When Birchbox, a personalized beauty subscription service, was founded in 2010, they had just a few people answering customer emails. Eight years later, they had a team of 54 support agents managing a monthly volume of nearly 38,000 tickets across multiple channels. With the efficiencies gained from implementing a robust customer support software, they actually reduced their cost per contact and achieved their fastest resolution time ever, despite the company’s rapid growth.

Slack and Mattermost need no introduction as two of the most popular workplace communication apps. Slack, which stepped into the SaaS world as a platform for gamers to communicate, reported 10 million daily active users. Mattermost, an open-source Slack competitor, recently closed a $20 million funding to create new integrations and plugins.

As a customer, hearing the answer “go read this self-service article” from a support agent can be a frustrating experience. So many companies do self-service poorly that this type of response can feel like the agent is brushing the customer aside to focus on another issue. However, a great self-service experience can change this feeling of being ignored to one of feeling satisfied and empowered.

Businesses tend to primarily associate customer acquisition with marketing and sales. They often leave customer service out of the equation because they forget that customer acquisition includes the ability to convert prospects that are already in contact with your business. Prospects often subscribe to email newsletters, follow your business on social media, or read your blog, demonstrating a level of interest and familiarity that hasn’t turned into monthly recurring revenue—yet.

Despite our cultural obsession with achieving inbox zero, email remains one of the top ways customers reach out to businesses. In fact, 49 percent said email was their preferred customer service channel, second only to phone, according to Zendesk research. Email, if a little perfunctory, has the advantage of being a readily accessible and widely understood medium.

When most people refer to a CRM (customer relationship management) they’re referring to software or a tool that enables them to manage and improve their relationships with prospects and customers. But customer relationship management varies, depending on what department you’re talking to. A support team might use a CRM to manage customer tickets, while marketing teams may use the tool to analyze how consumers respond to online campaigns.

At Scoro, we believe that every success story is built on a solid foundation. And whether we are talking about our clients or new team members, we want everybody to have the best experience with Scoro software. That’s why we have created a well-crafted and thorough onboarding process for every new user that walks through our doors.

In recent years, remote working has risen sharply, with a 27.7% increase in the number of home-workers in the last decade alone. A mobile workforce means that a business' data is also ‘mobile’. Data, whether it is emails, ideas, contracts or plans, is the life-blood of most modern businesses; it is their intellectual property (IP). Without this data, there would be no product, no service, no sales.

Customer expectations are higher than ever—so much so that ​IDC predicts​ that companies will spend $641 billion on customer experience technologies by 2022 to meet them. Customers want easy, fast, and personalized experiences across touchpoints, and they’re comparing your business to companies that consistently deliver on their needs. When companies prioritize their relationships with their customers, they reap the benefits of renewed loyalty and competitive advantage.

The buying process has changed. Access to digital communication channels and endless information online has empowered consumers to take control of their buying journey. On the flip side, legacy sales software hasn’t kept up with the modern buying process—sales processes have only become more complicated. In an effort to fill the gap, companies have layered on more and more point solutions, forcing sales reps to navigate multiple tools.