Financial Services

Customer Service: Which Retail Banks are Most Responsive on Twitter – Brandwatch study

Posted by Adrian Swinscoe on May 17, 2012

0 comments | 664 reads

This was a guest post that I did for Brandwatch, the social media and monitoring tools business, and originally appeared on their blog here. I have been collaborating with them on a piece of research around customer service and social media.

Our industry focus starts with the financial sector and, in particular, the high street banks.

As a result, we started a social media monitoring exercise from December 16th 2011 to March 16th 2012. Our objective was to investigate:

May 17, 2012

Knoa Software Releases Knoa EPM Version 7.0

Offering Provides Complete User Experience Management for Customers
Leveraging SAP® Solution-based Environments

VNMKNOA5142012 - NEW YORK/ORLANDO, May 14, 2012– Knoa® Software, the leading provider of end-user experience and performance management software, today announced the availability of Knoa Experience and Performance Manager (EPM) version 7.0. The new version supports SAP® enterprise software, including the SAP NetWeaver® Portal, the SAP Customer Relationship Management (SAP CRM) application and SAP BusinessObjects™ solutions, and enables customers to drive adoption and effective use while lowering the cost of IT services. The solution is resold by SAP as the SAP User Experience Management (SAP UEM) application by Knoa.

This new version of Knoa EPM provides complete integration with industry-leading SAP BusinessObjects Business Intelligence (BI) solutions, enabling analytics that provide a complete view of end-user behavior that expedites insight and action. It uniquely monitors the entire SAP solution-based landscape, analyzes in detail the user’s interaction with the application, and provides remediation recommendations so that customers can take immediate action. The ROI is substantial and immediate.

“Knoa EPM version 7.0 represents a major evolution in the state of user experience management and brings unique and powerful capabilities to our global customers,” said Thad Eidman, chief executive officer, Knoa Software. “Out-of-the-box, the new version fully enables every application screen, button and function immediately and automatically, without the manual scripting of legacy products. Furthermore, it automatically discovers and then integrates customizations. Knoa EPM continues to set the industry standard for enterprise user experience management.”

Knoa's vision for user experience management starts with monitoring application performance from the end-user perspective. The new version goes well beyond simply measuring the performance of the application. The Knoa agent monitors the user's interaction with SAP applications and captures all of the actual workflow executed, as well as the ecosystem and application errors; from all users, at all locations, at all times.

“In partnership with Knoa, SAP is providing customers true end-to-end enablement and helping them achieve greater productivity from their workforce,” commented Markus Schwarz, global head of SAP Education. “The new release of Knoa EPM, also available from SAP as SAP UEM, gives customers the opportunity to reduce the overall cost of IT service desk operations and training while also providing executive-level insight into application usage.”

For more information on Knoa Software, Knoa EPM version 7.0, or to hear more about Knoa’s partnership with SAP, visit Knoa in booth 969 at the SAPPHIRE® NOW and ASUG Annual Conference. The conference – being held May 14-16 in Orlando, Fla. – provides attendees the opportunity to learn and network with customers, SAP executives, partners and experts across the entire SAP ecosystem.

About Knoa Software
Knoa® Software delivers on-premise and cloud-based solutions that monitor, measure and manage how end-users are utilizing enterprise applications to optimize end-user experience, enhance user performance, and deliver return on investment. Uniquely, Knoa automation provides complete and deep insight into all activities, by user, for each application monitored. 20 percent of the Fortune 50 and hundreds of global 5000 companies have already licensed Knoa software to power their user experience and optimize their performance. For more information visit www.knoa.com. You can also follow us on Twitter: @knoasoftware.

You can also view our 2 minute overview on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6J-0-X4dTA

# # #

SAP, SAP NetWeaver, SAPPHIRE and all SAP logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries.

All other product and service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

SAP Forward-looking Statement
Any statements contained in this document that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “predict,” “should” and “will” and similar expressions as they relate to SAP are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. SAP undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations The factors that could affect SAP's future financial results are discussed more fully in SAP's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including SAP's most recent Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of their dates.

