What traits do high-performing customer service teams have in common? After surveying over 1900 customer service providers across the globe, Salesforce compiled the answer to this question in its 2015 State of Service report.

Salesforce found four common traits among high-performing customer service teams, including:

• Adopting an omni-channel approach
• Empowering customer service agents to solve problems faster
• Harnessing predictive and proactive measures to anticipate customer needs
• Utilizing on-line support communities and self-service portals.

Since adopting an omni-channel approach is such a benefit to both customers and companies, it is not surprising that this trait was identified by Salesforce as common among high-performing customer service teams. Just as customers expect to be able to connect with companies on the devices and channels they use everyday, companies are recognizing the increased opportunities of making those connection points more accessible to customers. The business objective for adopting an omni-channel approach is to give customers the ability to interact with companies in a consistent manner through multiple channels, including traditional channels like call centers and in-store interactions with employees, as well as through digital channels like websites, mobile apps, and social media networks.

For high-performing customer service teams, this approach means that customers are able to request and receive support on the devices and through the channels they are already using, like mobile apps and social media networks. Another important aspect of the omni-channel approach is to enable customer service teams to have access to all customer data when it comes time to solve a customer's problem. Implementing a software solution that integrates all customer data makes this kind of efficient customer service possible. For example, if a customer previously bought a product on a company's website and then submitted a customer service request via mobile chat, the customer service agent would be able to see a complete customer history in one place in real time.

As part of the study, Salesforce identified the channels into which high-performing customer service teams are currently expanding. These channels include:

• mobile apps
• instant chat and videoconferencing (mobile and desktop)
• social media networks
• customer support communities and portals

Read the full report to learn more about how high-performing customer service teams are embracing an omni-channel approach and the other important traits found by Salesforce.

What does a beautiful and functional smartwatch have to do with innovative business processes? Meet Pebble, a highly successful leader in smartwatch technology and NetSuite customer. Marin Tchakarov, Chief Financial Officer of Pebble, recently spoke with NetSuite about the driving force behind Pebble's success -- creating an exceptional and seamless customer experience. Marin told NetSuite, "We’re putting the customer at the very center of the experience."

In the interview Marin summarized Pebble's commitment to the customer experience this way, "We’re very cognizant of design, down to the minute details, because we want to understand the tradeoffs that we’re making for what we’re getting. We want to design beautiful products that are very high functioning and perform exactly as we intended them to, providing value for customers."

Read the entire interview with Marin to learn how Pebble has put the customer experience at the center of its business processes and design strategy.

Rob Gottschalk, CEO of SaaS Consulting Group, and his wife Angela Gottschalk love to lend their support to those who need a hand. On November 9, 2015, Rob and Angela Gottschalk attended an event at Baylor University hosted by Chip and Joanna Gaines of HGTV's series Fixer Upper to support Restoration Gateway, a nonprofit organization providing care to orphans in Uganda, Africa. The compassionate work being performed by Restoration Gateway includes caring for over a hundred orphans, providing access to education and medical care, and lifting the surrounding community through a variety of rebuilding initiatives. As evident by the smiles and good feelings of those in attendance, supporting the important work of caring for each other is the most joyful work we can do!

Are you considering moving your company's business processes into NetSuite's cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system? Some reasons to consider an implementation are the desire to automate time-consuming and expensive manual business processes and to gain real-time insight into key performance indicators through dashboards and reports. NetSuite's ERP system is designed to integrate your company's data from various business units into a single solution, including business critical data for accounting, procurement, sales, human resources, customer service, and distribution.

Contact SaaS Consulting Group to discuss whether it's the right time for your company to implement an ERP system from NetSuite.

Do you need a way to track all of your customer-related information? Having a cloud-based Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool means giving your salespeople access to important customer data from anywhere all the time. Scalable and versatile, the Salesforce CRM solution is a great fit for companies of all sizes.

Contact SaaS Consulting Group to discuss the ins and outs of what a Salesforce CRM implementation would mean for your company's profitabilty and productivity.