In a country with over 1.2 billion people and a growth rate of 1.58%, businesses in India face a unique challenge in continuing to deliver high levels of customer service, when the size of their customer base increases in leaps and bounds.
More customers equate to more inquiries, calls for support, and complaints; and therefore more humans to deal with the volume. The problem is you cannot keep expanding your infrastructure infinitely, otherwise in 5 years time we'll see call centers the size of small suburbs. Every human, desk, computer, phone line, and all the other costs associated with handling a customer, also eats into valuable margin. Companies eventually reach a point where they become reluctant to just keep adding more.
In the past, this was "easily" solved - just outsource! Lower costs meant you could have double or triple the assets for the same price, and instantly beef up your customer service resources as needed. Yet companies soon saw the pains associated with outsourcing, such as cultural and language barriers, hesitation or outright rejection by the customer base, and a loss of direct control and a diminished care factor that comes with someone "outside the business" taking care of their dirty laundry. The outsourcing horror stories were painfully comical, so long as they were happening to someone else.
Even before outsourcing, there was also a trend towards what was known as "self-service"; essentially removing the need to provide additional resources by implementing technology solutions such as IVR (Interactive Voice Response) and very basic internet portals. These options would allow customers to service their own needs without the need for additional people. However, many companies noticed that these systems tended to generate problems themselves -- customers randomly bashing the phone keypad simply to talk to an operator, or filling out online forms with nonsensical messages and outright abusive rants, after having been shoved along a path where they felt they were being abandoned by the companies that they supported. These arms-length clinical approaches left customers feeling neglected, and very soon businesses were looking for the next solution.
Then, between 2004 and 2006, we saw the uprise of Web 2.0, a new form of the Internet that encouraged interaction, self design, open source, and more importantly an equal playing ground for anyone with a laptop and the desire to get involved.
It has taken many years for companies to even consider adopting such confronting platforms like Facebook and Twitter, preferring to leave them as "tools for fools", and treating them as very "anti-corporate". However, this time the tables were turned, and as customers have become more sophisticated and tech-savvy, they've considering this format as both convenient and engaging; and they want more. They now actively seek out companies who use social media, and have made it part of their personal buying criteria. They rely on peer referrals, and even reviews by people they don't know, choosing instead to leverage on the swarm mind in helping them decide who to transact with; and more importantly, who to trust.
Yes, you'll still need more humans, but Web 2.0 offers you the ability to retain your customer service talent in-house, use multi skilled agents or even home based employees to ramp up your numbers, and start engaging customers in a way that is becoming mandatory for commerce in the 21st century.
No, it's not as easy as plugging in more telephones and training hundreds of employees on scripted call routines, but it's the way of the people. This is a revolution, and companies who choose to ignore it (or even worse hide from it) will get left behind.
There are many consultants and advisors who can help companies to adopt strategies for integrating Web 2.0 into their business operations, and the rewards that will come from meeting your customers needs by getting online and making yourself available in these mediums, will easily outweigh the minor costs to make it happen.
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