Explore the evolution of self-service technologies in this three part series. Part 2 takes a look at necessary changes a company needs make to provide superior customer service and achieve an enhanced customer experience in today's era of social media, the connected customer, and the Millennials. One of these changes needs to be about transforming the experience customers have when they call the customer service center using the IVR. To learn more, visit our website - http://www.jacada.com/?pk_campaign=Content_Gen&pk_kwd=slideshare

1. The Natural Shift from Self
Service Technology to Visual
Connectivity
Part II
Social Media, Generational Customer
Experience Preferences, and the Millennials
Customer Service. Simplified.
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2. The Natural Shift from Self Service Technology to Visual Connectivity
Table of Contents
Section A: Social Media, The Connected Customer And Customer Experience
3
Consistent Customer Service Experiences Across All Customer Touch-Points
3
Smart Businesses are re-looking at their Mobile Strategies for both Sales and Service
3
Social Media Does Affect Business Results: 1-9-90 Rule Participation Rule
4
Make It Easy for Customers To Post Positive Things About Your Company
5
Section B: Generational Customer Experience Preferences Is Driving Change
6
Section C: Millennials And Gen Z
9
Summary
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3. The Natural Shift from Self Service Technology to Visual Connectivity
NOTE: A timeline of the evolution of self-service can be seen at the boarder of the paper. It gives a historical
perspective of the progression of how self-service has transformed over the last 125 years. Highlighted are
various inventions that have driven innovation, developed the technological innovations and lead us to where
we are today.1
Section A: Social Media, the Connected
Customer and Customer Experience
With the number of consumers using mobile and smart phones, tablets and personal computers and
the advent of Bring Your Own Device To Work (BYOD), customers expect to have the Internet and each
other at their fingers tips and in real-time. In addition to having devices that keep them connected all the
time, consumers expect the interaction with your company to be as easy as using social media sites like
Facebook as well as search engines like Google and Yahoo. So essentially the ease of use of these devices
and social networks have raised the expectation of customers and they expect interacting with a company
to be as easy. However, in comparison, most companies have not made it easier to interact with customers,
leaving customers frustrated, disappointed and un-loyal.
Consistent Customer Service Experiences Across All Customer Touch-Points
The need to provide consistent Customer Experiences across all customer touch-points is more important
than ever before. They are important for not only sales, but they are important to customer service. And in
particular, because smartphones add a new dimension of real-time, on-the-go demands never placed on
companies before, companies need a simple way to change the interactions on mobile devices.
Smart businesses are re-looking at their Mobile Strategies for both Sales and Service
That’s because it’s not uncommon to see customers, especially Millennials, in a store, using their mobile
devices. They may be comparing products and then logging onto the Internet to find not only lower prices
for the same products, but also purchasing them in that moment or trying to reach customer service.
Often if they can’t reach customer service, they send out a negative post in various social channels.
1876
1877
1st regular telephone
line from Boston to
Somerville MA
1st telephones were 1st switchboard was
rented in pairs
set-up in Boston
1st bi-directional
transmission of
clear speech
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1880
1882
1880's
1888
47,900
Telephones
in the US
1st patent for
a telephone
switchboard
1st Vending
Machines for
postcards in
London
Sears Catalogadvertises watches and
jewelry
1st automatic telephone exchange
replacing manual switchboards
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4. The Natural Shift from Self Service Technology to Visual Connectivity
With this change in trends in customer interactions, leading companies are focusing on the ability to offer
robust customer experiences, on any device, whether its via the phone, a website or a mobile device or tablet.
But it’s not easy with most technology to create a consistent customer experience across all channels and
devices unless you are using HMTL 5-based technology. HTML 5-based technology is designed from the
beginning to easily replicate the same customer experience regardless of channel (Website, phone, chat)
or device (mobile device, tablet, phone…) without coding or programming. This not only makes it easier to
implement, but less expensive that trying to emulate that with technologies not based on HMTL 5.
Social Media Does Affect Business Results: 1-9-90 Rule Participation Rule
Some experts are doubting the effect of social media without really understanding the dynamics of
customer interactions in social channels. The truth is customers are empowered by the Internet, social
media and mobile technologies to quickly find and share a company products, services and pricing
information whenever/wherever they want. Boomers are the fastest growing segment to use social media.
Within that context, the 1-9-90 participation rule is important to understand so a company doesn’t under
estimate the affect of social media on their bottom-line.
The 1-9-90 rules describes the ~percentage of people who:
• Post (1%)
• Respond to people who post (9%)
• Read what the 1% and 9% post and make purchase decisions, often based on recommendations from
people they have never met. (90%)
The ratio for your particular business may vary somewhat from the 1-9-90, however, most people in any
industry do not post. Those ~90% represent most of your current, potential or past customer base.
