There really is no debate anymore on the necessity of technology in your business, but let’s look at the value it brings in a meaningful way.

Let’s start with Customer Service. No matter what this looks like in your business, whether Account Management, Client Services, or any other department name, the people in your organization responsible for making sure your clients are getting the best service possible are extremely important to your business. They are the face of your company and those who with your clients create relationships.

Communication is fundamental to this role making the reliability of email and phone paramount. Simply having email and a phone system is no longer enough. They have to be systems that allow for your staff to provide the level of service that will set you apart. With a VoIP system that has a redundant failover in case of internet failure, the ability to auto transfer calls to cell phones or land lines after a number of unanswered rings in an effort to successfully connect the customer, and to attach voicemails to emails ensuring a call is never missed, means that your customers know they will always be attended. An internal chat system, like Skype for Business or Teams, can also vastly enhance communication and collaboration within the department making it easier for staff to share information quickly and easily. Having the ability to pull in additional help from a colleague while actively on the phone with a customer, while never having to put the customer on hold to do so, helps your customers feel confidence in the ability of your employees.

Here’s a fun exercise, next time you call customer support for any company you do business with, see if you can list the technologies you think they may be using to enhance your experience. You can even ask them if you’re right, and you may learn how much they are using that you could not have guessed. American Express is world renowned for their customer service and it’s a pretty safe bet they invest in the technology to help them get there.

How much is the retention and return of each client worth to your bottom line? What investments have you made in customer service? Are you measuring how well your customer service department is doing? Is it getting the results you want? Could your company be doing more to improve customer service? Answering these questions can cause quite a shift for your customer’s experience.