RSMUS.comI am flying back from my family’s usual stomping ground, Disney World. During this trip, we utilized for the first time, the new ‘Magic Band’ technology. For those that don’t know what this is, Disney provides RFID enabled wrist bands that are everything: room key, park tickets, credit card, early entry to rides, as well as your personal identifier. There are readers to these bands everywhere: obviously at room doors, park entrances, stores, restaurants and rides. What I did not expect is these bands allowed me to navigate my whole vacation without having to interact with a person unless I chose to do it. Moreover, this perceived lack of personal touch enhanced my entire vacation.
A quick example, on my way onto the Disney Property, I was sent a text stating my room was not ready yet, but I should head to the park of my choosing and enjoy the day. About 20 minutes later, I received a second text welcoming me to my hotel and letting me know the room was available and I could head to it without stopping at the front desk whenever I chose. After being at the park for several hours, I went to the hotel, we were let into the parking lot via my band, unloaded my car and went straight to my room. The door unlocked with the band, I was in and out, back at the parks without needing to talk to anyone.
I assume you get the picture. Coming home, I feel more satisfied as ever about my experience. Which lead me to the question: Can a system satisfy me in the same way a smiling person can? For me on this trip, the answer is yes! My parents were on the trip as well, they found the bands to be secondary and were more interested in interacting in a way they were most comfortable, for instance checking in at the front desk.
So, thinking back on this experience, my take away is that —more than ever— we need to find ways in which our customers would like to communicate with us. For me, having basically a personal self-service in which I can go to my phone to find the information I chose to find as well as the added power of the band for input was a major enhancement to my experience. My parents continued to choose to function as they normally would. This plays into Microsoft Dynamics CRM in a number of ways, specifically around social insights and customer service.
On the customer service side, introducing portal technology and knowledge base self service allows a customer to get to information, regardless of time or method. The introduction of Parature in conjunction to Dynamics CRM facilitates some of this need. Portal solutions such as ADX Studio allows for simple and easy integration directly into Dynamics CRM. Obviously the Dynamics CRM system has to be maintained in order for these concepts to work.
As I have mentioned in prior blogs, we need to find ways to communicate with all generations and store these preferences so your customer base has a positive experience. With today’s technologies, we should be pushing information out the way we want to, its important to leverage all the tools and share information in the way a consumer of your product or service chooses to absorb the information. As we look to understanding younger generations, for example, the need to communicate on their terms is key. These generations are also looking to communicate in real time, making social listening key to reaching and satisfying these generations.
So when you think about customer service and its effective, unless you ask and are communicating in ways that are preferred, you shouldn’t assume one way fits all. If you are looking to evaluate your communicate strategies and the tools aligned to Dynamics CRM, contact the RSM professionals at crm@rsmus.com or by phone at 855.437.7202. If you like these insights, subscribe to our Dynamics Community News publication.
By: Bob Kanzler – Philadelphia Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner
Bob Kanzler
Principal of RSM's Dynamics 365 CE focused on our east coast clients and non profits.