Once SaaS got a foothold and became a highly respected platform and industry, a number of solutions originally impractical to develop and market exploded into reality like the big bang itself. One of these is a diverse library of software support tools to increase customer service and support to a level of efficiency and diversity never before imagined.
Software support tools of the new millennium bring in multi-channel support and entirely new models of communication and customer relations that have surpassed the kind of awful trope of the much maligned call center.
In an age where people are less patient with telephones as they once were, and where people are spoiled by the instant nature of communications and commerce, these tools are very important. Remember, as I’ve said a billion times, it’s customer service for which you are ultimately judged, so if you don’t pick good tools to accomplish this in an expedient and convenient way, you’re doomed.
Let’s take a look at what three of the best ones are.
#1 – WalkMe
I’ve talked about WalkMe until I’m blue in the face, explaining what this technology is, and more or less how it works, as have countless others. But, for those who have somehow not heard of this software, let me explain what it is.
It was designed as a tutorial creation framework, which integrates with web forms. Long story short, it can interact with the web form, and through this, with the user, so it can guide users step by step through complex processes, while keeping control so mistakes can’t be made. You program it with a simple point and click logic system, so it’s easy to set up and map.
Now, this is fantastic for customer service and support in two ways. It can either be used to guide agents through helping with complex support tasks, or it can be used for self service, allowing customers to handle problems themselves safely and foolproof like. This is a big movement, and it’s going to keep gaining momentum, so it’s a good idea to go ahead and learn to love onboarding and self service.
#2 – Liveperson
Liveperson is a more traditional solution, but it’s a major boost to the being multi channel and flexible by bringing in text-based live chat to enable real time communication outside the telephone network.
There’s not a lot to say beyond calling this one of the best live chat systems, offering integration with CRM solutions, social networks, intuitive cross-logging and redirecting, and even some VoIP solutions becoming popular as well.
This is a situation of, sometimes human intervention is needed in support, but many people hate phones and are used to text communication. Liveperson is the ultimate answer to this need.
#3 – Parature
Along with that, Parature is a good help desk system, which is another piece of the puzzle. Again, there’s less about this to really expound upon, because it’s not a new and unknown technology to describe and explain. However, it’s one of the most solid of its type, and with email integration, social media integration and the capacity to play nice with WalkMe and Liveperson, it’s a great third channel to offload things that don’t have to be completely real time.
If you marry the three of these software support tools together, along with (sorry to say) a well-organized and well-trained call center, you’ll have a solid, modern customer service and support system in place that will accomplish much.