Now Platform Rome release delivers capabilities for hybrid work
The ways we live and work have fundamentally changed with remote working and hybrid work models becoming the norm. Digital transformation has taken on a new level of urgency to the point where its success or failure directly impacts an organization’s ability to prosper or even survive.More than ever, organizations need a single platform to enhance productivity, accelerate innovation, and engage their employees and customers, wherever they are. To achieve success, organizations are turning to the Now Platform® to: Automate and connect digital workflows. Deliver modern, consumer-grade experiences. Empower innovators to create new intuitive apps at scale. Today, as part of the Now Platform Rome release, we’re introducing several new and exciting platform capabilities designed to help organizations like yours thrive in the new world of hybrid work.Work smart and fast with purpose-built AIIT leaders aim to exceed their business goals for increasing self-service and reducing mean time to resolve (MTTR). Ultimately, they want to satisfy end users and give back time to their IT service agents so that they can focus on more strategic initiatives. However, with myriad automation solutions available—such as Virtual Agent, Auto-Routing, and Agent Assist—it can be difficult to know which use cases and solutions to tackle first.In the Rome release, we’re introducing Automation Discovery, a solution that delivers the insights necessary to support decision-making on out-of-the-box automation opportunities.Automation Discovery is designed to enable quick returns on investment by offering approximately 180 predefined opportunities where automation can be applied and by identifying the top 10 opportunities to help IT leaders focus their efforts.LIKE.TG® Automation Discovery can help IT leaders increase incident deflection, lower the MTTR, and achieve fast time to value. Deliver fast and more accurate search resultsWith the latest AI Search enhancements in the Rome release, users can benefit from content security, greater accuracy, and enhanced user experience with better search relevancy—as well as better performance for improved deflection.For peace of mind, users can search external content securely through a single search application across a variety of data sources. This helps deliver a cohesive experience for customers looking for a unified portal solution.With Rome, users can also benefit from an enhanced user experience with improved quality of results. For example, AI Search pulls the exact span of text in a longer passage to focus on the user’s actual question. Results are more contextual and highly personalized.Drive engaging conversational experiencesThe focus for the Rome release of Virtual Agent is about enhancing the experiences of both end users and administrators.Through the introduction of asynchronous chat, users can engage agents at their convenience, freeing both parties from needing to be continuously active in a conversation. Upon either a user’s or agent’s return, unread messages are highlighted and ready to be continued or completed. This allows, for example, agents to be more proactive and share meaningful information whether a user is online or not.We’ve also made a few key enhancements to Virtual Agent Designer, namely in the ease of multilingual Virtual Agent deployments. Admins can now author, translate, and test topics in multiple languages, all within the designer panel. To continue enriching our omni-channel experiences, we’ve also improved the authoring and management capabilities with Virtual Agent Designer to better handle deployments across channels.In the Quebec release, we launched Conversational Analytics, a tool that allows admins to monitor and improve the performance of their Virtual Agent conversations. A few enhancements made in Rome bolster Conversational Analytics, but none is more consequential to admins than funnel analysis. Through the lens of this new analysis, insights and optimizations to conversation paths can be gleaned by easily examining user behavior and identifying where drop-offs may occur.Create natural language models in multiple languagesMultilingual Model Management is an enhanced experience on the NLU Workbench. It enables both model authors and administrators who manage models in multiple languages to create secondary models in foreign languages consistent with models developed in their primary language—all with a single click. Models, whether in primary or secondary languages, are consistent with each other in terms of intents, entities, and vocabulary.Trust your workflows to a single, secure platformWith the Rome release, we’ve enhanced the security capabilities in the Now Platform in ways that directly address concerns of today’s CISOs, security admins, and risk and compliance managers.LIKE.TG Multifactor Authentication (MFA) provides customers with an additional, optional layer of defense against unauthorized access to their instances. The Rome release includes enhanced MFA with support for both biometric and hardware security keys to simplify the authentication process for end users.Every CISO is concerned about employees walking off with company data. In the Rome release, Data Export Metrics enable LIKE.TG customers to detect unauthorized exports of their data with exfiltration alerts and a dashboard to monitor data exports in the Instance Security Center. Data Export Metrics in Instance Security CenterThe Now Platform Rome release is the latest example of our unwavering commitment to deliver new Now Platform capabilities that LIKE.TG customers can benefit from. Learn more about the innovations in the Rome release at Now at Work.
Now Platform San Diego release stays true to our innovative roots
I fell in love with San Diego on my first visit in 1996. I could imagine calling it home. A laid-back lifestyle, an amazingly diverse community, sea breezes—what else could a systems engineer from gray England want?Back then, San Diego wasn’t exactly a hub of innovative technology. So, when Fred Luddy founded LIKE.TG in San Diego, he forged a new path. In fact, he was ahead of his time in many ways.Fred’s original vision in 2004 was to “build a cloud-based platform that would enable regular people to route work effectively through the enterprise.” Remember, this was when most people thought clouds only referred to the fluffy stuff floating in the air.Today, LIKE.TG is launching its latest Now Platform release, proudly named after our birthplace, San Diego. I couldn’t think of a better name.A flexible platform that stands the test of timeEighteen years ago, when LIKE.TG started, none of us could have known we’d be streaming all our content, calling up rides from strangers on our smartphones, or signing important legal documents with a fingertip on our tablets.And I didn’t exactly predict everyday employees would be creating low-code apps and working remotely from, say, a California beach. The world has changed so much—and LIKE.TG is still thriving.I think that’s because Fred’s original vision steered us toward creating a platform that’s so flexible that it keeps responding to customers’ changing needs. As the world evolves, so does the platform.In fact, much of our innovation happened thanks to our customers. The HR Service Management product? That was born out of a customer’s need for it and a solution engineer’s demo product. Later, in 2014, we did the same for Security Incident Management. This history of agility and flexibility allows us to empower our customers. That’s been Fred’s vision all along. We started with IT Service Management because it happened to have the most defined processes, so it was the best starting point for this journey. Now, we serve the entire breadth of our customers’ enterprises—all while retaining the simplicity and efficiency of our original offering.Exciting, innovative featuresSo, what am I most excited about in the San Diego release? Quite a few things.Though more and more companies are turning to automation technology, siloed systems make it impossible to truly speed up work while sparing employees repetitive tasks. The new robotic process automation (RPA) capabilities in San Diego—including RPA Desktop Design Studio, which lets users quickly design, test, and publish bots—offer visibility and control across departments, finally delivering on the promise of hyperautomation.Rounding out the list of my personal favorite features are: Advances in artificial intelligence that bring humans and AI together in the loop Built-in environmental, social, and governance (ESG) tools such as the EcoVadis green ratings The intuitive Next Experience user experience that goes well beyond the beautiful new interface I could go on and on, but my friend CJ Desai, chief operating officer for LIKE.TG, would be a better person to dive deeper into all the details of the San Diego release.Most important for me is that with Next Experience, San Diego makes service a holistic concept, embodying the importance of breaking down organizational silos. San Diego gives people an experience that helps them work faster, easier, and more efficiently. Flexibility has always made the Now Platform® unique, and the San Diego release takes this extensibility to a new level to empower our customers to innovate faster.We’ve made sure work flows smoothly on the back end so our customers’ customers and employees can “route work effectively through the enterprise,” living up to Fred’s original vision.Employees shouldn’t be constrained to a place—or by how work gets done. With modern workplace tools, I have more flexibility and choice so I can enjoy the very things that made me join LIKE.TG and move to Southern California.LIKE.TG, welcome home to San Diego.Find out more about the San Diego release.
