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Accenture reports that customers hate automated systems

It’s been a busy day… let’s just leave it at that.


But I had to post this link from a friend on the other coast about customer satisfaction, which is a hot topic these days. Interesting that Frank Hayes of Computerworld should report that Customers Hate Automated Systems, Vendors Don’t Get It.


Really? I love talking to and trying to interrupt an automated phone system. Not.



“We hate automated customer service  systems. That’s the key finding of a recent study by Accenture. Understand, the study didn’t look at how well we like acquiring, installing, integrating, operating and maintaining customer service automation. It was about how well we like being on the receiving end. Short answer: We don’t.


“Wait, it’s worse: We not only hate being subjected to automated customer service — we’re also irritated enough that we’re ready to change vendors in the hope that we’ll have better luck elsewhere.


“Worse still: Vendors are clueless about just how bad things are.”


Clueless? No, not clueless. Perhaps some are in denial.



“Accenture actually commissioned two separate surveys. In one, 1,200 customers of technology companies were asked what they thought of their suppliers’ customer service. In the other, executives at 35 technology vendors were asked how well they believed their customer service systems performed.


“Three-fourths of vendors believe their customer service is above average, and 54 percent say theirs is up there with the best in the industry.


“Meanwhile, 78 percent of customers say their vendors are only average or below average.


“Among vendors, 57 percent say they have higher customer satisfaction because of new technology they’re using for customer service, and 71 percent say customer problems are being resolved faster than before.


“Among customers, 61 percent say service has not improved — and 57 percent actually describe themselves as somewhat, very or extremely upset by lousy customer service.”



“According to the survey, when we go through a vendor’s customer service process, we want our problems resolved quickly and completely, preferably the first time through.


“Instead, 64 percent of us have had to go back more than once to get problems solved — and 58 percent of us are not at all satisfied with the telephone-based self-help customer service that lots of suppliers have foisted on us.”


Of interest: Accenture’s High Performance Business Blog


Tags: Microsoft, loyalty, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Service.

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Article: Building Customer Relations by Listening

Interesting article this week from Karen E. Klein on “Building Customer Relations by Listening” in BusinessWeek (Smart Answers June 1, 2007), in which she finds that communication is a foundation of better customer service… sometimes as simply as asking your customers and employees…



“Customer service is one area where small companies can outshine their competitors and cultivate intense loyalty among regular customers. But exceptional customer service goes beyond mere politeness into nuanced relationship building. Diane Berenbaum, senior vice-president of Communico, a Westport (Conn.) customer service consultancy, has just written How to Talk to Customers (Jossey-Bass, 2007) with her colleague Tom Larkin. She spoke recently to Smart Answers columnist Karen E. Klein about what makes a great impression on a customer and where some small-business owners miss chances to wow their clients. Edited excerpts of their conversation follow. “

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Blogger compares an Apple Mac Plus to an AMD DualCore PC

In a world of supersized fries and drinks, the blogger Hal Licino (who notes in his bio that he’s an IT expert who “lives for cats, pasta and Harleys”) compares the performance of a vintage 1986 Apple Macintosh Plus to a current, 2007 AMD DualCore computer. In many of the tests that Licino ran, he found that Apple’s System 6.0.8 OS with 4 MB of RAM compares or bested the 1GB AMD DualCore computer running Windows XP SP2.


“… For the functions that people use most often, the 1986 vintage Mac Plus beats the 2007 AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+: 9 tests to 8! Out of the 17 tests, the antique Mac won 53% of the time! Including a jaw-dropping 52 second whipping of the AMD from the time the Power button is pushed to the time the Desktop is up and useable.


“We also didn’t want to overly embarrass the AMD by comparing the time it takes to install the OS vs. the old Mac. The Mac’s average of about a minute is dwarfed by the approximately one hour install time of Windows XP Pro.


“Is this to say that the Mac Plus is a better computer than the AMD? Of course not. The technological advancements of 21 years have placed modern PCs in a completely different league of varied capacities. But the “User Experience” has not changed much in two decades. Due to bloated code that has to incorporate hundreds of functions that average users don’t even know exist, let alone ever utilize, the software companies have weighed down our PCs to effectively neutralize their vast speed advantages. When we compare strictly common, everyday, basic user tasks between the Mac Plus and the AMD we find remarkable similarities in overall speed, thus it can be stated that for the majority of simple office uses, the massive advances in technology in the past two decades have brought zero advance in productivity.”


