RightNow Customer Service software boosts speed and consistency

RightNow Technologies today introduced RightNow SmartGuide, an innovative CRM solution that enhances the quality, speed and consistency of customer service by proactively guiding customers and/or service agents to answers via a uniquely intuitive and effective interface using “decision-tree” logic. This adaptively structured interface enables customers to quickly pinpoint answers by responding to

a series of diagnostic questions that guide them to a successful conclusion of their self-service session. It can also be used to improve the performance of contact centre agents by providing them with structured troubleshooting dialogues.

SmartGuide prompts users with a series of questions about their issue. Based on their response to each question, the system asks them the next logical question in the decision tree and/or provides them with relevant answers from the knowledge base. It thereby automatically guides them to the most relevant information in the least amount of time.

Using RightNow’s patented AI technology, SmartGuide automatically improves its own effectiveness over time by learning from each user’s interactions. Therefore, as more users interact with the system, it guides them to the correct answer faster.

“Customer service is about delivering the best answer in the least time at the lowest cost across all communication channels,” Gregory Wright, manager of service and support automation at Ricoh Corporation, said. “By automatically asking customers a logical series of questions, RightNow SmartGuide can quickly and accurately provide them with the information they need — ensuring their satisfaction while decreasing email and call volume in the service centre.”

SmartGuide is the latest addition to RightNow Service, the award- winning customer service component of RightNow. It complements the patented knowledge base management technology and highly intuitive search tools that have made RightNow the market leader in on demand customer service, and can be added to knowledge bases already in use by RightNow customers all over the world.

“Superlative customer service continues to gain importance as a means of achieving competitive differentiation and maximizing the lifetime business value of customer relationships,” Mike Myer, vice president of development and CTO at RightNow, said. “With SmartGuide, RightNow is once again delivering a ground-breaking technical innovation that provides the market with an entirely new way to increase customer satisfaction, reduce operational costs, and implement CRM best practices.”