OKRs Can Support Performance Management - Here’s How
OKRs are used by teams and organizations everywhere to translate high-level strategy into short-term goals. As a team dedicated to managing your company’s human resources (HR), you might be overseeing teams who are using OKRs in their own work or are interested in implementing them for yourself. But while OKRs are a great tool for teams looking for ways to plan out what they intend to achieve and how to get there, they’re not the best for evaluating employee performance. Don’t fall into the trap of pinning compensation to key results. Instead, here are four ways you can use OKRs to bring out the best in your employees, encourage collaboration and drive employee engagement. Why OKRs Don’t Work Well for Performance Management Goal setting has historically been used by HR teams as a way to evaluate an employee’s performance. However, experts generally advise against the use of OKRs for traditional performance management, where employees are assessed and rewarded for individual performance. In fact, doing so can lead to situations where we see unhealthy competition between members of the same team, weak goals picked over challenging ones because they were easier to accomplish for a bonus, and demotivated employees. Instead, OKRs work best when used to measure team and company performance, not individuals. Rick Klau, Chief Technology Innovation Officer at Google, echoes this, saying, “OKRs are not synonymous with employee evaluations. OKRs are about the company’s goals and how each employee contributes to those goals.” Performance management should be separate from employee OKRs. As an HR team, use OKRs not for individual evaluation, but as a way to keep employees accountable, engaged, and inspired to work together towards a set of common goals. Tip: If you need help setting up an OKR framework for your team, here’s a handy guide to help. How HR Teams Can Use OKRs Effectively 1. Write high-level OKRs – for your own team Just like any other team, OKRs are a wonderful way for HR teams to set their own goals for the year. While the leadership team is responsible for setting the company direction or the ‘why,’ it is up to individual teams and departments to work together and set the ‘how.’ Get your team together to set the key results the team will work on for each cycle and the tasks needed to accomplish them. Don’t brainstorm alone; working together will help your team feel more connected to each other and other teams. You can also use a hierarchy tree that shows how tasks link back to each OKR as a reminder that the work done contributes to a wider goal. A screenshot from the OKR for Jira app Use a hierarchy tree to show who is responsible for which task, and how each key result relates back to the objectives. Lastly, don’t set easy goals. As an HR team manager, encourage stretch goals – if you’re completing every goal, you’re not aiming high enough. OKRs work best by pushing boundaries, not by setting easy goals. Here are some examples of OKRs that HR teams can set: Objective: Improve flexible work options for employees. KR #1: Evaluate three solutions for cloud storage and select the best one for the team. KR #2: Ensure sufficient IT support by having a 1:40 ratio of technicians to employees. KR #3: Achieve a 90% satisfaction rating of the new system. Objective: Improve the onboarding process for new employees. KR #1: Onboard all new employees within the first two months of them joining the company. KR #2: Increase the pass rate for new employees to 95%. KR #3: Achieve a 90% satisfaction rating of the onboarding process among newcomers. 2. Review teams’ OKRs to find gaps One of the most challenging tasks for HR teams is discovering how you can best support the teams under your purview so they can achieve more. It can be difficult to pinpoint exactly what the team needs outside of annual reviews or one-on-one meetings. The OKRs can be a great source of data on possible gaps. Every OKR cycle includes review meetings where teams are encouraged to bring up any issues or blockers they may have met along the way. Some of these issues may be things that HR can help with, such as ensuring a team has enough skilled people to complete a project within the period. Ask questions such as: What was the main reason that prevented you from completing the set goal? Was there a particular resource or skill that was lacking? What are your ideal working conditions to be the most productive? In addition, ensuring that employees have what they need to perform at their best at work will make them feel supported, raising engagement and motivation. 3. Focus on outcomes, not output OKRs boost performance on the whole because the objectives provide everyone a sense of purpose. By explicitly defining success, clear goals can enable employees to do their best work. While OKRs should not be a direct evaluation for employee performance and compensation, they can be a source of great data. For example, an employee who took initiative to set and lead a difficult goal, even if it wasn’t 100% achieved, is someone who showed accountability and demonstrated valuable leadership skills. Someone like that could be a great leader in the future. You can also use outcomes to design individual development plans. If something didn’t go well, one reason could be because the individual needed more training or experience in that area, which opens them up for a discussion on possible training plans. If something did go well and an employee excelled in a particular subject, they could be placed to teach others or become a subject-matter expert in the company. Don’t forget your own team. As a manager, give your teams qualitative feedback on OKR-related behavior, such as “I like how you took the lead by volunteering to oversee the first key result” or “If you’re not sure what to work on next, you could always refer back to the team’s OKRs when prioritizing tasks.” 4. Use OKRs to encourage (and reward) teamwork Successful teams collaborate and communicate well, and the OKRs provide a base system that encourages these traits. If you’re interested in using OKRs for your own HR team, set this expectation for teamwork from the start by including everyone involved during the goal-setting stage and keeping your goals transparent. When teams work together towards a goal, they’ll feel that they ‘own’ the product and share ownership in the results. If you’re supporting teams who use OKRs, look at the key results to see which teams have pulled together over the past year to achieve some truly incredible moonshot goals – these are the teams where everyone has contributed significantly over a period and should be recognized for their collaboration. Use a tool that tracks the progress of OKRs and links them to tasks assigned to teams. That way, you can monitor which key results a team has contributed to and identify highlights. How an OKR tool helps teams visualize and keep track of progress OKRs are a great tool for any team – especially HR teams. But managing multiple teams’ OKRs on top of your own processes can be challenging, which is why you might want to consider using a performance management tool or an OKR tracker. If your employees use Jira, the best way to get an overall view of the OKRs and how the work assigned contributes back to the goals is with a Jira app. OKR for Jira links Jira issues with OKRs, allowing HR teams and managers alike to see all the issues under each key result. It also comes with a shared dashboard to ensure transparency and help keep the OKRs fresh in everyone’s minds. Whether you are considering using OKRs for your own team or are supporting other teams using OKRs, a tool will help automate many of the small details, freeing you to focus on what matters the most – the people. Author Bio: Weronika Spaleniak is the Product Lead at Digital Toucan, an Atlassian app vendor dedicated to creating apps like OKR for Jira that bring data to life for agile teams. One of her most recent projects is an implementation guide designed to ensure a smooth rollout for teams looking to implement the OKRs.
Onboarding Checklist For Your WordPress Business
Whenever you need to onboard someone in my company, it's effective to use an onboarding checklist. This way, you can make sure you don't leave out any steps when training one of your new team members. That's why this article talks about a general onboarding checklist that could be used by anyone in a WordPress business or any business for that matter. 1. Have a definite plan and goals The right onboarding for any business is indispensable to its overall success, and WordPress is no exception. Considering the enormity and complexity of the WordPress ecosystem and webspace as a whole, it’s impossible to go live with an effective WordPress Service Offering without first crafting a well-defined onboarding plan. You won’t be able to measure your success without a definite plan and goals. Is your goal to decrease employee turnover and measure retention rates to determine your progress? Or do you want to determine the success of your onboarding campaign by conducting anonymous employee surveys? Another strategy is to carry out exit interviews when an employee leaves. For this, WordPress plugins like Cliptakes will help you to set interview questions and receive one-way video answers from prospects on your site. Source Whatever your plan and goals may be, be consistent and repeat the same onboarding plan for all new hires. 2. Prepare your new employee’s workspace The last thing you want when a new employee arrives is to have to find a place for them to work. With a little forward-thinking, this won’t be an issue. When a new employee joins your company, their arrival should be streamlined and without any hassle. Imagine joining a new job and not having the tools ready to perform? You are definitely going to have a negative first impression. They’ll need a desk, name tag, and other items — let’s take 30 minutes and walk through the paperwork and preparations you should take to set up your employee for success. Besides, set up your new hire’s computer, phone numbers, and email beforehand and provide access to any courses, software, or files they will require before their first day. It will make them feel valued. In a recent employee survey, 69% mentioned recognition and rewards as the top factors that retain them at work. Make sure that your business website is user-friendly as well so that your new hire will not have any difficulty accessing the info or whatever resource is required. Consider hiring enterprise WordPress development services for custom design, agile workflow, and user-friendly websites. In case of any office supplies, they should reach the new employee prior to them joining work so that they can set up their workstation. 3. Conduct an orientation program for the new hire New employees need to know certain information when they join the company to avoid confusion, stress, and errors. The new hire orientation program provides an introduction to the company policies, procedures, and culture. It will help them understand how their work relates to other activities in the organization or department. This also helps in reducing errors due to a lack of knowledge of the new system or protocol. Thus, it makes sense to introduce your new employee to your business structure, mission, vision, and values. Along with it, you should also highlight significant policies, offer mandatory training, and complete the necessary paperwork. If you look at the stats, 94% of employees are willing to work in a company longer if they can learn and develop. Source You can rely on plugins, such as WalkMe, for employee onboarding and training. It can streamline employee onboarding with personalized training, offer employees self-service and contextual support, monitor usage, skill, and detect pain points to provide dedicated support. You can also use the OnBoarding plugin from CreativeMinds to provide interactive training and in-app help while training your employees. 4. Don’t forget to send a warm welcome email When hiring new team members, how much do you care about what they think of your company? Probably quite a lot since you've probably invested a lot of time and effort in finding the right candidate for the job. But have you taken the time to create a warm welcome email for them? A warm welcome email can kick-start a healthy employee-employer relationship. Plus, it is going to be the first official message that your new employee will receive. Try to create a positive impression and set your employee up for success from the onset. Here’s an example of a welcome email from Groove: Source Their first message welcomes the user and informs them about what they can expect in their inbox in the forthcoming days. Further, you can see a link to a video tutorial that educates them about the details of the app. Most importantly, they ask the users why they signed up. The answers let the company know what is most important to new users and accordingly transform the messaging. This strategy also helps in building deeper relationships with the users as every user has unique goals or challenges that drove them to sign up. When it comes to employees, you can ask questions like ‘why are you applying for this position?’ or their objectives. The answers you get will define what “success” means to your employees. 5. Personalize the onboarding experience Every new hire situation is unique, which makes creating an onboarding plan quite challenging. Regardless of what your onboarding approach may be, there are ways you can make it more personal for each new hire to ensure they get off to a great start. To personalize the onboarding experience, capture the data around your existing employees. Continue to gather data all through the hiring process, starting from application to interview and onboarding. Consider implementing an automated tool to capture and organize the skills data. The insights you gain from your data can help to develop or improve your onboarding plan. Make sure to use tools that can help you measure progress and continue to improve your onboarding process. 