The goal of customer service and support groups is to provide the best quality service in the most cost-effective, efficient way possible. Both publishing and transaction applications help customer service and support departments share customer feedback, creating a coordinated support system. Such intranet applications enable team members to share up-to-date status reports on problems so that all team members can respond to customer calls; get the most up-to-date information on the status of customers' orders; be alerted immediately to any important changes, such as special offers or issues; and train online to respond to customer queries and complaints. For example, Mobil Corporation depends upon the Web to serve and communicate more effectively with its audiences. Mobil Internet Team's Shelley Moore explains, "People have always called or written to Mobil with comments or questions about products, services, or environmental issues. But we only got feedback from people who were motivated to write or call to find the right person within Mobil. With the Internet, we get a more immediate response."

Community applications enable service and support staff to delve more deeply into specific issues. Newsgroup threads provide a forum for detailed discussions of underlying factors with recurrent customer problems and an open exchange about which solutions have succeeded or failed thus far. In addition, newsgroups alert particular staff members to changes or other significant information.

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