Self-service and your business

Learn how businesses are using self-service applications to strengthen HR interactions and improve customer service.

Self-service and your business

Self-service is a trend that redefines how businesses interact with both customers and employees. The term “self-service” encompasses many applications, from the familiar – ATM machines are one of the oldest examples – to cutting-edge automated customer support systems. Whether implemented through standalone kiosks, online applications, or automated telephone systems, self-service applications free up your employees to focus on more complex interactions.

HR interactions
One area that provides excellent opportunities for incorporating self-service is human resources. Many of the interactions employees have with HR are very straightforward: changing addresses or personal information, updating direct deposit settings, submitting time off requests, and making inquiries about insurance or other benefits.

These types of transactions are easily handled on a company intranet with modern HR Information Systems (HRIS) software, freeing up your HR professionals to deal with more demanding tasks. In addition, having easy access to HR tasks can improve employee satisfaction. HR self-service systems also satisfy legal requirements for reporting and privacy. Submit a free quote for HRIS.

More complex HR automation software extends the self-service model to employee evaluations and benefits enrollment.

Employee training
A related area where self-service is making inroads is training. Modern businesses have complex training needs, from HR-required new employee training to OSHA-mandated equipment safety classes to training on custom software. Instead of maintaining an ongoing schedule of classroom training, self-service employee training delivers online education on-demand. Each employee gets exactly the training they need, when they need it, without the hassles of scheduling and traveling to training facilities.

Online training can combine text, images, video, and interactive quizzes to provide varied and engaging training. Offering your employees the chance to partake in additional training above and beyond the mandatory is another benefit of self-service.

Customer service
There are some compelling economic reasons to turn to self-service for customer support. Forrester Research has estimated that the costs of a single customer service interaction drop from $35 for phone calls to just $0.75 through online self-service. Add to that the improved response times offered by automated phone systems and it’s clear that self-service customer support is worth investigating.

Self-service customer support can be as simple as putting a searchable FAQ system on your web site. More valuable are telephone systems or web sites that let customers check the status of their accounts and orders, pay bills, and get basic information. True enterprise-level systems integrate into customer relationship management (CRM) systems, allowing customers to manage parts of their record directly and collect essential customer data in a central location.

Retail transactions
Self-checkout lanes at grocery stores are a very visible example of self-service in action. Allowing customers to scan and bag their own groceries means shorter lines and cuts down on staffing requirements. However, there are more examples of customer self-service that are making inroads in retail stores. Wall-mounted bar code scanners let customers easily check prices as they shop. Computerized gift registries and handheld scanners allow customers to build a comprehensive wish list. And job application kiosks let potential new employees submit all their basic hiring information to start the application process.

Important self-service considerations
While all of these uses of self-service can provide significant benefits, you do need to proceed with caution when moving to a self-service model. Automated customer service systems can do wonders for customer relations when they work well – but they can also be very damaging if they don’t work as they should. To avoid unnecessary frustration, you should make sure that there is always an obvious way to connect to a real person, whether the customer is on the phone, on a web site, or at a kiosk.

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