Help Line & Customer Service: Balancing Quality And Cost
There has been a lot of discussion around the customer service quality and the fact that now some phone companies charge you a nominal amount when you call for service. I believe that it is not a good trend for consumers that they have to pay for a genuine service call. But there’s another factor: all the time you spend on the phone, especially when you have to deal with the IVR system.
These automated call flows are a necessity of modern businesses. For any large business which runs a call center, operational efficiency in call centers is critical and a down time of a few minutes is a huge issue. Keeping calls brief and using automated systems allows companies to keep the costs under control. Providing online information or other ways of avoiding calls (by using online chat etc) is important as well. For consumers however, it is a big pain go through the IVR maze.
Telenor takes an interesting approach: on their website they publish a number of IVR maps. See above for talkshawk map. I am sure this is helpful for some people but some of these maps can be so complex that it can be a discouragement for callers. What do you think?
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