Chat programs have always been a great way to communicate internally. Back when MSN Instant Messenger was pretty much the only game in town, it was mainly used to chat about issues, projects or just life. Luckily for everyone, technology has advanced and chat programs can do so much more, including help you improve customer service.
Companies are now creating integrations into chat programs, like Slack, to help bring a central platform that assists users with communicating not only with other people but programs they interact with on a daily basis.
Indeed, SLINGR just announced its integration tool. SLINGRbot is a new approach to Slack bots that gives users a unified bot experience across multiple applications. So far, it integrates Slack with Autotask's PSA (professional services automation) software. More integrations are coming.
Integration Benefits for MSPs
Assuming SLINGRbot works as advertised, I see several potential benefits. They include:
1. Deliver Customer Service Faster: With an integration tool like SLINGRbot, information from multiple programs is available at your fingertips. For example, an inbound phone call can display caller ID in Slack along with account information and history from Autotask and payment status from Quickbooks. When someone calls in you wouldn't have to ask them to identify themselves. Not only that, you would not have to then take the time to look up their customer information and create a new ticket. These tasks could all be handled for you instantly so you can get down to the reason they are calling much more quickly.
2. Better Customer Interaction: People want to go where everybody knows their name. When I call a service desk, and they make me enter my customer number into the phone, and then connect me to someone who asks for my customer number, I get frustrated. What is the point of entering it into the system if the person on the other end doesn't get that information and I have to say it again? These frustrations could be minimized with an integrated system since you are able to know details of the caller before you even pick up the phone.
3. Better Interoffice Communication: Another reason software integrations into chat programs like Slack can benefit MSPs is the ability to work together to help solve issues. Through the chat program, you can discuss an issue that is giving you problems with a co-worker. If they let you know that they can take a look at it when they are done working on the ticket they are currently tackling, you can assign a task through programs like Trello directly from the Slack interface. Collaboration with your coworkers becomes so much more efficient when you are able to communicate effectively with programs and people.
The company claims that SLINGRbot leverages the extensive integration capabilities of SLINGR.io low-code application platform as a service. SLINGR also states that SLINGRbot will rapidly add popular integrations including Google Contacts and Calendar, Twilio, IBM Watson Tone Analyzer and Personality Insights, GitHub, JIRA, Autotask, and others.
SLINGRbot features per/team pricing and can be added to any Slack team. We'll be watching for more integrations.
