A simple call to customer service can be a one-way trip to voicemail hell, that labyrinth of touch-tone confusion and dead-end referrals. IBM says it has a solution in Corepoint Technologies, its new customer service software business introduced Monday.
"We believe there's a point at which customer satisfaction can evolve into a true loyalty," Corepoint CEO W. Scott Webber said in an interview. "We are challenging companies to rethink their customer relationships to strive for ... loyalty as a means to financial success."
Businesses like banks, health insurers, and catalog retailers use customer management software to manage their customer contacts, whether in person over a counter, via telephone operator, or through the Internet.
"It's not enough to satisfy customers through one point of contact," Webber said. "What, ideally, you want to do to totally satisfy a customer is to have a consistently positive experience at every point of contact with the customer."
Corepoint was formed in August around Software Artistry, a customer support software firm IBM acquired earlier this year, together with other customer service computer, telephone, and Internet technologies from other parts of IBM.
The new software company -- which will retain its own identity independent of IBM -- will provide a set of six software product lines that together form the most complete customer service systems now available, Webber said.
Its Universal Access line of products, for example, link in-person counter service with phone operators and Web services to provide a single view of customer records. The Enterprise line connects front-office, back-office, and other systems more effectively, while Foundation links computer, phone, and automated voice response systems.
A range of rivals offer competitive products in only one or two of Corepoint's six categories, analysts said.
Successful integration of behind-the-scenes customer service systems has become crucial in competitive industries where companies must provide premium support and services to win customer loyalty.
Industry market researcher Gartner Group estimates that the market for so-called customer relationship management software will grow at a compound annual rate of 44 percent through 2002 as firms look at new ways to retain customers.
The focus on customer services software is part of a general shift by IBM into the higher-profit computer services and software and away from lower-margin hardware sales.
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