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Custom Software Development vs. Off-the-Shelf Solutions: Which is Right for You?

Whether you are a small business or large enterprise or a private organization or a government entity, these days software solutions are backbone for day-to-day operations. No business can function without relying on any software application. Even if you are just using emails or WhatsApp, you are still utilizing these software. This blog is not to discuss the emails or WhatsApp, in fact we will briefly discuss about the business solutions, like ERP (enterprise resource planning software), CRM (customer relationship management system), Customer Feedback System, Customer Portals, Intranet Applications, Web-Portals, and core business applications.

Now a day’s a business’s digital eco-system consists of multiple software solutions, some are commercial off-the-shelf solutions (COTS) and some are custom software development solutions. All working in a perfect harmony to drive efficiency, performance, quality and profitability. Businesses operating in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and broader UAE are very eager to optimize their operational efficiency and expenses by leveraging the inherent properties of software applications, such as business process automation, digitalization, analytical data collection and super efficient information flow via advanced communication channels.

The digital technology is evolving at an unprecedented speed, so does the market trends, and customer demands. In order to be more competitive, businesses need to adopt to highly efficient software application. With the growth corporate data and increasing demand for operational excellence also grows, and the decision between commercial off-the-shelf solutions and custom software development has become more critical and difficult. In this blog we will do a comparison between custom software development and off-the-shelf solutions to give you a better perspective of the subject.

See Also: Custom Software for Improved Business Efficiency

Custom Software Development vs. Off-the-Shelf Solutions: Which is Right for You?
Custom Software Development vs. Off-the-Shelf Solutions: Which is Right for You?

What is Custom Software Development?

The custom software development is a process to design software application precisely as per your needs, the customized software are tailor-made for a single business or group of users at an organization. This is what makes them far more superior, efficiency and effective. Unlike commercial off-the-shelf software, which are generic solutions, the custom software applications are design from scratch, which perfectly positioned them as the most effective solution for modern business who strive for efficiency and performance.

The simplest way to understand it is to think of building house, if you commission a professional architect, you can make the house the way you want and need, you can control each and every minor aspect of literally everything. But what if you bought a built house, you don’t have much room to make changes, even if you hire someone, you will still going to have certain limitations. This is how the custom software development is different from the off-the-shelf solutions.

The custom software development process starts with in-depth analysis of your organization’s existing infrastructure, operations, internal processes, workflows and challenges that you are facing. This processes greatly improve the efficacy, efficiency and alignment with your operations. Then all key elements are carefully crafted to minimize the adoption and integration expenses, while ensuring all goals can be achieved seamlessly. With the custom software development you can design the software by keeping your goals, challenges, resources and limitations in mind.

The custom software development also tend to delivery exceptionally higher ROI over a longer period of time. But the thing most organizations doesn’t realize is when do they need a customized software application? The simplest rule to consider is to “don’t reinvent the wheel”. Your email client, such as Outlook or Thunderbolt both are off-the-shelf software, do you need to build one for your organization? Absolutely not!

See Also: Why Off-the-Shelf Solutions Fall Short: Advantages of Custom Software Development

What is Custom Software Development?
What is Custom Software Development?

What are Off-the-Shelf Software Solutions?

The off-the-shelf software solutions or COTS, are the pre-built software application, which businesses either purchase or subscribe to. Same like Outlook and Thunderbolt, there are ERPs, CRMs, HRMS, and various other organizational tools which are pre-built, and are designed for a specific industry sector. Moreover what off-the-shelf solution you are using, the chances are very high, your competitors would also be using the same. This undermine your competitive advantage. The biggest advantage of off-the-shelf software solutions is that they are ready-to-use.

The time you purchased them, you will be provided access instantly, and even if the on-premises deployment is required, these solutions can be setup up in a few days. Unlike the customized software application which require a lengthy period of development and testing. For example, Microsoft Office, QuickBooks, Oracle, SAP, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, all are commercial off-the-shelf software solutions. The big-data software market is dominated by off-the-shelf solutions, but businesses are gradually shifting towards customized big-data and AI-powered software applications.

One of the biggest reason businesses opt for commercial off-the-shelf solutions is quick deployment and very low upfront cost. Most of the off-the-shelf software solutions come with a subscription plan, the payments are done on monthly, quarterly or annual bases. The biggest disadvantage in implementing off-the-shelf software solutions is the lack of customization. Most of the off-the-shelf software doesn’t offer any customization, some large-scale application do offer customization but with very limited scope and the customization cost is also very high.

Usually these software solutions are divided into various packages and modules. Sometimes just for a single features, businesses might need to upgrade to a 20%-40% expensive module or version. Which can significantly increase the operational cost in longer run. That is not all, businesses often end-having tons of unwanted features which not only increase cost, but also tend to harm the efficiency of the staff who will be using these solutions.

See Also: Custom Software Development for Enhanced User Experience

What are Off-the-Shelf Software Solutions?
What are Off-the-Shelf Software Solutions?

Comparison Between Custom Software Development vs. Off-the-shelf Solutions

Now that we clearly understood the major differences between the custom software development and off-the-shelf software solutions, let us compare various aspects which will help you decide which solution could be more effective for which needs and requirements.

Cost Comparison: Custom Software Development vs. Off-the-Shelf Solutions

Cost is one of the most crucial and in most cases the deciding factor when business choose between the custom software development and off-the-shelf solutions. However to understand the costing of both solutions, we have to be very careful. Like I have mentioned earlier, you don’t have to re-invent the wheel. This means, for certain needs, you will surely go for commercial off-the-shelf solutions, such as Microsoft Office, Emails, Teams, Zoom, etc. However, when it comes to accounting, for example, the Quickbooks or Slack might cost you very less, but will never going to align and adopt to your emerging business needs.

There would be costs associated with upgrades, new modules/features, third-party integration and so on. Above all, if you are dealing with sensitive customer data, you will always be at risk, since your data has been stored with the vendor and technically they have full control and to some extent authority over it. The initial cost on the other hand for the custom software development could range somewhere from a few thousand dirham to several hundred thousand. Which might seem staggering comparing to COTS.

However, with the customized software application, you will have full control and authority over your data, you can customize them the way you want, you can add new features down the road, and on top of that these software has capabilities to scale, adopt and evolve along with your business needs. There would be no operational inefficiencies due to mismatching of software structure and your internal processes and workflows.

You will most likely never stuck in vendor-lock situation, and instead of replacing the entire solution, you can simply add new features, upgrade it or customize it as per your new needs. You can also easily integrate customized software with other third-party tools, databases and solutions without bearing large expenses. This makes custom software development superior than the COTS.

See Also: The Cost of Custom Software Development: Factors to Consider

Cost Comparison: Custom Software Development vs. Off-the-Shelf Solutions
Cost Comparison: Custom Software Development vs. Off-the-Shelf Solutions

Flexibility and Scalability: Custom Software Development vs. Off-the-Shelf Solutions

I would rather consider flexibility and scalability comparison as direct cost comparison. Because this has huge impact on your long-term cost. Growing businesses often end-up outgrowing their commercial off-the-shelf solutions and end-up paying huge for the replacements. The important and most crucial thing to understand is tha the commercial off-the-shelf solutions are designed for masses, and are designed as per best industry practices and standards. This means a large number of businesses would be using them, hence upgrading an application which has millions of users, and all users can have their own preference, needs, and challenges.

Under such conditions, making huge change in the software could impact millions of users, which will also impact the revenue of the vendor as well. Hence whenever a vendor will decide to upgrade or add more features, or remove some, they will have to be very careful. Therefore the development and growth is extremely slow with commercial off-the-shelf software solutions. The custom software development on the other hand is synonymous to flexibility. The customized software solutions are tailor-made for your business needs, and have potential to keep on evolving with your emerging needs. Adding a new features, removing or customizing an existing features in in your hand.