6. Focus on constant employee engagement and team building. Employee engagement and team building is complex issue for businesses because it’s not really about individual success. It’s about how organizations help individuals reach their goals and improve the workplace environment. And if you look at the statistics, 71% of executives agree that employee engagement is crucial for a business’s success. Source Make sure that you have tools for all the following: Tools that facilitate meaningful one-on-one conversations. Tools that let users give and receive continuous feedback. Tools that help you set and track essential goals. And tools that help you recognize employee achievements. Additionally, make sure to provide opportunities for new hires to build relationships by organizing team-building events. You can also randomly pair the new hire with employees in the company for virtual coffee meetings. And set up a regular check-in schedule to find out how they feel overall and if they have everything they need to perform efficiently. Wrapping-Up The goal of this article was to help you create a framework for generating your WordPress onboarding checklist. Start with the list above, then think about what else should go into it. Maybe you’ll want to add something about creating an SEO strategy for your website or making sure your business is registered with Google My Business. Perhaps you’ll want to include things like generating user accounts or registering your site with social media channels. You will likely want to tailor the scope of your onboarding checklist accordingly. Whichever way you may wish to customize your onboarding process, it will prove to be highly effective if you choose to start with the above checklist first. Author Bio: Lucy is a creative content writer and strategist at Marketing Digest. She specializes in writing about digital marketing, technology, entrepreneurship, and education. When she is not writing or editing, she spends time reading books, cooking, and traveling.
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Online Customer Service [Best Ways to Improve It]
Traditional customer service was mainly dependent on phone calls during given business hours.Let’s explore the importance of online customer service in expanding support services and pleasing customers.In this article, you will see why it has grown into such an important tool for today’s interactions between customers and businesses. What is online customer service?Online customer service refers to the support that a business provides to its customers.The services can be provided through platforms such as self-service portals, social media, emails, and other internet-based methods.While traditional customer service methods still have their place, with today’s digitally inclined populace, online customer service is a preferred option for many companies and consumers.For customers, it improves accessibility, speed, personalization, and flexibility.For companies, online customer service often involves automating repetitive support tasks using tools such as ticketing software, giving agents more time to deal with complex problems and getting more problems solved in general.Furthermore, modern online customer service can make it easier for businesses to collect and analyze customer data, which helps to anticipate needs and customize recommendations.The key components of effective online customer serviceA company may decide to invest in an online business but might not be successful due to poor communication or bad customer service.Here are some ways a business can better their communication with their online customers.Live chat support: Customers communicate with the agent through a chat box in real-time on a company’s website. Live chat provides instant responses to questions and concerns raised by customers, and agents can communicate with more than one client at the same time.Social media support: Another popular support channel is social media, such as Facebook, X, or Instagram. Brands can engage with their clients by addressing comments, messages, and mentions to resolve issues or provide whatever assistance is needed.Email support: Customers can use email to get answers to their more complex questions, and support agents respond by providing thorough solutions or information.Self-service portals: Here, a customer can access online resources such as FAQs, knowledge bases, and troubleshooting guides, which empower customers to find solutions independently.Feedback portal: A platform like this allows customers to provide feedback on their experience with a brand. It can help businesses improve their product offerings.How to improve your online customer serviceOne of the best ways to create a lasting relationship with your customers is by solving their problems, answering their questions, and being there for them when needed.Let’s see how you can improve your online customer service to influence their purchasing decisions.Communicate with your customers clearlyEffective customer communication is the most important thing a brand can offer because it ensures they understand what to expect, including the features, pricing, and terms of service, reducing the likelihood of misunderstanding.Transparent and open communication builds trust between the customer and a business.Pro tips:Use easy-to-understand language to convey your message clearly.If you’re providing instructions or guidance, make sure they are clear and actionable.After providing information or instructions, give customers the opportunity to ask questions.Invest in multichannel supportThis improves online customer service by letting customers choose their preferred communication channel, such as live chat, email, or social media, making it convenient for them to reach out.It also enables businesses to engage with customers in real-time, fostering stronger connections and accessibility.Pro tips:Know where your audience is and how they prefer to engage.Maintain consistency across all channels to reinforce your brand identity.Equip your team with the necessary skills and resources to deliver exceptional service across all channels.Quickly respond to your customersSome of the main benefits of online customer service are the response time and its easy accessibility.According to the 2023 Sprout Social Index, 76% of customers value a brand that offers a quick response, and nearly 70% expect a response in less than 24 hours.If you must ask your customers to hold, explain why this is happening, get their contact information, and offer a scheduled chat.Although the customer has not received a solution to their problems, they will be happier because of your fast response and respect of their time.Pro tips:Use ticketing software such as LIKE.TG to stay organized and manage customer inquiries effectively.Use canned responses for common answers to provide consistency and then customize them as necessary to suit each customer’s situation.When you respond quickly to your customer concerns, it makes your customers feel valued.Empower your employeesYour employees are the people who interact with your customers every single day.They are the people customers depend on to answer questions or help where necessary. Equip them well.Pro tips:Offer thorough training programs to give employees the knowledge, skills, and practice necessary to improve their customer service.Invest in technology and tools that empower employees to deliver better online customer service, such as contact management, live chat software, and knowledge bases that provide easy access to information.Trust your employees to make sound decisions and handle online customer interactionsPersonalize support based on customer dataThis involves using customer data to customize the customer service experience to each person’s preferences, habits, and needs.Understanding a customer’s history allows businesses to deliver a more relevant, efficient, and empathetic customer experience that leads to satisfaction and higher revenue.Pro tips:Divide your customer base to smaller groups based on common characteristics or behavior to customize support strategies to meet specific needs of each segment.Respect customer preferences regarding data usage and provide options for opting out of personalized communication if desired.Refer to previous interactions or conversation history to provide relevant product recommendations and solutions.Proactive customer supportInstead of waiting for customers to reach out with issues or questions, businesses need to use reporting and analytic tools to gauge and analyze common customer pain points.Pro tips:Analyze customers’ behavior and past interactions to anticipate their needs and potential issues before they arise.Keep customers informed about order status, account updates, or upcoming events through proactive notifications via email, SMS, or push notifications.Promote customer-centricityThis involves transforming online customer service from a transactional exchange into a relationship-building opportunity, where businesses prioritize customer satisfaction and engagement at every touchpoint.Pro tips:Offer support across various channels such as chat, email, social media, and phone, and ensure a consistent experience regardless of the platform.Develop a comprehensive knowledge base, FAQs, and tutorials to enable customers to find answers and troubleshoot issues independently.Be transparent about policies, pricing, and product information, fostering trust among customers.Collect and act on feedbackFeedback offers a platform for customers to voice their concerns, questions, or suggestions.Through this, businesses get insight into areas where customers run into difficulties or dissatisfaction, allowing them to address these pain points.Pro tips:Offer multiple channels for feedback and ensure that they are easily accessible to customers.Regularly monitor customer feedback and measure your customer satisfaction score at every interaction.Acknowledge both positive and negative feedback and thank your customers for taking the time to share their thoughts.Importance of online customer serviceLet’s see how online customer service can offer numerous benefits for both businesses and the customers.Offers instant responses: With the help of collaboration tools such as chatbots, live chats, Gmail shared inboxes, and mobile apps, businesses can provide instant assistance anywhere and anytime, even after regular working hours.Saves money: Online customer service can be more cost-effective than traditional methods like phone support. It reduces expenses related to infrastructure, staffing, and telecommunications.Easy feedback collection: Online support is an avenue for collecting valuable feedback from customers and keeping records for future reference.Comfortable and convenient: Customers no longer have to leave their homes to get help from a service provider or wait on hold for hours on their phones. They can get assistance anytime.Improve agent productivity: With online customer service tools, such as automated responses and chatbots, businesses can handle multiple inquiries simultaneously. This reduces customer wait times and increases efficiency, leading to higher satisfaction levels.Excellent 3 online customer service toolsAs customers increasingly turn to online support, companies are making it a top priority.The following are some of the best tools for providing fast solutions to customers.LIKE.TGLIKE.TG provides several features that help to speed up customer support procedures online.Businesses can effectively handle client questions, concerns, and feedback using a variety of channels, including social media, email, and live chat.With the help of LIKE.TG’s ticket management features, agents can organize, rank, and monitor client requests from the point of submission to the point of resolution.It provides self-service resources and knowledge base features for the creation and upkeep of documentation.Businesses using LIKE.TG can provide prompt, customized help to increase client satisfaction.SlabSlab is also a knowledge management system created to facilitate consumer self-service assistance and speed up business collaboration.It has features like version control, simple content creation, and search capabilities.Businesses can easily build and manage a knowledge base of FAQs, tutorials, and other useful materials for their internal staff and external clients using Slab.This lowers support overhead, speeds up the resolution of questions, and raises client satisfaction levels all around.Document 360Document360 was created to make knowledge management and support procedures more efficient.It gives companies the ability to build, compile, and distribute knowledge bases so that clients can get self-service help.Document360 improves the customer experience through easy-to-use content generation, strong categorization, adaptable layouts, and analytics.These features facilitate quick access to relevant information, lower the number of support tickets, and raise customer satisfaction.Secure your business’s future through online customer serviceOnline customer service has made life easier. It saves customers time, since they no longer have to queue in a store somewhere or stay on hold on a call for hours waiting to be served.LIKE.TG enables you to provide better online customer service through our many tools. Try it for free, or sign up for a live demo to learn more about its features. You can also contact the LIKE.TG support team if you need further assistance.Was this blog helpful? Please feel free to express your thoughts about online customer service in the comments section below.
