The Importance of Computers in Customer Service

 


Hey there! Loons here!

Today, I wanted to talk a bit about the function of computers at my place of employment and in the customer service industry in general. I'll speak about my personal situation at work, the functions of the applications we use daily, and the importance of technology in today's world.


Regarding supporting customers and keeping track of their billing and accounts, computers' efficiency cannot be overstated. I talk to about 60 customers a day. When a customer calls me, I use a computer to access a database of all customer accounts. I go over each of these customers' billing, both current and historical. I address any adjacent issues and can see all of the customer's previous interactions with this. I can file tickets that go to engineers in the field or tech support to correct a problem without our system. If I were attempting to do all this without a computer, I could help less than half the number of customers I help daily.


Computers drive my entire job. They take care of routing phone calls, tracking the number of calls, where they are coming from, and the length of each call. I even have software that can tell me if a particular part of my call sounded like the customer had an agitated tone or what percentage of my call was silent. Then, there are the job's essential functions, such as interacting with other employees. Computers allow me to communicate freely with my entire organization by clicking a button. I can send instant messages and emails or even have video conferences.


It's incredibly important for people in my field to be computer literate. Whether it be something as basic as the need to communicate directly with other employees or something more complicated like creating a spreadsheet or PowerPoint presentation to help employees understand the direction or focus of a given month or quarter, even the ability to print a simply bulleted list paper to hand out for easier access on your desk could be a problem if someone doesn't have basic computer literacy. An excellent example of the pitfalls of having no computer background is the easily fixable minor problems. For instance, if someone has an idea of how computers work, they might fight to get a program to work correctly or load for 15 minutes, thinking they need IT or a specific fix. In contrast, someone who is computer literate would restart the computer at the first sign of trouble and return to work within a minute or two.


Computer literacy is essential in this day and age to even get a job in the first place. A poorly written or formatted resume could be the difference between applicants, and having basic computer skills is a requirement in most job postings now. The future is bright for companies in my industry, but it may not be so for the employees. Even at my job, different AI tools are being tested to help serve customers more efficiently. Eventually, my knowledge collection will be worthless compared to an AI tool that not only has this knowledge but can access and relay the information faster than I can. My job may shift to monitoring this AI, or the position could be removed completely. Within the next ten years, AI and speech recognition may reach a point where talking to an actual human when calling customer service is simply a memory. 

Thanks for reading!

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