As demands on customer service teams continue to grow, more and more support leaders are realizing the benefit of a customer support operations function.<\/p>\n
Support leaders need to be able to balance efficiency with a great customer experience, meet rising customer expectations, and keep team morale high, all while ensuring that they don\u2019t blow through their budget or burn out their team. It\u2019s a huge responsibility, but an operations team can help.<\/p>\n
The aim of customer support operations (or CS Ops) is to increase the effectiveness, efficiency, and productivity of customer support teams.<\/p>\n
By guiding the operational, strategic, and technical support processes in place, a customer service operations function can help to reduce the strain on your support managers, empower support reps to work more efficiently, and deliver insights that help you to provide an excellent customer experience in the most effective way for your business.<\/p>\n
Much like their business operations counterparts, CS Ops teams aim to evaluate your existing customer support processes, metrics, and data to get insights and identify opportunities for optimization. These optimizations can then be used to empower your support managers and reps to work more efficiently, and give greater visibility to execs and key stakeholders.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe CS Ops team covers a wide remit, so the roles within the team span a range of skills\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
CS Ops team roles and responsibilities<\/h2>\n
The CS Ops team covers a wide remit, so the roles within the team span a range of skills. While the layout of your CS Ops team may not follow exactly the structure laid out here, it will generally contain most of the skills discussed.<\/p>\n
Customer support operations manager<\/h3>\n
Depending on the size of the company, the customer support operations manager might spread their time across customer support duties, and more operational and strategic tasks. Essentially, the CS Ops manager steps back from the day-to-day work of the team to monitor workflows, morale, efficiency, and tools \u2013 and focuses on building an overall vision for your customer support.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe systems analyst monitors, optimizes, and maintains the tools used by the support team\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Systems analyst<\/h3>\n
The systems analyst monitors, optimizes, and maintains the tools used by the support team. They make sure every tool provides maximum value, and spot opportunities to improve efficiencies and automate workflows. Systems analysts play an essential role in keeping costs low and in future IT planning.<\/p>\n
Developer<\/h3>\n
The developer helps to smoothly install and implement new tools and support channels within the customer service team, ensuring that they\u2019re configured to suit the needs of the reps. They might even build some custom features to simplify support reps\u2019 jobs, reduce their workloads, or facilitate cross-team collaboration.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s vital that every support team member feels they have the necessary skills and knowledge to confidently engage with customers\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Support trainer<\/h3>\n
The customer service team is on the front lines of a business every single day. It\u2019s vital that every team member feels they have the necessary skills and knowledge to confidently engage with customers. Support trainers make sure that the whole team is up to speed on your product or service, informed about the latest releases, and knows where to go for answers to any question.<\/p>\n
Support trainers also offer support for team members who, for any reason, might be struggling to reach their potential and offer an excellent customer experience.<\/p>\n
Signs you need a CS Ops team<\/h2>\n
1. Staff workload and stress<\/h3>\n
According to our research<\/span><\/a>, more than half (51%) of customer service leaders saw a drop in team morale in 2022, and 42% report that it\u2019s impacting their team\u2019s performance.<\/span><\/p>\n
In this kind of situation, it can be difficult for support managers to balance long-term, strategic improvements with the day-to-day wellbeing and development of their team members. Separating out CS Ops takes a significant amount of that time-consuming operational work off your support managers\u2019 plates, allowing them to focus on people management rather than operations management.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cThe added efficiency gains your CS Ops team can provide means reclaimed time for your people managers to focus on their reps\u2019 personal development and team morale\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Not only that, but the added efficiency gains your CS Ops team can provide \u2013 for example, by streamlining processes or identifying more opportunities to proactively support your customers \u2013 means reclaimed time for your people managers to focus on their reps\u2019 <\/span>personal development and team morale<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n
2. Lack of metrics and helpful insights<\/b><\/h3>\n
