Customer Notification Systems for Incident-forward Communication

Reduce Call Center Costs and Raise Customer Satisfaction with Incident-Forward Communication

Derdack provides high-performance notification systems that can automatically and rapidly reach customers via SMS, email and other channels. These solutions can be integrated seamlessly with help desk and customer care systems.

The concept of incident-forward communication is based on pro-active communication of emergency situations, system failures or downtimes. The moment a problem occurs that might affect customers, suppliers or staff, they are notified automatically, e.g. about the scope and impact of the problem, the expected downtime and a possible workaround. There are several key implications to such a strategy that need to be considered.

It requires failure-detection capabilities and ideally a link between the detection systems and systems for automated communication. In order to avoid any delays or human latencies, failures of any facility or service that impacts on a customer need to be communicated automatically to affected users or staff. Of course such a system requires filtering of events and pre-defined rules on which event is to be communicated and how to ensure the right communications are sent at the right time. In some cases an approval process for sending out such warnings and alerts to a broad customer base is seen as necessary but it may hamper the ability for rapid notification.

The system for automated notifications should ideally be based on Unified Communications, opt-in databases and options for users or customers to define their own notification medium preferences. This enables the use of the most efficient and convenient method of receiving notifications and the scope of information to be selected. Some people might prefer an SMS where others like to be notified via instant message or even through Facebook.

Evidence from numerous implementations of notification projects for customers indicates that when a system is in place to comprehensively and rapidly inform people of an issue, they are less likely to call a helpdesk or call center which can result in an enormous reduction in costs. Some estimates put the reduction in customer and user calls to be up to a staggering 90%.

At the same time satisfaction levels are raised significantly as customers or users that are pro-actively informed of any faults that might affect service or system availability are less likely to get frustrated. In enterprise scenarios incident-forward communication can have a positive impact on the reputation of the IT department and helpdesk and can also prevent productivity losses. Going beyond the enterprises boundaries, informing suppliers about disturbances or yields in production helps to optimize supply chains.