The notion of letting somebody across the country take control of your Web browser might seem a little off-putting at first, but if they could take you right where you wanted to go and answer your questions, it might be pretty cool.
That's the thinking behind a new crop of software that lets customer service agents provide all kinds of real-time help online.
The latest market entry is a software package called CustomerNow, which will be unveiled today by New York-based SiteBridge Corp. The software is designed to give online shoppers access to customer service pretty much like what's offered by telephone, but this is browser-based and allows for co-navigation and chat.
"Every six months or so, there is some new hot technology for the Web. This year, [the technology] will put a live face on the dead Web," said David Cooperstein, a senior telecommunications strategy analyst with Forrester Research.
Cooperstein calls applications like CustomerNow "teleweb" software.
Let's say you're browsing a clothing retailer's Web site, looking for a certain raincoat, and you don't see it. With "teleweb" software, you could click on a help button and a window might pop up, allowing you to have a real-time chat with a customer service representative. Your message, "I'm looking for a heavy raincoat with a hood" would first be routed to the appropriate sales agent and put into a queue, just as if you were calling an 800 number.
The rep would reply -- and might actually take control of your Web browser and navigate you to the right page to see the coat, and then to another page to enter your credit card number.
Already a smattering of companies are in this space. WebLine Communications, which was formed in 1996 after its founders won the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's annual US$50K business plan competition, introduced software last year designed to integrate corporate call centers with the Web. Today, WebLine claims to have 40 corporate customers, from financial services providers like Putnam Investments to information technology companies like Oracle. The company says it's on track to reach profitability by the end of 1998.
Another player is Aspect Telecommunications, an established manufacturer of automatic call distribution hardware and software (it posted total earnings of $13.9 million on revenues of $113.5 million in its most recent quarter). Last month, Aspect introduced a product line called Web Agent, which is designed to let customers contact agents directly through text chat, Internet telephony, or call-back request.
Mutual fund companies are among those targeted by the software developers, because the nature of the business means a lot of one-on-one contact. The products are complicated, often requiring customers to fill out intricate forms, and people nervous about their financial decisions generally want help. Call centers have become a critical part of the operation.
Strong Capital Management, which recently installed Aspect's Web Agent on its Strong Funds site, expects that most customers will be able to help themselves online. "But we want to keep a representative a click away," said Byron Vielehr, the firm's vice president of electronic distribution.
Web Agent has features similar to the technology that lets TV sports announcers diagram plays on the screen. Strong Funds agents can circle the important parts of the fine print in a contract, for example.
"We think people are going to want to have conversations about content on the screen, especially if it's complicated information," Vielehr said.
Analysts agree, especially on the last point. They say stock brokerages and banks will also be quick to put such systems to use.
"We're in the early adopter stage. Financial service companies are just going to market with this," said Forrester's Cooperstein. "But if they're doing it, it's only a matter of time before retailers get their sites teleweb-enabled."
Ken Landoline, director of call center solutions research at GIGA Information Group, said he has been "inundated" with calls from clients such as banks and stock brokerages who are looking for ways to expand their call centers with new technologies.
But Landoline said he can easily foresee a day when the technology moves beyond those markets into more basic retail businesses.
"The concept of enabling the agent to navigate a customer through a Web page is something that's really a natural," Landoline said. "Maybe five years from now, as computers get truly ubiquitous, and -- with the graying of America -- even elderly people are shopping over the Web, that kind of assistance would be commonly used."
Even for products as simple as raincoats.