There are tons of <\/span>metrics you can use<\/span><\/a> to measure your customer service team\u2019s performance. But whether you\u2019re tracking <\/span>CSAT (customer satisfaction)<\/span><\/a>, FRT (first response time), or any other combination of letters, if those numbers aren\u2019t <\/span>where they should be<\/span><\/a>, it might be time for operational intervention.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cOffering concrete insights about the value your support org is delivering enables the team to make better decisions\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Not only can customer service operations help you to measure and improve those results, but they can also help you to demonstrate the value driven by your support team to stakeholders and leadership. Offering concrete insights about the value your support org is delivering enables the team to make better decisions about where to allocate budget going forward.<\/span><\/p>\n
3. Your organization is growing<\/b><\/h3>\n
If you\u2019re having growing pains \u2013 or anticipating <\/span>a period of high growth<\/span><\/a> \u2013 you need to put a plan in place that can scale with you<\/a>, so you can manage high volumes of queries in a way that still allows you to build personalized, conversational relationships with your customers.<\/span><\/p>\n
Benefits of having a CS Ops team<\/h2>\n
Aside from taking some work off your plate so you can focus on what needs your expertise most, there are countless benefits to having a CS Ops team working alongside your support org.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Maximizes your team\u2019s efficiency<\/b><\/h3>\n
The customer support operations team is perfectly placed to spot improvements in workflow efficiency, tool implementation, and resource management that might otherwise be missed. An example might be finding ways to automate tasks that are slowing down or frustrating your teammates.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cHaving a dedicated function that finds ways to remove the burden of repetitive tasks is not only a cost-saver \u2013 it\u2019s a value creator\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In 2023, 71% of support leaders are planning to invest more in automation to increase team efficiency, and 68% to reduce costs. Automation can save <\/span>hundreds of thousands of dollars<\/span><\/a> in the long run, and having a dedicated function that finds ways to remove the burden of repetitive tasks is not only a cost-saver \u2013 it\u2019s a value creator, with companies that implement automation <\/span>4x more likely to increase their customer satisfaction (CSAT)<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n
CS Ops also ensure that your team is getting maximum value from your tech stack, and cut any tools that may not be earning their place. According to the <\/span>Intercom Customer Service Trends Report 2023<\/span><\/a>, 76% of support leaders believe that their current customer support stack is holding their team back. CS Ops can help your team to unlock new efficiencies and boost morale with technology that helps your team instead of hindering them.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
Allows support reps to focus on customers<\/b><\/h3>\n
Those seemingly tiny team organizational tasks, reporting requirements, or workflow improvements can build up to fill time your support reps don\u2019t have. Allowing the CS Ops team to handle the overarching operational tasks means that your support reps can focus on what they do best: helping your customers.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cThe CS Ops team are involved in the everyday work of support teams and have unique insights into the strengths and areas for growth among support team members\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
At Intercom, the CS Ops team creates dashboards that give leaders and managers greater visibility into individual and team performance against our KPIs and goals. They analyze the data to provide segmentation recommendations that will improve our customer service strategy; and maintain the overall customer service roadmap, ensuring that important customer support initiatives are moving forward, including the right people, and being communicated effectively internally. <\/span><\/p>\n
These are vital steps that help our support org to function more smoothly and impactfully so the team can support our customers at scale, without needing to increase budget or headcount.<\/span><\/p>\n
Facilitates support reps’ career development<\/b><\/h3>\n
The CS Ops team are involved in the everyday work of support teams and have unique insights into the strengths and areas for growth among support team members, as well as team developments. As a result, they can spot opportunities for team members to take on new challenges, and also offer training to help reps upskill in valuable areas or grow into a new role.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cAs a support manager, it can be difficult to get off the \u2018reactive support\u2019 treadmill and focus on long-term optimization\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Not only does this work help to build a strong, skilled team \u2013 it also increases team morale and employee retention. According to <\/span>McKinsey<\/span><\/a>, lack of potential advancement is one of the main reasons that customer support reps are leaving their jobs. Having a team focused on identifying opportunities and employee achievements goes a long way towards offering meaningful progression.<\/span><\/p>\n