Moreover, you can do whatever you want to do, there is no restriction or limitation as far as the customization concerns. This level of customization and personalization is invaluable for businesses who want to grow and stand out of the crowd. The customized software keep on evolving with your emerging needs, challenges and growth. Your in-house developers or the outsourcing partner can customize and optimize the features whenever you need them. You can always patch your software or upgrade them to optimize the performance and impact. This way rather ending up replacing your off-the-shelf software solutions, you can keep on using the same application for decades.

See Also: Step-by-Step Guide to Planning Your Custom Software Development Project

Flexibility and Scalability: Custom Software Development vs. Off-the-Shelf Solutions
Flexibility and Scalability: Custom Software Development vs. Off-the-Shelf Solutions

Maintenance and Support: Custom Software Development vs. Off-the-Shelf Solutions

Whether you chose commercial off-the-shelf software solution (COTS) or a custom software development, both requires upkeep and maintenance. Businesses often overlooked the maintenance and support while deciding between these two, but it is a very crucial factor to consider. Especially in a fast-paced world, where the time is money, any downtime in a software application or a minor issue could significantly undermine your entire operations. Some issues need to be addressed at immediate bases, as these could have dominoes effect, where one problem or inefficiency lead to another and so on. When it comes to support the commercial off-the-shelf software solutions always lag, no matter how great the application is, the support would usually be limited to general queries and for complex issues, you might have to wait in long queues.

Moreover the support resources for off-the-shelf software are shared and depends on your licensing agreement and in some cases you have to pay extra for premium support. The customized software on contrary comes with dedicated support, the team that built them also offer dedicated support. Another great advantage is quicker problem resolution and timely patches or updates. The software development team that build your application would understand all intricacies of your software hence, they can quickly resolve issues, eliminate bugs, and even made iterations for better user experience and efficiency. You will always prioritized, and in cases of show-stoppers your support team will readily available.

The upgrades, updates, security patches, and iterations can be scheduled aligning with your operating hours, to minimize any impact on your operations. Businesses often do such activities in off-hours or at weekends, to eliminate any downtime. Since you are the sole customer, your requests are always prioritized, moreover you can have direct interaction with the developers which eliminate any communication barrio and ensures quick results.

See Also: Emerging Trends in Custom Software Development

Maintenance and Support: Custom Software Development vs. Off-the-Shelf Solutions
Maintenance and Support: Custom Software Development vs. Off-the-Shelf Solutions

Security and Data Privacy: Custom Software Development vs. Off-the-Shelf Solutions

In this modern day and age the data privacy and cyber security is one of the greatest challenge. We have witnessed many multinational businesses get completely destroyed after data breaches, most of them still haven’t recovered to their formal glory. Now a days customers are very savvy and aware of the cyber threats, on top of that the media, news and social media also played their role in spreading the awareness. Businesses too are way more conscious about the cyber security. One of the biggest drawback of off-the-shelf software solutions is that your valuable data is stored on vendor’s servers, and even if it is stored locally (which is very rate), the vendor still have full access to it.

Moreover, the vendor is almost fully responsible for the security, but you might also have to take certain measures to ensure maximum data privacy and protection. The off-the-shelf solution are more likely to get targeted due to known vulnerabilities due to the fact that millions of people all around the world have access to these solutions. However, the custom software development enable businesses to adopt to advanced security practices. In fact the security can be prioritized throughout the development lifecycle. A secure development lifecycle help adding multiple layers of security and protection.

Unlike commercial off-the-shelf software solutions, businesses have full control and ownership of their data. They can choose where and how to store their data and no one can be given access to it, outside of the organization. Since the applications are built from scratch in custom software development, your software structure and design is fully confidential and no one knows it. Moreover businesses can have frequent and regular security and vulnerability testing which help them instantly apply security patches, keep the source code up-to-date and keep on adding new security features down the road. These are the reasons the customized applications are considered to be more protective and superior than off-the-shelf solutions.

See Also: Security Best Practices in Custom Software Development

Security and Data Privacy: Custom Software Development vs. Off-the-Shelf Solutions
Security and Data Privacy: Custom Software Development vs. Off-the-Shelf Solutions

Conclusion

Choosing between off-the-shelf solutions and custom software development is always difficult. Businesses have to consider multiple factors, and majorly it depends on your needs, budget, and long-term strategy. Both off-the-shelf solutions and customized software applications have their unique advantages and disadvantages, but in most cases the custom software development tend to offer extremely higher ROI. Even on technical grounds, the customized applications are technically more superior, advanced and future-ready. For example, if you need an email client, what would be more beneficial? Developing a new email client or opting for Outlook or Thunderbolt? Obviously your needs are the major driver here, but if you need a complex application or tool, then the custom software development is much better choice. The off-the-shelf software solutions have many limitations, the application lack in offering any competitive advantage, and tend to grow at a very slow pace.

Businesses who consider the upfront cost and deployment time only, often end up replacing their off-the-shelf software solution with a more expensive and complex software application after some time. Because the commercial off-the-shelf software solutions tend to grow and evolve very slowly. The custom software development is a comprehensive process, which let businesses build their software from scratch, hence the software fully aligns with your unique and exclusive requirements. Moreover the customized software have potential to evolve along with your business needs. You have full control and authority over the source code, data and security aspects, which is a great advantage. There are no hidden fees or hefty charges for very limited customization. The custom software development is far more superior in every aspect and could be a game changer for businesses.

In this blog we have briefly discussed a few crucial aspects of software development to compare both off-the-shelf and customized software. If you want to learn more or if you want our help to design a bespoke software application for your organization, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

See Also: Benefits of Investing in Custom Software Development for Your Business in Dubai


Integrating Customer Feedback Systems with CRM for Enhanced Customer Relationships

The customer relationship management is a strategic process businesses utilize to manage and analyze the customer interaction throughout the customer lifecycle. The customer feedback is a source of highly valuable insight which help businesses align themselves with customer needs and expectations. These two are most important and vital component of any business’s growth strategy. Without nurturing customer relationship business can never achieve their long-term goals and without understanding customer needs and expectations, businesses can never strengthen their relationship with customers. The customer relationship management system or CRM is a technological framework which help businesses to automate and synchronize various crucial business processes such as sales, marketing, customer service and support.

These four are the fundamental components of customer relationship, no matter what industry you operates in, you need these processes to build long-term customer relationships. Businesses operating in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and broader UAE knows how competitive the markets are and how diverse and dynamic the market landscape is. Such market conditions require a strong, loyal and dedicated customer base, which requires proactive customer relationship management. Same like any other relationship the communication is the key to success.

The customer feedback system provides a crucial source of direct communication, where the customers can freely express themselves and share their suggestions. In this blog we will discuss how businesses can leverage a customer feedback or survey system along with a customer relationship management system to strengthen the customer relationships.

See Also: What is CXM (Customer Experience Management)?

Integrating Customer Feedback Systems with CRM for Enhanced Customer Relationships
Integrating Customer Feedback Systems with CRM for Enhanced Customer Relationships

Understanding the Basics of CRM (Customer Relationship Management System)

CRM or Customer Relationship Management is an integral part of the modern businesses, it is a strategic process, usually managed by a dedicated software application which provide management and analytical tools. It provides a centralized system which host the customer data, providing an in-depth and intuitive understanding of every customer journey from first interaction to ongoing support. The modern CRM solutions also include tools to manage the leads and potential customers. The customer relationship management software (CRM) is used to streamline processes between various front-facing business functions. For example, when a salesman closed a deal, the customer service and support team is notified, the CRM do this in fully or semi-automated way, it records the interaction, conveyed the required information to the relevant team informing them of customer’s needs and expectations.

