Remember old Rip? If he had been in customer service in 1993, and then took his 20 year nap, he would wake up today amazed to see the iPhones and Kindles of today. But he would be even more stunned with how his profession has evolved. He would have seen banks offering ATMs in the 1970s; service call centers become common in the 1980s; and seen frequently asked questions (FAQs) show up on websites in the 90s.

But little would prepare him for the new expectations of customer service

Customers Expect to be Serviced Across Multiple Channels

Even though they mostly buy air travel on the web, travelers often make  changes to reservations in person with an airline employee or over the phone.  In July 2011, a hailstorm damaged 22 of Frontier Airlines planes at Denver International Airport. Customers were experiencing long lines at the Frontier service counters and even longer wait times on their toll-free reservation lines. Frontier’s social media team kicked into action and engaged with more than 4,000 customers over the week the flights were disrupted to answer questions and to move passengers to alternate flights. Increasingly, customers expect such “omni-channel” customer service. (Read the full Frontier Airlines story here.)

Customers Expect Service to Know Plenty About Them

Each agent in the 911 call center at the Hamilton County, Indiana, sheriff's office sits at an ergonomically designed desk on which five large screens simultaneously show call status, caller information, GPS information if a mobile call, nearby police radio activity and other data — all of which can be shared instantly over radio, phone, Internet, dispatch and cellular systems. The agent and the first responders do not need to ask the caller for too much information. The St. Regis Bora Bora Resort conducts Google searches on guest names prior to their arrival. It then shares guest profiles from that intelligence with their department heads to help them provide more personalized service. Some high end retailers are deploying facial recognition technology to recognize VIP customers and provide faster and personalized services. While there are privacy standards and data protection considerations, most customers expect the service provider to know plenty about them and not have to repeat information about themselves or the service incident.

Customers Expect “Predictive” Service

GE’s 2.5-120 wind turbine is smart enough to “learn” from its neighbors and to pitch blades accordingly. The turbine farm-to-farm communication allows for balancing of voltage to the grid. Most importantly, it allows for remote and constant monitoring. Union Pacific has infrared sensors every 20 miles on its tracks to take about 20 million temperature readings of train wheels a day to look for overheating, a sign of impending failure. It has trackside microphones to listen for growling bearings in the wheels. These reading plus some sophisticated algorithms allow it to tell its drivers to slow down or even pull over to avoid a major accident. As more industries roll out “smart products,” more customers will expect similar “predictive,” not reactive, service.

This is an exciting time for customer service executives – supporting their increasingly digital products and rising to the challenge of a technologically sophisticated customer base. We should see a major wave of customer service innovations as a result in the next couple of years.

Vinnie Mirchandani writes books and blogs on how technology is helping us innovate work, life and play. He has a keen eye for “ahas” across industries and countries and his blog New Florence. New Renaissance. catalogs over 500 entries a year on innovative projects, products, places and people.

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