Prof Adré SchreuderProf Adré Schreuder


Customer satisfaction and loyalty can’t be ensured by putting a call centre in place, or receiving “smiley faces” on an appraisal form. This emerged at the Interactive Intelligence Customer Experience Forum, presented in partnership with ITWeb in Rosebank recently.

Prof Adré Schreuder, head of Consulta Research and customer experience expert, told delegates that customer satisfaction and loyalty cannot be measured by a lack of complaints, or by a good review after a single interaction. “You have to measure the customer’s overall satisfaction level,” he said.

Patrick PattonPatrick Patton

Prof Schreuder says while CRM, BI and contact centre tools are all important, to deliver a satisfactory customer experience, a company also needs a strategy to gather real insights into what customers are saying, and develop a true customer service culture.

Prof Schreuder says delivering on the brand promise, preferably exceeding customer expectations and truly understanding what customers want, is key to customer satisfaction. But to exceed customer expectations, it is important to have a real understanding of what customers hope to receive. , head of sales and business development at Interactive Intelligence, noted that the new generation of consumers demands multi-channel communications and much faster response times. Social media in particular, is proving challenging for many companies to monitor, manage and integrate into systems in a way that improves customer experience.

Scott ForrestesScott Forrestes

Scheepers said with better back-end integration and a true single view of the customer, combined with better customer self-service options, contact centres can significantly improve customer service time and satisfaction, as well as improving efficiencies in the contact centre.

There’s a new wave – the next generation of consumer, expecting to be served in new ways, faster. “It’s time to change,” he said.

Deon ScheepersDeon Scheepers

Patrick Patton – pre-sales consultant at Interactive Intelligence, highlighted the benefits of process automation in ensuring improved customer experience. Among other benefits, it allows for one contact resolution and a better response time, enables communication in the form the customer prefers to receive it, and with repeatable automated processes, creates more consistency in the customer experience.

Also speaking at the executive forum, , senior manager: workforce optimisation and support at African Bank, delivered a case study illustrating that the bank’s implementation of Interactive Intelligence solutions the bank’s customer experience. The benefits of the Customer Interaction Center Platform, he said, included improved workforce management and call routing, quality management and custom reporting.