New Technology Options Engineering Better Employees

Are you using technology to enhance your customer service?

As a business owner, you know that technology is always changing. By embracing some of those changes, you can enhance your customers' experience and provide unforgettable customer service. That means more satisfied customers and more sales.

Here are three key ways businesses can use technology to take their customer service to a new level.

Reaching Customers Where They Are

Advances in technology mean you can reach your customers exactly whether they are.

From using tablets in a store to providing customer service on the go with VoIP or apps, technology means your customers can get the support they need wherever they are.

Take tablets for example.

As the article "The New Thinkpad is a Boon for Busy Engineers" points out, sometimes you get tired of carrying around a heavy laptop. Sometimes it isn't even practical.

Using a tablet can give your customer service team access to apps and technology in a lightweight format.

From providing concierge services in hotels, to giving sports fans a new way to order concessions, to giving salespeople in the field or on the shop floor an easy way to collect customer information, tablets are making customer service much more flexible.

Customer service apps are another way technology gets you to the customers.

Amazon demonstrated this with its Fire tablet - customers can tap the Mayday button and enter a video chat with a customer service agent right there on the tablet.

Maybe you don't have the staff to provide 24 hour business support, but how about providing a customer service app for mobile so your customers can talk to you whenever they need to, even when they're out and about?

Helping Customers Help Themselves

Sometimes, your customers don't need your input. It sounds counter intuitive to everything you've learned about customer service, but sometimes your customers just want to get what they want, with the minimum of fuss. That's where technology can help.

By providing straight forward self-service options, you can provide customers with ways to get what they want from your business quickly and easily.

Self-service options run the gamut from providing a better web ordering experience, to using technology to enhance self-service stations.

Taco Bell, Chili's and Cinemark Theater all reported an increase in sales after making use of self-service apps or tablets.

Better self-service doesn't only make ordering easier, it gives customers a way to customize their order, getting exactly what they want from your business.

Using technology for better self-service doesn't have to be complicated.

Simply creating a useful set of YouTube how-to videos or a searchable database of FAQs can help your customers get the information they need. Just be sure to provide easy access to customer support as soon as it's wanted.

Enhancing the Social Media Experience

Social media is coming into its own as a customer service tool.

Using social media to provide customer service is a cost effective way to use technology in your customer service endeavors.

Social media helps you respond to customers quickly and in a way that directly tackles their personal query. Customers expect quick turnaround times, so keeping an eye on social media and responding quickly will help your business reputation.

Technology is making it easier than ever to integrate social media and customer service.

For example, personalized tweet-to-call links mean that businesses can tweet customers a link that connects them to a special phone number.

Customers can benefit from the convenience of Twitter, but still talk to someone one on one for more complex questions.

Technology is changing the way businesses do customer service.

By making the most of new technologies, you can give your customers a better experience of your business.