2014 was an extremely busy year in the customer experience market. The combination of more demanding consumers, new contact channels and increased regulation drove innovation and increased investment in customer service departments as organisations aimed to differentiate themselves from competitors and boost revenues. This increased focus translated into record numbers of visitors to the Epti...
A recent report from Hypatia Research Group highlights how Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software has become business critical to every organisation. However, the study, Next Generation CRM: All about Business Process Excellence points out a key issue with many existing CRM implementations. Essentially, while they act as a database for tracking customers, what they have bought and what th...
Talk of Big Data is everywhere, but it is increasingly moving beyond the hype cycle to deliver real results to businesses. To start with, let’s define what Big Data actually is, given there are multiple descriptions in the market. According to Gartner, Big Data is “high volume, high velocity, and/or high variety information assets that require new forms of processing to enable enhanced...
From the contact centre to the web and mobile, technology is central to how organisations interact with their customers to deliver an enhanced experience. Consequently it seems hard to believe that the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software market is now over 20 years old. The appetite for CRM software remains as healthy as ever. According to Gartner it is growing at an impressive 13.7% g...
Engaging successfully with customers is central to business success today. Therefore it is not a surprise that research from Gartner shows that the market for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software grew by 13.7% globally last year, hitting $20.7 billion. Western Europe was the fastest growing region, with spending expanding by 15.2% between 2012 and 2013.Gartner highlighted three trends d...
It is fair to say that social media took many organisations by surprise. Suddenly their customers wanted to communicate and engage with them through the likes of Facebook and Twitter, as well as via more traditional channels. The social media journey has therefore seen companies go through a series of stages. Initially (often unofficially) individuals took on the role of being the company rep...
Mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets are radically changing how customers interact with companies. Rather than being tied to their PC consumers are now demanding access to information anywhere and anytime, both for research and making final purchases. Businesses therefore need a mobile strategy to support consumer needs, with a seamless, high quality experience vital to winning and retai...
Eptica has been named in Gartner’s February 2013 Magic Quadrant for CRM Web Customer Service (WCS) Applications, marking the third consecutive year that the company has been included in the Magic Quadrant which contains just 13 companies worldwide.This continued inclusion follows a year of accelerating growth for Eptica. In 2012 the company raised £5.7m in a new funding round from new ...
Understanding what your customers want is critical to company success. If you don’t offer the right products or services they will obviously head off elsewhere, hitting sales and ultimately hurting your company. But ensuring that the feedback you get is accurate and usable can be difficult. Just look at the fiasco when Coca Cola tried to change its formula – while customers liked the f...
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a technology that has been around for a considerable amount of time. Because of its complexity it has often proved difficult to get right – Gartner estimate that fewer than 10 per cent of organisations have optimised the management of their customer relationships.The bad news for companies struggling with CRMis that the rocketing adoption of social m...