The biggest advantage of CRM solution is that it reduce errors, provides more wholesome data to the relevant teams and personals, eliminate the need of manual work, and it can manage large number of customers with extremely high efficiency. These features not only enhance operational efficiency, but also drive productivity which results in better quality services and satisfactory customer experience. The CRMs are excellent at enhancing communication and information flow within the organization and these tools can also automate communication with customer, which help businesses save a lot of resources, while instead of compromising quality or performance, boost both of them. That is why businesses tend to rely on customer relationship management (CRM) software to manage and nurture customer relationships. The CRM also keeps everything organized, well-tracked and recorded without any delay.

See Also: Why customized CRM Software is better than Off-the-shelf Solution?

Understanding the Basics of CRM (Customer Relationship Management System)
Understanding the Basics of CRM (Customer Relationship Management System)

Understanding the Basics of Customer Feedback System

The modern market landscape has become very customer-centric, businesses who failed to align themselves with customer needs, expectations and preference couldn’t compete. Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and broader UAE has a very diverse and highly competitive market landscape. Customers have multiple choices, a single bad interaction could led them to switch to your competitor. That is why it is crucial to understand what is in your customer’s mind and heart. The customer feedback system provides a window into customer’s mind and heart. The customer feedback data help businesses acquire a deeper insight to customer’s needs, challenges, issues, expectations and preferences. The customer feedback system provides a systematic framework which streamline customer feedback management, provide advanced data collection and analytical tools, which help producing actionable insights.

The customer feedback system is a digital tool based on a very powerful software application. This tools help streamlining multiple channels to collect feedback data from broader audience. Furthermore the customer feedback system has capabilities to automate the feedback management process. It also offers real-time feedback and automation which greatly improve business efficiency and reduce the human resource. The feedback data helps management understand the customer needs, identify trends, and identify the areas of improvement. Furthermore businesses can also leverage the customer feedback system to assess and evaluate the changes implemented. The customer feedback system plays crucial role in improving service quality and product development. Businesses can make informed and highly effective data-driven decisions leveraging the customer feedback data for higher success and growth.

See Also: Understanding Customer Sentiments by Implementing a Modern Customer Feedback System

Understanding the Basics of Customer Feedback System
Understanding the Basics of Customer Feedback System

Why We Need to Integrate the Customer Feedback System with CRM?

Both the customer feedback system and CRM or customer relationship management system plays a crucial role in managing and improving customer relationship. Integrating both can exponentially raise their efficacy and efficiency. Integrating customer feedback system and customer relationship management system (CRM) can provide a unified platform where the customer voice meets the actionable insights. This integration has another great benefits, it provides a more in-depth understanding of customer feedback in context to their history and help personalizing customer service and experience. Personalizing customer experience and services can greatly improve customer satisfaction and help businesses increase customer loyalty. The loyal customers tend to be good brand advocate not only giving repeated businesses, but also helping businesses in establishing good reputation.

Here are some key benefits of integrating customer feedback system and customer relationship management system (CRM):

  1. Enhanced Insight: Combining CRM and customer feedback system provides a 360 degree view of customer preferences, choices, pain points, complaints, service history, customer persona, demographics, and much more.
  2. Better Customer Retention: Requesting feedbacks after every interaction, closing the feedback loop, and regular feedbacks help building trust and strengthening customer relationship which improve customer loyalty and increase customer retention.
  3. Personalized Customer Experience: Combining customer relationship management data and customer feedback data help identifying patterns, preference and customer expectation which help businesses personalized their offering for elevated customer experience.
  4. Streamlined Communications: Businesses can leverage the combined data from customer feedback system and customer relationship management system (CRM) to establish a fast and automated communication framework.
  5. Proactive Problem Solving: The customer feedback data and CRM data help businesses identify reoccurring problems, issues, complaints and customer suggestions which help businesses proactively solve problem and even identify issues which can later become a problem.
  6. Data-Driven Decision Making: In the modern business landscape where the technology is infused deeply into our personal and work lives. It is extremely important for businesses to have correct insights to take data-driven decision which can ensure long-term success and growth.
  7. Build Customer Trust: One of the most overlooked features of a modern customer feedback system is the closed-loop feedback, where customers’ response/feedback is acknowledged and they are informed of actions taken against their suggestions, this help building trust.
  8. Improve Product Development Process: The CRM data combined with customer feedback data help businesses perform in-depth analysis of their products and services, with this insight in hand businesses can develop the products that can perfectly align with customer needs.
  9. Quick Issue Resolution: The real-time customer feedback can be provided to all relevant teams such as customer service agents, technical support team, etc. This will help them quickly resolve issues, take timely actions and escalate problems that are reported regularly.
  10. Increased Sales and Cross-Selling Opportunities: The customer feedback data and CRM data combined can unlock various up-selling and cross-selling opportunities. The inbuilt AI algorithms and analytical tools help identifying such customers.
  11. Strengthening Customer Relationship: The advanced analytical tools provide in-depth insight, the automation help enhancing communication. Acknowledging customer feedback gives them a sense of importance, by valuing customer businesses can strengthen the customer relationships.
  12. Smart Resource Allocation: Every business has limited resources, in order to maximize the efficiency and outcome, businesses need smart resource allocation. The feedback and CRM data suggest the areas where the efforts can be most impactful.
  13. Enhanced Marketing and Communication: For every business the marketing and communication is a key to success. The integration of CRM and customer feedback system help projecting the communication and marketing campaigns in right direction yielding higher profits and sales.
  14. Comprehensive Reporting: For any business actionable insights are crucial, the AI powered analytical tools can combine both feedback and CRM data to produce highly effective actionable reports, the reports can also be automated for swift action and decision making.

These are some of the key benefits of integrating customer feedback system and customer relationship management system (CRM). Businesses can leverage this integration for long-term improvements as well as leveraging it for proactive problem solving. This can greatly improve customer relationship and you gain more loyalty and build customer trust. These features can help businesses gain a great competitive advantage which can be a game-changing in such a dynamic and highly competitive market landscape.

See Also: Key Features of an Enterprise Application Software (EAS)

Why We Need to Integrate the Customer Feedback System with CRM?
Why We Need to Integrate the Customer Feedback System with CRM?

Conclusion

Integrating customer feedback system and customer relationship management system (CRM) could be a great strategic move. Especially if you are operating in Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and elsewhere in UAE where the business landscape is highly competitive. These markets are subjected to change at a very rapid pace, the customer trends keep on changing frequently. In such business landscapes it is vital to have a deeper and most accurate understanding of customer behavior. Businesses should know what their customers like/dislike, what they need, what bothers them and what do they expect form their favorite brand? Businesses tend to rely on multiple digital tools, business solutions and software applications. Most of the time, these different solutions have different user group, the information and data gathered could remain in silos, which cause latency and lag. The integration empower these solutions, eliminate lags, and streamline information and data flow.

The customer feedback system is a modern software-based solution which help collecting multi-channel feedback and enable businesses to implement modern feedback strategies such as continuous and real-time feedback, closed-loop feedback, etc. Similarly the customer relationship management system (CRM) is also a digital tool which is used to streamline various operations at sales, communication, customer service, and technical support, etc. Combining both the valuable insight form a customer feedback system and extraordinary data-driven capabilities of modern customer relationship management system (CRM), businesses can streamline various internal and operational tasks, drive efficiency and productivity and take most effective decisions for higher success and growth.

The integration help fostering a culture of personalized customer experience, improved efficiency, higher productivity, proactive problem solving, improved decision making, and greater customer satisfaction. The market trends, customer preferences and expectations keep on changing, integrating customer feedback system and customer relationship management system (CRM) ensures that the business remains agile, informed, proactive, more adaptive and responsive towards such changes.

In this blog we have briefly discussed how this integration can help businesses. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you need our help to integrate customer feedback system with CRM or built a completely integrated bespoke solution for you, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.

