The 21st Century customer: A proactive Customer Experience (CX) with Oracle Service Cloud

Boxfusion CX Service Cloud Consultant Louis Granger explains how proactive customer experience (CX) is driving digital transformation in Oracle CX Cloud.

Meeting the requirements and demands of customers has never been more intense. In today’s age, customers (and potential customers) now have the ability to access information online in seconds, to gather knowledge for better-informed decisions when purchasing, and to answer their own questions through customer service applications such as Oracle Service Cloud(part of the Oracle CX Cloud product suite). With the competition to deliver super-quick, accurate online customer service escalating at such an extraordinary rate, the need for an optimised Customer Experience (CX) is now at the forefront for many CX professionals. What’s more, some firms are now leveraging their CX projects to take a more proactive approach to online customer service, to give customers information before they’ve even realised they need it!

From my experience, proactive CX has become an increasingly common topic of conversation. In a breakfast event led by Boxfusion and Oracle back in September, entitled ‘Digital Transformation within the Contact Centre’, we heard from long-standing Boxfusion client Hermes regarding their journey to increased contact centre efficiency through proactive CX functionality. We also discussed some of the key features that we have developed to address the need for proactive customer service using Oracle Service Cloud.

In this blog, I’ll be shedding light on the importance of proactive CX in today’s age of digital transformation, and will share four key examples where this can be brought to reality, as outlined at the event. I’ll also share the benefits this proactivity can bring to any business using Oracle Service Cloud.

What is digital transformation and why is it important? #

Digital transformation is the use of technology to radically improve performance or reach of enterprises.
With customer expectations higher than ever, responding to evolving customer behaviours and preferences is one of the key challenges facing organisations today. CX remains the top reason why organisations are investing vast sums in digital transformation projects.
So what are the main priorities in digital transformation for companies embarking on these projects? Three key points at the top of many firms’ checklists include:
Moving to the cloud to increase their ability to deliver lower-cost digital disruption;
Taking process automation to the next level, including artificial intelligence (e.g. recommendation systems or virtual personal assistants);

Achieving a true omni-channel presence to remain competitive and deliver a seamless and compelling customer experience.
Organisations that do not align to a truly customer-centric approach are at risk of falling behind their digitally savvy customers in the future.

Bridging the gaps with a proactive web experience #

The great thing about Oracle Service Cloud is that it enables organisations to better understand their customers and interact with them across multiple channels and devices. If your objective is to deliver better customer service via the web, enable a cross-channel contact centre solution, integrate your data across the various touch points, or enforce policies and regulations, Service Cloud makes it easy for your customers to engage with your brand; your agents to service your customers; and your organisation to adapt to evolving business needs.The Oracle Service Cloud bridges the gaps between the users and the business in a subtle, dynamic and engaging way, making it a win-win for everyone.

However, taking the decision to implement the Service Cloud (or any other online customer service application) is just the beginning. The real game-changer, and the part that will bear significant fruit for the business if executed well, lies in the implementation of the Service Cloud so that it ticks all the CX boxes. A proactive web experience is a big box, and we know what it takes to get it ticked off.

Four best proactive CX features #

At the digital transformation breakfast we held back in September, I presented some of the best proactive CX features and how they have helped our clients. I also took attendees through a two-part demo which highlights four key features that could be implemented as part of a CX project .

1. Support updates #

Definition: Enables customers to view and action recent support updates from the Support site landing page.

Benefits: This feature provides customers with incident updates at their fingertips, preventing them from having to click-through to Account pages and reducing the time and clicks needed to get to their support tickets.

2. Recommended for you #

Definition: As per the experience on sites such as Amazon, customers are recommended knowledgebase content based on their previous interactions.

Benefits: This tool proactively addresses the recent pain points of customers and offers personalised recommendations as opposed to content that is popular across the entire customer base. As a result, information is found quicker and customer issues resolved more efficiently.

3. Proactive escalation #

Definition: Functionality that enables customers to escalate open enquiries if they are attempting to create another similar ‘duplicate’ enquiry.

Benefits: Deflects additional work from the helpdesk and empowers the customer to escalate major issues, driving loyalty and positive Net Promoter Score (NPS) contributions.

4. Account dashboard #

Definition: An interactive 360’ customer overview, providing the customer with important personalised support information at a glance.

Benefits: Prevents customers from having to scroll through reports to source key information, saving the customer time and effort searching for information that might not even be available.