Editorial Contact:
Erica Burns
PAN Communications
617-502-4300
Knoa@pancomm.com

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May 11, 2012

Global Business-to-Business Customer Experience Best Practices Study to Highlight B2B Achievements

Strong business results and competitive differentiation advantages of superior business customer experience management will be featured through the 3rd Annual ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Best Practices Study.

The 2012 ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Best Practices Study shines a beacon on the industrial sector's achievements in customer experience excellence. As the sole global survey of business customer management, this research provides inspiration to executives who want to maximize value, differentiation, and profit.

Customer experience practitioners participating in the study will characterize their ongoing journey toward superior business customer experience in these areas:

Hearing the customer voice and building an accurate view of customer's world
Nurturing customer-focus in employee and organizational habits
Use of customer experience management technology and cultural tools
Investments in customer profitability, knowledge, and well-being
Role of customer experience as demonstrated by top management's practices
Customer experience management goals, obstacles, and achievements

Business Customer Experience Study
This third annual study provides extensive opportunities for managers to share stories of their progress in customer-focus, customer well-being, and customer profitability. Such stories are rare within customer experience literature which primarily focuses on business-to-consumer examples and achievements. Business-to-business customer relationships tend to be more complex and extensive than consumer relationships, with substantially larger finances at stake. The 2012 questionnaire consists of about two dozen multi-faceted questions to comprehensively gauge current practices in customer experience management.

The second annual study explored the motivations behind customer experience management and its linkages to corporate goals, strategy, culture, processes, and business results. Seven success factors were identified, including coordination among customer experience managers, presentation of survey results to all employees, action on survey results by owners of loyalty key drivers, and cross-organizational collaboration. The 2010 baseline study examined the functional owners of various customer experience programs, and the scope of organizational deployment.

Customer experience management (CEM) is an emerging discipline that is a composite of customer service, voice of the customer, co-innovation, experiential marketing, customer relationship management, customer references, internal branding, and similar efforts. To participate in the 3rd Annual ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Best Practices Study survey, contact benchmark(at)clearaction(dot)biz.

ClearAction is a customer experience consulting firm that helps organizations build enterprise-wide customer-focus and customer experience innovation. ClearAction's skills and 20 years of pragmatic experience in customer satisfaction, quality, marketing, and organizational development catalyze value from customer feedback by applying it to daily decisions and processes company-wide. Lynn Hunsaker, head of ClearAction is author of three ebooks: Innovating Superior Customer Experience, Metrics You Can Manage for Success, and Customer Experience Improvement Momentum.

Social media in banking – time to experiment?

Posted by Merlin Stone on May 9, 2012

0 comments | 614 reads

I have just finished reading an article (no names, no pack drill) claiming that banks need to get serious about social media. This includes determining their strategy, creating tough guidelines, training staff, developing and implementing escalation processes, determining customer expectations, creating consistency etc. etc. etc.

If only it were so easy. The social approach to business is at its earliest stages, and almost pre-natal when it comes to banks (with a few star exceptions). For two main reasons (regulatory complexity and problems with trust), the social approach to business is particularly difficult to implement in financial services. Regulators stamp heavily on information which is provided without a long list of disclaimers. Most customers hate reading the small print, and they’re not really sure whether they even want to engage with banks more than they absolutely have to.

In such circumstances, putting a group of marketing planners together in a (metaphorically these days) smoke-filled room and asking them to “determine” social strategy is daft. It’s almost a guarantee of failure. The very essence of a social approach is that it much be (at least partly) customer driven.

So how about taking this idea to its logical conclusion. Why not ask customers what sort of bank they’d like you to be? Why not encourage them to discuss you? Why not ask them to suggest your social strategy? Why not ask them about their ideas on how you could test what works, for them and you.