See Also: 5 Techniques to Integrate Customer Satisfaction Survey with Queue Management System


Understanding Customer Sentiments by Implementing a Modern Customer Feedback System

Dubai is a central hub for business activities in the region and providing a doorway to access Africa, Middle East, Asia and European markets. Major cities in UAE like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and other emirates are home to international commerce, trade and businesses. It is due to the super business-friendly government policies, world-class infrastructure and dynamic business landscape which is attracting thousands of investors every year. This makes UAE a great business hub, thus also raising the competition.

In general the customers have higher purchase power, they are more tech savvy and highly demanding. Every increasing customer needs and highly competitive markets demand businesses to be more aligned with customers by acquiring deeper understanding of customer sentiments. Offering high-quality products and services alone is not enough for success, businesses must have to align themselves with customer needs, desires, and expectations. Businesses often invest huge amount of resources in improving internal processes, adding features to their products, introducing new services and enhancing customer experience.

However, most of the time businesses are making such decisions on the bases of experts’ opinion, competitive market research and various other factors, while totally undermining the customer sentiments. Which sometime could cause huge failures too. In this blog we will discuss how businesses can understand customer sentiments by implementing a good customer feedback system.

Understanding Customer Sentiments by Implementing a Modern Customer Feedback System
Understanding Customer Sentiments by Implementing a Modern Customer Feedback System

What is Customer Sentiment Analysis?

A customer sentiment analysis is a systematic approach of understanding and interpreting the customer attitude, emotions and opinions a customer shared or expressed towards your brand, employees, products, services or his/her overall experience with your business. It is a much deeper understanding of customer feedback than that of what we usually do. When it comes to customer feedback businesses often thinks of collecting feedback data using various manual or digital channels such as printed feedback forms, happiness meter, NPS Score, social media polls, or rating at a website.

However, the customer sentiment analysis is collecting all that data, running it through a system and understanding how the customer actually feels while sharing a certain opinion. The primary objective of performing a customer sentiment analysis is to understand how your customers feel about a particular aspect of your business such as new product features, customer wait time, service quality, online self-service channel, etc. Thus the customer sentiment analysis goes beyond tradition categorization of customer feedback such as positive, negative or neutral and offers a much deeper, accurate and better understanding of customer sentiments, enabling businesses to make more informed decisions and raise their chances of success.

See Also: 10 Ways to Collect Customer Feedback

What is Customer Sentiment Analysis?
What is Customer Sentiment Analysis?

How Customer Sentiment Analysis is Different from Traditional Customer Feedback?

The customer feedback collection is a common practice, businesses regularly ask customers about their feedback, suggestions or opinion. Usually a customer experience manager is in charge of executing the customer feedback drive. Business often go for a closed-loop customer feedback collection method which is much better at building relationship and increasing customer engagements.

However, all traditional customer feedback methods lack in providing a deeper understanding of customer sentiments. This doesn’t mean the customer sentiment analysis is a completely different process, no, it is same as collecting customer feedback, but the major difference is at how you process the feedback data. Here are some key components of customer sentiment analysis which distinguish it from traditional customer feedback management processes:

  1. Text Mining: This is the most common sentiment analysis method, it enables businesses to collect valuable insights from textual feedbacks, such as survey responses, suggestions, customer reviews, social media interactions, and all other textual forms of customer feedback.
  2. Natural Language Processing or NLP Analysis: That is a modern and one of the most complex form of analysis, it uses modern AI (artificial intelligence) and smart algorithms to analyze written or spoken feedback and provide context, sentiments, and semantics of the feedback data.
  3. Contextual Analysis: A contextual analysis is done using advanced analysis tools and certain feedback techniques which enable businesses to understand the actual context in which the customer has expressed certain sentiments to avoid misinterpretation.
  4. Sentiment Classifications: Once collecting customer feedback data and analyzing it to identify different sentiments, we must classify them in certain pre-define categories. These categories are more granular then just positive, negative or neutral and help taking right decisions.
  5. Machine Learning (ML): This is one of the most modern sentiment analysis technique, usually medium and large sized businesses implement it. An AI model is used for this analysis which is trained to identify patterns and sentiment indicators from a large feedback database.

In simple words, understanding customer sentiments is crucial for a business to acquire actionable insights that effectively aligns their strategic decisions with the customer needs, expectations, and desires. Businesses can leverage customer sentiment analysis to improve their products, services, customer experience, brand perception and reputation and for predictive insights. This is what makes customer sentiment analysis far more effective than traditional customer feedback management.

See Also: 5 Techniques to Integrate Customer Satisfaction Survey with Queue Management System

How Customer Sentiment Analysis is Different form Tradition Customer Feedback?
How Customer Sentiment Analysis is Different form Tradition Customer Feedback?

The Transformation of Customer Feedback Systems

The customer feedback systems have completely transformed over the time, starting from a paper-pen based printed feedback forms it has now become a more comprehensive and complex digital platform. Which not only enhance customer feedback system but also offer a more engaging and seamless customer experience. Primarily the customer feedback systems were designed to monitor and measure customer satisfaction, however, over the course of time, the customer feedback management itself have transformed into a more complex and comprehensive business process.

Therefore businesses took advantage of digitalization and automation by implementing modern customer feedback system, which are providing more detailed customer feedback data, with highest level of accuracy and convenience. In past the customer feedback was collected through the paper forms, which were then processed, and the data was digitalized, mostly excel sheets were used. The customer experience manager or relevant person had to perform the analysis manually in excel or any other program of their choice. This means from collecting the feedback to converting it into actionable insights, it could take weeks or even months if the data is large enough.

See Also: 10 impacts of Queue System with Customer Feedback System

The Transformation of Customer Feedback Systems
The Transformation of Customer Feedback Systems

However, with the advancement of technology the modern customer feedback systems are able to collect, store, process and analyze the customer feedback data in real-time. All branches or touch points can be connected through a centralized customer feedback management system. This also allow integrating more digital channels such as touchscreens and tablets, emails, online surveys, SMS, WhatsApp, web forms and even social media and several other online channels. It is this ability to integrate the customer interaction from many channels into a single cohesive and centralized platform, makes modern customer feedback systems superior.

Furthermore the rise of digital communication channels and ever-changing customer preferences also encourage businesses to adopt to a multi-dimensional and diverse feedback management system. The ability to collect customer feedback data and provide real-time analysis, reports and insight is incredible. Businesses can leverage it to greatly improve customer relationship and gain their trust. Real-time customer feedback data and reporting can greatly enhance visibility and provide management more time and room to take effective actions. Therefore a modern customer feedback system is essential for customer feedback management and customer sentiment analysis.

See Also: Brand for Less Group Have Acquired RSI Customer Feedback System

The ability to collect customer feedback data and provide real-time analysis, reports and insight is incredible.
The ability to collect customer feedback data and provide real-time analysis, reports and insight is incredible.

Why Customer Feedback System is Essential for Customer Sentiment Analysis?

Think of reading out hundreds of customer comments on social media, or emails, or think of reading out hundreds of feedback forms, and then analyzing the data to get accurate understanding of customer sentiments. Will it be possible, no, it won’t. One can only read and comprehend handful of feedbacks by just reading them, but if your feedback dataset consists of hundreds if not thousands of feedbacks and as many are coming from two different channels, or even it could be from 8 to 10 different channels, it is absolutely impossible for a human being to read out all those feedbacks and understand the insight. That can only be done with the aid of a computer or specialized program.

A modern customer feedback system does the same. It is capable of collecting thousands of feedbacks from various different sources, classifying and categorizing them automatically using smart algorithms, performing several analysis on the feedback data and producing actionable reports within blink of an eye. That is why a customer feedback system is absolutely essential for modern customer feedback management and understanding customer sentiments analysis. It is not only about the size of the data, but different communication channels offer different types of feedback and different levels of details and context which is why a comprehensive framework is necessary which can systematically process the feedback data and provide valuable insight for strategic decision making.

See Also: Harmony Medical Center Acquire Customer Feedback Kiosk Stand from RSI Concepts

Why Customer Feedback System is Essential for Customer Sentiment Analysis?
Why Customer Feedback System is Essential for Customer Sentiment Analysis?

