personal touch: Caring for your customers and CSRs, The

Customer Inter@ction Solutions, Apr 2001

Now You See It: K2 HELP

2001

CUSTOMER INTER@CTION SOLUTIONS(TM)

EDITORS CHOICE

K2 Digital, Inc.'s K2 HELP is designed to enable consumer and industrial product manufacturers to deploy an eCRM desktop help application that can be delivered on a CD with their product. K2s intent is to reduce costs associated with customer support and better meet the higher service expectations of customers in the Internet economy. Aaron Gavios, K2's vice president of business development, noted that "for example, shifting 5,000 inbound calls per week into online interactions can save over $2 million per year." He said that a major problem encountered when creating an online customer support tool is"the necessity to identify, integrate and maintain different software and networking components." This barrier can discourage or prevent the effective design and implementation of an eCRM application. In response, K2 HELP provides capabilities to deliver a complete customer-facing tool: help (using naturallanguage questions and tutorials), demonstrations, training and documentation. The product includes an integrated browser and search engine that allows users to navigate through local and Internet-based information, can self-install from a CD and update content automatically over the Internet. K2 HELP is designed to be private-labeled and customized to look like the product it supports, be it a camcorder, washing machine, medical device, etc. K2 offers an optional technology integration of HELP with Viewpoint Corp.'s Viewpoint Experience Technology. With it, HELP can provide 360-degree product views and point-andclick interactions. Users can turn products over, open doors and covers, push buttons to examine product features and get training on operation. Options also include capabilities for e-mail and live chat with a customer service representative and an e-commerce module for selling product accessories, streaming audio and video, etc. The product can be translated into multiple languages (13 at press time). In addition to licensing the application, K2 Digital provides consulting and implementation services for K2 HELP and a full range of digital professional services.

www.k2digital.com

Assistware: "Moment Of Need" Support

2001

CUSTOMER INTER@CTION SOLUTIONS(TM)

EDITORS CHOICE

Baydon Solutions, Inc. offers what it terms predicament-based knowledge support, providing knowledge to employees engaged in customer interactions when they need it, rather than if they might need it. Baydon cites just-in-time performance as an emerging trend that de-emphasizes training per se so that employees spend more time performing their tasks. Aimed at reducing dependence on classroom or online training where the instruction is generic and may involve training in features or functions not normally used by employees, Baydons predicament-based approach allows users to define their own training. Assistware is a software toolkit used to develop and deploy electronic performance support systems for single or multiple applications. It provides a central information repository for creation and maintenance/management of support and training materials, an intuitive developer toolkit for assembling and linking training materials into an intuitive project structure and a multi-user developer environment with revision controls for team-based materials development. It also allows for project sharing and linking for reducing duplication in generic support materials. The solution provides for multiplatform generation, does not require source code access or technical resources for project development and is customizable.

Assistware is comprised of four components: Assistware Developer, the main project development work area; Assistware Camera, a technology that captures screen information to which context-sensitive support is attached; Assistware Viewer, which displays training and support content to the end user of the desktop at the moment of need; and the Entry Point Manager, the link between the host application and associated training/support content. End users receive help with their specific needs when they position the Assistware Bubble on the application area requiring support. Assistware information can be linked to screens, messages, buttons, etc., within end user applications. The product tracks the use of information in its database, which can be assessed by other programs to determine what support materials are being used, frequency of use and by whom. Assistware's output is in HTML, with converters to other formats available from Baydon. Assistware can be deployed on your existing Web infrastructure or proprietary networks. www.baydon-solutions.com

Solidus eCare From Ericsson

2001

CUSTOMER INTER@CTION SOLUTIONS(TM)

EDITORS CHOICE

With the launch of Solidus eCare, Ericsson Enterprise has focused on creating a customer contact center suite that integrates call center features with the speed of the Web to provide faster and more efficient customer service. Ericsson geared its technology to construct a fully integrated, multimedia interaction center and provide businesses the capability of transitioning into the e-mail/Internet contact center arena to offer more communication channels. Customers can contact companies or organizations through any medium (voice, Web chat, e-mail, fax, etc.) and be consistently offered the same level of service. In response to the oft-cited customer dissatisfaction and abandonment statistics that result from inadequate automated customer response configurations, Ericsson set out to enable Solidus eCare to replicate the instore experience to provide better customer service. Its Virtual Agent and Autoresponse e-mail capabilities use an interactive knowledge base to provide answers to the most commonly asked customer questions. Solidus eCare also provides customers with the option of speaking in realtime with a customer service representative by a simple button click (on a Web page) that enables live conversation with text-chat or voice over IP Customers can also explore a site or search for information using interactive voice response (IVR) or the Web. At any point during the search, customers can initiate direct conversation with a customer service representative. Solidus eCare tracks where the customer is or the area of interest he or she has been searching for, and this information is provided to the customer service agent instantaneously.