You will always find trends that affect the moving industry – it’s why they’re called trends after all. And the sooner you catch wind of those trends, the more there will be for your company to gain from them. With this in mind, one of the more important areas every relocation business should focus on is software for movers. I mean, carrying couches and furniture all day is essential for movers, but so is the software the company uses. After all, it is that software that can bring you leads and conversions based on the services you provide. So, Movers Development is here today to provide you with the smart software investment trends you should focus on in the months to come.
Three software investment trends to look for in 2018
#1: Customer identity and access management (CIAM)
Everybody likes a perfect customer experience. It’s what all businesses aspire to achieve with the services they provide or the products they sell. So, imagine a single database that contains all the information you need, including:
- past purchases,
- birthdays,
- likes and dislikes,
- customer service interactions,
- forum posts,
- and website searches.
Information access management (IAM) focuses on information security and how best to keep it safe. However, companies today broaden the scope of expectation from software tools. They understand that customers want to be known and IoT brings billions of devices online.
What is it that CIAM can do for you?
The software we discuss here is one that can help organizations and companies manage customer data, identity and activity. It counts as one of the secure and efficient software investment trends that you can make. And it can really help you out with your clients. The focus of CIAM software is on:
- Who your customers are
- What they value
- How you can keep their information secure
With it, your customers no longer have to register an account. Nor do they need to provide information to use every brand touchpoint (such as apps, websites, and help desk portals). Marketing, sales, and customer service teams no longer have to hunt down information about your customers in separate systems.
CIAM software can include the following functionality:
- Customer registration and login
- Single sign-on (SSO) and multi-factor authentication (MFA)
- Registration and use of self-service assets such as forums and knowledge bases
- Helps customers manage their account preferences
- Offers tiered access
What to expect
The Information Age recommends that moving companies invest in IRM software. So, whether you opt for IRM or CIAM, one thing is certain – you need a centralized perspective of your customer base. In fact, what was once a simple security tool, today helps companies provide exceptional customer service.
#2: Augmented reality of software investment trends
This is a double win for movers, given that it is a useful software investment, while at the same time one of the essential marketing terms today. This is a tool that gives you, as the customer, the opportunity to experience a product or services through your device. The example for the moving industry here would be the pre-design of your new home or office space before the relocation. So, even though you might not be able to physically touch it, you can still interact with the images. And what better software investment trends than those that can satisfy your clients.
Yes, AR and VR adoption is still in the early stages, but the technology is already well-established. And this year will demonstrate the beginning of strong usage trends with this technology. As long as you are offering moving services online, why miss out on the chance to rise to the top.
What to expect
Any aspect of your business that is oriented towards real-time support will benefit from AR. When we talk about customer support in real-time (via live chat, video chat, or phone), consider this situation. Imagine if you have two points of support:
- One that communicates with the clients.
- One that searches for the optimal solutions for the customers.
Bear in mind that a pair of smart glasses cost around $600 these days. So, to roll them out to your whole team immediately might not be as feasible as you think. However, they are still worth a trial run, if not to satisfy curiosity, then to grade your customer service KPIs.
#3: Predictive analytics
Predictive analytics sounds fancy and complicated, and it is. But, the core idea is very simple. You’re painting a picture of what happened in the past (as accurately and completely as is feasible) in order to predict what is likely to happen in the future. With the application of predictive analytics, Navistar managed to reduce its fleet management cost from 15 to 3 cents per mile. And we are talking about 180,000 trucks here. So, you do the math.
Support has access to customer satisfaction and customer effort scores. And then there’s a whole helpdesk full of metrics to measure and improve customer service. These include:
- Time spent on customer requests
- Percentage of feedback requests that are incorporated into the product
- Percentage of clients grateful enough to give testimonials
- Number of renewals saved by features incorporated
- Percent of customers adopting a new feature (to complete the feedback loop, customers must be aware of and use the new feature)
Predictive analytics uses such information to connect the dots between behavior and outcomes. It answers the following two questions:
- What did we do in the past that correlated with a decrease in average time spent on customer requests per developer?
- Is there something we can do in the future to cost-effectively lower that number even further?
What to expect
The first step to predictive analytics is rich, accurate data. You should start recording every purchase, phone call, in-person visit, live chat interaction, website search, or bill payment in one central location. Beyond that, consider investing in predictive analytics software.