Conclusion

In the modern business landscape, especially in competitive markets like of Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and other UAE regions, a business must have to have a deeper and accurate understanding of customer sentiments in order to align its strategic decisions with customer needs, desires and expectations. The traditional customer feedback management methods have lost their significance, although they could still be valuable to some extent but fall short on providing deeper understanding of customer sentiments. Businesses must have to understand what customer likes, what they don’t like, what their pain points are and what they are expecting. Therefore businesses need a comprehensive framework to manage customer feedback which can collect feedback data from various channels, consolidate it into a single database, and allow management to perform analysis and produce intuitive reports to actively include customer feedback in their decision making processes.

The evolution of customer feedback system from a simple printed feedback forms to a sophisticated digital and smart software-based platform indicates the importance and value of customer sentiments. In this blog we have briefly discussed why business need to understand customer sentiments and why a digital customer feedback system is the only tool to achieve that. If you want to learn more about the subject or if you want our help to implement a bespoke customer feedback system for your business, please feel free to contact us through our Contact Us page or leave a comment in the comment box below and we will get in touch with you soon.


Brand for Less Group Have Acquired RSI Customer Feedback System

Brand for Less Group Have Acquired RSI Customer Feedback System

RSI Concepts have completed deployment of customer feedback system and QR code based surveys for the customers and visitors for Brand for Less Group. The customer feedback system is installed at all major branches in UAE (25 branches till date) with an aim to collect valuable customer insights which will help BFL Group to further improve their customer’s experience and happiness. The rapid growth and long term success of the Brand for Less Group is due to their policies and strategies to satisfy their customers and to offer them the best products and services. The Brand for Less Group was established in 1996 in Lebanon and later entered into UAE market by 2000. Since then the popularity and operations of the BFL Group have increased rapidly. If you are living in UAE you must have heard or visited Brand for Less store at least once, it is very popular across the country. The quality products, exceptionally discounted prices and wide range of popular brands make BFL the best choice for families and regular shoppers. The Brand for Less offers up to 80% off from the original retail price of the products, but the price is not the only reason of attracting such a large scale audience. In fact it is product’s quality, the level of customer service and customer satisfaction along with exceptional prices which keep BFL growing at such a rapid pace.

In order to step up their customer happiness strategy the Brand for Less Group has decided to implement a system to collect customer feedback across several branches in UAE. The primary goal of the customer feedback system was to deliver the required feedback data with utmost quality and in large quantity. For any customer feedback collection campaign the feedback data quality and quantity determines its success. For that the Brand for Less have approached several top rated custom software development companies in Dubai, RSI Concepts was one of them. Thankfully due to over experience in the field and our strong clientele, we have earned the trust of such a prestigious organization. The Brand for Less management conducted intense scrutiny of all the vendors who were submitting their bids, and finally RSI Concepts was selected for the project. The initial stages and requirement gathering phase were done quickly followed by a rapid pace development for the customer feedback system.

The system was fully customized to meet the very specific needs of BFL Group. The Customer Feedback System was designed to utilize two major channels, in-store tablets/touch screen and QR Code based online surveys with ability to scale up in future if needed. The visitors and customers can instantly provide their feedback about their experience by a single tap on the touch screen. This makes the feedback collection process quick and customer-friendly. The QR Code module was also designed to simplify the feedback submission process for the customers to boost the quality and quantity of the customer feedback data. Customers can easily scan the QR Code pasted on strategic locations at the branches, where they are taken instantly to a feedback submission page. The customers can submit their opinion about various subjects and in case if a negative or unhappy feedback is detected the system can request the customers to provide additional information for later follow ups. Everything is done and managed through our Centralized Customer Feedback System and there is no need of any assistance or support from the staff for feedback submission. There are tons of in-built features that further simplify to analyze and process the feedback data for the management and head-office.

Here are the remarks of our Sales and Marketing Manager, Ms. Maheen Waheed. Who was the leading the project and done a remarkable job in delivering such a great customized feedback solution:

“Brands for Less Group is a very popular and prestigious business group in UAE and also in GCC. The project management team was highly professional and very cooperative at each stage of the project. This enabled us to deliver the project in a very short deadline. The initial response after the UAT was very satisfactory, everyone in the team loved the functionality and features of the customer feedback system. We will look forward for a long term partnership with BFL Group.”

RSI Team is always craving for customer satisfaction. Our customer’s happiness is our top priority which we achieve by delivery the best products and solutions. The Brand for Less Group was looking for a customized solution for their customer feedback collection needs. Our customer feedback system is already trusted by top-notch businesses and brands in UAE and all across the GCC. Our experience in the relevant projects and our highly skilled team enabled us to deliver the best solution for our customer’s needs. We will look forward to expand our partnership with Brand for Less Group in future and we will keep up our hard work to delivery best customer satisfaction solutions for our customers.

Check out this: How to Reduce Queues in Banks?


Al Shams Media City Freezone acquired UAE’s leading QMS & Feedback System from RSI Concepts

Sharjah Media City (Shams) Free Zone is one of the newest free zones and was established in early 2017 to particularly support and facilitate media businesses. The Sharjah Media City (Shams) Free Zone is also known as Shams Free Zone, and since day one it is enabling hundreds and thousands of entrepreneurs to grow and thrive. The Sharjah Media City Free Zone is also popular due to its super-fast and super-convenient business setup process and excellent customer support. The Sharjah Media City Free Zone made the business setup process super convenient and very customer-friendly. The free zone has great customer support and online services to further improve customer experience. The Sharjah Media City (Shams) Free Zone is a customer-centric organization and it is always actively seeking ways to further improve the customer journey and customer experience. Very recently Sharjah Media City (Shams) Free Zone has decided to commission a queue management system to streamline their customer flow and to obtain some feedback from their customer and visitors.

Queue Management System

RSI Concepts was being contacted to provide a very efficient and effective queuing solution and customer feedback system. The requirements were very clear and the objective was to achieve the highest possible customer satisfaction by providing them the most convenient customer journey and an excellent customer experience. The complete solution consists of two parts, one is RSI Queue Management System and the second component is RSI Customer Survey and Feedback System. RSI Queue Management System (QMS) is a state-of-the-art customer flow management system with advanced features and tools. The system enabled Sharjah Media City (Shams) Free Zone to significantly improve their customer experience by reducing the customer wait time and improving the customer flow management. Our Queuing System also helps improving employee efficiency by reducing their efforts for customer flow management along with capabilities to integrate with other systems and corporate tools.

RSI Customer Feedback and Survey System is designed to allow the organizations and businesses to measure as per the NPS Standards. The NPS or Net Promoter Score is known to be the best indicator of performance and quality. Moreover, the customer feedback system has the capabilities to customize the questionnaire which further enables the management to collect various different types of feedback from customers and gather valuable business intelligence. Direct customer feedback is very crucial along with other indicators to measure the quality and performance. Businesses are investing heavily in implementing systems and solutions to improve customer experience and customer satisfaction. But there should be a mechanism to monitor and measure the impact of those all efforts, the customer feedback, and in-built queue management system statistical and analytical data collection tools are a great way to measure the usefulness of all the efforts to improve customer experience and customer journey.

Sharjah Media City (Shams) Free Zone is using Zoho CRM (Customer Relationship Management Software) to track and identify a business or company along with features to create sales and leads. The data synchronization and integration can significantly improve the work efficiency of a system or software. It allows businesses to innovate new ideas and to achieve specific goals.

Here are the remarks of our Project Manager, Mr. Shehzad Asghar:

“The Sharjah Media City (Shams) Free Zone is such a great organization with highly professional and disciplined staff. The complete project execution was seamless, in-time, and very smooth. Thanks to the management and team at the Sharjah Media City (Shams) Free Zone, due to their support and cooperation the entire project execution was done very smoothly. The final testing reveals that the outcome may surpass the expectation in a year or two. Overall the Queue Management System and Customer Feedback Systems are very effective in improving customer experience and gathering business intelligence.”

