Johannesburg, 12 Jul 2006
Self-service is one of the fastest growing segments in the world of e-business as organisations realise the benefits of giving customers, employees and partners access to information and a range of services, according to self-service solutions provider Consology.
"Self-service solutions enable companies to improve customer loyalty, deflect calls from their call centres, automate bill dispute processes, speed up collection of payments and make significant cost savings on paper and postage," explains John Ziniades, Consology CEO.
Telecoms companies in SA have been the most aggressive early adopters of self-service technology, which is 15 times less expensive than telephonic support, according to research firm Forrester.
"In an industry where up to 80% of call centre enquiries are related to accounts, telcos have been able to achieve significant cost-savings by allowing customers to download statements or initiate bill enquiries using an online portal," says Ziniades.
As e-billing matures, companies like MTN and Vodacom are evolving beyond account-related matters to provide online customer self-service to subscribers, says Kevin Meltzer, business development manager at Consology.
Banks lagging
He says the financial services industry could learn much from the way the telecoms industry has used self-service solutions to drive down customer support costs, improve subscriber loyalty, personalise customer service, and cross- and up-sell a range of complex products.
Ziniades says the international market is evolving as banks make the transition towards packaged self-service solutions, but South African banks, that were once world-leaders in the online banking arena, are losing their edge by failing to introduce new key functionality online.
"While electronic channels will never completely replace human customer service employees, we can expect to see more and more of the routine transactions and interactions we conduct move into the realm of self-service," he says.
According to Ziniades, self-service is an increasingly important component of customer relationship management.
"Customer retention is far less expensive than customer acquisition," he says.
Related story:
E-billing catches up
Share