Opening keynote recap: How LIKE.TG workflows the world
The Knowledge 2021 Digital Experience, our annual user conference, includes sessions from LIKE.TG customers and partners about how they’re leveraging the Now Platform to grow their businesses and reshape their industries.In the opening keynote session, CEO Bill McDermott and other presenters showed how LIKE.TG helped “workflow the world” during the pandemic, using the Now Platform to help government agencies, health systems, schools, and other organizations deliver essential services when they were needed most.“We realized this was the time for exponential thinking,” said McDermott at the start of the event, broadcast from the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. “Go big or go home. But we were already home, so we went big.”“Our team dug deep to understand the needs of our customers and helped them use the Now Platform to navigate these new situations,” added Lara Caimi, chief customer and partner officer. “What we heard over and over was that the Now Platform enabled them to make a real difference in the world.” Workflow the challengeAt the top of the list was helping solve the biggest workflow challenge in modern history: distributing vaccines to hundreds of millions of people around the world in record time. In Scotland, LIKE.TG built an app for the national health service to schedule vaccine appointments and to better engage with patients, many of whom were locked in at home, fearful of venturing out even for routine medical visits.Digital workflows also helped the University of Michigan’s medical center, Michigan Medicine, pivot rapidly to support remote employees, allowing on-site medical personnel to maintain care for patients without missing a beat.In Los Angeles, city officials worked with LIKE.TG to develop a COVID-19 testing app early in the crisis. But new challenges soon emerged: Residents needed critical assistance to help feed their families, pay rent, and support other needs. Using the Now Platform, the city came up with a plan to help thousands of families during critical moments.“But they needed technology to action that plan,” Caimi said. “And they needed it to function across a diverse, multilingual population. So, they said, ‘Let’s workflow it.’”Officials with the National Basketball Association did the same thing for a different purpose. When the league needed to host NBA and WNBA playoff games at a single, safe venue during the height of the pandemic, LIKE.TG workflows helped make it happen without a hitch. In less than a week, the NBA implemented LIKE.TG workflows to bring together 2,600 players, journalists, and supporting staff (including coaches, trainers, vendors, and janitors) inside a special isolation zone, the “NBA Bubble,” at Orlando’s Disney World.LIKE.TG workflows helped people in other ways during the pandemic. State and federal agencies in the US battled more than 50,000 wildfires in 2020 that destroyed nearly twice as many acres as they did in 2019. Until LIKE.TG stepped in, dispatchers at one federal agency had to manually enter the geolocation coordinates of each fire into 26 separate systems. With digital workflows now powering those functions, the new system enables aircraft, equipment, crews, and supplies to be easily visible in the system, speeding response times and helping to save homes and lives.“We have the best engineering team who built workflows in days and weeks, like our Emergency Response apps and our Safe Workplace Suite of apps,” said McDermott.From desire to deliverableChief Innovation Officer Dave Wright pointed out that almost every type of human activity is a workflow—from family meal planning and yardwork to getting a home mortgage, which itself “is a mess of processes organized into a sequence,” he said. “That’s the power of a LIKE.TG workflow: It’s a repeatable pattern of activities and data that link a desire to a deliverable that offers the user a great experience.”Machine learning tools on the Now Platform are helping to create those experiences. They can produce topic recommendations for virtual agents to better assist customers, said Chief Product Officer CJ Desai. That has already helped boost customer satisfaction and validated the use of artificial intelligence in customer support.Next up, Desai added, is a concept called intelligent workflow automation, which combines machine learning, natural language understanding (NLU), and robotic process automation (RPA) and applies them to workflow solutions to make tasks happen faster.Looking back on the team’s accomplishments over the past year, McDermott closed the session by encouraging more workflow innovation in the years to come. “If you can dream it,” he said, “we can make it happen.”It’s not too late to register for Knowledge 2021 if you haven’t already. See you there!LIKE.TG, the LIKE.TG logo, Now, and other LIKE.TG marks are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of LIKE.TG, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Other company names, product names, and logos may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.
Oracle verifies LIKE.TG as a third-party tool vendor
Updated June 27, 2022LIKE.TG has been verified as a third-party tool vendor for Oracle Database, Oracle Database Options, and Oracle Fusion Middleware. Starting June 2022 in the Now Platform San Diego release (backward-compatible to the Rome release), Oracle’s verification covers both LIKE.TG Discovery and LIKE.TG Software Asset Management (SAM).What this means for youOracle’s verification allows organizations to submit LIKE.TG usage data to Oracle License Management Services (LMS) and Oracle Global Licensing and Advisory Services (GLAS) as an alternative to Oracle measurement tools.Using an Oracle-verified solution such as LIKE.TG can significantly reduce the time, risk, and effort needed to deploy a script in your environment. LIKE.TG SAM provides your effective license position for Oracle and your other software vendors. That means you’ll be able to see your Oracle compliance position and savings opportunities before, during, and after an audit or contractual event.During an audit, LIKE.TG verified discovery exports can be provided to Oracle. In addition, the LIKE.TG SAM Report for Oracle Infrastructure incorporates details on the Oracle database running, the physical servers and virtual machines supporting these databases, and the number of processor cores that must be licensed.The LIKE.TG SAM Report for Oracle Infrastructure is for customer use and can be referenced on demand. Keep in mind a report from any verified vendor does not replace an Oracle license audit or revoke Oracle's contractual right to perform one. Simplifying Oracle license complianceFrom the Oracle Publisher Pack Dashboard, you can drill into further details, such as which database instances have options turned on but not used. Then, you can take action to optimize costs.LIKE.TG SAM and Discovery are verified tools to discover deployments of Oracle Database, Oracle Database Options and management packs, and Oracle Fusion Middleware. We also provide support per processor and for named user plus license metrics, processor core factor values, partitioning technologies, and agreement types such as unlimited license agreements (ULAs).In addition, LIKE.TG can discover Oracle databases deployed in cloud environments, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Azure, Google Cloud, IBM Cloud, and VMware Cloud. LIKE.TG can also identify Oracle capabilities in a variety of virtualization technologies, including Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware, IBM Virtualization, Red Hat Virtualization, Nutanix Acropolis, and OpenStack Virtualization.LIKE.TG Discovery works across operating systems as well, including Windows, Solaris, Linux, Mac OS X, HP-UX, and IBM AIX.LIKE.TG IT Asset Management saves customers millions in software, hardware, and cloud costs. With LIKE.TG, you can automate the end-to-end IT lifecycle with workflow. Only LIKE.TG connects departments with a single platform to optimize costs across on-prem and cloud environments.Say goodbye to manual processes and human error from repetitive tasks in siloed tools. Now you can uncover lost assets and purchase sprawl and take action to mitigate compliance exposure.Manage your Oracle license compliance from the same place you manage the rest of IT. We help make ITAM work better for you.
