Customer service is a core tenant for most professional services organization, particularly within the software industry. However, it is not always easy. At times, customers can be demanding, difficult to work with, and, on occasion, indecisive. To make it even more complicated, professional services have customers both within and outside the company. Customers within the company include sales and accounting, while customers outside the company include anyone that has hired the professionals to solve a problem. Whether the customer is internal or external, using Software as a Service or SaaS project management software can help professional services live up to the service expectation.
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Providing customer service
Providing above average customer service comes down to consciously making common sense commitments to be good at service. The first commitment professional services should make is establishing proper communication to the customer. The second commitment is to seek to exceed expectations.
Communication
Proper communication is a powerful way to provide good and unexpected customer service. Even better, it works for both internal and external customers.
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Internal Customers – As we noted previously, internal customers would include groups like accounting and sales. Both of these groups require information and data from professional services in order to perform their job. Rather than waiting around until these groups request, why not be proactive and provide it to them using SaaS project management software.
SaaS project management software like NetSuite’s OpenAir can be a powerful communication tool for notifying internal groups regarding project status. The software can be configured to notify accounting in real time regarding when milestones have been reached and revenue should be booked. Or it can be used to keep the salespeople current on project information so they can upsell other services.
External Customers – SaaS project management software can also be used as a communication tool for professional services to communicate with their external customers. Since the software is hosted in the cloud, the customer can be given access to see for themselves the upcoming milestones and the current project status.
Exceed Expectations
Another aspect of good customer service is to always seek to exceed expectations. This is done by helping the customer in unexpected or above-average ways. SaaS project management software can also be of service in this area.
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Internal Customers – Most finance departments would be grateful to be notified regarding the completion of a milestone so that they can properly book revenue. However, using SaaS project management software, the software can be defined to not only notify them but to automatically trigger the booking of revenue. Automating the revenue recognition process would be above and beyond their expectations.
External Customers – Most customers expect some kind of weekly update from the project team regarding status. However, using SaaS project management software, a daily status email can be designed and sent daily, notifying the customer of upcoming milestones, deliverables, and even required payments. Providing this on a daily basis is going above and beyond their expectations.
To be competitive, professional services need to provide good customer services. But why not use SaaS project management software and automate the process? Contact us if you would like to know more. [subscribe2]