CRM Makes Strides In Self-ServiceCRM Makes Strides In Self-Service

Self-service has become a key strategy for businesses that seek solid relationships with their customers. With the ubiquity of the Web, many consumers now expect to find online self-service options that let them help themselves to information when they want or need an alternative to conventional service channels. They've also come to expect highly personalized applications that let them accomplish tasks such as changing account information, checking the status of orders, and researching products or services.

Besides delivering the obvious benefits that come from making customers happier, Web self-service can help businesses achieve greater efficiency and lower customer-service costs by reducing call-center activity that requires manual handling and routing. Web-based self-service also can deliver return on investment by leveraging a company's Internet infrastructure, legacy systems, content repositories, and other existing technologies. Given the significant investments that many businesses have made in customer-relationship management suites, it's only natural that they turn to these same CRM products when looking to add out-of-the-box Web self-service to their customer-service operations.

Although out-of-the-box self-service is a great concept for a CRM suite, we've found that few leading vendors can deliver. Instead, their offerings require customization, integration, and, in some cases, add-on products. Some of the strongest self-service CRM suites come from Avaya, Kana, and Siebel Systems. Through recent acquisitions, integration, and new development, these vendors demonstrate that self-service is a priority for customer service and should be an integral part of CRM suites.

Automated Web-based customer service, which requires no employee assistance, lets users navigate to and search for relevant information. Some Web self-service systems also let customers submit inquiries and converse with customer-service representatives through techniques such as Web forms, E-mail, and online chat. Web-service modules typically are accessed through standard browsers and let customers personalize the interface to obtain the information they want to see in the ways they choose to see it.

At a technical level, Web self-service requires the following key components:

The portal interface. The portal extends the capabilities of service reps to customers. The product should provide a browser interface that lets customers modify their profiles. It should also provide case-management capabilities to let users view, create, or edit trouble tickets or service requests. In addition, it should let them run reports, such as summaries of all outstanding trouble tickets, and provide a Web-accessible search engine for customers' use. Collaboration tools. These features let customers interact in real time with service representatives or other customers to share information such as simple fixes for problems, via Web chat or E-mail discussions. Many products allow these group discussions to be posted in a threaded manner and let representatives moderate the discussion groups. Access control is a critical capability, because CRM products must automatically authenticate and govern discussion-group access and limit it to authorized users. A comprehensive knowledge base. This component provides an extensive repository of content and includes a search engine that lets users locate all documents and information related to their queries or requests for service. Customers can use the knowledge base to manage product or company information and invoices, bills, transaction records, and histories of service inquiries. The knowledge base should support various search methods, such as full-text and Boolean search, and the use of index fields or parameters associated with information managed in the knowledge base. It also may be able to automatically "learn" from a customer's previous knowledge-base sessions, and to use this information when determining the relevance of information to the customer's search request. CRM suites vary widely in their ability to provide self-service functionality. Some suites offer advanced Web self-service (with access to the knowledge base), E-mail, and live Web-based chat and collaboration. Other suites provide limited self-service features, including searching, automated E-mail response, and a FAQ tool that logs and displays popular customer inquiries. At this time last year, we were disappointed with most CRM suites' ability to provide robust Web-self-service. Most products had limited ability to extend their existing knowledge bases into a Web access model and limited support for integration with third-party knowledge bases. They also had limited capabilities for storing knowledge in a structured fashion to facilitate problem-solving through techniques such as automated suggestion and case-based reasoning. But last year brought a series of mergers and acquisitions, many of which bode well for incorporating self-service into ready-to-use offerings. In addition, many vendors have enhanced their customer-service modules in response to increasing demands for fully integrated products. Self-Service In CRM Suites Vendor Product Web self-service functionality Avaya Interaction Center Allows indexing of content
Lacks ful-featured knowledge base eGain eService Enterprise Includes ful-featured
knowledge base
Available either licensed or hosted E.piphany
E.5 Lets users access data
within E.5 or back-office systems Can provide access to transaction
information and generacontent Kana Kana iCare Includes full-featured
knowledge base Offers integrated knowledge-
base and E-mail response PeopleSoft PeopleSoft 8 Links to enterprise applications Provides portal that lets customers
obtain product, account, and
service information RightNow
Technologies RightNow Web Offers robust reporting Includes full-featured knowledge base Available either licensed or hosted Siebel Systems Siebel 7 Integrates with third-party
knowledge-base products Provides prebuilt personalized
portal for self-service Talisma Talisma Service 4.2 Includes self-help query engine Has limited knowledge-base
functionality DATA: DOCULABS Though many such CRM suites still are saddled by existing technologies not designed for Web service and by the challenges of integrating their acquisitions, they're headed in the right direction by positioning Web self-service offerings as integral components. Thus, this year, buyers can expect to see a number of CRM suites emerge with solid, integrated offerings for Web self-service. For example, Kana--the result of a merger between Kana Communications and Broadbase--holds significant promise because of the integration of Broadbase's marketing-analytics capabilities and knowledge base and Kana Communications' customer-service tools. The combined offering, Kana iCare, includes Response IQ, an integration of Kana's Response E-mail-response component with its IQ knowledge base. A second phase of integration will combine Kana IQ and Kana Contact Center. Similarly, Avaya's Interaction Center (formerly Quintus eContact) combines Quintus' self-service functionality with Avaya's customer-service product. In the next release, Avaya plans to enhance its self-help and collaboration tools with improved chat and voice-over-IP capabilities. With its release of Siebel 7, Siebel provides Web self-service via its eService, eMail Response, and eCollaboration products. Siebel 7 also offers a prebuilt portal interface, auto-response, and Web-based collaboration capabilities, as well as integration with third-party knowledge-base products, including those from Primus Knowledge Solutions Inc. and ServiceWare Technologies Inc. Many other vendors haven't made as many recent advancements but still offer various capabilities for Web-based self-service. eGain Communications Corp. offers its full-featured knowledge base as a hosted add-on module to its CRM software. E.piphany Inc.'s searchable online customer-solution database is a key part of its overall CRM offering. PeopleSoft Inc. provides Web self-service as a portal that links to enterprise applications to dynamically capture and update customer profiles. RightNow Technologies Inc.'s Web self-service product, available in hosted or licensed form, has robust reporting tools and a full-featured knowledge base that can be used in self-service scenarios. And Talisma Corp. offers its knowledge-base product and its self-help query engine as a separate purchase. Despite the transformations, one thing hasn't changed: Businesses still see customer intimacy and service as key to their success. They'll keep looking to CRM to support these business goals, and that means leveraging techniques such as Web self-service and knowledge bases to improve the customer experience while making the entire customer-service process more efficient and cost-effective. Gaurav Verma is an analyst and Todd Hollowell is VP of consulting at Doculabs (http://www.doculabs.com), an industry analyst and consulting firm. Contact them at [email protected].