential customers need to contact businesses for a variety of reasons. Sometimes while doing research on products, they have questions or need additional information. Other times after purchasing your product or service, they may encounter a problem or have a question. Whatever the need may be, you want to always be available for them in whatever way is most convenient for them. With the advent of the internet, smartphones, laptops, tablets, and ipads, people today demand multiple options for contacting a business. Those businesses that do not adapt to the customer’s desire will be rejected. So, just what do customers want in the area of communication options. For starters, they want to have the ability to contact you using whatever platform is convenient for them at the moment. Furthermore, people may switch to another channel in subsequent communications. What does this mean for a business? Offering multiple channels to communicate is the first step in consumer satisfaction. Some of the different ways customers contact a business are as follows:

• Telephone
• Email
• Live chat
• Social media
• Help desk

 Additionally, a customer’s channel preference may change as his or her problem or need changes. For example, a person may be fine checking your knowledge-base through the self-service portal about how an item purchased from you is put together, but if he or she runs into problems, then a call will be likely. Or a person checks online for banking information, but if there is a problem with an account or suspicious activity, then again, a phone call is in order.

A Multi-Channel Help Desk Provides Seamless Integration

It is important to offer these different channels for your customers, but even more important to make sure they are integrated. Customers are contacting you because either they have a problem or they want to get information. They expect you to be accessible, no matter when or what channel they select at a given time. So, if a person works late hours and sends an email at 11 PM, he or she may be expecting a response relatively soon. Without an integrated help desk, emails go to one department, telephone calls go to another department, live chat to another and so on. Possibly, live chat is the only channel that offers a support system at that hour, but customers expect integration on the other end. This means they expect all channels to “work” pretty much the same. So, if they happened to chat with a representative last time they contacted, then they will expect a quick return email. When you have a multi-channel help desk in place, the customer experience is more uniform across the channels. All of the communications from the various channels are converted into tickets and then distributed appropriately. You can even set up the response time for clients based on predetermined criteria.

A Multi-Channel Help Desk Works as One Cohesive Unit

If a company doesn’t have the help of a multi-channel help desk, things can get pretty confusing for the customer. Let’s use our example from above. The person who works until 11 PM, sends an email requesting assistance, but when he doesn’t get a response, calls the next morning. Expecting his earlier request to be easily accessible or “right there,” he becomes frustrated when the person on the telephone does not know what is going on. He must explain it all over again. How could this occur without a help desk? Most companies would likely have different individuals who handle one particular channel; one person responds to emails, another answers telephones, and so on. If the email had not been processed yet, then the person who answered the telephone would not know about the issue. Employing a multi-channel help desk solves this dilemma by instantly extracting all communications, sorting them, organizing them, and creating a ticket for them. The ticket is then sent to the best person to handle the particular issue. So, if the person working shifts were to call, the information would be easy to find and the call could be routed quickly to person in charge or a status check given.

A Multi-Channel Help Desk Saves You Money

While some companies spend the money on hiring whole departments or individuals to handle the various channels of communication, it certainly costs more to have the additional employees. By automating the system, you streamline it and reduce the number of employees needed. This all translates into money saved for your company.

Vision Helpdesk provides an innovative multi-channel help desk that is cloud-based and easy to operate. Flexibility is a key component in our system. Several time-saving options benefit your company when using the help desk features.