The rapid development of disruptive technology solutions across all industries is raising the expectations of customers at a blistering pace. A firm’s ability to adapt to higher expectations for client service will determine the future winners and losers within already competitive industries like asset management. Salesforce’s “State of the Connected Customer Report” notes that 70% of consumers acknowledge that technology has made it easier than ever to take their business elsewhere in order to find a brand experience that matches their expectations.

Salesforce Service Cloud is a complete customer support platform that complements their sales organization-focused CRM product. Service Cloud allows companies to deliver faster, smarter, and more personalized service to their clients, driving both customer engagement and satisfaction through consistent delivery. Service Cloud achieves this by extending the capabilities of any single client service representative using a set of dedicated tools and technologies:

• Lightning Service Console: The Lightning Service Console delivers a streamlined user interface for client service agents by putting all of the information they need right at their fingertips. This simplifies the agent experience and maximizes productivity.
• Case Management: Improve first contact resolution (FCR) rates by leveraging AI-powered tools to route customer requests to the right person in any support organization. Get a transparent view of all client requests and take action quickly with prewritten response templates in just a few clicks.
• Knowledge Base: Internal knowledge bases and external customer communities help your team share accumulated knowledge with each other and with customers respectively, improving productivity and reducing the burden of frequently asked questions.

Why Should You Care?

Capital expenditure on client support technologies will allow your client service representatives to handle more with less, often in ways that will allow representatives to focus on more challenging and rewarding issue-resolution activities. A Salesforce study on 4,500+ customers identified that Service Cloud achieved:

• 48% faster issue resolution time
• 47% increase in client service representative productivity
• 45% decrease in average call handling time
• 45% decrease in service costs
• 45% increase in customer retention and satisfaction

A specific example of such improvement came from Jeff Dailey, President and CEO of Farmers Insurance. Farmers Insurance was able to realize a 75% overall reduction in loss reporting time after implementing Salesforce Service Cloud:

“We’ve created a claims reporting platform using Salesforce technology with our customers top of mind. The average time for Farmers to take a phone call to report a first notice of loss is approximately 12 minutes. With the Enterprise First Notice of Loss, or EFNOL platform, it can take as little as three minutes from start to finish.”

Submitting an insurance claim is a relatable customer experience that we hope is never necessary, but often inserts itself into everyday life. The event that caused the need to file a claim can often be stressful and challenging, so when the claim submission process is difficult, that only exacerbates the situation. By focusing the customer experience, Jeff Dailey was able to drastically improve one of the key metrics of overall client satisfaction for insurance companies.

The Bottom Line

New technologies like Amazon Alexa and Uber are making life more convenient for everyday retail customers. The limit of those expectations is being further challenged by leaders like Farmers Insurance that are leveraging new client service technology, such as Salesforce Service Cloud, to deliver better client outcomes. Whether you are an industry software technology firm, an outsourced service provider, or an asset management firm looking to get more from your suppliers, FinServ is the partner for you to help you achieve your unique organization goals.

To learn more about FinServ Consulting’s services, please contact us at info@finservconsulting.com or (646) 603-3799.