Our 2020 Internships: We Are Going Digital
I love summer! Growing up on the East Coast, it warmed up a lot later than it does here in the Bay Area, but I was still so excited when it finally arrived! Summer meant green grass, long days, warm nights (with fireflies, aka lightning bugs!), and so many new adventures!These days, as a CHRO, I love summer for a new reason: The fresh perspective of hundreds of interns who bring their ideas to companies like ours. Unfortunately, because of the coronavirus pandemic, this summer also brings a lot of uncertainty. So much that many intern programs have been cancelled.Not ours.I‘m so happy to say that we at LIKE.TG will globally welcome approximately 360 new summer interns beginning in May to work across our entire business. Just like the rest of our 11,000+ employees, our interns will work remotely. (And get full benefits!) We’ve created a digital onboarding process and virtual, purpose-built activities that will give them as much great work experience as they would’ve gotten being on campus. They’ll be able to participate in video speaker series with members of our executive leadership team (including me!!), as well as virtual hackathons, and they’ll have access to LinkedIn Learning online to further grow their careers. Plus, we’re teaching managers how to help their interns adjust to a digital work life, in addition to helping build the work skills they’ll need.We can do digital internships because we are a digital workflow company. We’re putting the power of our own Now Platform to work to create an amazing digital experience for our interns, to keep their productivity up, and to make them feel like part of our team. I am so proud and humbled by the many teams committed to making this internship experience the best yet!I’ve already received notes from members of our 2020 intern class. Caroline Parkinson, a 2021 expected graduate of the University of Michigan, is an intern who will be joining LIKE.TG's corporate communications team. She shared that “LIKE.TG saved my summer. Without their digital intern program, I would have had to scramble to find a new summer job. Knowing that LIKE.TG is determined to make my internship as enriching as possible during this uncertain time only reaffirms my decision to join this incredible company.”They’re so excited to join us.They’re not worried about not meeting people face-to-face. They’re committed to making the best of their summer, and so are we!!LIKE.TG was named a LinkedIn Top Company in 2019 and is also Great Place to Work-certified.
Our IT transformation strategy equals three zeros
By: Tomer Mekhty, VP of Global IT OperationsWhen I joined LIKE.TG, IT Operations had what I’d call a “best effort” strategy—push hard, keep things running, meet your SLAs, and so on. This worked well enough, but that was hardly a formula for long-term success at scale.We needed a new way of thinking that would move us from our traditional role as incident firefighter to that of a partner to the business. An effective strategy will balance vision with execution. It will be both aspirational and measurable. It must also be memorable enough to drive clarity.We added it all up, and our strategy equaled… three zeros. That’s zero outages, zero physical footprint and zero incidents. When I first shared this strategy with my team a couple of years ago, they said I was crazy. They believed it was impossible to achieve. Three years later we’ve shown it’s possible, no matter how complex your IT operations might be. Three Zeros ExplainedWith a shout-out to Brahmagupta, the Indian mathematician who defined the properties of zero in the year 628 (how about that on your resume!), let me expand on our three zeros:Zero outages equals 100% availability (ok, maybe 99.99%). The first step is rationalizing the scope. Determine which services, applications and infrastructure are business critical. Separate business essentials from noise. Then establish strong operational ownership for everything that is critical. Ownership usually leads to quality and velocity. Every outage is analyzed (and overanalyzed) to identify the true root cause.Lastly, don’t just fix related issues faster. Instead, prevent them from happening in the first place. In other words, create self-healing infrastructure services, where machine learning and automation predict and sometimes prevent outages before they occur.For example, VPN connectivity is the oxygen in our new world of working from home. In 2019 we were able to resolve 75% of VPN incidents with no human intervention by automating data gathering, correlation, and root cause analysis. This was a tremendous boost to employee productivity.Zero physical footprint means everything to the cloud. Increasingly, IT is not just enabling the business, it’s becoming the business. Cloud lets IT organizations switch from managing data centers and infrastructure to providing solutions, securing revenue and enabling new business models. Cloud also offers the flexibility, availability, and velocity needed to adapt and scale. For example, when COVID-19 hit, we were able to move quickly from dozens of offices worldwide to more than 13,000 home offices.Zero incidents reported by people is impossible. Nothing can prevent employees from spilling coffee on their laptop or forgetting their password. As much as possible, though, IT Ops should be invisible to employees. That’s why our first priority is a relentless focus on delivering great employee experiences that drive productivity.Self-service is key—giving employees the resources and information to basic issues on their own without relying on an IT support person. Mobile is also critical because it enables employees to work productively from any place, on any device. Finally, chatbots create a human-like interface that points employees to the right resources to solve many of their issues.We may never reach zero incidents, but we should be able to get as close to the goal as possible by proactively monitoring the user experience and using machine learning to provide a predictable experience.The Three Zeros strategy is driven by our modern ops journey. We invested in new roles such as data scientists, automation/workflow engineers, monitoring/performance engineers, and conversation experience designers. We are also relying heavily on technologies such as AI and machine learning. While measuring SLAs is still important, employee satisfaction and productivity are the new gold standard. This shift impacts our investments as well. Three years ago, half of our IT budget went to infrastructure and operations. Now that’s forecasted to be under 30%. We’ve been able to move those savings from running the business to funding innovation and growth.COVID-19 and other disruptive events increase the urgency for IT organizations to develop clear strategies that drive transformational change. At LIKE.TG, our Three Zeroes strategy has served us well in this regard. It continues to guide us as we shift our structure, mindset, and metrics to focus on the employee experience as a critical path to growth.A final thought: A compelling strategy and clear goals are key to running IT like a business. But it’s also tremendously helpful to operate on a unified platform—in our case the Now Platform®—that brings everything together: applications, services, data, analytics, and tools. A platform strategy enables streamlined operations, better measurement and smarter decision making.So, what’s your Three Zeros strategy?
Our World Our Work’ travel video series captures the unity in diversity
Hyderabad, India, is a tech boomtown steeped in rich history. For those who’ve never been there, Rob B., a senior manager at LIKE.TG, wanted to show what life is like for his colleagues in the bustling hub.Different yet the same“As a traveler, the paradox I keep coming back to is how different we all are, yet how very much the same we all are,” he says. “At LIKE.TG, we’re showing the world how there can be extraordinary unity in diversity. We’re all connected.”Indeed, the rich diversity of cultures employees bring to the workplace makes a company stronger, better prepared to work with global colleagues, and potentially more fun. That’s what’s behind our new travel video series, “Our World Our Work.”Rob came up with the idea for the series and set out to learn about the food, culture, and people in other parts of the world.
