Client portal or 4 key tasks of the service business

    The goal of any business (in addition to making the world a better place) is to earn money. At the upper level, to achieve this goal, it is necessary to solve problems in 4 directions (about them in a cut).

    Unfortunately, the relatively "fat" last 10-12 years have shifted the focus exclusively to sales, attracting new customers and increasing the average bill. Other tasks, including automation of service processes (implementation of HelpDesk ) and increasing transparency, almost the entire medium and small business were engaged in according to the residual principle.

    Let's fix it (read as “announce a series of articles”), all the more “fat” seems to be over.

    Client portal

    If you provide services for:
    • creation and further support of Internet sites;
    • software and hardware maintenance;
    • software development and technical support;
    • repair of office equipment and other specialized equipment from elevators to barriers and air conditioners;
    • maintenance of shopping centers and commercial real estate


    4 directions to achieve business goals


    So, what are these areas that anyone, including small and medium-sized service businesses, needs to do?

    • Attracting new customers (i.e. new sales).
    • Retention of current customers (exclusion or minimization of care to competitors).
    • Increase in income (the so-called increase in the "average check").
    • Lower maintenance costs (including through an increase in the efficiency of internal processes).

    4 directions for any business

    All 4 areas must be dealt with simultaneously and systematically, maintaining a balance - the solution of one problem should not complicate (or make impossible) the solution of another. For example, you can reduce maintenance costs by drastically reducing quality. In this case, the costs will fall, but all existing customers are likely to begin to "build relationships" with your competitors. At the same time, new sales will fall due to a damaged reputation in the market.

    There are many methods and tools to help you go along the path of solving these problems. For service companies, one of them is a Service Desk or Help Desk system. Today we offer to talk about just one of the components of this class of systems - the client portal (known under the names "self-service portal", "personal account", etc.).

    How does this tool help in the implementation of the described tasks? What functions should it have for the most effective solution?

    Attraction of new clients


    The choice of service provider is based on many criteria. In addition to the cost of services, the end-user needs the professional level of the company, its reliability, stability, reviews on the market or on the Internet, etc. In many respects, these criteria are subjective in nature, and the client forms his attitude at the level of impressions.
    Looking for new clients

    The presence of certificates confirming the qualifications of employees, partner statuses from well-known manufacturers, reviews - all this, of course, is important for creating a positive impression of the company at the sale stage. However, no less important is the organization of processes and tools that are used in the provision of their services.

    The use of modern automation tools, such as Service Desk with a client portal, is one of the signs of process maturity. It is also obvious that ceteris paribus, the presence of opportunities that increase the transparency of all interactions between the customer and the contractor is an undeniable competitive advantage!

    Thus, the presence of a personal account is one of the confirmations of the high level of quality of the services provided .

    By the way, in the requirements of tenders for the provision of IT services posted on the website of the Government procurement ( http://zakupki.gov.ru ), there is almost always a mandatory requirement for a Service Desk with the function of a self-service portal.

    Outflow reduction


    The customer thinks about breaking up the relationship if he understands that the quality of the service does not correspond to the cost. If there are “players” on the market whose services are better and cheaper, the continuation of relations with your company is a big question. But the final decision to refuse cooperation is made when the process of changing the supplier is not associated with costs that exceed the benefits of cost savings (time costs, changing the interaction process, possible capital costs, and so on).

    Simply put, customers will be with you if you provide quality services at an affordable price, and switching to another provider is fraught with significant difficulties (the last part sounds cynical - but this is life).

    We will talk about lowering maintenance costs (and as a result, the ability to provide more competitive prices) below. How can a portal help in improving the quality and "linking" a client to your company?

    We have already noted above that the quality of services is largely a subjective parameter. Therefore, it is important, in addition to conscientious and professional service, to create positive feelings for consumers from interacting with you. Personal account - an additional channel of communication with the service department. Using it, you can not only register new applications, but also correspond with employees of the supplier company on previously submitted applications. It stores the entire history of interaction, the entire history of correspondence on previously submitted applications, news is published, etc. In addition, if the client portal implements a knowledge base containing a detailed description of the solution of typical problems, the user will be able to solve problems independently and quickly (taking pleasure in independent work :).

    That is, such a module in the Help Desk system is an effective tool that creates a positive impression of interaction with a service company.
    Help Desk quality work

    Of course, your personal account will not replace the other communication channels - making a phone call to the service department, email correspondence, filing an application by filling out a Web form on the website (we recently published the results of researching the channels of contacts in the Help Desk among Russian IT outsourcing companies ). Therefore, a functional Service Desk system , such as Okdesk, combines communication with the client on all channels in a single database with the ability to view the history of communications in the portal.

    Do not forget about the “binding” effect. If your company has a ticket processing system with a similar module, customer employees get used to creating applications, looking for a solution to problems in the knowledge base, chatting with service employees and viewing the call history. A change in a service provider will be similar to a change in habits - not the fact that the new provider will have this communication channel, but if it is available, the interface will seem unusual and inconvenient. Therefore, if your company has a client portal , then you have an additional tool for retention .

    Increase in yield and average bill


    The higher the average revenue per client, the better for the business. In most cases, this is an axiom. How will access to the customer system help in this matter?
    Increasing the average check in the service business

    We have already touched on the answer to this question earlier. Namely, the availability of a modern Service Desk solution with a functional self-service portal is an almost mandatory requirement for large and solvent customers. Thus, this tool will help you not only attract large, and therefore more money customers, but also participate in contests and tenders .

    Lower maintenance costs


    Lowering maintenance costs is not only a way to increase the profitability of a business, but also an opportunity to compete at a “price” where the potential of other competitive criteria has been exhausted. So, the solution to this problem should be given close attention. As the name implies, the self-service portal will help save time for service employees on those operations that customer employees will be able to carry out independently. Repeat them once more in passing:
    • simple and convenient registration of appeals and service requests;
    • obtaining background information and additions, including on previously submitted appeals and applications;
    • assessment of the quality of query execution;
    • storage of information on service contracts and service delivery parameters (SLA);
    • the possibility of independent solution of typical problems in the presence of a knowledge base for solving typical problems.

    Thus, the client portal will help to remove a tangible part of the load on support staff - which means you will need fewer employees to provide the same amount of services as before .

    Conclusion


    As we can see, the self-service portal in the Help Desk system of a service company can be not only a “software function”, but also an effective tool that solves business problems. The main thing is to find a suitable and functional Service Desk system with the corresponding capabilities and implement this functionality into the work.

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