A guest post by JP Saunders, Senior Director, Oracle Product Strategist
Like in the SiFi movie “In Time”, my time has become even more precious
lately, especially since the birth of my third child. I find myself more
like Justin T (sadly not in looks) in this movie, always running out of
time. It can be a real challenge to get the time to do things I enjoy,
like going for a ride, let alone finding time for things I must get done
like running errands, or fixing things around the house.
Now more than ever, I am constantly monitoring time and standing guard
over it like a child holding the last candy bar on the playground. The
time bandits are everywhere, waiting to take what little you have
through exasperated delays.
Today, like me, people are willing to pay more to have time back in
their lives everyday. So while the movie reference may take the concept
to a whole other level, I know I am not alone with the feeling that time
should be valued like currency, and not frivolously or needlessly
squandered.
Knowledge of this customer attitude and behavior is vital to the success
of a business. And, in a world where time is money, helping customers
to do something in-time is just as important as helping them to have
more-time in their day.
All too often customer engagements start with “customer friendly”
practices, which are not so “time friendly”. For example, a smile and
the simple words “can I help you?” are polite, but how much of what the
business already knows about you is being applied, or will be applied
when this question is asked? What this question actually represents is
an assumed blank slate, a ground zero for the engagement, requiring an
investment and risk of the customer’s time to find out if you can
actually help them. Similar to that of an empty search box on a
Website, just punch in what you are looking for … do you feel lucky?
In these data rich times where information, insights and analytics are
in abundance, a simple question such as “can I help you?” that is void
of any applied understanding, should provoke an equally simple
response, ”no it doesn’t appear that you can … but thank you for
asking.” To get the right answer to the right question at the right time
there must be relevance, context and awareness – without that, it’s
just a smile on an empty box.
You see to “Help me” requires an understanding of who I am, where I am,
what I am doing, what I am trying to do, and when/where I need it done.
You might not know everything needed, and may need to verify or gather
information along the engagement, but when you apply what you do know at
each step, it turns “friendly” engagements into “helpful” ones – and
customers into advocates.
At Oracle we continue our commitment to help businesses reduce their
time-footprint on their customers’ lives. Our automated technologies
that empower knowledge administrators to efficiently manage complex
business policies ensure that the right answers (accurate, up-to-date,
in context) get delivered at the right time (real-time, no waiting), at
the point of need (across devices).
Whether your customers are searching for content solutions or they need
answers based on complex business policies, Oracle’s service and support
solutions empower administrators to efficiently ensure that the right
answers (accurate, up-to-date, in context) get delivered at the right
time (real-time, no waiting), at the point of need (across channels and
devices). To learn more about our knowledge solutions, click here. To
learn more about our decision automation solutions, click here.