Indeed Sharjah Media City (Shams) Free Zone is a huge contributor in supporting local businesses and entrepreneurs. The free zone is adopting high-tech solutions to meet the ever-changing needs of the customers. Implementing RSI Queue Management System and RSI Customer Survey and Feedback System is another leap forward. We will hope to expect more such collaborations with Sharjah Media City (Shams) Free Zone in near future.

Check out this blog: Qualities of a Good Mobile App for Queue Management System


How to Collect Customer Feedback in 2021 and why it matters?

As 2020 have dramatically changed everything, the basic business practices and norms are changed, moreover, the service delivery mechanisms are completely changed. People are expecting a whole new eco-system. Businesses have immediately adopted this change and did whatever they could do to satisfy their customers by improving the customer journey and overall customer experience. Let us say you made huge changes and invested a lot to facilitate your customers, but how would you know your strategies are working and the customers are truly happy? What is the impact of all those investments on your customers experience and how did those upgrades improve customer satisfaction level? The answer is a super-efficient customer feedback system!

How-to-Collect-Customer-Feedback-in-2021-and-why-it-matters

Why Customer Feedback Matters?

Why-Customer-Feedback-Matters

A customer feedback system will let you understand the impact of your current upgrades and changes that you have made to meet the new demands of the customers. Their feedback will help you further improving the process and evaluating your current setup. By gathering customer feedback you will be able to understand their perceptions and their thoughts, and of course their demands. This customer feedback not only allows you to take vital decision to improve customer experience and customer journey, but it will also help you to evaluate your existing service delivery mechanisms and customer journey. As there are a lot many feedback collection methods, so you also have to choose which method is suitable for you and can ensure good results. The year 2021 will be a completely new era in the service industry and in this blog we will elaborate on different methods to gather customer feedback in the year 2021.

Here are a few benefits of collecting customer feedback:

  1. Chance to understand customer’s preferences, their likes/dislikes
  2. Customers will feel that your care for them and their suggestions matters a lot for you
  3. Build trust in your brand, improve your reputation and enhance your brand identity
  4. Understand the new market trends, demands and people’s expectations
  5. Take vital decisions to improve your services/products and service delivery mechanism
  6. KPIs will help to improve the customer journey and evaluating the agent’s efficiency
  7. Help to retain the existing customers and also maintaining a steady growth
  8. Help in the decision making for future investments and innovating new ideas to improve customer satisfaction and service delivery mechanisms

These are just a few major benefits you can get by collecting customer feedback. In short collecting customer feedback will help you a lot in keeping up with the new trends of 2021 and gaining a competitive edge.

Read also: 10 impacts of Queue System with Customer Feedback System

How to Collect Customer Feedback in the Year 2021?

How-to-Collect-Customer-Feedback-in-the-Year-2021

Well 2021 will be a completely new landscape for the service-based industry, not only the behaviour of the customers/visitors will impact your growth but it could also directly impact your reputation and brand identity in the market. So, it is very important that you collect comprehensive feedbacks and conduct surveys, do follow-ups with the customers and request them to share their experiences and thoughts about their last visit to your branch.

Here are the most popular and most effective methods to collect customer feedback in the year 2021:

1. Customer Happiness Meters

Customer-Happiness-Meter

Customer Happiness Meters are the most simplified form of collecting customer feedback. Usually, the feedback is taken in the form of a happiness scale which indicates how was the customer’s experience at the branch. The meter could range from 3 to 5 simple icons or emoticons or buttons. These inputs range from a visual representation of worst experience to great experience and in between usually followed up by a simple question such as “How was your experience today?” or “How well you were served today?” This type of feedback has the highest attempt rate.

To further improve the interaction you can also link your customer feedback system with your digital queue management system or CRM software to link the feedback to the customer who is providing the feedback and in case of negative feedback, your support staff could later contact them to learn more about their experience and to take more suggestions. Another simpler method is to request customers to input their contact details after submitting negative feedback, though this will reduce the feedback rate still it is a very effective method.

Usually, the customer happiness meter is installed in touch screens and tablets and placed on all counters, or at the entrance or exit points, where the customer can easily access it. Different businesses require different solutions.

Read also: Customer Feedback System with QR Code for each property – DAMAC Properties

2. Customer Feedback Surveys

Customer-Feedback-Surveys

Traditional surveys are always the best approach to get a deeper understanding of your customers experience and their expectations. But in today’s busy life who has time to conduct 30 minutes or 45 minutes long customer feedback survey? It requires a certain strategy to make people conduct such a long survey. However, these days single slide, or a few slide surveys are the most popular form. It also depends on which platform you are conducting the survey through. As usually on the website a popup with basic or no personal info and a one or two slide survey is the most efficient way to collect the feedback on a large scale from a very large audience.

Some surveys are targeted such as they are designed for a particular product or service and catered to a specific audience. Either through emails, SMS, social media, QR codes, etc. Such surveys have a lower rate but can provide very specific information. If you want to improve or evaluate a particular product or service you can use such surveys to collect feedback.

Of course, when it comes to the survey you might have tons of questions that you want to ask your customers, but you must have to make your survey short and precise. Here are a few tips you should consider while designing a customer feedback survey:

  1. The first and very important point is to have a clear goal and objective of the survey
  2. Ask only those questions which can help you with your goal
  3. Avoid irrelevant and suggestive/leading questions
  4. Use open-ended questions
  5. Try to maintain a flow in the questions and arrange them with great care
  6. Use very simple and easy-to-understand language
  7. Avoid technical questions or complicated questions
  8. Choose the answers wisely
  9. Create interesting graphics for the slides
  10. Create a closing slide or thanks message at the end of the survey

The customer feedback surveys can be transmitted on various communication channels, so sign-in or collecting the identification/personal information should be short and easy, also allow anonymous sign-ins for online surveys, this will ensure your audience that they can bluntly describe their emotions without any fear of being identified for the negative feedback.

3. Smartphone Applications

Smartphone-Applications

Smartphones are already surpassing the numbers of traditional computing. Especially in Dubai, UAE and all across the GCC, people often have high-end smartphones with internet connectivity. In UAE almost 90% of the population is using smartphones and have internet access. This lead to an entirely different trend, people tend to look up in the smartphone for everything from groceries to buying properties, everything is available on the internet just a few taps away in your mobile screen. People also tend to search for their common problems on the internet from let say their cat is not eating to headaches and illnesses symptoms, people are searching for everything through their smartphones.

This is the reason more than 90% of the businesses are also offering different services through their smartphone applications. As the year 2020 lead to a whole new online era, the market is also shifting its focus from more traditional to smart and online approaches. Smartphones applications are providing ease-of-access, comfort, convenience and they save a lot of time. You can offer small surveys on your mobile phone applications, let say if a customer is performing a certain task, at the end of that task you can ask them for their feedback, as the customer has recently used a specific feature so the chances are very high that they will also do the survey or feedback related to that.

4. Transactional Emails

Transactional-Emails

This is also a great method to collect very precise and targeted customer feedback. The transactional emails are the emails that you send to your customers after doing any transaction or performing a certain task, such as I have visited my bank to update my contact details, after a day or two when the new information got registered they will also send me an email. Or for example, I have recently purchased a watch from Amazon and they sent me an email after the delivery. Did they ask me how where the product and my overall experience? Such emails are called transactional emails. They have a very good rate and people tend to do such surveys more often than any other email surveys. You can use such emails to ask them a few simple questions about their experience at the branch, bout the service agent’s behaviour, about the product or service itself or any such questions. But ask only relevant questions that will help you with your survey goal, do not make it complex or complicated, otherwise, people will not attempt it or even left it after a few slides.

