3 Ways to Improve Customer Support With the Help of SEO

As an entrant in the world of business or an existing business looking for ways to beat the competition, customer satisfaction is a supreme consideration. A happy customer will always come back with their friends. But ensuring the greatest customer experience takes more than just answering customer calls and replying to their queries.

Website responsiveness and user-friendliness is a great consideration. This means that you need to consider SEO and other search engine tactics for a great user experience as well.

In this post, we'll guide you on how to improve customer support with the help of SEO. But before

How to Choose a Support Software for the Education Industry

The main role of customer support software in the education sector is providing time management solutions and resolution of students' requests while using modern communication channels that will make the lives of teachers, students, and parents more comfortable.

We all know how education is important for our future, thus it is important that students don't waste time on support requests when they need to study hard for their exams. In the worst case scenario, they may not be able to complete a test or correct their data without your reps' help, thus it is important that you enable both self-service

7 Tips to Write a Convincing Email Subject to Capture Customers’ Attention

Before we get to business, how many unread promotional emails do you have in your email account right now? I guess hundreds of them. This is mainly because many times it happens that the email subject line looks boring or irrelevant. Now, if you ask all your customers the same question, you may get surprised by their answer. If you want to avoid the unfortunate scenario, you better learn the ways to write the most appealing email subject lines that your customers can't ignore!

However, what if you write a perfect email subject line but not the response. In order

Top 5 Customer Experience Strategies to Boost Customer Loyalty

For every business to thrive, they have to focus on providing top-notch customer support. Thus, a memorable customer experience should be a top priority for every business owner, and the reason is simple: businesses focusing on customer experience will automatically increase revenues and reduce customer churn. A research by American Express established that 86% of customers are even willing to pay more for a better experience. Another study by Temkin Group found that companies earning $1 billion every year can earn an additional $700 million by just investing in customer experience.

In this article, we will look at some of

The Most Dangerous Data Breaches

Cyber crime is on an upward projector, especially during the pandemic. This is mainly because most people spent more time on their digital machines during the pandemic shopping, browsing, reading, purchasing, and watching videos. This automatically means more personal data being uploaded on a daily basis.

In 2021, we witnessed horrifying data breach instances that should worry any serious business. While in 2021 we didn’t reach the dizzying heights of 2017, where reports show that there were more than 1,529 data breaches reported, including the biggest act of cyber crime in the world, we have nothing to smile

Connecticut’s Data Privacy Laws

The whole world today is trying to establish a framework for controlling and processing consumer personal data. This framework is established by many states to create responsibilities and privacy protection standards for companies.

Businesses operating around the world, therefore, have to familiarize themselves with data laws for global businesses. Connecticut, being one of the states in a hurry to establish data laws, is trying its best through as a way of granting consumers the right to access, correct, delete, or even obtain a copy of their personal data. Additionally, consumer rights under Connecticut's SB893 include opting out of the processing

How to Beat the Competition in Sales

To become successful in business, you need to be proactive and find ways to stay a step ahead of your business rivals. But the fact is, staying ahead of your competition is often easier said than done. You also need to understand that there’s no single answer to the question of how to outmaneuver your competition and win the largest market share. Every business is unique, however, there are certain strategies that yield significant results such as taking valuable positions first, building competitive insights, and attacking areas of recognized weakness.

The best way to win the game is to

Data Laws for Global Businesses

Are you planning to start a business that will gather and sell products and services globally? Are you expecting that most sales will be made online, and you'll have to process thousands of personal information for your client? If yes, then there are some strict data laws that you must adhere to. Unluckily, these data laws change by country, region, and jurisdiction, meaning you must be versed with separate data laws and how they apply.

This article will help you understand the different types of data laws globally and what it means for your business.

Let's get started!

A. What

What Is an Access Control List?

The concept of an ACL is very important in the computer networking world because it is a fundamental security component. The major role of an ACL is to keep an eye on outgoing and incoming traffic and continue making comparisons with the set of defined statements.

In this article, we will discuss in detail the basics of access control lists, why you should use them, where they can be placed, and their different components and types.

What Is an ACL?

ACL stands for access control list and is a list containing access control entries (ACE). All the access control entries

How to Deliver Top-Notch Support in the Online Education Industry

Are you looking for ways to improve customer service? If yes, then you should definitely check out these tips.

Customer service has become a key part of every company’s strategy. In fact, according to Forrester Research, companies spend $1.3 trillion annually on customer service. And yet, despite its importance, customer service is often neglected or poorly executed.

