Unified Communications and Collaboration as a Key to Ameliorate the Customer Service Experience

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2013 in the subject Business economics - Marketing, Corporate Communication, CRM, Market Research, Social Media, grade: 1,8, University of Applied Sciences Stuttgart, course: International Management, language: English, abstract: During the last two decades the way people and companies communicate have significantly changed. Some of the existing communication channels are adapted to new layers. Other communication channels such as Electronic-Mail (E-Mail), Web Chat, or Social Media are new and additional. At the same time our communication behavior changed through the today´s broad range of diverse communication channels. The so called generation of 'Digital Natives' read blocks rather than newspapers, they often meet each other online before the meet in person and they are more likely to send an Instant Message (IM) than to pick up the telephone. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have progressed dramatically and entered every part of life. It is hard to imagine our society today without mobile phones, computers and the Internet. The industry of Information and Communication Technologies has become one of the most dynamic economic sectors and its importance continues to increase. The ICT sector has a high potential for growth, thus offering many opportunities to both the economy and the population. For Germany as a high-tech location, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) plays a substantial role. Smart networking through modern ICT in traditional sectors, such as energy, transport, health, education, leisure, tourism and administration, affords new opportunities but also poses new challenges, especially in data protection. The Internet has changed from a source of information to a platform for all kind of interactions. Customers are able to get product-information from the manufacturer, but also the experiences and opinions from other customers. This interactive exchange has an impact on the attitude and the buying decision of other customers within the network. The intention of this paper is to give an overview about the current state of of the communication channels between enterprises and their customers. Furthermore it will give a general overview about the field of Customer Experience (CE) and the method of Customer Experience Management (CEM).