ut the Web is adding new twists. Users can help themselves quickly (they like that) and inexpensively (you like that).
When implementing a Web-based customer interaction software (CIS) system, you also have a number of options. You can do so from an existing system (either internal or third party) or from scratch. Web CIS systems offer a variety of features -- at a variety of costs -- and a variety of savings. Any support organization -- including IS, independent software vendors (ISVs), and developers -- needs to examine this new support choice closely.
The Web Connection
Software vendors know the value of the Web for sharing information and
have rolled out scores of Web-based options over the past year. Typically, Web-support applications run on the same Web-server host machine, thus simplifying integration. In most cases, you just slap the product onto the server, and you've opened a new support channel.
This was not always true. Companies that invested big bucks in customer systems in the early 1990s were often stuck when it came to Web integration. These enterprise-wide systems -- with proprietary clients and an integrated database -- could not translate Web protocols. For two years, however, vendors have sold Web interfaces to their systems, giving customer support to anyone with a browser.
Welcome to the Web
For example, Clarify's ClearExpress 2.0 family, Clear Helpdesk and ClearSupport, offers two Web modules in the standard package. "The Web is just another access into our system," says Marshall Powell, senior marketing manager.
At $20,000 per server license plus a concurrent user fee, ClearExpress products now hav
e ClearExpress WebSupport and WebUser functions. WebSupport integrates with the corporate Web server, usually outside the firewall, translating Web messages into formats the underlying Clarify system understands. WebUser, a Java applet, also allows access to Clarify applications. Support staffers can accept a case, access internal knowledgebases, and view customer account information.
Vantive takes a similar approach with
Vantive Enterprise 7
, which is a suite of client/server-based sales, marketing, field-service, and call-center tools costing $25,000 per server license plus a per-client fee. Enterprise 7 has ObjectStudio, a component-based development environment that includes ActiveX, Visual Basic, Java, and HTML tools. Vantive just added a Java applet that lets Web users access its proprietary applications in real time.
Scopus put its customer-care wares onto the Web with its WebTeam 2.0 modules. At $99 per user, WebTeam lets Scopus-based companies generate both the HTML inte
rface and CGI scripts to connect Web sites to the Scopus database.
Web from the Start
Not every company already has such formerly proprietary products in place. Companies that passed on comprehensive packages can choose anything from an integrated Web-based package to tools that add one new function to their site.
Some companies are experimenting with one beefed-up package, Silknet Software's
eService 98
. Part of an emerging generation of Web-based products, many of which are still in beta testing, eService combines enterprise-wide reach with an open Web architecture.
Starting at $150,000, eService provides both a public server for external contacts and a private server for internal personnel. A work-flow function routes cases to agents with skills to best match requests.
Service representatives use eService to publish solutions that include text, graphics, sound, and video. They can share their solutions with colleagues over an intranet.
Customers, meanwhi
le, use a separate public server. As a customer answers questions about his or her problem, the system searches the knowledgebase for solutions, returning relevant entries. If a customer isn't happy with the answer, the application lets her or him access live representatives, by e-mail, Internet conference, Web-site posting, or a phone call.
But applications like this are unusual. Few companies offer comprehensive Web-based customer-service packages, perhaps because they're not willing to bet the farm on still-maturing technologies.
Some customer-service providers are cautiously accepting
Web solutions
. Stream International, which provides outsourced customer support for high-volume products including Windows 95, handles almost 15 million requests a year, about 10 percent Web-based. Although they do expect Web volume to go through the roof in a few years, Stream executives aren't yet ready to implement enterprise-level Web-based systems. However, they are experimenting with small
er components.
"Some vendors have pretty slick tools," says Lloyd Linnell, Stream's CIO. "But most are relatively new and immature. They haven't been built with millions of transactions in mind."
Adding Functions
Web-based customer-support solutions don't require such a complete leap of faith. Most preserve the infrastructure of a site while adding useful functions.
Callback request options are hot, for example. Versatility's OpenWeb 1.1, $6000 for the server license and $200 per user, works with Versatility's telesales/service package. An OpenWeb button connects a customer-service site to the company's call center. Customers can send a message to the call center asking for a call back, either immediately or at a chosen time. They can also ask agents to join them in a chat area. Agents know what information a customer entered and which Web pages he or she viewed.
If e-mailed call requests aren't direct enough, eFusion's eBridge Interactive Web Response system puts a "Push to Talk" b
utton on Web sites, letting customers originate an Internet-based call.
Then, eBridge translates the incoming IP telephony call into a standard call at the corporate call center. Agents talking to an Internet telephony caller can both discuss problems and even push Web pages out to the end user.
Web of Knowledge
There are also many ways to give your customers direct access to technical or support information. These days, virtually every vendor selling solution-oriented databases provides tools to connect to the Web. Companies use these tools to connect not only end users but VARs, vendors, and other partners to critical information. Those partners can even publish their own information on the site.
Primus, which specializes in knowledge management systems, offers three Web-support products. SolutionBuilder 2.1 lets technical-support staff compose solutions for the Web even if they don't know HTML. SolutionExplorer gives support staff -- and other qualified outsiders on an intranet or e
xtranet -- access to the knowledgebase. SolutionPublisher 2.0 lets partners and customers access their solutions directly via the Web.
Inference's
CasePoint WebServer
gives customers Web access to the Inference knowledgebase. Using case-based reasoning (CBR), the server asks customers to answer questions narrowing down the problem. Then, CasePoint digs solutions out of the database and passes them to the customer, generating HTML on the fly.
Kenwood USA, well-known maker of audio products, put its manuals and technical-support solutions on the Web last year using CasePoint. Within months, calls to Kenwood's fulfillment house had dropped 12 percent and in-house calls 10 percent, saving about $45,000 on those reductions alone.
"This technology has increased the volume of problems customer support can solve," says Susan Hotta, Kenwood customer-service manager. "We get many thank-yous from customers. They didn't have to call in and didn't have to wait."
Bulking Up
While Web-based customer service isn't resource-intensive itself, it can alter site traffic flow -- and turn sleepy sites into traffic jams. If you intend to meet a pent-up need for self-service, prepare to bulk up your server farm fast.
For example, executives at ISP MindSpring Enterprises had to move customer-service applications off the corporate Web site and onto a dedicated server when eager customers overloaded the existing infrastructure. The MindSpring team designed the pages in a few weeks with Progress Software's WebSpeed development environment, which the ISP had used to develop its billing system. The new function is so popular that MindSpring reassigned some live support away from answering repetitive questions.
"It's not always convenient for customers to contact the call center, and we can't always anticipate call volumes when they do," says
Steve Roberts
, MindSpring's MIS director. "But customers really like these applications."
Whether you're supplementing -
- or replacing -- existing customer service or setting up new customer service from scratch, you now have a new tool. Web-based customer-service products will grow in popularity and capability -- a plus for providers and users alike.
Where to Find
Clarify
San Jose, CA
Phone: 408-573-3000
Internet:
http://www.clarify.com
Help Desks Make the Web Connection
