7 Strategic Things to Consider Before You Choose After-Sales Service Management CRM Solution

In today's age of consumerism, Warranty/Service/Repair Management has become more challenging and critically important than ever. Where the marketplace is flooded with bouquet of equally good products, under-performance of after-sales service operations can delude the customers from buying your products and cause substantial opportunity loss.

Choosing the right after-sales Service Management Solution can be challenging; especially when multiple run-of-the-mill Customer Service Management providers fail to bridge the gap between business units, service channel, third-party service providers and end-customers. To help you manage your after-sales business processes effectively, this article focuses on 7 key strategies you should consider before choosing your service management solution.

Know Your Business Requirements- Evaluating your business needs is the first right step towards choosing a Customer Service Management CRM. What do you want from your service software? How do you want to improve after-sales service, minimize overhead costs associated with sales, or decrease the turn-around-around of repair process? Do you want to pay your vendors through the system? Or do you want to gather the customer data and repair history data for any future improvisation in the business process or do you want to integrate any 3rd party analytical tool for some customer behavior research? A step by step evaluation & analysis will help you simplify the buying process and proper utilization of the system.
Scalability and Usability- Checking for the scalability and usability of Customer Service Management CRM is crucial. So, check whether the proposed CRM system would help you to meet newer business processes that may arise in future. Is the system easy to upgrade? Also check the suitability of the software. Meaning, how far the software is suitable to be used as it is, without having to make any major changes.
IT Resources- How much strain will the Customer Service Management Software put on your IT team? You require a competent IT team to tackle the implementation and maintenance of either the web-based or offline application. If you are short of the technical staff that can troubleshoot errors, you must pause and re-think. The right move would be to choose a CRM vendor who offers the Customer Service Management CRM with AMC (Annual Maintenance Contract) and has a strong after-sales support team and process in place. This shall help you ease yourself from the stress of implementation, maintenance and also be cost-effective.
Technology Infrastructure- Make sure whether you want to integrate the Customer Service CRM with any other ERP or accounting software you might be using. Ask your Service CRM vendor if the software will enable you to continue leveraging your existing software and integration is easy between the different systems. At times, you may get a service management system that already has important modules that can take care of functions which are currently done by legacy software. In such case, a complete shift from the current to the new system shall be very useful but proper study should be done before going ahead with the decision, because at times unforeseen technical challenges can be showstoppers.
Industry-Specific Experience- Howsoever suitable the software may appear, check if the vendor you are choosing has the right mix of experience & know-how about businesses similar to yours. Have they implemented such software specifically for your industry? A vendor who has an understanding of your business line would be better able to structure your processes to maximize the value of the Customer Service Management Software.
Complexity of Business Processes- Another important criterion of selecting a Customer Service Management Software is to evaluate how complex are your service models. For example, if you are a mobile handset manufacturer, looking for a Service Management System vendor, analyze if you want to make the CRM available to your ASPs (Authorized Service Partners) and/or other business partners like suppliers. This will help you to gain a thorough understanding of what kind of features/modules would befit your business needs.
The Software Cost- Finding a right balance of affordability and functionality could be challenging. Cost of the Customer service management CRM may depend on several factors including the extent of customization required, 3rd party integrations, and the complexity of system modules/features. Determine your specific needs and how much you can spend as per your business model and what ROI can be built out of that in a given time-period before finalizing with the short-listing process.

If you cannot invest in fixed cost CRM models, you can also look-out for vendors who offer SaaS model (software-as-a-service) which can help you keep your expenses controlled and without much risk. Saas Model is more suitable for start-up businesses because you pay as you grow and you get everything (after-sales support, hosting, maintenance, software upgrades) pre-packaged and pay no other additional recurring cost except the monthly license cost.

Choosing the right Customer Service Management Software can mean the difference between success and failure of your CRM & MIS initiative. Though, there can be many more things that can be considered, if you are assessing these seven areas, you will be at least be confident about your decision and will not burn your monies on a solution which may appear to be very lucrative but a mis-match to your business processes.

Rakesh Kumar is a business consultant of Zed Service?. Zed Service? is a leading service management software in India. Zed Service? has lots of innovative features including repair management software, customer services software etc. To know more visit our website http://www.service-management-software.net now!

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Challenges in Outsourcing After-Sales Service to Third-Party Service Providers

Outsourcing has become an intricate part of various business processes. In service industry, there has been a pronounced shift in the direction of after-sales support outsourcing. Today, manufacturers, suppliers and retailers believe that outsourcing after-sales service helps them slash overhead costs, streamline service management, and sharpen their focus on competencies which are core to them.

After-sales service is built around the idea of dealing with customers after they have used the product/service. This aims at strengthening the customer relationship, and hence the decision of outsourcing after-sales service should be dealt with utmost caution. Are you outsourcing your after-sales to a support company? How do you leverage the benefits of outsourcing after-sales service? What are the challenges you can face while outsourcing after-sales to a service partner? Through this article, find out the challenges and benefits of outsourcing your post-sales support to a service & support outsourcing company, and analyze how you can avoid the pitfalls associated with it and streamline service management.

Increased chances of pilferage- While outsourcing your after-sales may help you reduce the operational issues relating to managing the service centers; it also increases the chances of pilferages on the flip side. The reduced intermediate handling may increase the chances of irrelevant service and part claims, which may inadvertently lead to mis-management of inventory and loss of revenue. In this case, the very purpose of outsourcing, i.e., to reduce costs become void.

Risk of non-compliance of regulatory terms and conditions- Since the service centers work on their own models and regulations, it may be difficult to streamline your business processes with theirs. For example, if you are a mobile handset manufacturer and have outsourced the after-sales to the service partner who does not follow any automation process for streamlining repair calls. The absence of information regarding handset's repair status may lead to increased TAT (turn-around-time) and customer dissatisfaction.

Discontent with the automation solution used by your service partner- Some service providers use a service management solution that may not offer the results that you seek from your after-sales process; while some service providers may not use any automation technique at all. This may lead to information loss, which could have otherwise been possible from a self-owned automation process.

Outsourcing Only to Subject Matter Experts- There are service providers that carry proficiency in servicing multiple products. It is always a safe bet to outsource to companies that have proven expertise in servicing product/equipment that you deal in. For example, for a cell phone manufacturer, selecting a specialized electronics service center as the outsourcing partner may not be able to give you the desired results. A dedicated mobile handset service center that specializes in troubleshooting the defects, and knows the nitty-gritty of the mobile repair would be more effective.

An effective after-sales service protocol is essential to streamline service management and meet customer's expectations. Before you finalize your service partner, ensure that they use service management software that simplifies the service process, optimizes service performance and reduces the turn-around-time of service engineers. If not, you can make a strategic business decision and employ a service automation solution that you feel fulfills your business goals, and ask them to use that software for managing their service calls. A strong after-sales service can let you experience customer delight, while also saving on your bottom-line.

Rakesh Kumar is a business consultant of Zed Service?. Zed Service? is a leading service management software in India. Zed Service? has lots of innovative features including repair management software, customer services software etc. To know more visit our web site http://www.service-management-software.net now!

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.