To provide excellent customer service, you need to think about your approach. Quality communication is critical to success in the support industry. You can check out these top communication techniques for superb customer support and start improving your support today!

One

Understanding the Florida Privacy Protection Act and HB969

Have you ever wondered why Florida Privacy Act has one of the strictest privacy laws in the country? The answer lies in the state’s history of being a haven for cyber criminals. In fact, Florida was once known as the “criminal’s paradise” because of its lax laws and lack of enforcement, especially in data protection and data security. Florida is actually one of the states with the most notorious data breaches in history.

Today, Florida is home to over 20% of the nation’s population. Crime rates have decreased since the 1990s, and Florida remains one of the

How to Successfully Run a Business During the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected the operations of most, if not all, businesses globally. Many companies have been closed down, while others have had to reduce their operation range during this period. Some businesses, however, have continued to thrive despite the ongoing pandemic. Some people have devised methods to help them pull through the pandemic and achieve their desired business success.

There are several success stories whereby business owners term the pandemic as a blessing in disguise. According to them, were it not for the pandemic, they still would be stuck with being average. The pandemic pushed them to

4 Effective Tips to Write Customer-Focused Responses

A customer-focused business puts the customers’ needs first and fosters a culture dedicated to enhancing customer satisfaction and building a strong customer relationship. Customer-focused responses ensure optimization of every customer touchpoint, whether it's a presale, at the point of sale, or after-sales, while ensuring customer satisfaction.

Customer-focused sales responses are the support team's responsibility, too! It requires a true teamwork, a cooperation of both support and sales department, to implement customer-focused sales practices fully. Moreover, every department that interacts with customers should take part and play a role in ensuring that the customers are taken care of and satisfied with

Where and Who Does the GDPR Apply To?

What is GDPR? What does it mean for businesses? Is it only relevant to EU citizens or everyone? Where is it applicable?

The European Union has adopted the General Data Protection Regulation, also known as the GDPR, to ensure data protection across the European Union. The regulation was introduced to protect individuals from privacy violations and give them control over their personal information.

The GDPR applies to all companies processing data from EU residents, regardless of where they are located. Thus, companies outside the EU are required to comply with the GDPR if they collect data from EU customers. This

What Are the Most Common Cyberattacks?

How would you react if someone hacked into your computer or smartphone? Would you panic? Or would you calmly take control of the situation? Hacking has become a major concern for businesses and consumers alike. Hackers are constantly looking for ways to break into computers, websites, apps, plugins, and clouds to steal valuable information. And they’re becoming more sophisticated every day.

Hackers often target websites and apps that store sensitive data, such as credit card numbers, social security numbers, and other personal information. They also look for weak passwords, outdated software, and unpatched vulnerabilities.

The best way to combat

What Is Malware?

Malware is a malicious software designed to damage or harm programmable services, devices, or networks. They are intrusive software prepared by cybercriminals to steal data, destroy, or damage computers and computer systems. Common forms of malware include worms, viruses, spyware, Trojan viruses, ransomware, and adware.

Reasons Why Criminals Use Malware

Malware consists of all types of malicious software, such as viruses, which the cybercriminals use for various reasons, including:

• Tricking the victim into providing personal data for identity theft
• Stealing customer financial data, such as credit card data
• Launching a denial-of-service attack against other networks through control of multiple computers

7 Ways Customer Service Advisor Can Increase Customer Loyalty

A customer service rep is essential in making a business successful. Why? Customer loyalty is used to measure how likely customers are to conduct business with your company. If your business does not have the best customer service, you need to prioritize and act fast. Customer service reps should try to make day buyers into the every day customer, which is the key to making the business's revenue flow.

Over the past few years, customer service has been conducted via phone calls and social media. For example, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter connect customers with their favorite brands instantly, which helps

Top 5 Communication Techniques for Superb Customer Support

Customer support defines how a business communicates with their customers, thus it is one of the most important aspects of any establishment. Customer support has evolved over time from being conducted via phone calls to now through digital means. Being customer-centric entails great success for a brand as they continue to satisfy customer needs and wants alongside building long-term relationships with them. No matter how good the product or service is, customers tend to have issues or queries, which leads to them contacting a business’s customer support. To ensure high customer satisfaction rate, check the below five communication techniques

What Are The Key Responsibilities Of Support Agents

In a broad sense, the support agents interact with customers on behalf of an organization. The interaction happens through support channels such as emails, phone, social media platforms, and helpdesk channels. The agents provide customers with the organization’s information on goods or services and resolve any emerging problems the customers might face. Customer support is the backbone of an organization and therefore requires special attention. Efficient customer support requires efficient support agents.

