The dictionary definition: Innovation is about finding a better way of doing something. An innovation is something original, new, and important in whatever field that breaks in to a market or society.
Being able to find easier and more effective ways to do business is certainly wise. Service Innovation must be conjoined and affiliated with the core reason of your business. It must be executed seamlessly by the company to be able to meet current and future customer needs. A service innovation that will not be able to manage customer needs would be a wasted effort. Customers tend to be more loyal to companies that prove to be forerunners and torch bearers in their area of operation. Constant innovation with a view to serve customers better is important for business success. All innovation must be focused on your company’s linchpin – the customer. It must connect your existing and your prospective customers and this connection will be important for business success. Everyone in the organization must in tune with the purpose of an innovation and how best they would be able to service their customers through it.
“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” – Steve Jobs
Innovation is about providing better customer service, enhanced products and customer experiences that are better than the previous. Delivering superior customer interactions without compromising on financial gain and profits – is the kind of innovation that is important for business success. Getting better at what you do, also leads to cutting down on the time spent on doing it and creating a culture of constant improvement.
To truly understand and anticipate the customer’s needs, a progressive outlook is necessary. Business success cannot be guaranteed only by solving the problems at hand. Serving old wine in new bottles does not always work either – customers can see through it. Understanding and keeping updated on customer needs and trends should be the starting point to ultimately lead you to innovate. Innovation involves taking risks, doing what’s not been done before, a willingness to fail and continuously try to get you to business success.
Introducing novelty in products or services and within the realm of customer service is important for business success. However, the changes that you wish to implement must be sustainable and something your organization is able to carry the burden of. Instead of pleasing the customer, you will attract their ire if the well-thought out plan is shabbily executed. Every member of the organization must be focused and passionate about leading and dealing with this change. Pertinent and necessary training must be provided to all and particularly to the customer service staff, who will be dealing with the barrage of questions and queries from the customers. Customers would laud your efforts only if they can see the value of it and innovation that is customer focused would satisfy this criterion. Customer demands are on the rise and as a company you cannot afford to do anything that customers do not view as being completely on target. Every innovation effort must be geared to meet the customer’s needs and ramp up the customer service you provide to them.
Service Innovation is a tougher prospect than those aimed at improving a product. Customer Service is complex and subjective – what is good service for one customer is probably the worst experience for another. Service Innovation must be focused on bringing about positive changes for the maximum number of customers in your customer base. The arduousness being felt to bring about service innovation is because hitherto service organizations have lasted with little or no innovation. So effectively there is innovation benchmark or history to fall back on. With customers now becoming increasingly aware of their rights and also the fact that competition is cut throat, even customer service now is expected to be innovative. For example, banks earlier knew they had complete control over the procedures and processes and faced little or no risk from customers having an impact on their business. However, now with easier rules and the vast number of players within this industry alone, customers will not think twice before taking their money elsewhere. Innovative products, increased number of branches, better trained and more competent staff and round the clock customer service centres are some of the innovations now seen in this industry. Service Innovation is now priority and is important for business success.
As discussed, customer expectations and increased awareness is the raison d’etre for this crazy scramble towards service innovation. Companies now realize that unless they push the envelope on efficiency and effectiveness of customer service they will be unable to survive. It would be almost impossible to survive if they don’t keep working towards lowering costs and improving efficiency both in service and offerings. Innovating in all areas ensures that they get better results since the margin for error will reduce and they will be able to service their customers better in the first interaction. Customers can now clearly see that they are the driving force behind any company and that companies are bending backwards to please them. The innovation drive will therefore continue unabated since customers will not settle for anything less than the best. They are investing in you and so will not stop expecting you to service them innovatively so that their lives are simpler and they get the best value for their money. They are shunning inferior quality service like the plague and know they have many others they can go to. Tough call eh!?
“Because, you know, resilience – if you think of it in terms of the Gold Rush, then you’d be pretty depressed right now because the last nugget of gold would be gone. But the good thing is, with innovation, there isn’t a last nugget. Every new thing creates two new questions and two new opportunities.” – Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO, Amazon
Wow! The possibilities for business success seem limitless with service innovation. It helps you to make a mark on your customers and puts you head and shoulders over your competitors. With service innovation, you won’t need to deal with the self-defeating price wars. Customers are smart and are willing to pay a bit more if they know that your company is focused on them and constantly introducing changes to serve them better. Everyone loves a leader (we only quote things that leaders do or say right?) and if you continue to innovate, you will ultimately have more than just an edge in the marketplace. You will become the customer’s go-to company for their product needs and high customer service levels. The adage old is gold fails miserably in this context since no one day is similar to the next in terms of competitive advantage. If your services and offerings are of yesteryears, you can almost certain that you will need to wind down your business really soon.