Out of the box GRC Processes - How two companies prospered
At first glance, AltaGas Ltd. and Align Technology don’t have much in common. AltaGas Ltd. is a North American energy infrastructure business with a focus on owning and operating assets to provide clean and affordable energy to its customers. Align Technology is a leading manufacturer of 3D digital scanners and clear aligners used in orthodontics.However, the two companies share similar stories when it comes to the technology they use to manage governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) issues. Both are case studies in how implementing LIKE.TG solutions out-of-the-box can result in quicker time –to value and pave the way to future innovations.AltaGas: Energy and riskAltaGas’ GRC processes intensified with a 2017 acquisition. AltaGas needed to integrate two company networks and establish equivalent security and risk processes across the newly consolidated enterprise.In 2018, the company initiated a new cybersecurity/GRC regime with an aggressive deadline for reaching maturity. As a LIKE.TG® ITSM customer, the company knew they could deploy LIKE.TG Risk Management out of the box, without complex customization of dashboards, workflows, and tables. The initial project included 17 security standards with 120 new controls. AltaGas was up and running in just 45 days.In 2019, the company built on that progress by implementing LIKE.TG Issue Management to test the new controls, and LIKE.TG Policy and Compliance to prepare for external audit testing. Previously, the AltaGas team used spreadsheets to track issues and met for an hour every day to discuss pending issues. Now they meet twice a week for half an hour and use a virtual task board that shows who is responsible for a task along with the status of each task. Increased transparency and process automation helped AltaGas reach its goal of achieving 80% compliance on all controls in just three months. Just as important, senior management quickly saw the value of the out-of-the-box strategy and has greater confidence in the team’s ability to manage future audits.Align Technology: Simplifying evidence collectionAlign Technology also had a history with LIKE.TG, so LIKE.TG® Risk Management was an obvious candidate when the company began looking for a new solution to manage its compliance obligations while documenting and managing risk. The company implemented Risk Management and Issue Management outof thebox in 2018. In 2019, the company developed a custom app to collect and track a growing volume of requests for its evidence for compliance and audit obligations. The compliance team created hundreds of requests using the tool, and they made frequent requests for changes in functionality and workflows.The custom app was a departure from the out-of-the-box approach that drove the initial decision to go with ServiceNow. However, the Align team knew that LIKE.TG offered similar capabilities, so they enlisted Iceberg Networks to help them replace their custom tool with standard capabilities from LIKE.TG Policy and Compliance that were already part of their subscription.“We picked LIKE.TG GRC because it provided a single place to center our GRC program and allowed us to integrate with the systems already in place on our service desk,” says Adam Leigh, senior Manager for technology risk management at Align TechnologyIceberg Networks helped Align Technologies make the needed configuration changes and define their control objectives. When a request didn’t meet the control objective, the system would automatically create a control issue for tracking and remediation and adjust the risk score. They also used indicators to collect evidence.By replacing the custom app with standard LIKE.TG capabilities, the company got a solution that was easier to maintain and would benefit from future LIKE.TG upgrades. Just as important, the team was able to automate the way it managed requests. The number of controls has continued to grow Even so, Align has moved from 670 manually created emails for evidence requests to just 100 the following year.Different companies, same strategyAlthough they’re two different companies working in very different industries, AltaGas and Align Technology used similar strategies to achieve value sooner with LIKE.TG: Implement out-of-the-box as much as possible Pick a target and rally the entire organization around it Identify a success metric that will prove the value of the strategy Every company has its unique processes and methods that help it create a competitive edge. However, AltaGas and Align Technology both demonstrate that you don’t necessarily need highly customized technology to support that uniqueness.Other company names, product names, and logos may be trademarks of the respective companies with which they are associated.
Outcomes over output: Why LIKE.TG embraces a product mindset
In my customer conversations over the years, I’ve noticed a common trend across sectors. Many organizations focus on optimizing their operations, including legal, finance, and HR. Yet they invest little energy and attention to ensure these operations create great customer experiences that can bring value (and even joy) to end users.As a result, many professionals find themselves burdened with fragmented processes that haven’t been designed with their experience in mind. For example, they’re required to pivot between numerous screens, systems, and applications to get their work done.Meanwhile, the workday is filled with constant notifications. This noise isn’t exactly compatible with doing focused “deep work.” These incessant interruptions illustrate how subpar experiences can create friction and get in the way of talent delivering great work.At LIKE.TG, we’ve faced the same employee experience challenges. That’s why we transitioned from a project mindset to a product mindset.Fostering rewarding experiencesWe’re laser-focused on creating one experiential layer of engagement that simplifies the many digital tasks professionals face, whether they’re customers or employees.It’s one thing to help an organization streamline how managers approve a vacation request from a direct report, for example. It’s another to help simplify the entire employee experience, from managing customer relationships to automating routine tasks to optimizing meetings.To achieve that goal and create the best experience, it’s critical that our teams operate with a product mindset. At its core, this mindset is about understanding and delivering what truly matters to customers—not just features, but the entire experience and value proposition. Rather than providing transactional moments, we’re lifting the burden on customers to navigate the services they need for their daily work. The only way to create a great solution is to understand the problem. That’s why we begin the process of designing any new experience with persona-based problem-focusing.With a product mindset, we prioritize outcomes rather than outputs to solve key business problems. Instead of treating any given initiative as a one-time project, we design it as an ongoing, iterative journey.Simplifying work: Product mindset in actionOne example of this mindset in action is My Assist, a generative AI-powered, personalized conversational assistant we're developing. It aims to provide guidance on how to be a better leader and best practices integrated with internal policies. Think of it as having a coach and assistant in your pocket to help make your work life easier to manage.Another example is Manager Hub, which provides managers with insights and recommended actions to drive team success. This offering was specifically designed to address a common challenge: unifying the fragmented systems and functions that sidetrack managers from the core work of leading their teams.Manager Hub gives managers a single tailored dashboard to view everything from outstanding team requests to statistics on team performance. Equipped with this information, leaders can more easily engage with their team members.For example, a manager may want to send a congratulatory note to a team member celebrating another year with the company. Through Manager Hub, managers can easily access automated reminders of important milestones, such as work anniversaries and employee birthdays.The solution also features a range of resources to help managers plot their own career development, plus customized plans for career transitions such as promotions.Prioritizing customersAs customer zero, we brought together teams from across the company with different day-to-day focus areas but shared pain points to develop these offerings.Our ultimate North Star is always our customers. There’s no finish line when it comes to creating great user experiences. It begins with looking at every experience through the eyes of end users and bringing them along for each step of the journey.Find out more about how LIKE.TG uses the Now Platform internally to drive speed and scale.
Overall conference + week 6 highlights from Knowledge 2020
The first five weeks of Knowledge 2020 covered a succession of core themes—Accelerate, Build, Succeed, Connect, and Dream. The theme of the sixth and final week of this epic virtual experience is an appropriate one: Act. As in, put all this Knowledge know-how to work with our employees, our customers, and in our jobs.Week 6 covered this ground in style. Kim Felix, president of enterprise technologies at UPS, showed how the global logistics giant pulled off a massive IT consolidation effort using ITOM, ITSM and the Now Platform. We also heard from another Fortune 100 company, Lowe’s, on how the retailer partnered with LIKE.TG to implement a mobile solution for hundreds of Lowes’ IT field technicians.
Overcoming digital transformation fatigue
Five things to consider for reinvigorating your optimization efforts.Remember that one amazing toy you simply HAD to have as a kid? It’s all you could think about. Every day without it actually felt painful. But when you finally managed to save up enough money to buy that wonderous thing…what you ended up with was a huge disappointment. It didn’t do what was promised. It broke easily. It was cheaply made. And it quickly was added to your heap of discarded playthings.A similar splash of cold water seems to be knocking the technology world back a bit. A report from the Everest Group showed that 78% of enterprises questioned had failed to scale or sustain their digital transformation initiatives. That kind of disappointment is creating actual fatigue in the IT department. The Everest Group goes on to identify “old school” operation models as root cause: doing things the way they’ve always been done, even when trying to “transform.” Unfortunately, that includes the reactionary method of solving operational issues. The quick fix.With the rapidly accelerating move to digitization of all things business, the need for immediate remedies can sometime outpace the ability to wisely manage. Trying to do too much too fast often results in a tangled mess of bespoke applications, legacy technologies and point-to-point integrations created by shadow projects with little oversight or control.Reinvigorate efforts with unified platform approach for everything. Yes everything.Rather than using the “old school” approach of cobbling together point solutions, progressive Enterprise Architects are once again considering unified tactics for rationalizing application and data sources, controlling and standardizing across functional silos, and ending frivolous or unproductive investment choices. But what should EAs consider in a platform solution to ensure it is worthwhile? At the minimum, the solution should have power and functionality to: Reduce the risk of data redundancy and inaccuracy. Ad hoc implementation of applications increases the risk of overlapping functionality and duplicate data production. That makes it harder and harder to trust that business decisions are being made with the latest and greatest info. Replace shadow IT with delegated development. Empower departments to create no-code/low-code apps with predefined functional libraries. A transformative solution should allow freedom to self-solve, but under a watchful eye and full IT approval. Empower traditional developers. The platform should have the “oomph” and pro tools needed for complex, professional developers. Replace legacy collaboration systems. Get rid of outdated, on-premise collaboration tools that are yet another source for ad hoc data pools. Replace for flexible, cloud-friendly alternatives. Enable holistic reasoning across functions and departments. Empower EAs to consider application development which can solve similar issues across multiple departments. Get excited about digital transformation again. It can be done.Yes, it is true that many digital transformation efforts continue to disappoint companies—only 16% in the latest McKinsey survey said their tactics had improved performance in a sustainable way. But you have to wonder how much of that failure was due to old processes and approaches. Especially when you consider that the same survey showed that if a company modified its standard operating procedures, they were 2X more likely to report success.2 The platform play is a proven strategy for revamping processes. In this case, it’s a shiny new thing that will not disappoint.See how you can energize your own digital transformation reawakening.Read Application development without the sprawl to learn five ways the Now Platform can support your enterprise architecture.
