Businesses always want to provide the best customer service possible. To do that, they need the best customer service software to decrease response time and resolve customer inquiries effectively. However, organizations sometimes face challenges while acquiring and setting up customer service systems. They want a tool tailored to their needs that supports various customer service channels, and that allows them to control their own data. These criteria is met with open source customer service software.

“The best support ticket is the one that’s never created,” noted 1 Zendesk’s Elaine Atwell. There are times when help is needed, yet some things are easier to simply do by oneself, on one’s own terms. Plus, there also comes the self-satisfaction of striking a complex task off a list (I managed to fill out my tax forms)!

Becoming a successful CEO at a client services company doesn't just happen overnight. It can be easy to overlook the hard work, failure, and sometimes even loneliness that comes with the territory. You might assume people in these positions are simply naturals who were born to take on these types of high-pressure roles. But in reality, it can be a tough hill to climb. So what is it that all client services CEOs have in common that helps them reach that next level of success?

In a recent study commissioned by Zendesk, just 39% of customer service agents said they were confident they could respond to customers in a conversational, convenient way. And only 32% said they could effectively manage and monitor customer requests during the working day. Both of these findings reveal powerful truths. Customer service staff often feel overwhelmed, particularly when they have to respond to everything quickly.

We are forever being reminded that retaining existing customers is more cost-effective than going out and proactively trying to attract new customers. But at the same time, we are told that new customers are the lifeblood of any successful enterprise. So which is it?

As online shopping enters a period of hyper-growth and competition for consumers intensifies, getting the customer service experience right has never been more important for retailers. Those that are ahead of the CX curve have their fingers on the pulse when it comes to the latest trends and technologies—they’re reaping the rewards, too. In fact, 66% of companies agree that there’s a direct link between customer service and business performance.

Today, many companies worldwide are doubling down 1 on their reskilling and upskilling efforts, and equipping employees with the crucial skills that they need to thrive in the world of work today. Here, we review the key skills that customer service agents need to hone, in today’s ever-evolving landscape of work.

When done right, technology can help companies create great customer experiences. This is why 82% of top-performing businesses say they pay close attention to the human experience around digital and technology, according to a study by PwC. However, IT Services companies often view the quality of service through the lens of applications and infrastructure, while their customers are more concerned with outcomes and usage. This creates a disconnect, which can lead to low customer satisfaction.

As consumer behavior rapidly changed during the pandemic, accelerating the shift from in-person to online shopping and the expectation for speedy shipping, the Third-Party Logistics (3PL) industry has boomed. 63.5% of shippers now outsource their warehousing activities to 3PL providers1, 81% outsource domestic transportation2 (which is the most common services outsourced1), and 44% outsource freight forwarding3.

While 2020 will certainly go down in history as the year that rocked our economic foundations, it’s not the only period to have done so. Just 12 years prior, we experienced the Global Financial Crisis, allegedly the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression. Traditional retail banks were largely blamed for the 2008 crisis, and consumer trust in them plummeted—this trust has not been regained yet, according to an Accenture report.

Everyone in an organisation needs to know what it takes to keep customers happy. According to research published in Forbes, 59% of companies with a CEO who is focused on customer XP report higher revenue growth, compared to companies without a customer-focused CEO. The customer-focused culture is led from the top and should be observed and adhered to company-wide. In a fast-changing world during a global pandemic, priorities are changing.

Discover how many social channels brands should be using, and which ones are likely to deliver the best results. To determine effective multi-channel planning for content and promotions, we will look at the vast array of channels, how to determine if they are appropriate and how an audit might reveal surprising results. will also look at the major platforms and sketch out a broad understanding of which industries they best serve.

Training new hires on the fly isn’t easy and yet it’s quite common. When a support team is missing hands, chances are that new support agents will be hitting the tickets with precious little preparation. Needless to say, this can quickly lead to problems with customers. When a customer chats in with a new or particularly green support agent, the team member might provide wrong information or generally make some mistakes.

Not all sales are created equal. Depending on the products, region, and size of a company, a business may require sales experts with different specialties. In 2021, Americans spent nearly $487 billion on technological products and services (a 7.5 percent increase from the previous year)—they’re expected to spend even more in 2022.

2001: A Space Odyssey is a cult classic; the quintessential "evil robot takes over" science-fiction tale featuring a soft-spoken killer robot with the neighbourly name of HAL. Arthur C. Clarke, who wrote the story the 1968 movie was based on, went through several creative bot names before deciding on HAL (Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer). He toyed with Autonomous Mobile Explorer-5, Socrates, and Athena.

2 years into the pandemic, the business landscape has changed with the speed of light. While 74% of professionals expect remote work to become standard, managing a distributed workforce has its unique challenges. Overseeing disjointed teams and handling resource crunch has led to fragmented data, frustrated agents, and poor customer experience. This has made companies ask themselves whether they are ready for the future of work?

Anyone who works in business development knows that it can be a tough job to explain. If someone asks you what you do for a living and you say, “Business development,” you’re usually met with a quizzical look. So if you don’t have a thorough grasp on what business development is, don’t worry—you’re not alone. The best way to understand business development is to break it into clear pieces. That’s what we’re here to do.

Successful companies are constantly asking questions. Customer support teams are in a tricky situation — they need to optimize costs and still provide the best agent and customer experience. Many businesses use traditional KPIs like average handle time and first call resolution as key metrics. But support leaders wonder if these metrics are really the best path to improved agent performance and increased customer satisfaction. That’s where conversation AI analytics comes in.

For the first time in a long time, the world of tech, business, and media seem to be less focused on the pandemic and more focused on the future.

Many of us have experience interacting with customer support agents in various contexts, from streaming service subscriptions and car rental bookings, to online clothing purchases. For businesses worldwide, offering timely support across multiple channels and touchpoints is critical in today’s highly competitive and digital-first world. A strong customer experience strategy is a defining feature that sets companies apart – yet what do customer service and customer support truly mean?

If you’re not yet focusing on the customer experience with your organization, it’s time to get started and kick it into high gear. Customer expectations are higher than ever and evolving. You’ve got to get ahead of that. There are often challenges to getting a customer experience program off the ground in any organization, so let’s overcome those and get moving.

Whether it's to inform your sales or marketing teams, it’s likely that you’ve done lots of analysis on your customers to help determine exactly what they need and want. But have you ever analysed how your teams are interacting with your customers to inform service improvements? Learn more about how understanding your agent touches can benefit your business.

The fact is, better customer experiences are better for business. Great CX means your customers are happier, feel taken care of, and are more loyal, all of which leads to more profits. It takes the right tools and data to fuel those experiences, and a lot of it is already at your fingertips. Your customer service team knows a lot about your customers - how they actually use your products, what’s working and what’s not, and what they want to do.

We are living in an information age, with instant access to information and knowledge available at the click of a button. Yet, many spend a large majority of their time combing through a cluttered market of content, as there is just so much out there.

Customer service representatives rely on their listening skills to understand how a customer feels about a product or service, to resolve customer complaints and to ensure customer satisfaction. However, the first step to active listening is hearing what customers have to say. But what’s the difference between the two? Customer Service listening skills involve not only noting down the words spoken by the customer, but also the nuances of the issue raised.