Digital Clients Demand Digital Services, Communication

Q: How can SRL Soluciones improve its clients’ operations in terms of customer management?

A: The company first targeted the financial and telecoms sectors, where there is constant interaction with individual customers. Most companies in our line of work compete on price but we wanted to differentiate our services by providing the solutions that keep customers happy. 
Our goal has always been to be the best distributor or best integrator of contact center solutions. We started distributing contact center software brands from market leaders like Genesys, Aspect, Cisco, Verint and ServiceNow. However, we understood that a box product cannot do everything a client wants, since they always need customization that goes beyond what the original product can offer. That is where our know-how and expertise come in: by customizing products for our clients. The idea is to transform their business without losing sight of the operations they want to maintain. 
Q: According to SRL Soluciones, it is becoming the era of the customer. What should companies understand about this new era?

A: There are mature businesses and industries that have always done things the same way. Yet, clients are not comfortable with the same practices anymore. Digitalization has changed so much; people are using new channels of communication, while some companies still have a hard time understanding that communicating through social media is not only appropriate but the preferred way to reach the client. 
Today, all our projects involve digital or technological transformations and we are helping companies more effectively reach clients through Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp. Many startups offer to solve their clients’ communication needs but they only solve part of the problem by setting up an email or Facebook account for the company. Instead, we provide an omnichannel solution that can yield data for posterior analysis. We generate a roadmap to determine where the client wants to be in terms of customer relationship management, its current state in terms of company culture and technology and the steps needed to implement an integrated solution. Once in place, companies have a consistent service in all communication channels, as well as knowledge on the context and previous interactions with the customer. 

Q: How receptive have clients been to your offering?

A: The most receptive have been banks, insurers and telecom companies that must interact with customers through different channels. However, we have seen growing interest from players in the retail sector. Visiting a store was part of the customer experience in retail, which means digitalization has blocked part of the company’s role in dealing with the customer. For retailers, it is becoming increasingly important to transform and to have an efficient back-office process to properly serve customers. 
Even though older technologies are being updated, such as the Interactive Voice Response (IVR) used by banks or telecom companies, people in Mexico still prefer to speak with a person rather than deal with the IVR. Companies had trouble grasping the importance of this change. As new technologies started to appear, we integrated them into the IVR to develop a more sophisticated system, which helped customers feel supported and reduced costs for companies. 

Q: What differences have you found between contact centers in Mexico and around the world?

A: In Mexico, customers are open to adopting new technologies unlike in the US, where they tend to be more conservative. Here, companies also normally leave us the responsibility to create their communications solutions, while in the US and Europe they usually work alongside the manufacturer to design the solution they need. We are starting to see corporate positions focused on customer experience that previously did not exist. We are trying to show people in these positions how to analyze