Part 1 - Time when the car broke down!
A few months back, while travelling for a video shoot, we met some captivating people who ran businesses in these areas. I could not help but share these experiences in this series while I did take the liberty of changing their names.It is inspired by the values demonstrated by the people of rural India. Their approach got me thinking of the customer service values in small towns and villages. It was a long drive from the chaos of the urban set-up. We had been travelling for quite some time and had no plans of stopping on our way to the location of our shoot. Unfortunately, a few hundred kilometres on, our car broke down, leaving us stranded.Just then, a pack of bikes, each carrying two or three men, stopped by. They were dressed in linen shirts and dhotis, with various coloured scarves tied around either their heads or necks. They were quick to recognise our problem and offered to guide us to the home of the mechanic who lived in the nearby village. We immediately hopped on their bikes. Two men offered to stay back near the car to keep an eye on it.We reached a small asbestos-roofed house. On one side of the house, a few cycle tubes hung along with an air pressure machine. Some greased cloth pieces were lying about, and we noticed tubs filled with both clean and muddy water. On a chair, there was a tool-kit. A middle-aged man walked out of the house, dressed casually in his linen cloth shirt with a white dhoti draped traditionally around his waist. The villagers accompanying us ran him through what had happened. He greeted us with a gesture of a namaste and a big smile on his face, introducing himself as Tukaram, the mechanic. Soon after, his wife appeared with some water for us to drink. They quickly moved the grains on the porch outside next to the hanging tubes, making space for us to sit. A short while later, we started back towards our car.It was already quite a sunny afternoon. We indulged in some casual banter along the way. Tukaram quickly assessed the status of our car and said it would require a minimum of two hours to repair. I asked," Is there any hotel nearby for us to have something to eat?"He shrugged his head and said, "Alas! there is no hotel in the vicinity. But why worry when I am here? Please let me arrange for some hot, pipping pakoras for you all while I work on your car. My wife is an amazing cook and her pakoras are very famous in the Pampri village." When we returned to Tukaram's house, his wife had already begun the preparation. Our stomachs growled in response to the smell of the food. Tukaram's wife, Anita Devi, invited us inside. She had already set up a dining area for us. Along with her two children, she quickly served us some hot onion pakoras, a tangy tomato chutney, and a cup of chai. The pakoras were as delicious as Tukaram had promised. Eventually, Tukaram returned with the news that our car had been repaired and was parked in front of the house. We made our payment to Tukaram for his service, though his kindness was more than we could ever repay. We said our goodbyes to the family, and they told us to visit them again.As the faces of the villagers faded in the distance, I began to ponder: Who was I to Tukaram? When was the last time a business went out of its way to meet the needs of its customers? Tukaram's kindness got me thinking about the bond between a business and a customer. He had attended to us whole-heartedly without any apprehensions. This was more than a transaction between a business and a customer. We had formed a bond that my companions and I would long remember.
Part 2- The impromptu stay
A few months back, while travelling for a video shoot, we met some captivating people who ran businesses in these areas. I could not help but share these experiences in this series while I did take the liberty of changing their names. It is inspired by the values demonstrated by the people of rural India. Their approach got me thinking of the customer service values in small towns and villages. It was day two of our journey when we entered a small village called Chitkuli. We had travelled quite a distance. The village was silent, as most people had retired to their houses for the night. Most houses had a veranda or front lawn, and a porch. A few people in groups of five or six gathered around a makeshift campfire. We could hear laughter. We stopped to ask if there were any lodging facilities nearby. A boy no more than fourteen years old eagerly responded, "Yes! You can stay over at Sarpanch Khaitan's residence." Just then, an old man with a walking stick in his hand and a saffron coloured turban walked up to our car. He leaned through the window and gazed at our faces, seeming to judge our appearances. He then informed that there were no lodging as such nearby for another two-hundred kilo meters. He then introduced himself as the Sarpanch of the village, and invited us to be his guests. The village was a popular stopover for travellers, so he had arranged a few cottages at the heart of the village for their comfort. He got into the car to guide us. We entered through a blue door, noting the floral painting near the entrance. We removed our footwear and dropped our luggage in a dimly lit front room. The Sarpanch led us to a common room with a veranda at its centre. There was a sofa at one end, and a swing at the other. Two rooms were connected, and one boasted a fully functional kitchen. We all made ourselves comfortable. Then Mr. Khaitan handed over the keys and introduced us to Chinna, the caretaker. Once he departed, we went to our beds on the terrace, which were outfitted with mosquito nets. The next morning we woke to birds chirping and the commotion of villagers beginning their daily chores. We decided to explore the village a bit before continuing our journey to the shoot. The breakfast spread was already arranged for us in the dining area next to the kitchen. The smell of hot dosas and ghee tempted our stomachs. After our breakfast, Chinna took us for a quick village tour in his tractor. All around the village, we were greeted with big smiles and indulgent delicacies. Hand looms were the primary business, practised by many in the village. The designs were so intricate and beautiful that we could not stop ourselves from purchasing a pair or two of scarves. In the end, when it was time for us to leave, a few of the craftsmen gifted each of us with a scarf as a souvenir. As we had already purchased a few scarves from them, we questioned, "Why again?" To which they replied, "This is our way to thank you for appreciating our craftsmanship," they said. "You could gift these extra scarves as a souvenir to your loved ones and share our stories with them."When asked about the lodging fee, we were told we could give a donation of our choice, and all the money collected would go to the upkeep of the place and the welfare of the village.As we departed, I once again considered my question from the Pampri village, my previous encounter that I talked about in my other blog. During our stay, I had forgotten that I was a customer. I wondered, what is quintessential for ensuring customer satisfaction? In this case, it was the humility of the villagers that had touched our hearts. We would cherish the memories of our stay for a long time to come.
