Special Post: How technology has changed service delivery forever

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Not too long ago, we had to physically go to companies to get their products & services. Nowadays, technology has greatly changed how service delivery works. 

Technology has brought many benefits to service delivery.

Benefits

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Easy accessibility 

Technology has made it much easier for customers to access services from companies. Nearly everyone has a smartphone or some kind of smart device.

Moreover, internet access is more widely available than ever. Most homes and buildings have Wi-Fi. Many smart device users can also access the internet using data bundles.

Accessing services and products online can be done anywhere and anytime. Companies ensure that their websites are mobile-friendly. They also make apps available for accessing goods or services as well as customer service. This is useful because an app lets you gather information about the user, which can help you customize the user experience.

This technological advancement has made service delivery easily accessible and convenient for millions of people.

Faster delivery 

Doorstep delivery existed before the internet. However, advancements in technology have made them much faster. 

Online stores like Jumia and Amazon make placing orders quick and easy. Customers can place orders from their smartphones or any other smart device, given that they have an internet connection. Technology takes it a step further by allowing customers to track their orders. Orders are often delivered within or hours or a few days, depending on the delivery. 

Customers can also cancel their deliveries online without the assistance of a customer service representative or any staff member from the company.

Customized services 

Technology allows companies to gather customer data, analyze customer data and use the data analyzed to better meet customers’ needs.

This can be used to adjust products & services to suit the consumers' changing needs.  Service delivery can also be modified in the same way. This ultimately increases customer satisfaction and experience.

For example, Netflix analyses user behaviour data to be able to offer suggestions for new movies to watch. Online shopping sites like Amazon track what consumers buy so that they can suggest other products for purchase tailored to one's taste.

Quicker customer service 

Many company websites offer the option to chat online.  More often than not, clients are chatting not with a customer service representative but with a software program, called a chatbot. 

Simple chatbots use a set of programmed instructions and word matching to recognize questions and respond with answers. This helps deal with problems related to the goods or services quickly, resulting in faster customer service. More advanced chatbots use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to understand the meaning of a sentence and to learn from question-and-answer sessions.

A chatbot can manage an unlimited number of conversations at the same time and provide answers faster than a human could. It can also deal more patiently with difficult customers. This is important since customer experience is such a key part of service delivery.

Low cost of marketing

Of every three hours people spend on a smartphone each day, two hours are spent on social media. Therefore, customers want to communicate with companies via social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp.

Companies now use social media to market their products and services as an affordable way to advertise what they offer. These platforms also let clients give their feedback on the quality of goods and services. This allows companies the advantage of being able to quickly adapt to the clients' suggestions. 

The low of marketing means low cost of service delivery, and ultimately the client is charged less.

Innovative marketing 

Technology has opened up doors to more innovative marketing.

It has given companies quite a number of creative ideas to market themselves. Such methods include blogs. Some companies start their own blogs where they can create hype about their goods and services. They can also go into detail about what they offer. 

For example, Freelancer is one such company. Freelancer is a company that offers a platform for freelancers like writers and translators to offer their services to the public. The company's site also hosts its blog where it issues practical,  detailed and encouraging advice to freelancers on how to improve their skills and widen their client base.

Another method is podcasts. Various companies create their own podcasts to market their products and services. Others use existing podcasts to market what they offer. They leverage the wide listenership of popular podcasts to spread the word about their products. They also like to partner with podcasts whose main theme is similar to the goods and services they offer, although this is not always necessary.

Companies are taking advantage of individuals with many followers or subscribers on social media. These individuals are called influencers. They leverage the huge following to their advantage while paying the influencer for talking up their products or services. They also partner with Youtubers with many subscribers.

Downside:

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Technology, however, does have a few disadvantages to service delivery. 

There is a slight loss of "the human touch". The use of chatbots for automated responses and the general lack of face-to-face interaction makes the customer experience feel a bit cold and robotic.

However, this can be mitigated by creative copywriting & using visual storytelling to share human stories to market the company's products or services. This helps to retain that "human touch" in online service delivery.

Another disadvantage of technology is the possibility of negative comments online regarding a company's products or services. Clients put a lot of trust in comments and reviews by their fellow clients. Therefore, one bad comment can make some clients lose confidence in a company and look for alternatives among the competition. Companies can, however, block any toxic or aggressive comments.

Food for Thought

Technology, like anything good, brings fortune and misfortune along with it. However, the gift of technology in service delivery is so invaluable that we cannot simply dismiss it due to the apparent and potential downsides. The key is to do our best to maintain balance so that we control technology instead of the other way around.

What do you think about technology in service delivery? 

Is it more of a gift or a curse?

References:

• https://www.servicefutures.com/technology-changing-nature-service-delivery, How technology is changing the nature of service, accessed 7th January 2021.
• https://www.infoworld.com/article/3227548/eight-ways-technology-is-changing-the-service-industry.html, Eight Ways Technology is Changing the Service Industry, 2017.