Unicom Global arm Macro 4 announced the launch of a self-service portal allowing firms to give their customers secure access to information relating to their customer journeys in a major CX game-changer for the industry.
Macro 4, who aims to roll out the new feature in a matter of days, reported a spike in demand for self-service portal solutions. This came as organisations fast-tracked their digital initiatives during the pandemic to provide a better experience for the growing number of customers who are interacting with businesses online.
Darren Jack, Technical Services Manager at Macro 4, said: “Online self-service is an obvious way to relieve the pressure on contact centres and other frontline teams who are handling increasing volumes of customer queries now that less business is conducted face to face.
“The key to doing this successfully is to make sure your self-service portal is easy to use, and gives customers fast access to the information they need, including all correspondence, and important documents such as orders, bills, statements, and so on.”
He added: “But many first-generation portal systems are struggling to cope with the explosion in online traffic and they can also be more difficult to use, particularly on mobile devices. Security weaknesses are another common issue. The need to address these problems quickly has accelerated the trend towards ‘short, sharp’ projects that can be completed in a matter of days – with companies opting for customisable off-the-shelf software like ours to deliver a high-quality, branded customer experience with minimal effort.”
Balancing Act
Businesses are seeking to reduce the need for face-to-face or telephone contact while balancing that with improving the volume of information available on their portals in order to increase customer engagement. Additionally, organisations are using portals as a more secure way of sharing confidential information with teams in different physical locations.
Jack added: “Particularly in the current climate, with so many businesses working from home, it’s no longer practical for accountancy firms to send confidential audit reports by post, for example.
“Companies need a way to make large, complex documents like these easy to access and work with online, without compromising security by emailing them. Our Columbus self-service portal provides a fast and flexible solution to support this kind of requirement.”
