Which devices do you take on your next vacation trip? From small to large:
- Wearable (like an activity tracker or a smart watch): Yes, in case you have them.
- Smart phone: Definitely.
- Tablet: Maybe.
- Laptop: Hopefully not.
- Digital camera: If you are a photographer, then I would understand this.
- Video camera: Are you really part of a film crew?
In essence, you take the smart mobile devices and leave the rest behind. Even the laptop can stay behind, mobile and cloud solutions make this possible, data and apps are no longer locally bound. Check-in and boarding pass: from the cloud to the phone. Taking pictures and sharing them: phone and cloud. Find a restaurant, reserve a table and then share the experience: on the phone and in the cloud. Go for a run: the phone or smart device guides, monitors and tracks, results are stored in the cloud.
Think like this in business. Independence requires mobile and cloud. Most workers are mobile, not just those in the field like sales, service or maintenance but also office workers. They are constantly in meetings, commuting or just away from their desk. But question even those scenarios where you think people need to sit in a brick and mortar building at a desk all the time staring at a piece of hardware. Do call center agents really need to sit in a cubicle, with flashing electronic boards showing queue stats over their heads? No, they don’t.
In the digital world, new scenarios are possible. While self-service reduces calls, I do not believe that people can no longer call customer service in the near future. Agents are required, but the call center can become more virtual, flexible and less of the typical set up. And do not worry about specific devices, hardware or software. Think about new ways to run the business, with fewer dependencies.
All the agent needs is an app with a screen for accessing data from the cloud and a headset. Do you already see them on a bean bag or lazy chair? Maybe in a nice business lounge or at home? Ring ring – tap tap swipe – next caller.
This is reality. One of our most recent customers will run the SAP for Utilities solution for customer service on iPads. Again, in the mobile digital world don’t worry about specific devices, hardware and software, leave this to us and others. And in case you are wondering: Yes, the SAP CRM Webclient UI runs on iPad. Utilities can now put their call center agents in bean bag chairs, either running CRM or cloud for customer on a tablet.
Cheers, Robert
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