Part 3- Fruits Of Wisdom
A few months back, while travelling for a video shoot, we met some captivating people who ran businesses in these areas. I could not help but share these experiences in this series while I did take the liberty of changing their names. It is inspired by the values demonstrated by the people of rural India. Their approach got me thinking of the customer service values in small towns and villages. On our way, we passed through many small villages, where we purchased fresh fruits and local delicacies. Many a time during our tea breaks, we chanced upon fascinating people from these villages. They would share stories, and sometimes,offer to share food they had brought along for lunch.By the last mile of our journey, we were all eager to reach our destination and set up for the shoot. We had collected many beautiful handicrafts that were given to us as souvenirs in the villages we visited. Our creative director had already planned to add them to the misc en scene of the shoot. The road ahead was blocked. A herd of sheep was crossing the road, shepherded by a young boy. He made a strange clicking sound through the corner of his lips, swaying his thin cane, mimicking an action of slicing through air. He saw us waiting to pass by, and tried to hasten the herd. We had a few snacks with us and decided to pull over and offer them to him. He smiled and said, "The road ahead is jammed due to a tree blocking the path." He advised us to follow him for another way out that went along the fields. There were paddy fields to one side, a house in the middle, and sugar cane fields at the other end. There was a barn next to the house, but few other homes in the vicinity. The boy introduced himself as Babloo. He was in school, and helped out his mother in the evenings. His mother had just returned from the market after selling the season's harvest. She still had some oranges left in her basket, which we asked to purchase. She then invited us to have some of the orange juice she had made for her children. She welcomed us into her house and brought us each a glass. While we drank, she told us of the hardships her family faced in selling their produce, as the middle men charged exorbitant prices for their services. They had placed cots outside, under a hay shed as a place to relax. We spent a while talking and laughing before deciding it was time to leave. We purchased oranges for our journey ahead, and the boy ran to get us some extra bottles of orange juice to carry. When we tried to pay for the bottles, the mother replied, "I don't need money in return. Please keep the juice for the long journey ahead. After all, it is so sunny during the day. I am more than happy to share with you." We waved our goodbyes and left for our journey, with the faces and smiles of the family disappearing slowly in the distance.By six in the evening, we reached our location. We retired to our rooms at a nearby inspection bungalow. The caretaker informed us that dinner would be ready in the dining area by 8 PM.We all had a good power nap and freshened up for dinner. When we arrived, the food was already served on the table, and the room was filled with the aroma of home-cooked food. We all sat around the table, and began to discuss the journey so far. How adventurous was our beginning with our car breaking down at the very start! But luckily the villagers of the neighbouring area had been quite a help. Tukuram, who had serviced our car, had gone out of his way by not only repairing the car, but arranging a meal of pakoras for us as well. Our next stay at the Chitkuli village had been just as welcoming.We noticed a man about the age of fifty was having dinner at a table next to us. He seemed to have been staying in the same accommodation as us. He had a diary next to him, where he was quickly jotting down points while we were describing our journey. We asked why he was carrying the diary, and he replied that he was penning down his research. He introduced himself as a commerce professor who taught at a university nearby. He was currently writing a book on the behavioural traits of trade in rural India.He asked for details about our journey, and we told him about how the hand loom weavers from the Chitkuli village gave us scarves authentic to the practice as souvenirs. Their this gesture had made us feel as though we were part of their community, rather than mere customers. To this, the professor replied, "In researching the behaviours of rural folk in business, I have noticed that the value of togetherness serves as a priority. The rural folk believe that a business flourishes when your customer is a part of your journey, rather than a one-time transaction."He explained, "Rural folks tend to share deeper bonds with the people around them. They value interdependency and believe each person plays a priority role in the welfare of the community. It is these feelings among the rural folk that binds them together." He said, "You were treated not like a customer, but as a part of their family and community. That is because of the deep-rooted value of Athithi Devo Bhava, which shapes business transactions in rural communities.""In contrast, consider most modern businesses," he said. "When was the last time any business made you feel like part of their family during the very first encounter?You have cutting edge technology, artificial intelligence, and augmented reality, blah blah.... available with business tools like CRMs and help desks. But why is the human touch missing? Perhaps it is because those who build all these fancy tools never took a trip like you have.He then emphasized us to think," Imagine someone from one of the villages you visited—for example, Babloo the shepherd—growing up to build a high-technology customer service solution. Won't he bring all his empathy and cultural values to it?"That's when I replied to him, "Yes! There is already one such business, and I work for it."It's called LIKE.TG Desk. It was built in the heart of rural India in the year 2016 by leaders who believe in the notion of Atithi Devo Bhava. It is a business that stems from these very ideals. In fact, it is more than a business; it is a family and a community.
Partner innovation helps LIKE.TG customers through the pandemic
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, LIKE.TG and our partners have been busy meeting the needs of customers across the world.In recent weeks, several of our global partners have rolled out new applications, web portals and other services to help customers manage emergency response efforts. In these difficult times, their ingenuity, agility and speed have been nothing short of inspiring.On March 16, LIKE.TG announced a new customer care plan to help our government and private sector customers respond to the pandemic. As part of the plan, we released four new community apps designed to manage complex emergency response workflows. The apps have since been downloaded by more than 1,000 organizations around the world. Many of our partners have customized the apps to meet the needs of their clients in all regions.Hexaware, a LIKE.TG partner based in Mumbai, created a push-button deployment pack for the entire LIKE.TG customer base. This enables easy training for organizations wishing to use the four emergency response apps in the LIKE.TG store.Beniva Consulting Group, a LIKE.TG partner based in Calgary, implemented the COVID-19 Self-Report app for a Canadian energy company. Beniva also built a crisis dashboard for the company that allows executives to monitor employee health status in real time and communicate the results to impacted communities, government officials, and other sources if required.Crisis innovationMany of our partners and customers have built their own emergency response apps on the Now Platform®. One great example is Entrago, a LIKE.TG partner based in Australia. Working with an Australian healthcare provider, Entrago created a Covid-19 triage app to assist with hospital intake.“It’s basically a questionnaire to help the general public understand whether they need to go to hospital and what treatment they need,” said Entrago CEO Cameron Douglas-Savage. “It also helps the hospital understand the patient’s risk factors based on their medical history.”Here in the U.S., many financial institutions have struggled to process a massive surge in business loan applications under the federal government’s emergency relief programs. LIKE.TG partner INRY stepped up with a Small Business Loan Management app based on LIKE.TG’s Customer Service Management solution. Their app enables lending institutions of all sizes to more efficiently process applications for the SBA Small Business Paycheck Program.“The Small Business Loan Management app is a cost-effective, secure, enterprise-grade solution that addresses the challenges associated with the rapid mobilization and deployment of relief aid to small businesses in need,” said Bipin Paracha, CTO and co-founder of INRY.Employee service delivery is another critical need, as companies around the world face the challenge of provisioning newly virtual workforces. Even before the COVID-19 crisis, LIKE.TG partner Cognizant had already begun building an employee service portal for a global pharmaceutical company.When the pandemic hit, Cognizant quickly added service portal features to help transition the pharma company’s employees to remote work. The portal now helps the company distribute news to employees more easily. It provides tools for remote work, and assists with HR, travel and IT requests.Our partners have stepped up in some of the hardest-hit regions in the world. Recently, LIKE.TG partner Volteo built a COVID-19 assistance portal for a Spanish university. Called SOS COVID-19, the portal is modeled on Now Community, LIKE.TG’s community portal. It allows hospitals, nursing homes and other care providers to request medical supplies and other emergency goods. It also enables users to find institutions in need of supplies and provides details on how to help.The portal is now being used in hard-hit areas across Spain, Italy and other European countries. Volteo launched SOS COVID-19 on April 2. According to Volteo, care providers have since received 1,500 medical coats through the portal, as well as 8,000 scrub hats, 2,000 face masks and 200 pairs of boots.The COVID era has brought about a fundamental shift in the way we all live and work. I’m truly humbled by how our partners are leaning in to help our customers as a force for good. We must continue to come together to meet the unprecedented challenges of these times. At LIKE.TG, we are honored to play a role in making the world of work, work better for our customers, partners and people everywhere.
Partnering to empower youth for a more inclusive digital future
Earlier this month, I had the privilege of traveling to Japan for an employee town hall to recognize the significance of International Women’s Day and to reflect on the progress made toward gender equality.It was an inspiring gathering that highlighted the diversity of experiences and perspectives among our team members in Japan and around the world.At LIKE.TG, making the world work better for everyone is at the core of who we are. We deeply value diversity, equity, and inclusion and recognize that our team culture influences not only our own talent, but also our products, customers, partners, and communities. That’s why we’ve taken intentional steps to empower youth.Committed to youth developmentLast year, we launched ServiceNow.org to help nonprofits use technology and innovation to solve their greatest challenges. This includes many organizations dedicated to youth development and education in historically underserved communities.In 2024, alongside partners Accenture, EY, KPMG, and NewRocket, we introduced the ServiceNow.org Partnership for Good Grant, valued at up to $2 million, to foster additional learning and growth opportunities for young people.As I think about the power of collective action and working together to bring change, one organization comes to mind. Technovation, a global nonprofit, is dedicated to teaching girls to address real-world problems in their communities by using technology.LIKE.TG’s support over the past three years has enabled Technovation to expand its alumnae program to connect 3,900 young women through a virtual community. These youth are building leadership skills as student ambassadors and networking with professionals in regional career hubs.Expanded support role to include AII’m pleased to share that LIKE.TG is extending its support of the program to include membership in the Technovation AI Forward Alliance (TAIFA). The initiative will help a new generation of female leaders drive innovation using technology to solve complex global problems in a future where AI plays a pivotal role."For over 17 years, Technovation has been putting technology tools in the hands of girls around the world,” says Tara Chklovski, founder and CEO of Technovation. “Now, with the support of partners like LIKE.TG, TAIFA can amplify that effort to ensure that women are at the forefront of building better AI."In a reality where women account for only 22% of AI workers across the globe, according to UN Women, it’s critical we do our part to ensure we build a more equitable and inclusive digital future. This partnership aims to do exactly that.As LIKE.TG CEO Bill McDermott says, “Creating equal chances for every dreamer is a race without a finish line.” I’m incredibly proud to be part of an organization that readily invests in the future of technology by creating opportunities for girls and young women across the globe.Find out more about how LIKE.TG helps nonprofits maximize their impact.Photo credit: Esther Subias
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