Enhancing customer service in global business service centers
Defining good customer service depends on the product you sell. For automobiles, friendly in-person contact during a sale or service call can be the key. In a hotel, the cleanliness of the room, breakfast buffet and interactions with front desk staff can make or break a visit. But what about global business services (GBS) organizations? How do you define good customer service from an IT Center of Excellence or an outsourced legal function? These services, often delivered over a cloud-based platform or via an email exchange, are less tangible. Any friction in this system can lead to a drop in customer satisfaction, so getting it right the first time becomes crucially important.
In today’s volatile and highly-interconnected world, it is apparent that more and more businesses are relying on global business service frameworks to help deliver reliable, high-quality service across the globe and around the clock. The GBS model provides efficiency, cost-savings, and can help to eliminate costly variance and empire-building within disparate regions or departments of a company. However, the very nature of GBS, with offshoring, time zone differences and a diverse global workforce, presents unique customer service challenges. This article explores the most common customer service issues faced in this environment and discusses strategies such as quality training, improved stakeholder identification, and cross-cultural communication savvy to enhance customer service and drive business success.