April 17, 2012

Survey Indicates Small Business Disaster Recovery Offers A Revenue Opportunity For Managed Service Providers

Modular DPS Polls Users Of Intel AppUpsm Small Business Service And Identifies Backup And Recovery As A Top Line Extension For MSPs

Modular Data Protection Services (DPS) Inc., a leader in cloud data protection for the channel servicing the SMB/SME market, today announced results of an informal survey of managed service providers (MSPs) focused on the small business market. Modular DPS surveyed resellers of Intel AppUpSM Small Business Service, Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), and discovered that many MSPs may be missing revenue-generating opportunities in the areas of offsite data backup and recovery services.

“Our research shows that many MSPs are currently offering planning services for disaster recovery and business continuity, but the majority haven’t yet taken steps to offer an offsite backup and recovery solution to support their plans,” said Eric Strong, President and CEO, Modular DPS. “With the aid of a turnkey program, such as our new Modular 360° Partner Program™, MSPs can quickly and effectively drive new recurring revenue with a low-risk solution their customers are eagerly seeking. Together with our Alliance Partners including Intel AppUpSM Small Business Service, we can help with a flexible and cost-effective solution that can produce a rapid revenue return.”

The survey queried MSPs about a range of business strategies. Key findings included:
· Remote Monitoring and Management Services was the first most popular (55.6 percent) core focus area for MSPs. Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning tied with Remote Help Desk as the second most popular (44.4 percent) core focus area. Offsite Data Backup and Recovery Services placed as the third most popular (42.1 percent).
· Offsite Data Backup and Recovery Services placed second (42.1 percent) following Managed VOIP (44.4 percent) as the most popular line extension for the MSPs surveyed.
· While 50 percent of the MSPs offer Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Planning services, only 26.3 percent of them also offer Offsite Data Backup and Recovery Services today.
· Seventy percent of the MSPs surveyed had customers with under 1TB of data.
· Thirty percent of the MSPs surveyed do not currently have a regular performance and planning review process for their customers.

MSPs looking for valuable line extension opportunities in the areas of offsite data backup and recovery services will find value in the new Modular 360° Partner Program™. This new program provides partners and their customers with a turnkey data protection solution that combines the necessary data protection software, materials, service document templates, and ongoing support to assure rapid implementation and ongoing success. The solution also includes access to the Intel AppUpSM Small Business Service, which runs on the Intel® Hybrid Cloud Platform. The platform allows MSPs to offer software and servers to their clients via a monthly subscription model with no up front costs, including a server upgrade every three years. Through the partnership with 6fusion Inc., customers can also benefit from an optional pay-per-use utility data vault hosting model for further budget flexibility.

The Modular 360° Partner Program™ provides additional access to the acclaimed “MSPexcellence Playbook and Program for Cloud Solution Providers.” The knowledge base offers the framework and tools to enable program partners to develop and align their cloud services strategy and delivery roadmap within a three-month timeframe.

The Modular 360° Partner Program™ offers a number of additional exclusive benefits for authorized members. For more information, please visit: http://www.modulardps.com/360-partner-program.

Tweet this: @Modular DPS Reports: #SMB #Disaster Recovery Survey Shows Incremental Revenue Opps for #MSPs – http://bit.ly/Hp7T5K

About Modular DPS:
Modular DPS Inc. is a cloud services aggregator comprised of a team of IT industry veterans with experience at all tiers of the IT marketplace. The company creates and delivers data protection service offerings principally through its Modular 360° Partner Program™. This unique approach combines all of the necessary business knowledge, support and technical components to enable IT service organizations to quickly and effectively deliver Cloud Data Protection services rooted in the fundamental principle that establishing a secure and absolutely recoverable client data set is the foundation of a solid data protection strategy.

