Customer Service Workflow Management

Ticketing and case management capabilities. Automated assignment and escalation, decision trees, guided resolution wizards (ideally GUI drag-and-drop).

Agent Collaboration

Supports live collaboration between agent and customers, among customers (e.g. forums), and among service professionals (e.g. team-based customer service).

Agent Scripting

Recommend resolution steps to agents based on machine learning or AI.

Intelligent Search

Knowledgebase search with content indexing, and search of external content repositories. Proactive search and auto-suggestions. Natural language processing.

Mobile Customer Care

Can create custom-branded service applications for customers on a mobile device (preferably native application rather than a responsive design site).

Analytics and Reporting

Includes historical & real-time dashboard visualizations, detailed & summary reporting and easy data extraction for data analysis.

Customer Self Service Capabilities

Customer-facing resolution wizards and guidance, community forums or integrations through 3rd part integrations.

Multi Channel Support

Integration with email, telephone, and live chat, and with self-service and social media.

Contact Center Integration

Agent desktop, CTI integration. Call scripting, call queuing, prioritization by different support channels.

Customer Service Knowledge Management

Customer and/or agent-facing knowledgebase and search capabilities offered or through 3rd party integrations.

Ease of Customization

Don't get bogged down in a difficult customization; use this data to make sure you can easily achieve the functionality you need for your particular situation.

Ease of IT Administration

This data indicates whether IT personnel will be able to resolve issues and perform configurations efficiently and effectively.

Availability and Quality of Training

Effective and readily available training enables users to get the most out of the software you've chosen. Use this section to make sure your vendor's training programs and materials measure up.

Business Value Created

Software needs to create value for employees, customers, partners, and, ultimately, shareholders. This data expresses user satisfaction - or lack thereof - with the product's business value.

Breadth of Features

Users prefer feature rich software that enables them to perform diverse series of tasks. This data expresses user satisfaction with the product's breadth of features.

Ease of Data Integration

Use this data to determine whether the product will cause headaches or make data integration easy.

Ease of Implementation

Successfully implementing new software is necessary to realize its full value and promote end user adoption. This data indicates whether or not the product is easy to implement.

Quality of Features

Feature quality is just as important as quantity. Use this data to determine if this product will do what you're purchasing it to do, easily, intuitively, reliably, and effectively.

Vendor Support

The importance of vendor support will vary for each organization depending on internal capabilities, but there will always be issues that only the vendor can resolve.

Product Strategy and Rate of Improvement

Vendors who don't stay on top of emerging needs and trends won't enable you to meet your business goals. Use this data to separate innovators from imposters.

Usability and Intuitiveness

End user learning curves cost the organization money. Pay attention to your end users' technical ability to determine how important UX is in your purchase.