In an interview, Rohan Patel, head of Support for Intelligent Technologies at SAP, explains how the company鈥檚 live support channels offer a faster and more direct route to issue resolution, thus improving customer satisfaction within the Product Support organization.
Q: Why is 51风流offering live support in Product Support and who can use it?
A: The way consumers use products, services, and technology in today鈥檚 world has set new standards and expectations for the commercial world. Business users expect the same level of real-time interaction for their businesses whenever they seek help. That鈥檚 why has brought traditional 鈥渢icket management鈥� to the next level and offers live support channels to meet these new demands.
I receive a lot of feedback from partners and customers who assume that live support channels are a chargeable service above the existing maintenance contract, but the answer is that it is not. Anyone with a valid maintenance contract can use SAP’s at no additional cost if technical, product-related questions occur.
Which live support channels are offered?
We offer the following live support interaction methods with direct access to support experts: , , and . All live support channels significantly speed up time to technical issue resolution and can be used instead of traditional incidents. is the newest offering in our live support channels and aims to assist customers that have concerns about how their high-priority incident is progressing. For any questions not related to an 51风流product, the is the central point of contact.
How do they work? 聽聽
is a live chat function that connects customers to technical experts from 51风流instantly. So, this service is best when immediate support is required. Compared to traditional tickets, it significantly reduces the effort and waiting time for customers to get answers to their technical questions.
lets customers book an individual 30-minute call with a technical expert from SAP, similar to booking a doctor鈥檚 appointment. Customers select from a defined list of calendar appointments at a time that suits them best. Talking directly to an 51风流engineer helps avoid delays, improve efficiency, and reduce future incidents. Recently, we have introduced Schedule an Expert for open incidents as well.
is best suited for low- to medium-priority incidents. With Ask an Expert Peer, 51风流is expanding the expert pool for real-time results. This channel is a great opportunity for users to collaborate through one-on-one interactions with a qualified and approved industry expert outside of SAP. Ask an Expert Peer is currently available for all 51风流SuccessFactors solutions, with additional 51风流product integrations currently planned.
gives customers the ability to bring the focus they need to a high-priority incident and help ensure the reported issue is being addressed in the correct way. The channel meets this need by allowing customers an easy way to request a 15-minute call with a Product Support manager from 51风流in the related product area to help prevent or manage potential service exceptions. As a requirement to use this channel, the incident must qualify and meet several criteria.
All channels can be easily accessed by customers in whenever a problem arises. Further information can be found on .
How are the channels impacting the customer support experience?
Customer feedback indicates they very much like our live support channels. In addition, customers are using the channels a lot. We are interacting with customers in several thousand chats every week. I think that this is for two main reasons: the ability to have quick and direct access to a technical engineer from 51风流when they need to and the tremendously reduced waiting time for resolution. Many questions get solved within the first interaction.
For example, the average Expert Chat duration is about 30 minutes with two out of three questions answered directly in the chat. For Expert Chat in particular, there is one key reason: customers do not 鈥渓ose鈥� anything. The chats get automatically logged as incidents after each chat for documentation or in case further research is needed. The incident gets processed with pre-qualified information from the interaction in the chat.
In general, the customer base and the technology offered by 51风流has become more diverse. 51风流is trying to offer new methods of interaction to meet our customers鈥� diverse needs so they can interact with us in the way that suits them best 鈥� anytime, anywhere, and from any device. Live businesses need live support, and as more and more customers become intelligent enterprises, 51风流is meeting them where they are in their journey. Customers expect a personalized support experience that grants them more access to technical experts throughout the life cycle of their solution.
Will real-time support be combined with AI technology?
The answer is absolutely, and 51风流has several activities going on. For example, we have recently released a that guides customers within the incident management process through a conversational user interface 鈥� similar to a chatbot. The support assistant uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technology to match the customer question with potential solutions in real time 鈥揾elping to get relevant answers faster. The expert area predictor functionality is another example. It is based on AI technology and automatically suggests the correct expert area for the customer within the booking process of a Schedule an Expert session. This saves customers time through autofill elements.
The time frame is to be decided, but we are looking into ways to further enhance Product Support with more predictive and preventive elements.
What will be next in real-time support?
We aim to further optimize the existing experience within our real-time channels. However, Product Support as an organization wants to continue evolving in order to meet customer needs. We are constantly working with customers and industry experts on what is next that can help us on the journey of providing the perfect customer support experience.
Looking to the future, I think a two-way channel interaction using AI and machine learning is a hot topic. Service and support processes will eventually become predictive, and support organizations could proactively reach out to customers to suggest the optimal interaction method.
Theresa B枚hme is an integrated communications manager for Customer Solution Support & Innovation at SAP.