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For parties interested in: modular dps, intel, INTC, 6fusion, mspexcellence, asigra, mspmentor, aggregator, cloud backup, data protection, disaster recovery, online backup, backup, backup and recovery, cloud backup, backup, virtual server backup, remote backup, reduplication

Eric Strong
President & CEO
eric.strong@modulardps.com
O: (845) 397-0515

Media Contact:
Derek Kol
775-513-6800
derek@derekkol.com

Customer Service in the Insurance Industry: the Baby Boomers Are Coming

Posted by Sarah Hedayati on April 17, 2012

0 comments | 274 reads

With the number of retiring baby boomers increasing, it’s time to assess customer service in the insurance industry. Is your insurance call center ready to serve this population? Do your call center employees know how to uncover needs, recommend plans, and explain coverage? The Baby Boomers are coming, are you ready?

Preparing for this increase in service needs takes three important steps: hire quality agents, train your staff, and create an environment of continuous learning.

Step One — Hiring: What qualities do you look for?

Have you heard of the saying, “Hire the smile; train the skills?” Customer service representatives are truly the voice of your company. When you’re looking to hire new employees to prepare for the increase in service needs, keep the following five characteristics of the HEART Model in mind:

Hear and Understand: Does the prospective insurance employee show good listening skills? Does he or she ask clarifying questions to ensure understanding?

Expect the Best: Does the candidate exhibit a positive outlook? Is he or she excited about the prospect of working for your company?

Act with Integrity: Can the applicant give examples showing how he or she has responded with integrity in prior work or school situations?

Which Insurer is Best with Social Media and How Long is a Piece of String?

Posted by Terry Golesworthy on April 12, 2012

0 comments | 386 reads

Augie Ray, Head of Social Media at USAA, says “Social media is not a strategy, it is a channel. If your company does not have a telephone strategy or a postal mail strategy, it doesn’t need a social media strategy. And never build a strategy around a social network. Instead, build it around people and their needs, then see what social networks fit. You do not need a YouTube strategy or a Facebook strategy; you need customer service, product, marketing and content strategies that include YouTube and Facebook.”

This is great advice and insurers would do well to refer to it regularly. Often I am asked “Which insurer is doing best with social media?” This brings to mind an equally hard question: “How long is a piece of string?” There is no simple answer to either question but in the case of the former, it depends entirely on the business objective. The only true thing is that putting up a Facebook page because everyone else has one is wrong.

As an example, how can you compare recent initiatives from Progressive and Foremost Insurance?

Susan Rouser, social media manager at Progressive Insurance, says about the “Best Day” campaign: “We understand that not everybody is in the market for insurance right now, so when it comes time for people to shop, we want to be top of mind as the last brand that made them smile.”

Barclays Bank: what are the customer experience folks up to? (part II)

Posted by Maz Iqbal on April 6, 2012

0 comments | 770 reads

I reached out to Barclays to set up a business bank account. I chose Barclays because they promised to allow me to sign up online and because my wife and I have a joint personal account with them. My thinking was this is going to be easy! That did not turn out to be the case - I shared my experience here. In this post I am continue from where I left off.

Barclays provides two useful reminders

Upon wrapping up my conversation with the lady from Barclays she and I agreed a date when I would pop into my local branch to set up the account. Shortly after I hung up I received a text (as she promised) on my mobile giving me the date/time of the meeting and the name of the person I’d be meeting. “Excellent, that is useful!” is what I remembering thinking on reading the SMS.

About a week or so went by and then on the day of the scheduled meeting I got another SMS, in the morning, to remind me of my meeting. “Great”, I remembering thinking. And then I got busy getting hold of the paperwork because the lady on the phone had stressed the need to take in all of this paperwork:

April 3, 2012

Modular DPS Unveils MSP Aggregator Program; Fuels IT Service Provider Sales Growth for Cloud Data Protection

New Modular 360° Partner Program™ Offers Partner Access to Products, Services and Expertise to Enhanced Cloud Opportunities

TORONTO – Modular Data Protection Services (DPS) Inc., a leader in cloud data protection for the channel servicing the SMB/SME market, today announced a new and innovative program for IT Services Providers looking for new methods to address growing customer demand for cloud data protection services. Through an alliance with the Intel Hybrid Cloud group, 6fusion Inc. and MSPexcellence, Modular DPS has built the Modular 360° Partner Program™, a comprehensive program which enables managed service provider (MSP) partners to deliver a complete data protection strategy to their SMB/SME clients by leveraging the respective offerings and expertise of the program’s alliance members.