5. Phone Calls

Phone-Calls

Although this is a bit traditional way to collect the feedback and it also involves multiple variables, but still the data we can collect is quite useful. You can utilize your existing call centre or support staff with a little bit of training to start calling customers and asking them for their opinions, try a little bit research, sort out all the customers as per their occupations, choose a suitable time accordingly to make the calls, avoid calls in the off hours, or weekends, or early morning. Ask your customers for their consent first before shooting out the questions, choose questions wisely, make them easy-to-understand, small, and subjective. Do not ask for personal information, just confirm the name and their visit schedule and ask them about their experience. It is always the best approach to call a customer on the very next day of their visit to your branch. If you will call them after some time, they might not respond well, or chances are you might fail to get their actual opinion, they might try to escape from the call and give you an only positive or neutral response.

6. Social Media Polls and Voting

Social-Media-Polls-and-Voting

Social Media platforms have completely transformed the marketing and communication landscape in Dubai, UAE. Everyone spends multiple hours on social media platforms in a single day. People get connected to their friends and relatives through social media platforms, they share their opinions, view news and consume all sort of information from these platforms. Usually, people feel more comfortable in giving their honest opinion and expressing their thoughts on social media platforms. If you utilize social media platforms you might be able to collect valuable customer feedback data from there.

But in social media there are certain things that you must understand before starting any campaign, the first and foremost important thing is that you should have to understand the particular social media platform which you are using let say, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn are the most popular social media platforms, all businesses have their presence there. People often do short polls and ask for other’s opinion through voting, or short questions with multiple options, single question surveys, etc. These are the most popular and most effective methods to collect customer feedback from these social media platforms in Dubai, UAE.

Read also: 10 Ways to Collect Customer Feedback

Conclusion

Before starting a customer feedback collection campaign you should determine the clear objectives and the goals of the data collection. Then choose the most appropriate method to collect your customers’ feedback. Prepare the questions and answers carefully, use open-ended questions, avoid suggestive or leading questions. Make it short and less time-consuming. Then gather all the feedbacks and sort them out accordingly, generate reports from the data you have collected either by a single channel or multiple channels. Then evaluate your current service delivery systems, mechanisms, queue management systems, customer flow and service delivery efficiency. In short, evaluate the entire customer journey and customer experience to determine how customer satisfaction can be further improved.

Take actions to improve every aspect which could impact customer satisfaction. The year 2020 was totally unprecedented, the marketing research agencies and academics are still analyzing the impact on the service industry. RSI Concepts being a leading IT consultant and service provider in Dubai, UAE, we have already introduced a lot of innovations in our existing products and services along with many new solutions to meet and greet the new market trends in Dubai, UAE. You are welcome to reach us through our Contact Us page or through the below comment box.

Check this out: Sharjah Library acquired Customer Feedback and Survey System from RSI Concepts


Zayed University Acquired RSI Queue Management System and Customer Feedback System

Zayed University Abu Dhabi campus has acquired RSI Queue Management System and Customer Feedback System. The systems are integrated with the student portal for identification. Zayed University is one of the three higher educational institutions sponsored by the Government of the United Arab Emirates. Zayed University is contributing in providing a constant stream of professionals in a variety of fields who are contributing in the progress of the nation. The university is not only acknowledged on a national level but has gained a great reputation all across the GCC. Zayed University is known for its innovative methods and technological advancements in the academia of GCC.

RSI Concepts has been approached to propose a sophisticated queue management system solution with the objective to make the service delivery easier and quicker than ever before. A customer feedback system was also part of the project. Both the systems are designed to link with the university’s internal information centre to automatically verify the identification of the students/users. A wide range on interactive services is provided through the dedicatedly designed interactive self-service kiosk machines. Both the queue management system and the customer feedback system are installed in the Student Enrollment department in Abu Dhabi campus.

The system also features an online appointment module related to the appointment for the Student Enrollment department. Students, faculty or staff can initiate a query or sign-up for the queue remotely. Once their turn comes, the system automatically generates a notification in advance to notify them about the time and the counter they will be served. The customer feedback system allows them to provide feedback about their experience in service delivery and they can also give feedback about the server/agents.

The students or any visitor can also sign-up from the self-service interactive kiosk at the department. The kiosk can verify the identification through the Emirates ID Card and will automatically update the system with the relevant data. The main objective is to automate most of the service to reduce the overall service delivery time. Another advantage is that the students won’t have to wait in long queues during their classes and can get the service delivered in the shortest possible time period. The statistical and usage data from the queue management system and the customer feedback system is collected and processed in our powerful software engine which can be viewed in comprehensive reports for download and later use.

Here are the remarks of our Product Manager, Mr Shehzad Asghar:

“This project is a fine example of our technological innovation and experience in the field. The overall performance of the system is more than satisfactory. The customer’s experience has been improved drastically and the wait time has been reduced significantly. It was a great experience working with the Zayed University teams.”

Such great experiences always help us with improving our products and services. Our Queue Management System and the Customer Feedback System are the products of constant improvement and fine-tuning which we have gained over the past decade. We always try to provide futuristic solutions to our customers to keep them ahead of their competition with a great return over their investments rates. We will look forward to more future collaboration with Zayed University.

Check this out: Abu Dhabi University Acquired RSI Concepts QMS and Feedback System


Abu Dhabi University Acquired RSI Concepts QMS and Feedback System

Abu Dhabi University has acquired the Queue Management System (QMS) and Customer Feedback System from RSI Concepts. Abu Dhabi University is one of the largest private university in the UAE and currently accelerating on the route to become not only the largest institution in UAE but all across the GCC. The most recent achievement is the opening of a new campus in the heart of the Emirates of Al Ain. The campus is purposely-built to facilitate thousands of student for a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate programs. The campus was built in accordance with the Islamic and Cultural norms of the region by providing separate spaces for male and female students. Not only that the campus is well equipped with international level laboratories, gyms, aerobic studios and cafeterias, etc.

The objective was to have a high-tech smart feedback and queue management system. RSI Concepts’ have mastered in the same niche by countless implementations of the system not only in UAE but all across the GCC. Our Queue Management System is built on state of the art smart processing engine and artificial intelligence (AI) based powerful software. The statistical and analytical engine is built on advance algorithms to process and analyze the inputs of the system. This helps management get a deeper understanding and insight of the system usage. Which is vital for the management to take decisions in order to improve the customer experience.

The system consists of Kiosk Machines, Smart TVs/Digital Signage, Counter Plates and Feedback units to collect customer feedback in real-time. The system is built on a centralized information centre which helps data management and integration easier and more effective. Our queue management system is integrated with the university’s student identification and verification system as well. The student identification can be done by both the Emirates ID and the Student ID cards as well. The system maintains logs for all the signups and stores the customer feedback in the database. The feedback system is built in full compliance with the NPS standards for customer satisfaction measurements.

The QMS or queue management system facilitates the students and the visitors by providing the facility of the SMS and smartphone mobile applications for both Android OS and Apple iOS platform. The smartphone applications allow the users to issue tokens, get notifications via push notifications and the users can also submit feedback from their smartphone applications. The advantage of our Queue Management System and Customer Feedback System is its user-friendly back-office and reporting module. Along with easy operation with less IT resources and automation facility.

Here are the remarks of our Product Manager, Mr Shehzad Asghar:

“It was a great experience working with the professional team from Abu Dhabi University. The main thing is this project was the requirement gathering. Each and Every minute details were taken into account and was thought over many times to come up with the final idea to achieve the objectives of the queue management system and the customer feedback system. The Abu Dhabi University management is pleased to see the results of the system which not only met their requirements but is also providing additional value to the system’s operational capabilities.”

At RSI Concepts we not just provide ‘a solution’ for our customers but we strive to provide them with the best possible solution which not only meets their requirements but also add value to the overall system utility. This is the reason over the past decade RSI Concepts have proven to be one of the leading Queue Management System and Customer Feedback System providers in the UAE.

