The Last Word Comment
Technology and customer engagement go hand in hand
It is one thing to provide outstanding technology solutions, but it is also important to ensure that those solutions work for a particular client, with the necessary support
Martin Cheek Managing director, SmartSearch
martin.cheek@
smartsearch.com
Technology has transformed people’s lives, over the last few years especially, making a wide range of tasks easier and quicker to achieve. But it has also brought frustrations. While we can now do all our Christmas
shopping online if we so choose, who can we speak to if the delivery gets delayed or something goes wrong?
Notoriously difficult It is notoriously difficult to get to talk to an actual human being when dealing with online-only retailers. More often, you are presented with a set
of formulaic ‘FAQs’ and, if they do not give you the answer you need (spoiler: they will not), you get to fill in a contact form and are assured that they ‘will aim to respond within x working days’ – where x can be relied upon to be longer than you have. Partly as a result of these sorts of
experiences, a lot of people complain that increasing automation is robbing us of ‘the human touch’ and undermining the concept of good, personal customer service.
Benefits of technology As a leading ‘RegTech’ firm we understand digital technology – it is our business to bring the benefits of fast, secure anti-money-laundering (AML) technology to our clients. We are enthusiastic advocates of a digital
approach to AML because reducing the scope for fraud – and for good old-fashioned human error – is particularly important when dealing with a complex regulatory environment.
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www.CCRMagazine.com Digital AML technology is demonstrably
more effective, as well as being faster and cheaper than manual checks. But even the best and most sophisticated
technology does not remove the need for good customer service. In fact, at SmartSearch we think the two
go hand in hand. While we pride ourselves on having what we think is the best AML product on the market, we also cherish our 98% client retention rate. The reason for this is simple. It is not
The reason for this is simple. It is not enough for a piece of software to work in principle: if customers are going to get the best out of it, it needs to be easy for them to use in the first instance, and backed up by high-quality support that truly engages with customers
enough for a piece of software to work in principle: if customers are going to get the best out of it, it needs to be easy for them to use in the first instance, and backed up by high-quality support that truly engages with customers. In our case, we work with our clients to understand their needs and provide training to help their staff understand the system. Crucially, they have ongoing access to a
dedicated account manager, and to a full team of client support staff to help them resolve any issues. They can always speak to a real person if and when they want to, rather than navigating their way through automated responses.
Conclusion In our view, then, there is no tension between using technology effectively and providing excellent customer service. Everyone these days needs to deploy
technology in order to give their customers the best service possible – but equally getting the most out of technology depends on high- quality customer engagement. CCR
December 2019
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