Client Experience Management solutions
To differentiate themselves in an increasingly crowded, global marketplace, professional service firms must anticipate, meet, and exceed rising client expectations. To do so, they need to work closely with their clients to understand needs and service opportunities, and then craft and deliver the kind of superior, personalized service experience that builds loyalty and inspires referrals.
Client Experience Management (CEM) solutions using Microsoft’s integrated infrastructure help to eliminate disconnects between professionals and their clients, enabling them to develop stronger relationships, improve operations, and build and sustain connections. A flexible structure, simplified data exchange, and anywhere, anytime access to project information helps clients and professionals focus on business objectives rather than administrative and technological details.
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Business challenges
To develop and maintain a competitive edge, professional services firms need to focus on what's most important—providing clients with exceptional service and a personalized experience. Increasingly, firms are seeing the need to actively monitor client satisfaction, compare service performance, and make investments that yield better results for clients, service teams and the firm. To this end, firms are exploring ways to use technology to cultivate client loyalty and elevate the organization from vendor to trusted advisor status. Key drivers behind this trend include:
| • | Growing client expectations for service value: The Internet and globalization are creating a worldwide market for professional services, escalating competitive pressure. In response, firms must keep client satisfaction high and solidify a reputation for delivering high-convenience and high-quality service. |
| • | Distant client relationships provide openings for competitors: To foster and maintain client intimacy, firms need to help their professionals be highly available to clients and enable new levels of service convenience and transparency. |
| • | Inadequate controls over liabilities stemming from client service activities: Data security, privacy concerns, and associated legislation have elevated the risk of transferring and storing sensitive client data. These risks have encouraged firms to invest in and publicize protective measures for client information. |
Solutions
Microsoft CEM solutions are built on an integrated technology infrastructure that serves the needs of increasingly global professional services firms. As firms respond to these challenges, they are shaping a set of technology needs that span firm-client collaboration, streamlined information supply-chains, and continuous improvement in service quality. Microsoft Client Experience Management solutions are helping to meet these technology needs through three targeted solution areas:
| • | Client extranets: Enabling clients to work more closely with the firm's professionals in online workspaces gives clients visibility into the firm's progress against deliverables. That transparency creates a foundation for trust as well as service team accountability. Growing anywhere, anytime access and availability emphasizes professionals’ roles as trusted advisors and reinforces client intimacy. To help professionals meet the rising client expectations, client extranets offer a growing array of innovative and value-added communication and collaboration tools, all based on familiar and easy-to-use technology. |
| • | Data exchange: Data exchange capabilities and tools based on open standards improve interoperability and simplify communication and information-sharing between firm and clients. These solutions help professionals ensure data transfer, manage and reduce privacy risks, protect information against inappropriate use and expand the range of records available to support technical opinions and decisions. |
| • | Survey and respond: Monitoring client feedback and ensuring that it is shared and acted upon within the firm is critical to continuous improvement and innovation in client service. Web-based surveys with integration into performance review processes and escalation paths for important findings help the firm identify opportunities for change, garner executive interest and support, and demonstrate commitment to client service. |
Case studies
The following case studies illustrate how professional services firms have benefited from CEM solutions offered by Microsoft and its partners:
Blank Rome
By adding extranet portal capabilities, Blank Rome, an Am Law 100 law firm, improves internal collaboration and client service with Microsoft SharePoint Products and Technologies.
Black & Veatch
Black & Veatch, an engineering firm, streamlines internal and client collaboration with a portal solution.
Linklaters
Linklaters law firm uses Web Application Builder to deliver global content with local flavor.
McCann Worldgroup
McCann Worldgroup, a global communication service company, uses client portals to improve access to information.
Business benefits
CEM solutions using Microsoft’s integrated infrastructure provide your people with a range of client experience management solutions that add practical value, can increase client loyalty, lower client acquisition costs, give the client visibility into the firm’s progress on key deliverables, and lead to higher average profitability per client. With CEM solutions, professional services firms will be able to:
Make investments in technology that strengthen long term client relationships
Access project information provided through the client-specific portal. This visibility helps build firm-client relationships. As customer needs change and demands increase, the flexible structure of the CEM solution enables firms to quickly adapt to changing internal and external needs, providing customers with the service that keeps them coming back.
Proactively manage client expectations
Selectively publish the details of engagement management plans and progress via client extranets. Teams and clients gain the access and information they need for their specific projects, so that they can align expectations and ensure changes are made the way they want them, when the need them.
Give clients anytime, anywhere access
Provide mobile access to team and client extranets to ensure that all parties have visibility into the same accurate, real-time information. Leverage the Office Suite of products to supply your clients with the tools they use every day, giving them a familiar, positive experience. By providing access to project-specific information anywhere, anytime, firms help keep professionals and clients up-to-date. As a result of all these services, the client will build a relationship with the firm as a trusted advisor rather than a vendor.
Promote innovation in client service to stand out from the crowd
Integrate your infrastructure to differentiate your firm from the competition. Gain the flexibility to modify standard client extranets to innovate around client-specific business needs. By using forms-based workflows, firms can periodically survey client satisfaction to continuously improve of their service and offerings, improving customer satisfaction and giving firms the competitive edge.
Strengthen client relationships with the firm as a whole, not just individual employees
Review current and historical projects, collaborate with service teams, and exchange relevant news and information By requesting clients' feedback and incorporating it into service activities, firms builds trust and clients desire for a long-term relationship.
Ensure secure data transfer, reducing privacy risks
Improve information security and client privacy by taking advantage of designated secure areas for document exchange and integrated data transfer. New file formats improve interoperability and simplify information sharing. By applying the information security policy to shared document repositories, you can deliver robust audit trails.
Increase the potential to realize higher average profitability per client
Target information to client-specific concerns and issues. Responding quickly to clients' needs drives satisfaction and builds loyalty. This enables firms to improve clients' experience and inspire referrals—both of which helps reduce new client acquisition costs and grow revenue
Overview
Technology