Check this out: Tailor Made Queue Management System Dubai, UAE


Sharjah Library acquired Customer Feedback and Survey System from RSI Concepts

Sharjah Library has acquired Customer Feedback and Survey System from RSI Concepts for their 12 different areas. The system comprises of advance customer feedback and survey software with tablet stand and touch screen kiosks. The Sharjah Library is considered to be one of the oldest libraries in the region and it is almost 100 years old now. Over the decades the Sharjah Library has gone through a lot many upgrades and constant developments, which resulted in a remarkable collection of books and a wonderful space for modern book lovers. The Sharjah Library management is focusing a lot on the readers and their experience in the library and continuously working to improve it.

The Sharjah Library required a solution to collect customer feedback and record their experience through the customer survey system. We have been awarded the tender to develop and design the customer feedback and survey system for the Sharjah Library which should be accessible from all areas of the library, in total the facility to conduct the survey and give feedback was introduced to 12 different areas of the library premises.

The main feature of our customer feedback and survey system is that it is very simple and easy to manage from the back-office control panel. The front-end of the feedback submission and the surveys are completely customizable. The system is equipped with a powerful analytical and statistical data management tool. Which produces automated reports as well as on-demand reports of the system usage and the customer feedback. The survey results and the feedback can be exported in multiple convenient digital formats. The reporting module provides an enriched graphical interface and graphical data stats for better understanding as well as in-depth analysis and reporting as per the requirements.

The user interface is designed on tablets and kiosk machines which are placed on strategic points for maximum exposure. The interactive and appealing user interface encourages visitors to conduct more surveys and give their feedback on the system. The technical management and the overall operation is fully automated and require very less monitoring or management. The overall installation cost and the operational cost is very minimal due to the high-end hardware and intelligent software engine used to build the customer feedback and survey system.

These are some of the distinguishing features that make our customer feedback and survey system superior to any other solution available in the market to date. Moreover, the system is also capable of customization and expansion. More interactive points can be added whenever required without any modification in the core of the software of our customer feedback and survey system.

Here are the remarks of our Sales and Marketing Manager, Ms Maheen Waheed:

“It was a quite learned experience in dealing with the professional team of the Sharjah Library. The requirement gathering, system analysis and proposal, everything went very smooth due to the professionalism and robust communication of the Sharjah Library team. The Sharjah Library really admired the results and data collected by our customer feedback and survey system. We are aiming to extend our services to the Sharjah Library in various sectors by ensuring to maintain the current quality standards and professional support.”

RSI Concepts Customer Feedback and Survey System is a great tool for the communication team to assess and improve the customer experience. The overall data management and reporting module are equipped with exclusively designed tools for the higher management which help them to take vital decisions to improve customer experience.

Check this out: 10 impacts of Queue System with Customer Feedback System


10 Ways to Collect Customer Feedback

In this blog, we will talk about 10 ways to collect customer feedback. Customer feedback is a very important aspect of maintaining a better customer experience. Rather than indirect indicators and signs what could be better than asking your customers directly about their opinion on your products/services and overall brand. If you have the following questions:

  1. What my customers want?
  2. What we can offer to help them?
  3. How should we improve the customer experience?
  4. How should we sustain a long-lasting clientele?
  5. What is repelling our customers?

Then you must seriously think about having a mechanism to ask those questions directly to your customers. I came across a lot of misleading information on this subject which is why I compelled to write this blog.

10 Ways-to-Collect-Customer-Feedback

The human beings are a very sophisticated species. Customers often tend to sugar coat their criticism when asked directly or face to face. Sometimes people don’t want to be rude to the sales staff. Some customers get annoyed because either they are in hurry or either they simply don’t want to have a direct conversation at the moment. There could be so many reasons why people don’t give feedback or avoid one on one conversations about their experience at your branch. Which makes it even more difficult to extract precise information which a business can utilize to improve their customer experience.

By the evolution of the online and digital mediums, it is surprisingly simple to extract valuable information from your customers. People use to spend hours surfing online in a single day. This opens up a new frontier for the communication department. In order to measure the effectiveness and usefulness of your products and services, the single most valuable asset is customer feedback. And for that, the online domain could serve the purpose very well.

Here are the 10 ways to collect customer feedback:

1. Conduct Online Surveys

Conduct-Online-Surveys

The online surveys are a very effective way to communicate with your customers. In order to make them more effective, the businesses should make them small, easy-to-do and if there could be some award for the customers who are conducting the survey, which will encourage people to do the surveys.

2. Tablets and Kiosks

Tablets-and-Kiosks

Business can place small tablets and kiosks on strategic locations on the premises to gather customer feedback. The rule again is to make the process simple, short, and easy-to-do. Maybe just a few MCQs on the touchscreen of the kiosk or a Happiness Meter on the tablet could let the businesses gather basic information and let them conduct comprehensive surveys when needed.

3. Active Social Media Channels

Active-Social-Media-Channels

Businesses should hire full-time social media managers to engage with audiences over various social media channels. Sharing helpful and engaging content on social media, engage with the customers and gather their opinion.

4. Online Poles

Online-Poles

Online poles are a popular way to get instant feedback from the customers and large audiences. Set up your questions to be specific or to be indirect, whether it is a critical issue or a lighter question, people tends to do online poles more than anything else on social media.

5. Personalized Emails and Email Shots

Personalized-Emails-and-Email-Shots

Mass emailing is the most cost-effective online communication channel. But in case if you are interested in gathering the customer feedback then you should use only a few questions and encourage the customers to answer them. Personalized emails often get more response than mass email campaigns. Send an email on the same day when the customer visits you or make a purchase or utilize a service and ask them about their personal experience.

6. Website Reviews and Rating Mechanisms

Website-Reviews-and-Rating-Mechanisms

Website reviews and rating mechanisms are also very helpful in collecting customer feedback. There should be a rating and review facility on each product/service web page. Especially in the case of digital products and services the online rating and review mechanisms is very convenient for the customers to express their feelings about their experience.

7. Online Sign-ups and Customer Portals

Online-Sign-ups-and-Customer-Portals

Online sign-ups and customer portals could be very effective in gathering customer feedback. As customers usually log in to their customer portal to search for the information about their subscriptions and purchases. So, having a mechanism to gather customer feedback in the customer portals can really help you gather valuable feedback from the customers.

8. Smart Phone Applications

Smart-Phone-Applications

As the information technology rapidly evolves from the on-desk to in-pocket. Smartphones and smartphone applications have become the major source of information for most of the customers and prospects. Integrating customer feedback modules within your smartphone application could let you gather a lot of data about the customers, their behaviour and their experience without even any additional cost.

9. Custom Feedback Short URL via SMS

Custom-Feedback-Short-URL-via-SMS

Sending a custom feedback short URL via SMS is also a great approach to collect customer feedback through online mediums. As SMS are cheap and instant, so we can automate the SMS through the system and request the customers to follow the short URL to give feedback. The collection of feedback through short URL via SMS is a much better way than many other digital mediums.

10. Customer Feedback by QR Code

Customer-Feedback-by-QR-Code

As smartphones are getting more sophisticated and technologically advanced, they are also opening up new opportunities for marketers. Such as in modern-day smartphones whether you are using Apple iPhone or Android Phones, all of these devices are capable of scanning QR codes, so we can use QR codes to let the customer access the feedback survey. This not only looks modern but it is also very simple and easy for the customers.

Read also: Customer Feedback System with QR Code for each property – DAMAC Properties

Conclusion

The customer feedback and their opinion about your brand, your products and services are very critical. The businesses should also consider the online domain for their communication purposes. The digital mediums look a bit tricky but in reality due to the advancements of the analytical tools, and social media platforms the online channels of communication have become more effective than the traditional communication mediums.

Do let us know of your thoughts in the comments box below.

Check this out: 10 impacts of Queue System with Customer Feedback System