There are too many apps out there. Some delight us, some frustrate us, and most fail to ignite any response from us. Then there are those that seem to read our minds. These are the ones that provide us information without us even asking for that.
There are too many apps out there. Some delight us,
some frustrate us, and most fail to ignite any response from us. Then there are those that seem to read our minds. These are the ones that provide us information without us even asking for that. One such mind reading gem is from the creators of Android – Google. The Google now app figures out your scheduled, see where you bunk at night and where you spend your days. It understands patterns, and learns where your office is and which place you call home. So every morning you wake up, it tells you how much time it will take to get to your office, and in the evening tells you the traffic situation on the way home. IT event ells you when you should leave if you want to take your kid for karate practice. The AI engine behind Google now is massive. However, you don’t need to spend millions to make your app intuitive. You can do it much cheaper and easier. Just remember one word – context.
Context is the basis a major issue that customers have with customer service as a whole, whether it’s provided via telephone, an app, or even live and person-to-person. Even though the customer has already provided all the pertinent information in one form or another, the customer service still seems lost and confused and keeps asking for the same information over and over again? Example: You call your bank, your pharmacy, a PC tech support line, an airline or any other service provider – how many times do you have to identify yourself and repeat the same account- or case- related information as your call is routed their complex system? From department to department and one person to another, it’s the same story. Context is huge in customer service. If you don’t know what your sales team has previously said to a customer, the problems the customer has already reported, or any personal information beyond their name and email address, it is going to be a lot harder to help them.
In some rare cases, when the systems are well integrated and implemented, the system or agent you talk to has the information displayed on their screens, and already know what the call is about, or at least most likely to be about. In the best scenario, without you uttering a word, they already understand the context of your issue, and are at-the-ready with the information or resolution you need. This is the magic of in context information. It amounts to wisdom, and can be really heartening for the customers.
When the discussions happen in context of the issue at hand, the customer also feels that he has been understood well, and feels confident about the quality of service. It boils down to simply applying everything you already know about the customer, and making a best guess as to what they need at that moment. Context can well be the difference between success and failure in mobility. Not just customer support, context finds is applicability in other mobility fields :
1. Service context (what type of services are being used, i.e. what bandwidth and delay requirements exist)
2. Security context (keys and authentication)
3. Device context (capabilities of the MN)
4. Mobility context (speed, HO rate, available candidate access networks)
5. Flow control context (status of IP packets in the queues, e.g. for forwarding or for detection of transmission bottlenecks)
