5 key steps to boosting your customer satisfaction with Unified Communications
In this series of blog posts, we look at the 5 key steps every business needs to take in order to build a solid UC strategy that changes the way customers interact with the brand. The last one in the series focuses on the importance of and need to continually evolve and adapt.
Step 5: Don’t ever think it’s done
Used well, unified communications can be an incredible tool for your business, not only in terms of improving customer experience and driving engagement but for improving productivity, streamlining workflows and maximising resources but the inherent flexibility and scalability of UC means it can quickly stagnate if you don’t keep abreast of the latest consumer and technology trends. For that reason, the fifth key step for effectively increasing customer satisfaction with unified communications is to always think of it as a continuous evolution of data, systems and IT tools.
All good UC strategies have one thing in common: they are constantly evolving. Technology is advancing at such a rapid rate these days that customer expectations change on a seemingly weekly basis. In order for your business’s UC plans to continue serving the needs of your customers, it’s vital to ensure the two are always aligned.
If we cast our minds back to the pre-pandemic days, UC was a very different proposition to the one it is now. In the face of a mass-scale shift to remote working, UC providers have been adding new features and integrations on an almost daily basis. They have been responding to the wide and varied needs of businesses of all sizes and across all industries, and there’s no signs of them slowing. This means that even IT managers who think their set-up is perfect today are likely to find there are new applications and processes just around the corner that are an even better fit for their requirements.
Making sure you are up to date with what’s going on in the world of UC and particularly with all the great capabilities that can be used on top of your Microsoft Teams platform, will ensure you are always harnessing the most appropriate, most powerful tools for your business.
Another aspect to keep an eye on is the continuous shift in trends and behaviour among consumers. While the population is becoming more embedded in the digital mesh that fulfils their needs, particularly younger generations, users will also need to reduce the application clutter that is being created while adding more applications, devices and systems to do everyday tasks.
This is in stark contrast to trends among the older population, who still value talking to people and seeing things written down in black and white and communicate via traditional channels. Today’s customer wants to be able to access whatever they want, whenever they want it, from whichever device they choose, and UC gives us the tools to make this possible, all while maintaining open lines of communication with older generations.
With this in mind, if there’s a sudden shift in trends tomorrow, your business will need to be able to react quickly and wholeheartedly.
Again, UC gives us the tools to remain agile – but the onus is on IT managers to ensure their individual set-up remains relevant and effective.
Key questions to ask yourself:
- Is your customer base changing over time – i.e. getting older or younger?
- Is there a changing pattern in the way customers find and/or reach out to you?
- How do you assess customer engagement and create a shift in the tools your employees are using
- Are there new tools that would help streamline processes even further?
- Does your solution support remote workers and office-based workers equally? Is there adequate support for hybrid working?
- Has feedback from customers changed for the better/worse? How can you fix this?
- What blogs/resources can you follow to ensure you are up to date with current UC trends?
To find out more about how Unified Communications can be leveraged to support your business, get in touch with our team today.
The rest of the series
Step 1: Start with your customer
Step 2: Choose your solutions
Step 3: Empower your teams
Step 4: Analyse customer behaviour and act on feedback
