Customer Service

Hangout With Customer Service

Michael Dell posted that he was intrigued and interested in having Dell try to use Google+ Hangouts for customer service.

The reaction to his post was overwhelmingly positive, with hundreds of comments agreeing that this would be a good idea for Dell. And the idea is indeed intriguing: Some customer service needs are very similar, so having a service representative talk to a small group of customers at the same time could be more economical than the traditional one-on-one call. Using video could also humanize tech support, and group settings could even initiate self-help between customers.

I think the service that could be delivered by features like Google Hangouts is very interesting, however I’m really not sure if I’m prepared to see a video of the service rep staring at me from my desktop. I don’t mind them taking over my desktop (a la GoToMyPC) to solve the problem but video seems a little too personal in this situation/user experience.

ComcastCares Loses Its Big Toe

Frank Eliason, the pioneer behind @ComcastCares has left the cable giant to head over to Citibank in a what I would assume to be a role similar to the one at Comcast. With all the new regulations hitting the banking and financial services industry, I would have to imagine that Frank’s experience at Comcast will come in very very handy at Citi as they will have to manage a flood of changes to how customers will interact with their business. It will also be interesting to see what happens with @comcastcares and how it will evolve now that its “voice” has left.