Harnessing Business Technology to Empower Teams

Empowering teams with business technology is becoming vital for any organization interested in staying competitive as commerce and consumer behavior changes.

The quality of your operations impacts the customer experience, from the efficiency shown by sales leaders to the responsiveness of customer service reps. And buyers today want those positive business interactions—97 percent of surveyed global consumers say service quality is an important factor in brand choice. If your organization’s departments don’t have the tools to function, expect customer happiness levels to drop.

That decrease in customer satisfaction hurts your odds of success. Companies that lead in customer experience outperform the competition by 80 percent. And those who improve their customer experience can increase sales revenues by 2 to 7 percent. You lose those benefits if your organization cannot offer the robust sales journey consumers now expect.

Luckily, technology provides digital solutions designed to improve your customer experience. From social media channels to chatbots, you now have novel ways to drive customer satisfaction.

How do you leverage such digital solutions? Let’s explore how you can transform your business teams with tech-enabled operations.

What you will learn:

• The different types of digital solutions that can empower your business teams
• The benefits of empowered employees
• How technology can transform the efficiency of business operations
• How to integrate technology for truly tech-enabled teams

Understanding Business Technology

Business technology is not just about having the latest gadgets or the most advanced software. It's about how businesses can use these tools to increase efficiency, improve customer service, and gain a competitive edge.

Used correctly, these tools enforce a method of organizing and coordinating technology management throughout an organization, including strategies, tools, organizational structures, and governance. The primary goal of business technology is to optimize the use of technology to meet customer demands and expectations.

The Power of Software as a Service (SaaS)

One of the key aspects of business technology is the use of software as a service (SaaS). This model offers scalable solutions with constant upgrades, storage, and security. SaaS companies handle maintenance and eliminate the need for in-house servers, making technology more manageable and cost-effective for businesses.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems

Another critical component of business technology is customer relationship management (CRM) systems. These tools help businesses manage their relationships with customers, making it easier to track sales, provide customer service, and carry out marketing campaigns.

Revolutionizing Sales and Marketing

In the realm of sales and marketing, business technology has revolutionized strategies. Websites now serve as brand statements, and search engine optimization (SEO) has become crucial for increasing visibility. Digital advertising targets specific audiences and operates on a pay-per-click model, offering huge potential for increases in sales and profits.

The Importance of Security

Security is another area where business technology plays a vital role. With the rise of cyber threats, businesses need advanced security systems to protect their data and their customers' information.

Innovative Payment Options

Business technology also extends to payment options. The advent of non-cash options like PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Venmo, and virtual currencies has disrupted the payment industry, offering customers more convenience and businesses more flexibility.

The importance of tech-enabled payment and support teams

Technology has many useful attributes. For example, digital tools can duplicate, virtualize, and store large amounts of data far beyond human capabilities. Such inherent traits, when integrated into your company, offer advantages that support each business team:

Streamlined operations

Digital solutions can automate many service tasks for labor-saving advantages. For example, payment teams can use digital systems to route inquiry tickets, populate databases, generate invoices, send payment reminders, or schedule service appointments. Technology optimizes the entire payment process, that way employees are able to focus on high-priority tasks.

Every department in your business can leverage similar digital systems. Marketing teams might use Content Management Systems (CMS) to rapidly publish sales material, and logistics can integrate Inventory Management Systems (IMS) to centralize stock control. Digital solutions automate routine tasks, and with great efficiency. Recent stats show that 74 percent of employees who use automation say it helps them get their work done faster.

Improved decision-making and prediction:

Technology enables organizations to analyze data. Different business teams can use that info to glean insights on market shifts or upcoming trends. That results in better planning and decision-making. Departments build proactive services based on data-driven predictions and risk assessments. As an example, a major airline installed a customer experience (CX)-focused machine learning-based system. Within three months, the company earned an 800 percent uplift in reported satisfaction and a 60 percent reduction in customer churn for priority customers.

Accurate fraud prevention:

The tech-enabled approach helps teams defend against fraud. Prevention tools can identify fraudulent transactions, send real-time alerts, and limit risky user profiles. And any collected data can help locate business aspects that need improvement. For example, payment and service teams can fix weak points to create a safer payment process. Such efforts are a great way to boost your customer experience. Reports show that even when a user falls victim to fraud, if service teams handle the issue properly, customer satisfaction can actually increase.

Scalability:

Technology can address problems of scale. As your business grows, operations must expand. If you are not prepared, sales pressure can overwhelm current payment processes. Luckily, digital solutions address such issues. Compared to manual efforts, tech can handle expected and unexpected jumps in demand.

Moreover, larger market share results in an increase in customer service requests. Solutions such as ticket management, self-service, and automated contact options help teams maintain service levels when volume increases. Such scaling efforts pay dividends: reports show that small and medium businesses (SMBs) that use cloud-based solutions to overcome growth challenges earned 21 percent higher gross profits.

Collaboration:

Digital tools enable smooth integration between various systems and platforms. For example, payments and service teams can use such tools to collaborate better, such as embedding customer service reps directly into the payment process. That, in turn, helps build a friction-less payment journey. And such cross-team functions drive results: employees placed in collaborative settings are 50 percent more effective at completing tasks.

