CONVERGYS THOUGHT LEADERSHIP SPEAKER SERIES: Investing in ways to keep your customers through an improved service experience is a sure way to protect your revenue base in today's highly uncertain

November 5, 2009 9:59 AM EST

CINCINNATI & KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- At the 2nd Asia Pacific Contact Center Association Leaders and CCAM Expo this week in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG), a global leader in relationship management, shared its insights on how to keep customers from defecting to competitors or reducing their spend because of dissatisfaction with their service experiences.

Speaking on, "What Investments Make Sense in the Current Financial Climate," Convergys' Sidney Yuen discussed ways companies can build barriers to attrition and protect their revenue bases from shrinking by improving their service experiences. As head of consulting in Asia Pacific for Convergys, Yuen has overall responsibility for managing Convergys' consulting and professional services for the region.

According to Yuen, proprietary Convergys research on the service experience reveals that over a third of customers report having bad service experiences. To address this, he suggests companies first define a customer segmentation strategy that uses customer intelligence to better understand and segment customers, thereby enabling companies to serve each customer better. He noted that a Convergys client had done just that and had achieved impressive results. By deploying an intelligent decisioning solution, the company's agents could make real-time recommendations on what to offer -- and when -- to help save customers, resulting in a customer retention improvement of nearly 10%.

Other actions companies should take, according to Yuen, include maximizing self-service to provide anytime, from anywhere, service -- a customer preference that has doubled as a preferred service option over the past four years according to Convergys' research.

Additionally, Yuen advises enterprises to optimize their agent-assisted services by fine tuning contact center operations to achieve maximum efficiency and by providing intelligent solutions to enable agents to provide informed service quickly on the first contact. Over 62% of respondents to the Convergys research study said they are looking for knowledgeable agents that address their needs on the first try.

Lastly, says Yuen, companies must deliver pertinent, relevant, and timely alerts and notifications to customers over the channel they prefer through proactive service technologies. For example, an online retail company might provide an automated shipment update via email, preventing the inconvenience of signing in to a website or having to call for order status. Additionally, a pharmacy could notify its customers through an automated call when their customers are eligible to refill their prescriptions. These examples improve the service experience and also improve customer retention.

To view a copy of the presentation, click HERE.

To view information from the Convergys research on the customer experience and to download key U.S. and U.K. findings along with snapshots of respondent perspectives across 10 industries including healthcare, click HERE.

To learn more about the Convergys speaker program and the availability of speakers and their topics, contact the speaker program director Jeff Hazel at +1 513 723 7153 or jeff.hazel@convergys.com

About Convergys

Convergys Corporation (NYSE: CVG) is a global leader in relationship management. We provide solutions that drive more value from the relationships our clients have with their customers and employees. Convergys turns these everyday interactions into a source of profit and strategic advantage for our clients.

For more than 30 years, our unique combination of domain expertise, operational excellence, and innovative technologies has delivered process improvement and actionable business insight to clients that now span many countries and languages.

Convergys is a member of the S&P 500 and has been voted a Fortune Most Admired Company for nine consecutive years. We have approximately 70,000 employees in 82 customer contact centers and other facilities in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, and our global headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. For more information, visit www.convergys.com

Supporting Resources:

Fact Sheet: Click HERE

Blog: Using Intelligent Self-Service to Compete in a "Free" - or Any - Marketplace

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    Source: Convergys Corporation

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