Hmmm… “zero advance in productivity.”


Perhaps. More than 20 years ago, I recall using an original Macintosh running spreadsheets, accounting software, word processing, email, page layout and graphics, all quite smoothly. (To accomplish these tasks, it had been upgraded to a screaming 1MB, and waited for a year or two for software.) I replaced with a powerful 68030 powered Mac SE, courtesy of a third party accelerator card. Yes, it was a small screen, but Radius changed all that when they brought out their full page displays. (Remember the pivoting CRT?)


Of course, I could then also stay up for nearly two days at a time without any negative impact…


I’ll guess that for most of the tasks, the findings would be similar with a modern Intel processor running on a Windows platform or a similarly configured Macintosh running Mac OS X v10.4 Tiger.

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Good or bad customer service? Just tell Tom @ InfoWeek

This week Tom Smith of InfoWeek writes in his blog post Does Customer Service Still Exist? 


Sounds familiar. 😉



“In its June issue, Consumer Reports notes that, with the exception of Apple, Best Buy’s Geek Squad scored higher in PC problem resolution than the manufacturers of the PCs themselves. “Independent services trounced all Windows PC manufacturers, who solved a measly 59% of problems. … By contrast, independent tech support services affiliated with major retail chains … solved 84% of users’ problems with Windows-based PCs,” the report states.


“Think about that: The companies that make the PCs are able to solve customers’ problems with their own products fewer than six times out of 10, while independent services do so more than eight times out of 10. It raises the question: Is the tech industry at all capable of providing decent customer service?”


He asks for end users for the best (and worst) companies when it comes to providing customer service, and what works (or what doesn’t). Focused on the personal computer and technology space, particularly enterprise IT product companies. “I’m just as happy to report on standouts as laggards, but we can’t do so without your input.”


 Visit the blog and let Tom knw what you think. I’m compiling posts from my request to readers last week of your experiences with customer service agents and will post them on the blog later in the week.

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My question: what’s your experience been with customer service agents?

I’m turning the tables today, with a question to visitors to the blog, following an article from Bill McGee of Consumer Reports. He has an article in USA Today this week on “When customer service is lost in translation,” with a focus on customer service provided by some of the largest travel companies in the States.

“Recently USAToday.com asked readers to share their experiences with these foreign call centers. After sorting through your responses, it’s clear that many of you are not satisfied with such service.

“But it’s a no-brainer decision [closing domestic call centers and outsourcing the effort to places like India] in more ways than one: The immediate gains in labor costs need to be weighed against the long-term losses in customer satisfaction and loyalty.

“Quite frankly, when USATODAY.com solicited reader feedback on this topic a few weeks ago, I was concerned that some of the responses might be xenophobic (or even racist). Instead, I found nearly all the correspondence was even-handed and respectful. What became clear is that off-shoring customer service is different from off-shoring other functions and not all jobs can be lumped into the same “foreign outsourcing” category. Whether we like it or not, there are companies in other countries that theoretically could make better and/or cheaper transmissions, cellphones, or running shoes.”

I recommend McGee’s “things to keep in mind” when you call for assistance:

  • Always keep a detailed log of your reservations calls, including names, dates, and times.
  • If you’re not clear what is being said, either ask the agent to repeat it or ask to speak to another agent. Never agree to something you THINK you understand.
  • Don’t be afraid to request a supervisor. In some cases, this will mean being transferred from a foreign call center to a domestic call center.
  • Ask the agent to follow up with an email confirmation.

Today’s question for you: have you had a good or bad experience with Microsoft or other major industry customer service agents? I’ve posted some of my own experiences and thoughts (click here) but I’d like to hear from you.

No, I don’t have a lot of free time coming up to fill. ðŸ˜‰

As time and space permits, I’ll post your comments (keep it clean) on the blog with your experiences and follow up with our folks in customer service as well as the product groups in future posts.

 

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