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www.fueloilnews.com | FUEL OIL NEWS | MAY 2014 29 BUSINESS OPERATIONS By AAron CArgAs C ustomer service people within your organization are on the front lines. They are taking calls, han- dling issues and educating customers. They need information at their fingertips to lead customers to a successful resolution of their questions and concerns. Readily available information is the key to success in cus- tomer service, and these days their main source of information is the software they use. Software is a tool, and when it comes to tools you should always strive to have the best tool for the job. You can use a rock to pound in a nail, but why do that when a hammer is readily available? How about a nail gun? Providing great information for customer service can only happen if you are able to collect relevant and timely informa- tion, and then provide that information back to customer service people in a usable and easily digestible form. Here's an example: You have a mobile workforce. Drivers and techs are in the field working hard every day. If your drivers and techs have a real-time connection to the back office through mobile applications, information about their whereabouts and activities is always available to customer service people. A connected mobile workforce will provide better information to customer service to help them answer questions like "Where is my delivery?" or "When will the technician be here?" These are small details that add up. Modern integrated systems enable borderless organizations. Information flows across departments in real time. Customer service enters work orders or will-call deliveries; they imme- diately show up for the dispatchers who can electronically send them out to drivers and techs in the field right away. Information is collected on the mobile devices and flows back in real time. There is one centralized database with no need for an end-of-day synchronization. Modern software doesn't just enable better information flow; it enables better use of the information to accomplish tasks faster. Business software may be complex, but that doesn't mean it has to be difficult to use. Software should help users accom- plish some of their more complicated tasks in a simple way, with tools that bring together relevant but disparate information into specific dynamic screens that display everything the user needs to help them quickly make decisions and complete the task. An example is something like a budget calculator. When a customer wants to go onto a budget or payment plan, there's no reason the system shouldn't quickly calculate a proper budget payment dynamically for the customer service person based on gallons usage history or K-Factor plus other charges like service contracts all on a single dynamic screen. Once they have a num- ber that looks good they can quickly create the budget, all while on the phone. Information is only as good as the tools that use that information to automate tasks. Another example is setting up new automatic customers. You could guess at a K Factor, or the system could provide a tool to help you calculate one based on estimated yearly usage for that customer and the degree days in their region. More accuracy when setting up K Factors on new account means more efficiency built into the process. It's not just the software itself that's getting better. There is another aspect of the software world that has been evolving in recent years, and it's especially impor- tant in customer service which can be a stressful job with sometimes higher turnover. It used to be that if you wanted training on software you had to call your software company and pay for every little thing individually. If you hired a new person that needed to be trained or an existing customer service person needed a refresher on the software, it would require expen- sive in person training. Now software companies are providing quality interactive online training available for users to review at any time and take over and over again. Buying business software is a big investment with hopefully a big payoff. In the modern world of software, self-service tools help you get the most out of your software for less incremental cost.. It's a complicated and competitive world, but that doesn't mean your business software has to be complicated and diffi- cult. At Cargas we strive to create modern software that collects real time information, provides that information in a user friendly way, automates intricate tasks, and enables a borderless organization. It's not about having just any old tool for job, it's about having the best tool for the job. Aaron Cargas, CPA, is vice president of product develop- ment at Cargas Systems. He leads and designs the product roadmap and strategy of Cargas Energy, software and mobile technology for heating oil, propane and service companies. Learn more about Cargass Energy at: www.cargas.com. You can read more insight from Aaron and enjoy his humorous and valuable weekly blog posts at ManagerialMayhem.com. rock or Hammer Software Tools for Customer Service l F O N Aaron Cargas, CPA, is vice president of product development at Cargas Systems.