On Christmas Day, Sherlock Holmes (a film based on the books by Arthur Conan Doyle) will be released in theaters. Most individuals have heard of the character and know that he is a fictional detective that lived on Baker Street in London with his trusty side-kick Dr. Watson during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Holmes solved his cases through deductive reasoning and forensics, and is most known for his saying, “Why, it’s elementary my dear Watson.” In business, consumers use their deductive reasoning and go with what is elementary-the company that has not only a better product, but superior service. One element of providing superior customer service is eliminating the time wasted on the phone and providing an alternative-an online self-service center.
Online self-service centers are convenient for both the consumers and the business. For customers, an online self-service center provides a 24 hour/7 days a week access portal to information concerning any issue they might have via forums, announcement boards, FAQ pages, and a knowledge-base. For the business, a self-service center lightens the amount of phone calls received and therefore frees agents from the phone so they can work on bigger issues, and also lowers overhead charges. Considering the economy at the moment, everyone needs as much help in saving money and lowering overhead charges as possible.
What software does one use in order to put an online self-service center in place? That’s elementary my dear Watson…get PhaseWare’s software. With PhaseWare’s Self Service Center Software, consumers can access forums where they can ask questions and share comments with other customers. They can post questions to an FAQ page and watch their list of open incidents with the status of those incidents. Plus, customers can access a Universal Knowledge Base which allows them to search through other customer solutions, all the FAQs, notices, incidents, and forums in a single search.