Prioritizes long-term team strategy<\/b><\/h3>\n
As a support manager, day-to-day responsibilities stack up, and it can be difficult to get off the \u201creactive support\u201d treadmill and focus on long-term optimization. That\u2019s where CS Ops can help. They take a higher-level view of your team\u2019s goals, current and future business opportunities, and market trends \u2013 and use these insights to build a roadmap for your customer support team.<\/span><\/p>\n
How to get started with customer support operations<\/h2>\n
Luckily, investing in customer support operations doesn\u2019t require a ton of extra tools or headcount \u2013 you can start by getting smarter about using the resources you already have in your arsenal. Here are three things you can do now to start building your CS Ops framework.<\/span><\/p>\n
Map out existing workflows<\/b><\/h3>\n
The first thing you need to do is understand exactly how things are going right now, so you can spot the areas for improvement.<\/span><\/p>\n
One powerful way to do this is through journey mapping. CX expert Annette Franz argues that <\/span>journey mapping<\/span><\/a> is both a powerful tool and a process in itself.<\/span><\/p>\n
For the most effective journey mapping, you need to experience the journey from your customers\u2019 perspective so you can properly identify their pain points \u2013 but you also need to get team input on where the friction lies for them. Where are customers experiencing frustrations? What are the blockers stopping them from achieving their goals? Where does most time get sunk for your team?<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cPick something that you know is a pain point for the customer. Map that, and then move on to something else. Map that, make your changes, show your improvements, communicate with customers, close the loop\u201d \u2013 Annette Franz<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This deeper understanding of your existing processes and workflows will help you to understand where you can optimize to make things more efficient for your customers and teams.<\/span><\/p>\n
Not sure where to start? \u201cPick something that you know is a pain point for the customer,\u201d Annette recommends. \u201cMap that, and then move on to something else. Map that, make your changes, show your improvements, communicate with customers, close the loop. Baby steps, for sure.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
Hire the right people<\/b><\/h3>\n
Starting to build out a customer service operations function doesn\u2019t necessarily mean adding headcount straight away. Depending on your existing resources, you may find that you already have the right person in your talent pool \u2013 so long as they\u2019re willing to grow their skills in the right direction.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cThe right person has to be willing to get deep into the weeds with numbers, and be able to creatively use the tools and tech at their disposal to solve problems and answer questions\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
A support team member with experience on the ground can be a big benefit because they\u2019ll have innate experience with those pain points and customer journeys already. But they also have to be willing to get deep into the weeds with numbers, and able to creatively use the tools and tech at their disposal to solve problems and answer questions.<\/span><\/p>\n
That said, your new CS Ops hire doesn\u2019t have to come from a support background. There\u2019s no specific playbook; the key thing is to look for skills, not titles. Things like presentation skills, an ability to parse data to glean insights, a proclivity for project management, experience with risk tolerance and mitigation \u2013 all of these things will come in handy.<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cThink about who your CS Ops team can partner with cross-functionally for the best results, and build those connections from the outset\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Think about who your CS Ops team can partner with cross-functionally for the best results, and build those connections from the outset. Customer success? Analytics? Product? Marketing? Just like <\/span>sales data can help non-sales teams<\/span><\/a>, so too can support data be used in strategic ways to help create a more customer-centric experience across your whole organization.<\/span><\/p>\n
Use the right support tools<\/b><\/h3>\n
Rather than investing in new tools, think about strategically leveraging the tech stack<\/a> you\u2019re already using. This goes for both the analytics and operations side. How many great reporting insights can you unlock from your <\/span>existing support tool<\/span><\/a>, for example? What previously unused features can you dig into to make your support workflows more efficient?<\/span><\/p>\n
\u201cOnce you have a few quick wins under your belt, you can use that proven track record to advocate for more budget or resources in the future\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n