“Today’s market is reaching the tipping point towards mass adoption of cloud data protection,” said Eric Strong, President & CEO, Modular DPS. “This presents exponential growth potential for IT Service Providers that are ready with turnkey solutions that can drive valued business outcomes with a short time to market, low risk solution that’s both flexible and cost effective. With the creation of the Modular 360° Partner Program™, we are offering partners just that. We’ve packaged together the products, expertise and services partners need so that they may quickly and effectively drive recurring revenue through a range of professional service options that will build equity in their practice.”

The Modular 360° Partner Program™ aggregates all the necessary components to provide partners a complete data protection strategy which drives incremental MSP sales growth. Partner program members benefit from the additive program elements from each alliance member including:
· The necessary data protection software, materials and service document templates as well as the sales and technical assistance from Modular DPS to enable partners to get up and running quickly. Powered by Asigra’s widely recognized cloud data protection software platform.
· Access to the Intel Hybrid Cloud program, from Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), and the Intel AppUpSM Small Business Service catalog. Program partners can create custom client solutions from the catalog including server, business software and data protection components – all in one, single client premise device. This appliance also acts as the local data storage repository and data collection point for transfer through the cloud to an offsite data vault.
· Support from 6fusion Inc. with an optional end-to-end cloud management platform for workload distribution and a pay-per-use billable utility model. Program Partners can elect to protect data within Modular DPS’ 6fusion environment or they can deploy and operate their own hosted data vault instance.
· Knowledge base from MSPexcellence and access to its “MSPexcellence Playbook and Program for Cloud Solution Providers,” for innovative and rapid MSP sales program enablement. This framework and tools enable program partners to develop and align their cloud services strategy and delivery roadmap within a three-month timeframe.

“The Modular 360° Partner Program™ has really helped me accelerate the delivery of my cloud services strategy”, said Kevin Rickey, Owner of Automate Data Systems in Stoney Creek, Ontario. “The Modular team has worked closely with my own organization to help us not only acquire the technical components and expertise we required to setup and deploy data protection services to our clients, they have also really assisted us in our client facing engagements and we have begun capturing new services revenues as a result.”

The Modular 360° Partner Program™ offers a number of additional exclusive benefits for authorized members. For more information, please visit: http://www.modulardps.com/360-partner-program.

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Eric Strong
President & CEO
eric.strong@modulardps.com
O: (845) 397-0515

Media Contact:
Derek Kol
775-513-6800
derek@derekkol.com

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MarketPlace

Global Customer Experience Management (CEM) Certification Program

[May 30-31, Frankfurt; July 25-26, Hong Kong] An internationally recognized program with proven track record of success - being run for 34 times in 13 cities with attendees from 50 countries, the program is developed based on the U.S. patent-pending Branded CEM Method which aims to drive customer loyalty and brand differentiation with quantifiable business results. Limited offer: USD300 early bird discount.

Join us on May 29th in New York City. Stuart Ryder, SVP, Mobile Research Lead for Ipsos IOTX & Roxana Strohmenger, a leading Forrester analyst, will be in attendance to share best practices and new trends in mobile market research.

[June 12, Sir Francis Drake Hotel] Gregson Siu, Vice President, Ariba Business Operations, Ariba and Bob Thompson, CustomerThink, will be in attendance to share best practices, new trends and latest research to help you develop your customer experience program.

Social Networking and sCRM International Congress in Colombia

[June 25-26, Bogota] Thirteen international thought leaders will present, from different perspectives, the trends, the uses, and the magic - as well as the reality - of Social Networking and how it impacts the way customers are doing/will do business.

Driving ROI With VoC

Walker has identified multiple ways to measure ROI – there is not a one-size-fits-all solution. This paper will address each and conclude with some recommendations to help B-to-B practitioners evaluate which ROI approach will work best for their particular business need.