Now consider that social media essentially provides a giant megaphone for people to publically broadcast
how poorly/well they are treated to all their friends and family, and their friends and family, and their
friends and family… As a result consumer’s posts in their social networks, can easily have a one-to-millions
multiplier effect, spreading bad-word-of-mouth quicker than ever.
1892
1894
1905
1915
1937-1939
1939
Phone Service
was established
between New
York and
Chicago
1st batteryoperated
switchboard
Self-Service
Gap Pumpsin St. Louis,
Missouri
Transcontinental
telephone service
by overhead wire
was inaugurated
Elektro- the
robot built by
Westinghouse,
could walk by
voice command
& speak ~700
words using a
Voder Machine
Voder Machine - the
first attempt to
synthesize human
speech by breaking
it down into its
component sounds
and reproducing them
electronically
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5. The Natural Shift from Self Service Technology to Visual Connectivity
Make It Easy for Customers To Post Positive Things About Your Company
Another aspect of social media is that posts are like cave paintings in that they are both public for anyone
to see and last millions of years. Essentially these permanent posts are a 24/7 record of customers’
experiences and thus influence current and future customer purchase decisions. How does this work?
Consider you are traveling and in a new city you look on Yelp or similar sites for a good place to stay and
or eat. You read the reviews, and while you know that some may be “planted” posts, you still take into
consideration the overall rating and compare hotels or restaurants based on what people have written
about their experiences. This also is the case for purchasing products online at sites like Amazon.
In essence present and future customers, looking to make decisions whether to buy a company’s products
or services, read those reviews and make purchase decisions. In fact data, by Nielsen and Edelman
show that ~78% of customer believe what other customer’s have said about a product or service vs. the
advertising and marketing by a company. Whether companies realize it or not, these customer-to-customer
interactions are impacting a company’s bottom-line. So now you can see why getting customer experience
right contributes directly to the company’s ability to sustain long-term revenue, profits and margins.
1941
1946
1947
1st touch-tone phone
using tones
Credit Cards“Charge-It” was
introduced. The $1
Buckaroo Buffet
was established
Beginnings of
cellular phones;
AT&T proposed
the FCC allocate
radio frequencies
for widespread
mobile phone
usage
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1962
1963
Bell developed a
1st touch tone
new way to dial phones – mobile
area codes using car phone model
DTMF
introduced
1965
Touch screens
were developed
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6. The Natural Shift from Self Service Technology to Visual Connectivity
Section B: Generational Customer
Experience Preferences Is Driving Change
Companies should also be considering the differences and similarities in preferences for customer experience
device choices as well as channels. These considerations are important when creating your customer experience
strategy for each of the different generations. Figure 1, shows that:
• Boomers have the largest current buying power and
• Gen Y has the largest potential buying power.
Generation
Age
Before 1930
12M
81 and above
Depression
1930-1945
28M
65-80
Baby Boomers
1946-1964
80M
46-64
Generation X
1965-1976
45M
34-45
Generation Y
1977-1994
71M
16-33
Generation Z
aka Millennials
Number
Pre-Depression
aka Silent Generation or
Golden Generation
Date of Birth
After 1994
29M
Less than 16
Figure 1. Population of Various Generations
While calling a company is still the preferred method of interaction for most customers, there is a growing shift
in the desire of younger generations to use mobile and the Internet, Figure 2. Younger generations, who grew
up using laptops, tablets and mobile phones expect more, and they expect it instantly. Imagine their shock
when the wait time to speak to an agent at the end of the IVR interaction is 20 minutes. Customers today don’t
have the patience to wait. They are ready and willing to share their frustration with the entire Internet through
social media, forums, websites, blogs...
1967
1968
ATM’s
Touch
Screen UI
Donald Wetzel
created the
idea of the
ATM network
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1970
1971
1st cordless Southwest
phones
Airlines
introduces
the ability
of the
passenger
to pick their
own seats
1977
1982
1986
HP introduced a
programmable
computer that
fits on top of
a desk
Internet protocol
suite was
standardized
QVC –allowed
customers to
shop from home
FCC granted the
frequency range of 4749 MHz for cordless
phones
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7. The Natural Shift from Self Service Technology to Visual Connectivity
Since phone is still the number one most used method to connect with companies. It is also the most
complained about experience customers usually share. Customer service departments should be prepared
to provide a seamless experience for customers calling them, using their IVR, such as enabling them to use
their own devices for their required path, instead o having to be constrained by a phone call. In Part III we
will review Visual IVR, which address this requirement.
