By Kelly Livesey

In a new report, The emergence of proactive communications in customer service, Ovum, an independent telecoms analyst, states that companies are feeling the strain of dealing with the array of enquiries they now receive via mobiles, smartphones and other technologies.

It is not just an increased number that businesses need to cope with. Channels such as text message, mobile email, mobile web, apps, as well as the traditional voice all now need to be supported.

To be able to deal with the ever increasing volumes and channels, it states businesses are offsetting them with intelligent proactive communications, which can take the form of automated voice and text messages, emails or web chat.

Intelligent proactive communications allow businesses to send personalised, interactive messages to customers to notify them of changes to an account, a prescription is ready for collection, remind them of an appointment or that a payment is due. In many instances, they allow customers to make immediate changes if necessary, such as rescheduling an appointment or initiating a payment.

Ryan Joe, Ovum analyst and report author, said: “Increasing customer touch points creates new opportunities for businesses to reach consumers, but it also creates new problems: what is the best way to reach a certain customer at a certain time? How do you treat a conversation that begins in SMS and crosses to voice as a single interaction?

“This presents them with a significant challenge as businesses have limited resources, but must be able to deliver excellent customer service to boost retention rates and remain competitive.

“Another advantage for enterprises is that proactive communications offset inbound calls, reducing call volumes and freeing agents to focus on other responsibilities.

“Finally, businesses have the ability to boost customer satisfaction through intelligent proactive communications. Notifying a specific consumer about an arising issue through the channel she prefers to communicate is good customer service. It allows the consumer to take care of a problem before it really becomes a problem.”

About the author and Ovum

Kelly Livesey is PR at Ovum. Ovum provides clients with independent analysis. The company draws upon over 400,000 interviews a year with business and technology, telecoms and sourcing decision-makers. Ovum is part of the Datamonitor group.