Improved customer experience:

Digital tools completely alter the scope of support interactions. Support reps have access to numerous online channels that provide instant real-time support. Touchpoints are now more personalized, even through self-service options. Checkout flows are simple and rapid. And issue resolution improves, which offers the extra benefit of lowering chargeback volume. Those who improve CX metrics (customer satisfaction score, customer effort score, churn rate, retention rate, etc.) are reported to boost revenues by 10-15 percent.

How technology can refocus collaborative efforts

More importantly, tech-enabled business teams shift the company culture. A natural refocus occurs as the benefits of digital solutions alter how your company operates. You will see empowered employees place greater emphasis on the following goals:

• Innovation: Compared to manual efforts, digital tools are efficient. Employees can use those tools to reshape old strategies. Seeking out new ways to leverage technology results in a process of optimization. Such exploration of novel options drives innovation and efficiency.
• Continuous learning: New solutions require teams to embrace technological change. Employees will start to buy into skill learning and digital literacy as the tasks of the job transform. As a result, members feel encouraged to upskill. A workspace open to learning fosters dynamic growth.
• Customer-centered operations: Digital solutions automate numerous tasks that free up service teams. Employees can then focus on the highest value task: supporting the customer experience. For the consumer, such levels of customer service set your company apart. Employee morale also increases as a cycle of positive interactions occurs. A new model based on customer-centric operations will appear.

Agility: Adaptive technology locates areas of improvement. Your business teams can repair any discovered bottlenecks found in company operations. Workflows optimize till teams can better respond to customer demands or market shifts. Employees work smarter, not harder. As a result, a flexible work culture develops.

Example of solutions used by tech-enabled teams

• Chatbots: Service teams can use artificially intelligent virtual assistants to process thousands of service documents to rapidly resolve inquiries. The technology operates in real-time, 24/7, all while providing positive, human-like responses to customers.
• Omnichannel support solutions: Communication via numerous avenues (i.e. email, chat, social media, etc) gives all teams unified ways to support consumers.
• Self-service options: Self-help tech solutions can empower customers to manage any problems. The customers can act with control and autonomy, while service reps enjoy a reduced workload.
• Unified payment processing: Centralized solutions combine multiple payment channels into a single platform. Seamless integrations between websites, digital payment options, and security integrations make it far easier for payments teams to operate at scale.
• AI-powered fraud detection: Novel fraud detection tools monitor all sales channels to screen for fraud in real-time. And machine learning helps fraud prevention processes improve over time. Security and fraud teams can limit risky transactions and better assist customers who fall victim to true fraud.
• Novel payment solutions: Consumers want to pay with digital wallets, mobile pay, and Buy Now, Pay Later services. These new payment methods help teams earn better conversion rates, sales volume, and average order value.
• Helpdesk solutions: Centralized customer and payment data streamline customer support operations. Reps with complete access to all customer data can improve issue resolution with less labor.

Chargeback mitigation tools: Chargeback solutions help payment and service teams address credit card payment disputes. The technology can monitor transactions and identify flawed processes. Some solutions can be used to automate dispute representment and inter-team coordination. A proactive approach to chargeback management will help protect and win back lost revenues.

Hesitancy toward implementing tech-enabled teams

Despite the apparent benefits, many are hesitant to invest in tech-enabled teams. Humans are naturally resistant to change. Digital solutions alter previous employee roles, and that may threaten leaders who cling to the status quo.

And there are valid concerns about tech-enabled teams. Many worry about costs. Others are concerned about employee satisfaction and churn. Integration challenges can arise, especially those with legacy systems. And skills gaps or talent availability can also cause uncertainty.

But technology should empower, not disrupt current company operations. Often, the value in implementing digital tools is deterring the need to replace existing employees. Instead, digital tools help redeploy employees for greater effectiveness, or altering the nature of the roles for yet-to-be-hired employees.

Consider the chargeback solutions offered by Justt. Our tools are designed to enable payment analysts and customer service reps to do their jobs better. For example, data-driven insights and machine learning help payment analysts improve checkout flows, along with the customer experience. And by offering a simple platform interface, service teams gain greater visibility over chargeback activity. Automation also provides cost and labor-saving benefits regarding evidence compilation, allowing analysts to focus on other priorities. Our technology supports chargeback teams and their defense posture against chargeback fraud.

The cost is worth the price. Watch employee effectiveness increase once you support teams with the right tools. Moreover, you will see natural upskilling become evident as employees become more valuable. Investments in employee support are far more valuable than repeated entry-level hires.

The Future of Business Technology

Looking ahead, there are several trends that businesses should watch. The proliferation of 5G networks and artificial intelligence are steadily gaining importance. Employee monitoring software adoption will continue for hybrid teams, and remote onboarding will be perfected through technology. Tech-assisted retail shopping will expand with mobile payments and QR codes. Superapps will emerge as the next generation of business software, integrating disparate app services. There will be an increased focus on cybersecurity due to new forms of fraud and cyberattacks. Big data and analytics will deliver a competitive advantage for businesses, and automation will be emphasized for saving money and covering problem areas. Influencer marketing will remain popular and focused on specific audiences, and social media advertising will continue to grow as an effective way to target specific audiences.

Final Thoughts

Technology enables your business teams to achieve better productivity and consumer satisfaction. By allowing digital tools to work with employees, you empower teams to focus on high-value tasks. The organizational work culture will change towards a customer-centric model that drives seamless consumer experiences.