Think for a moment about a customer service situation from your everyday life: how often, when you make a service enquiry over the phone, do you receive a response that satisfies you? In many cases, this has nothing to do with the staff’s competence. More often than not, the chosen ESM tool doesn’t align with the company’s customer service requirements, and your contact person has only limited access to the information needed to provide a satisfactory response.
The market for Enterprise Service Management tools is vast. For IT service management alone – a component of Enterprise Service Management – there are over 400 different tools. If we focus specifically on the area of customer service, there are still over 100 tools. Which tool best meets your specific needs? Companies need a tool that precisely supports – rather than hinders – their processes and workflows, integrates seamlessly into their architectural landscape, and puts users, customers and products at the centre. Given the variety of requirements, the key question is: how do you select the right tool from the flood of options?
To help companies make this decision, we provide six fundamental tips for a vendor-neutral tool selection process that covers all relevant processes. In this article, we refer specifically to customer service, although the tips are also applicable to other areas. The general recommendation is that the number of interfaces between tools – and thus the number of tools used within the organisation – should be reduced in order, for example, to avoid errors, manual data transfers and synchronisation issues. Furthermore, you should not roll out software and functional behemoths such as ESM tools simultaneously across all areas of the organisation. When making your selection, however, you must in any case also consider the areas to be integrated in the future.
When examining how companies have so far gone about selecting a suitable ESM tool, taking customer service into account, the names of major vendors often come up – from BMC and Micro Focus to ServiceNow and Salesforce. Given the wide choice and extensive possibilities, at least one option is often favoured straight away. It is only afterwards that company-specific consultancy is utilised. At this stage, it becomes clear that the sheer number of options is already causing difficulties in the selection process.
It is therefore important to carry out a targeted tool selection in advance which – in a vendor-neutral manner – leads to a suitable solution that best meets existing requirements. One option for this process is a tool matrix. The following six tips will show you how to apply the matrix when selecting tools:
1. Define the target design
The target design encompasses the desired outcome that a new software solution is intended to achieve. This step is important for prioritising the requirements and expectations of a suitable tool: what do you want to achieve with the tool? Only then are these benefits specified in more detail. In doing so, the following questions, for example, need to be clarified: Which processes should be supported or, where appropriate, automated? What strategic plans are in place? Which interfaces should be enabled or simplified? Which functionalities must be covered, and which other tools need to be replaced? And last but not least, in which areas is the tool intended to be used in the future?
2. Assess the framework conditions
It is not only wishes and requirements that play a central role in selecting a tool. Framework conditions and other external factors also have a strong influence on how a new solution is used. In customer service, these factors include, for example:
- Identifying the various departments and stakeholders that interact with customer service
- Identifying staff members who do not fit the above criteria but are important for the process and for future work with the new tool
Existing software solutions within the organisation, as well as the possibility of integrating these with the new tool or replicating their functionality within the tool, should these tools not be ‘fixed’. In particular, the individuals mentioned must be involved in the process at an early stage so that their specific circumstances are also understood. Are there any hurdles to overcome? What regulations must be observed that are not immediately obvious? Having this information ensures that the chosen ESM tool for customer service is as well-suited as possible.
3. Draw up a requirements catalogue
The analysis of the target design and framework conditions visualises the requirements placed on a solution. These are consolidated into a requirements catalogue, which forms the basis for a decision matrix. This greatly simplifies the tool selection process. Rather than comparing a catalogue point by point against all potential solutions – and thereby losing track of the bigger picture – the requirements in the catalogue are systematically compared against the capabilities of the various tools in a matrix. This matrix should be divided into different categories that cover all the fundamental aspects required for a vendor-neutral tool comparison. Examples of these categories include: areas of application (for example, IT service management in addition to customer service management), data security (server location in cloud models) and customisation options. This quickly results in over 100 requirements to be assessed.
4. Evaluating the requirements catalogue
Company preferences vary greatly depending on the sector, size and other factors. To ensure a customer-focused approach, it is advisable to weight the various requirements. Depending on the customer and the specific circumstances, factors such as server location or the presentation of customer profiles may carry different levels of importance. Based on this weighting, the requirements are further categorised according to the ‘must’, ‘should’ and ‘could’ principles.
As a final step, the requirements are evaluated in the tool matrix according to the specified prioritisation. The focus is not solely on a single preferred tool, nor is it on all potential tools. Instead, a shortlist of approximately four preferred tools is drawn up.
When evaluating the individual solutions, you may find that no single tool offers the perfect solution. This inevitably raises the question of the extent to which the tool can be customised, or whether a combination of solutions might be a viable option.
5. Comparison of the tools
Based on the requirements catalogue, the requirements are automatically assessed in the tool matrix according to their weighting. By directly comparing the requirements against the tools, a single tool or a combination of tools can be recommended. The user experience is also taken into account at this stage to ensure a comprehensive evaluation and selection process.
6. Change communication within the organisation
Another important aspect is change communication, which should be initiated on an ongoing basis throughout the entire process. It is essential to fully engage all staff members – particularly those who will be working with the new tool. There are various options for this: These range from initial announcements (“We have decided to introduce a new Enterprise Service Management solution in order to …”) to shorter updates on progress, the benefits of the new tool, information on the roll-out and much more. In this way, your organisation can prepare your staff for the change in the best possible way.
Finally, one last tip: seek an impartial external perspective by engaging a consultancy. We wish you every success with your customer service projects.
