Social Networking Applications Score Big in the Customer Service Domain, Says Frost & Sullivan

SYDNEY, June 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Frost & Sullivan hosted a day-long summit titled Customer Contact 2010 Australia today, at the Sheraton on the Park in Sydney.

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Developed contact center markets like Australia are seeing growth in spending on sophisticated analytical tools that can lead to better service and opportunities to up-sell. One such platform that has been increasingly gaining credibility is the social networking channel. Social networking is starting to emerge as an important channel for contact centres, as customers are increasingly communicating about a service or product through social networking applications. A recent study by Frost & Sullivan revealed that more organisations in Australia are allowing social networking applications to be used within the organisation(1).

Contact centers are focusing on social networking strategies to adapt to the dynamic customer service landscape. In addition to contacting an agent or writing an e-mail, the modern-age customers are giving feedback by posting their own video or joining a forum. Organizations are thus receiving real time updates from customers.  

"Social media gives enterprises a chance to listen to customers even when they are not calling them up, providing a unique opportunity to deliver proactive customer service. Leveraging social channels can enhance the customer experience and also provide opportunities for monetization and gathering customer insight," says Shivanu Shukla, Associate Director at Frost & Sullivan.

Elaborating on the customer care needs, the keynote address by Professor Morris Pentel, Chairman of the Customer Experience Foundation -- 'Leveraging the Voice of the Customer.' -- the professor shared the importance of listening, learning and managing conversations with customers. He outlined effective listening strategies utilized by the most successful companies in the world and emphasized on the need for organizations to learn the various communication modes applicable to different social groups so as to mange effective customer communication.

Aside from elaborating on the need for improved customer care solutions the summit shared topics on people management & customer-centricity and business strategies, innovation & technology via concurrent track sessions that ran through the second-half of the day.

Other distinguished speakers lined-up at the summit were Brady Jacobsen, National Manager, Customer Contact Channels, Australia Post; Steve Mitchinson, National Chairperson, Australian Teleservices Association; Andy Cranshaw, General Manager, Professional Services, Datacom South East Asia; Gavin Keeley, Chief Technology Officer, Hollard Insurance; Kristin Haynes, Head of Customer Experience, Design and Implementation, Vodafone Hutchison Australia and Jennifer Rufati, Head of Customer Operations, Westpac Banking Corporation, along with senior Frost & Sullivan analysts.

This summit is the second session of a four-city Frost & Sullivan Customer Contact 2010 executive MindXchange summits. The multi-city tour began in Malaysia and will end in Indonesia. To register for a Frost & Sullivan Customer Contact summit closer to you, log on to http://www.frost-cc.com/

Partner sponsor for Frost & Sullivan Customer Contact Australia was Jabra and supporting sponsor was Verint.

Aspect, Interactive Intelligence, Nobel Systems and Right Now were Exhibitor Sponsors.

The official newswire for the summit was PR Newswire. Media partners for the summit were Strategic Path Australia and ZDNet Australia while Australia Teleservices Association, Hong Kong Call Center Association and International Institute for Outsource Management were the supporting associations for the summit.  

About Frost & Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, enables clients to accelerate growth and achieve best-in-class positions in growth, innovation and leadership. The company's Growth Partnership Service provides the CEO and the CEO's Growth Team with disciplined research and best-practice models to drive the generation, evaluation, and implementation of powerful growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan leverages over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from 40 offices on six continents. To join our Growth Partnership, please visit http://www.frost.com

(1) Frost & Sullivan's commentary on Australian Social Networking dated May 2010

SOURCE Frost & Sullivan