Design, implementation and evaluation of an innovative hybrid support system
Authors
Cuba, Mario
Issue Date
2015
Degree
MSc in Information Systems with Computing
Publisher
Dublin Business School
Rights holder
Rights
Items in eSource are protected by copyright. Previously published items are made available in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher/copyright holder.
Abstract
Support teams are usually the first personal encounter a customer will have when dealing with a company, therefore, this can make or break the relationship they may have with each other. Nuances make the difference: Was the agent knowledgeable? Did he treat the customer with care? Did the system put too many hurdles to get support? Is there enough information available? All of these questions will go through a customer’s mind when gauging the quality of the support they have received and the levels of satisfaction they feel after their experience. Nonetheless, one of the most overlooked factors that drive customer satisfaction is how do customers get in touch with the company, and what methods are made available. Should live chat be used? Or maybe just an email? Would a phone call be the right answer? Without noticing, using the wrong support channel may lead to a poor experience, even if the aforementioned nuances have been properly addressed. This is what this research document is all about. By using modern web technologies such as Ruby on Rails and Node.js, a proofof- concept application will be developed and put to the test by realworld users of these systems. By evaluating the results of a test drive of the prototype application, it will be possible to dig deeper into customer’s minds and answer the question: will switching back and forth between methods of support—in this case, synchronous (realtime) or asynchronous— using an integrated solution, provide a better experience overall for the customer, depending on its situation?