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• Salesforce Social Studio

  Listen, Analyze, and Interact across the Social Web

  by Mitchell Kramer

  Salesforce Social Studio is a high value package that combines broad and deep social customer service and social marketing capabilities. Read our evaluation.
  Apr. 28, 2016

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• Freshdesk

  Case Management, Knowledge Management, and Social Customer Service for SMBs

  by Mitchell Kramer

  Freshdesk packages attractive and high value cross-channel case management, knowledge management, social customer service, and chat capabilities suitable for small, mid-sized, and large organizations. It competes with Zendesk and with Salesforce.com's Desk.com.
  Mar. 11, 2016

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• Nuance Nina

  Virtual Assistants that Deliver Answers and Perform Actions

  by Mitchell Kramer

  Nina Mobile and Nina Web, the virtual assistant offerings from Nuance, can deliver personalized answers to customers’ questions and perform actions for individual customers in speech or text in 43 languages on desktops, laptops, and mobile devices. This 46-page report evaluates Nina against our Evaluation Framework for Customer Service Software,
  Nov. 21, 2015

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• Zendesk

  Cross-channel Case Management, Knowledge Management, and Social Customer Service for SMB and the Enterprise

  by Mitchell Kramer

  Zendesk, packages attractive cross-channel case management, knowledge management, and social customer service capabilities suitable for small, mid-sized, and large organizations. Read our evaluation.
  Oct. 15, 2015

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• Digital Transformation at Sears Holdings

  Data-driven Personalization Fuels a Member-Centric Strategy

  by Patricia Seybold, Susan Aldrich

  Since 2009, Sears Holdings (Sears, K-Mart and related brands) have promoted a rewards program called "Shop Your Way" to turn shoppers into members. The loyalty program is supported by big data analytics and targeted, personalized marketing. At the same time, the retailer has innovated in cross-channel customer experience.
  Jul. 16, 2015

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• Next IT Alme, Version 2.2

  Virtual Assistants Deliver Personalized Service through Simple and Complex Interactions

  by Mitchell Kramer

  We evaluate Alme--a virtual assistant that supports single question-single answer interactions and complex, directed, goal-based dialogs in nearly any language. Alme delivers answers, resolutions, and actions.
  Jun. 24, 2015

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• Un-Empowered Employee Limits a CX "Save"

  Microtel Tries its Best, but can't Completely Remedy a Bad Situation

  by Ronni Marshak

  A loyal hotel patron expects front line customer service rep to be able to reimburse for minor losses. How much leeway should a front line service rep be given?
  Jun. 3, 2015

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• IBM Watson Engagement Advisor Update

  Virtual Assistants that Use Cognitive Technology to Think and Learn

  by Mitchell Kramer

  How does IBM Watson Engagement Advisor stack up in providing virtual assisted-service across customer service channels? Its virtual assistants can answer many types of customers’ questions and, through usage, can learn to answer more of them.
  May. 22, 2015

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• Malaysia Airlines

  Can Digital Transformation Help the Turnaround?

  by Patricia Seybold, Susan Aldrich

  Malaysia Airlines embraced digital marketing from 2012 to 2014 by migrating to a unified marketing platform and partnering with experts. When twin disasters struck in 2014, marketing was able to communicate to customers in real time via social media.
  May. 12, 2015

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• Suncorp Group Increases Online Revenues

  A Digital Transformation Success Story

  by Susan Aldrich

  Digital Transformation can be a key to effective marketing. Learn how Suncorp Group’s digital strategy, combined with a digital marketing maturity model, is leading to impressive results.
  Apr. 29, 2015

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• Angie’s List Doesn’t Arm Its Front-Line Troops

  Don’t Ask for Customer Feedback if You Don’t Know What’s Going On

  by Ronni Marshak

  A recent customer experience with Angie’s List went wrong on many levels simply because the company representative didn’t know what was going on!
  Apr. 16, 2015

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• Unsubscribe Me!

  How Easily Do You Let Customers Go, and How Well Do You Entice Them to Come Back?

  by Ronni Marshak

  Suffering from email overload? Start using those unsubscribe links on most email communications. But you will find that it is easier to get off some companies’ lists than others.
  Apr. 2, 2015

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• Zopa: Peer-to-Peer Lender Celebrates 10 Years

  Spawned a Global Multibillion Industry; Still Going Strong

  by Patricia Seybold

  Over 50,000 British consumers have invested in providing loans to over 100,000 British consumers and small business owners via Zopa since 2005. Lenders have provided £770,000 of their money to their peers, in exchange for an average return of 5 percent.
  Mar. 20, 2015

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• Creating Customer-Centric Websites

  Ensure that Your Customers Can Easily Accomplish What They Came to Do

  by Ronni Marshak

  Your web site should clearly demonstrate that you understand what it is that your customers are trying to do—their key scenarios—as they relate to your products and services. Are you putting your customers’ scenarios front and center? And are you allowing them to progress through their scenarios without any detours or obstacles?
  Mar. 5, 2015

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• Oracle Service Cloud Virtual Assistant

  A Good Solution for Oracle Service Cloud Subscribers

  by Mitchell Kramer

  Here’s our evaluation of Oracle Service Cloud Virtual Assistant. It bundles good virtual agent/virtual assistant capabilities “in the box” with the Web Customer Service offering.
  Feb. 20, 2015

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• When Comcast Insults Customers

  Who’s to Blame?

  by Ronni Marshak

  When customers are treated badly by customer service, something is wrong. But just where does the buck stop? With the CSR? With the company and its priorities and policies? With the customer? There is probably enough blame to pass around!
  Feb. 5, 2015

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• Co-Designing Health & Care with a Community

  How a Prospective Provider in Boothbay Maine Is Gathering Customer Requirements

  by Patricia Seybold

  Boothbay Region Health Care is a start up non-profit chartered to provide primary healthcare for the residents and visitors in their region. They’re in the strategic planning stage of their project. Customer co-design is part of their planning process.
  Jan. 29, 2015

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• Salesforce Service Cloud

  Capabilities for Self-Service, Assisted-Service, and Social Customer Service

  by Mitchell Kramer

  Salesforce Service Cloud provides a broad and deep collection of customer service capabilities across self-service, assisted-service, and social customer service channels, earning an excellent evaluation. Read the specifics in our 50-page evaluation.
  Dec. 19, 2014

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• CVS Makes It Easy to Reap the Value of Loyalty

  Making Savings Relevant, Easy, and Obvious!

  by Ronni Marshak

  Does your organization offer a rewards program that encourages loyalty, spending, and makes customers feel good about doing business with you? You can learn some lessons from CVS!
  Dec. 11, 2014

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• Designing Solutions for Aging in Place

  Part 1: Boothbay’s Awesome Seniors’ Initiative—First Year

  by Patricia Seybold

  How do seniors design services that will enable them to thrive in their own homes? They look at what they need. They look at what they have. They experiment.
  Dec. 5, 2014

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