Figure 2. Channel Preferences of Various Generations
Older Boomers & Golden Gen (56+)
Gen X & Younger Boomers (36-55)
80%
Gen Y & Younger (18-35)
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Phone
Web
Social
1987
1990
1993
Star Trek debuted
touchscreens and
voice recognition
Frequency
range of 900
MHz for cordless
phones
Bellsouth introduces
the mobile phone with a
calendar, address book,
email and more
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SMS
1994
1995
1996
1999
Amazon
eBay
AOL
Napster
1st digital,
cordless
phones
Alaska
Airlines
offers
online
check-in
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8. The Natural Shift from Self Service Technology to Visual Connectivity
In addition, each generation has preferences for the type of device they prefer to interact with a company
on. This means that companies need to have effective and efficient ways to deliver consistent services on
a wide range of devices, Figure 3.
Figure 3: Device Preference For Each Generation
Baby Boomer & Gen X - Email /
Smartphone / Tablet / "Business"
Social - Productivity, Entertainment
Golden Generation Phone Service
Generation Z - Edutainment
Millennials - Texting (Store Promotion) /
"Social" Networks
2000
2001
2002
2003
2011
2013
Microsoft
Tablet
iTunes
allowed customers to
purchase individual
songs online
RedBox
Introduced
DVD kiosks
Web UIs and
visual technologies
such as HMTL 5
lead to multitouch devices
Mobile
Payments
Jacada
Introduces the
Visual IVR
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9. The Natural Shift from Self Service Technology to Visual Connectivity
Section C: Millennials and Gen Z
Mobile customer experience, especially SMS texting is growing. In fact a study by X2, shows that Gen z is not
joining social networks like Facebook – in part because it’s not “cool” to belong to a site where your parents are.
Instead, these younger generations are turning to alternatives like texting. That means that companies need to
have a mobile strategy not just for social media, for their website but also for texting. Often companies are not
segmenting their customer base and looking at the affect of younger audiences on their reputation, brand as
well as customer loyalty, retention and long-term customer value. However, companies do need to look at all of
the generations and create strategies based on their preferences and habits.
Millennials are the largest, most diverse, educated & influential shoppers on the planet. Positioned to be the
wealthiest generation to date3:
• By 2015 in the US, annual spending >2.45 Trillion/year
• By 2018 in US, projected income will be $3.4 Trillion/yr, surpassing Baby Boomer income
• Have influence over their Baby Boomer parent’s choices & will inherent their money / real estate
As a result, companies need to consider the preferences of channels and devices Millennials and Gen z use
to interact with companies. In Pew Research Center’s latest study they found 83 percent of adults ages 18-29
use social networking4. The entire generation of Millennials is a just a few clicks away from complaining loudly
enough that the whole world can hear:
• 75% created a profile on a social networking site
• 55% visit those sites once/day
• 60% connect to the Internet wirelessly when they are away from work or home
• 88% text each other
• 74% say new technology makes their life easier
• 50% use it to be closer to their friends
• 65% are disconnected one hour or less a day.
Unlike the Boomer Generation who generally picks up the phone to get help, if Millennials have a problem
with a company, instead of calling the company they text 5 friends and share their frustration on social
media and texts. And their friends then share the story with their peer groups. The result? Friends comment
on the incident and share their own stories of disappointment. A single event can spread like wildfire.
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10. The Natural Shift from Self Service Technology to Visual Connectivity
With respect to customer experience, Millennials:
• 70% recommend their favorite brands to family and friends
• 47% write about good online experience
• 40% have criticized a brand on a social network
• 70% would create a video and post it online or write a review about their experience with a company
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11. The Natural Shift from Self Service Technology to Visual Connectivity
Summary
The bottom-line is companies need to look at their overall customer base as well as future revenue streams
from various customer bases and re-evaluate at their overall strategy and technology choices to deliver
great customer experiences on all channels and devices. And they need to do this without breaking the
bank.
Senior leadership needs understand the impact that customer experience has on the bottom-line and
instead of thinking of the contact center and customer experience as a cost-center, it needs to be seen
as a revenue generation and net profit contribution opportunity. Anything less means that executives
are putting the company at risk. One of these changes needs to be about transforming the experience
customers have when they call the customer service center using the IVR. Part III covers Visual IVR and will
explore this new development.
Next in this Series:
Part III: Visual IVR: Ease of Connectivity from Self Service to th Call Center
The Natural Shift from Self
Service Technology to Visual
Connectivity
Part III
Visual IVR: Ease of Connectivity from Self
Service to the Call Center
Customer Service. Simplified.
Refrences
1.
2.
3.
4.
Self Service Technology in Airports And the Customer Experience, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Study on the Lack of teens Joining Facebook
Javelin Strategy & Research Study and IRI study
Pew Study
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