If your main concern is providing a customer self-service application, it stands to reason that you would want very good usability on the customer side. And this is the area where eWeek Labs found the main strength of RightNow Technologies Inc.s eService Center, which provides a customer self-service interface that not only makes it easy to find answers but also to manage responses and updates to information.
Using eService Centers intuitive browser-based interface, users can ask questions, search for answers, provide feedback on the quality of the answers, receive updates and even build a personalized support page (see screen).
However, although users benefit from a great interface, the support people who will be using eService Center are not so fortunate. The browser-based management interface for eService Center is needlessly complex, especially in comparison with the management interface of competing products, such as KnowledgeBase Solutions Inc.s KnowledgeBase.net (see Labs Case Study). Many tasks require multiple steps that arent always intuitive, and when it comes to top-level administration tasks, the interface gets even more complex.
Nevertheless, once we had gotten used to some of the inconsistencies of the interface, we were able to work effectively in it. And given that the main audience for self- service applications is customers, the excellent self-service interface in eService Center makes it worth a look for any company interested in providing a self-service solution.
Pricing for eService Center is based on capacity needs and is the same for hosted and enterprise solutions. A typical range for a two-year license is $35,000 to more than $100,000, and costs can reach seven figures for large, multisite implementations.
Testing Solution
Testing a self-service solution in a labs environment can be a tough proposition. After all, as a lab for a publication, we dont actually have any customers seeking support. Nor do we have products for which support is necessary. Sample knowledge sets and volunteer “customers” can help in testing, but its hardly a real-world equivalent.
Then we realized we do have a real-world equivalent. Because eWEEK Labs analysts review products and analyze almost every technology sector, we often receive technical questions from readers.
Questions can range from broad queries about product lines and options to specific help requests about products weve reviewed. These questions arent very different from what any tech-sector company might receive from customers.
So to test RightNows eService Center, we implemented an Ask eWEEK Labs section on eweek.com. (A link to this can be accessed at www.eweek.com/labs.) The Ask eWEEK Labs page was hosted by RightNow, but we customized the look and feel to match that of standard eweek.com Web pages.
On the Ask eWEEK Labs page, we requested that readers submit questions that were technical in nature on products and technologies that were covered by the Labs. We specified that users should not send opinions or feedback on columns or reviews or ask questions about how to get products reviewed.
We implemented the Ask eWEEK Labs page in November and have received questions from readers on a regular basis since then. In doing so, we were able to get very close to a real-world self- service implementation. We also gained a much greater appreciation of the work that support personnel have to do (sticking to product reviews seems like a good idea).
As mentioned above, the customer interface for eService Center is excellent and easily one of the best weve seen or used. To find answers, we could use a search interface or browse through categories.
We could attach supporting documents such as error logs when asking a question. When viewing an answer, we could rate its effectiveness and choose to be notified of updates via e-mail.
In the My Stuff area, customers can manage personal settings and keep track of questions they have requested. In addition, all the features of the user interface worked well across multiple browsers, including Internet Explorer, Mozilla and Opera.
Things arent as good on the management side. As the main administrator of the eService Center system, we could define a wide variety of settings for our system. This included creating user accounts and groups and assigning roles, or profiles as they are called in the product.
Total Control
The eService Center product is also extremely customizable and allowed us to control everything in the system—from how menus behaved to complex workflows to escalation rules, as well as apply different settings based on work hours and holidays. But all this customization comes at a high price in usability.
Even after a training session with RightNow personnel and digging through the comprehensive documentation and tutorials, it took a lot of clicking to find out where everything is managed.
A good example of this was in controlling the look and feel of the page, which we had to change more than once to match the changes on our dynamically generated site. The basic principle was simple: We only had to copy necessary code out of Web pages and enter it into the required template pages in eService Center. But doing this involved entering code into several template pages, which often had similar page names. With a little trial and error, everything eventually worked.
The interface is better (see screen), although still overly complex, for support workers who need to respond to questions and keep the answers updated. Again, this is a trade-off because it also has excellent functionality and customization options.
For the most part, these workers will mostly stay in two consoles: the incident console and the answer console. The incident console is where new questions from customers first appear. A number of actions can be taken on a new question.
A status (such as solved, unresolved, updated and waiting) can be assigned, or it can be forwarded to another worker. The support person can search for an answer and send it to the customer. Alternatively, the support worker can propose an answer.
When an answer is proposed, the question moves to the answer console, where it can be reassigned or reviewed depending on a companys workflow and procedures. Once a new answer is entered, it can be made public. If it is an update to an existing answer, users who have asked to be alerted of updated answers can also be notified, although this is—thankfully—up to the support person, meaning that customers wont end up getting updates for small fixes or changes.
The built-in reporting and analysis options are strong administrative elements in eService Center. We could generate a wide number of reports and graphs covering everything from answers viewed to keywords searched to staff effectiveness.
As part of our long-term testing, we received all the standard support and assistance that RightNow provides to its customers. In addition to training and some in-depth help during initial setup, including a step-by-step analysis of the goals of the self-service site, we received regular calls and updates. This included a one-month refresher after we launched the site, to make sure it was moving toward our goals.
This excellent service went a long way toward helping us overcome some of the problems we encountered with the administration interface.
East Coast Technical Director Jim Rapoza can be reached at jim_rapoza@ziffdavis.com.
Executive Summary
: eService Center 5.5″>
Executive Summary: eService Center 5.5
Usability |
Good |
Capability |
Excellent |
Performance |
Good |
Interoperability |
Fair |
Manageability |
Fair |
Scalability |
Good |
Security |
Good |
Providing a powerful, intuitive customer interface with a highly complex, unintuitive management interface, RightNows (www.rightnow.com) eService Center may be a headache for some support personnel but will be a welcome tool for customers looking for self-service. Ranging from $35,000 to seven-figure prices for a two-year license, the cost of the hosted option is on par with purchasing service software.
(+) Excellent customer self-service interface; highly customizable; very good built-in reporting.
(-) Complex, unintuitive administration interface; common support tasks take multiple steps.
EVALUATION SHORT LIST
- Epicor Software Corp.s Clientele Self-Service Portal
- KnowledgeBase Solutions KnowledgeBase.net
- ServiceWare Technologies Inc.s ServiceWare Self-Service