Comments on: Is Twitter Customer Service Sustainable? http://www.zelword.com/is-twitter-customer-service-sustainable/ Business and Tech Analysis Fri, 30 Apr 2010 18:47:01 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: John Duncan http://www.zelword.com/is-twitter-customer-service-sustainable/comment-page-1/#comment-88 John Duncan Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:20:20 +0000 http://www.zelword.com/?p=77#comment-88 You're absolutely right about the balance in power being restored between consumers and providers. Both the general availability of information and the information savvy of consumers have been increasing steadily with the development of the web. The change is the contact point between company and consumer. Email/Web Contact customer service access was controlled by the company. Blogs and discussion boards are generally under the control of consumers. People will talk. Companies must make the strategic decisions of where to engage consumers, and how responsive to be. This is the same competition point ("customer service") as before. However, the equilibrium point is now much closer to the consumer. If a provider is seeking competitive advantage, it will be to make internal systems for monitoring, processing and resolving issues as rapid and cost-effective as possible, enabling a better position relative to the consumer. That is no different than before. New technologies, though, only help those organizations willing to invest in them. You’re absolutely right about the balance in power being restored between consumers and providers. Both the general availability of information and the information savvy of consumers have been increasing steadily with the development of the web. The change is the contact point between company and consumer. Email/Web Contact customer service access was controlled by the company. Blogs and discussion boards are generally under the control of consumers. People will talk. Companies must make the strategic decisions of where to engage consumers, and how responsive to be. This is the same competition point (“customer service”) as before. However, the equilibrium point is now much closer to the consumer.

If a provider is seeking competitive advantage, it will be to make internal systems for monitoring, processing and resolving issues as rapid and cost-effective as possible, enabling a better position relative to the consumer. That is no different than before. New technologies, though, only help those organizations willing to invest in them.

]]>