Top 5 Customer Support Software
Since 2013, ScienceSoft has been helping businesses select and implement suitable software for customer service automation.
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Customer Service Software: the Essence
Customer service software is a centralized system for tracking and managing customer support requests and automating customer service workflows, such as case routing and filling in customer data.
Key Features of Customer Service Software
Case management
- Omni-channel case creation (email, web, phone, live chat, social media)
- Case prioritization
- Automated case assignment to relevant agents
- Case escalation
- Response templates for communications with customers (e.g., first response)
- AI-driven recommendations on case resolution for agents
Automation of customer service workflows
- Automation of repetitive tasks (e.g., filling customer data, etc.)
- Automated case distribution to service agents or queues
- Automation rules for case prioritization, assignment, response, escalation
- Automated notifications on SLA deadlines, case escalation, etc.
Self-service portal for customers
- Knowledge articles, user manuals
- Communities/forums to find a way to solve the problem
- Chatbot to answer customers’ commonly asked question
- Case registration by customers if agents’ help is needed
Knowledge management for agents
- Knowledge base for service agents
- Knowledge articles authoring, reviewing, updating
- Contextual search to find knowledge articles related to a problem
Analytics and reporting
- Customer data tracking and analysis
- Agents performance analytics
- Customizable reports and dashboards
- Surveys to get customer feedback useful for service optimization programs
Comparison of Top 5 Customer Service Software
Dynamics 365 Customer Service
Description
Leader of Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for the CRM Customer Engagement Center 2020.
- Multiple-channel support (email, web, chatbot, social media, etc.) for a service center.
- Highly customizable case management.
- Native AI (recommendations for agents, finding opportunities for automation, etc.).
- Online self-service portal for customers.
- Virtual Agent chatbot to help customers with common issues without human involvement.
- Creating and distributing personalized customer surveys from customizable templates.
BEST FOR
Support requiring multiple integrations with business application.
Pricing
- Professional: $50 / user / month
- Enterprise: $95 / user / month
- Virtual Agent add-on: $1,100 / tenant / month (for 2,000 user-bot interactions)
Salesforce Service Cloud
Description
Leader of Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for the CRM Customer Engagement Center 2020.
- An agent console with integrated telephony, digital channels, and a 360° customer view.
- Einstein AI for analytics and automation:
- Einstein next best action - predictions and recommendations for agents
- Einstein bots for real-time communication channels (SMS, chat, and messaging apps)
- Einstein case classification and case routing to the right agents
- Trailhead (a free online learning platform to increase agents’ productivity and grow skills).
BEST FOR
Support requiring extensive AI capabilities.
Pricing
- Essentials: $25 / user / month
- Professional: $75 / user / month
- Enterprise: $150 / user / month
- Unlimited: $300 / user / month
- Einstein AI & Analytics add-on: $50 / user / month*
* Requires an annual contract.
ServiceNow CSM
Description
Leader of Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for the CRM Customer Engagement Center 2020.
- Proactive customer service operations to monitor provided services and automatically create a case when a failure is likely.
- AI-driven recommendations for service agents.
- Automatically assigning cases and work orders to agents or workers based on predefined rules.
- A unified record of customer interactions with a self-service portal and live interactions with agents.
- Virtual Agent to help customers with common issues without involving a real support agent.
BEST FOR
Proactive resolution of customer service issues.
Pricing
- CSM Standard: $125 / user / month
- CSM Professional: $175 / user / month
- Virtual Agent CSM add-on: $25,000 / year
- 1,000 additional portal visits: $60 / month
Oracle Service
Description
Leader of Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for the CRM Customer Engagement Center 2020.
- Live and video chats with co-browsing function (a tool for customers to share the screen with agents during chat interactions), etc.
- Automatic scheduling of field service cases and AI-driven estimation of time to complete a job.
- Forecasting to better understand the field staffing needs with the help of historical analysis for improved customer care and technical support.
Best for
Extensive field service.
Pricing
- Free trial period
- Prices are available by direct request to Oracle.
SAP Service Cloud
Description
Leader of Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for the CRM Customer Engagement Center 2020.
- Routing tickets directly from the contact center to field service for fast resolution.
- Automated answers based on history of interactions and transactional records.
- Simplified access to data in the database (orders, warranties, service contracts).
- 200+ connectors to popular third-party apps for expanded customer service functionality.
Best for
Large organizations with complex processes and vast integration needs.
Pricing
- Annual subscription based on the number of users.
- Prices are available by direct request to SAP.
Custom Software
Custom customer service management software is your best option if you want to minimize the risk of having unneeded functionality you have to pay for, or in case your customer service solution needs to support complex integrations, e.g., with legacy software.
Implementation of Customer Service Software
Customer service software consulting
- Defining an optimal feature set for a customer service solution.
- Choosing between platform-based or custom software development.
- Recommending the most suitable platform, in case of platform-based implementation.
- Deciding on a technology stack for custom customer service software.
- Suggesting necessary customizations and integrations.
- Drawing up the implementation plan.
- Estimating implementation cost and time.
Customer service software implementation
- Analyzing your customer service processes and needs.
- Selecting a fitting option from custom or platform-based customer service solutions.
- From-scratch development (in case of a custom solution).
- Customer service software configuration, customization (in case of a platform-based solution)
- Integration with other systems (CRM, ERP, etc.).
- User training and after-launch support.
About ScienceSoft
ScienceSoft is a global IT consulting and IT service company based in the US with 34 years of history and a team of 750+ IT professionals on board. We help our customers implement platform-based and custom customer service software and offer a full cycle of relevant services, from consulting to post-launch support.