Support agents' primary objective is to ensure high customer satisfaction. The agents, therefore, need to be knowledgeable, helpful, and empathize when communicating with customers regarding products and

Is There a Difference Between SAML and OAuth?

If you’ve ever heard about the uses of SAML and OAuth, then you may know that they prevent you from sharing your password with third parties or any other websites and instead directs you to use the relevant protocol.    

Whenever the authentication of a website or any app is involved, we must use various protocols to understand whether or not we have the right permissions. Sometimes, the protocols will require you to partake in additional verification steps to confirm your identity and purpose.

Both SAML and OAuth help streamline this process, so even if you are working with automation,

How to Write a Good Customer Service Letter

A customer service letter is important to help your brand grow. This is because it has the potential to hook your customers and have them coming back. Further, it shows how much you value your customer's patronage and contributions.
However, knowing how to write a good customer service letter is more important. If your customer service letter has not yielded any good result, it means you're writing it wrong. Many sites may write your customer service letters for you; for instance My Paper Writer If you want to write your customer service letter on your own, you'll find how to

Top 7 Security Tips for the Customer Support Department

The customer support department is responsible for developing strong relationships with customers and clients. Customer support involves sharing crucial and personal information between the support agents and the clients. Customers have to trust a company to do business with them, and one way to keep that trust is by assuring them of security.

Both the customers' data and the employees’ personal space should be protected from any threat of cybersecurity. A support agent may be dealing with multiple customers and accidentally mix up information and, for example, send an email to customer A with customer B’s information.

An employee

15 Tips for Writing an Effective Customer Service Strategy

Every organization wants to deliver the best customer service, but, yes, it can be hard to do it effectively. The common customer support drawbacks are a lack of effective communication, interaction, lose security and privacy, or low engagement with customers.

Here are some tips that will help your business to provide you with better customer service every time.

Scroll down!

1. Make sure your strategy is up-to-date

Your strategy should be updated every now and then. As the business is growing, you should make sure that your strategy is pretty much like a guide to take customers' trust into account

Top 5 Tips for Choosing the Right Help Desk Solution for Your SMB's

How to choose the right help desk solution for your small business?

Help desks are often overlooked or undervalued. They provide essential support services to businesses and organizations. The right help desk software helps them manage their operations efficiently.

Choosing the right help desk solution requires careful consideration. There are several features to consider before choosing a help desk system. These include ease of use, cost-effectiveness, scalability, security, and customer service.

What is customer service software?

The most common type of customer service software is called "help desk" software. It allows users to track issues and provide information about them,

10 Important Customer Support Quotes from the Experts

The definition of customer support has evolved over the years and is still evolving. Customer service is not to be confused with customer support; customer support is a specified customer service involving documentation, product feedback, and technical problem-solving. Customer support can also be described as providing timely and empathetic help that prioritizes customers' needs.

Tips for delivering great customer support include:

• Ensure your team has the right tools to deliver personalized, fast, and expert service with every customer interaction.
• Ensure you have self-service support options to resolve their issues by themselves.
• Hire professionals with support skills. Customer support requires patience,

Top 5 Helpdesk Success Stories

Many businesses know how a secure and actionable helpdesk software can prove to be a powerful company asset. From enabling companies to keep track of tickets to facilitating a better understanding of their customers, having an actionable helpdesk on your company website is more than worth it. Helpdesk features and functionalities help you and your team handle all client requests and company workflows more effectively and efficiently.

In addition, with the right kind of analytic tools and reporting systems, your company can make decisions and take actions based on trends that are noticed over time. In this post, we

What Is LDAP and How Does It Benefit Your Business?

LDAP stands for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol. Its main purpose is to enable individuals or organizations as well as other resources to locate data and find relevant information about a particular file or device. Essentially, the word “lightweight” in LDAP refers to a small amount of coding in Directory Access Protocol.

In this article, we will discuss LDAP in detail, including how it works and its benefits for businesses.

What Is LDAP?

The concept of LDAP was first introduced in 1993 by Tim Howes, Wengyik Yong, and Steve Kille. The main purpose of introducing this protocol was to replace the

12 Tips for Writing Satisfying Customer Service Responses

Customer service is a key element in any kind of business, whether B2C (business-to-consumer) or B2B (business-to-business). Any enterprise looking to retain customer loyalty and maintain or even boost sales must provide optimal customer service to its patrons.

Now, we’ve all probably read an article, or taken a course, or listened to a lecture or a podcast, or generally come across some informational piece that offered us tips on how to provide customer service like a pro; maybe even more specific guidelines like how to communicate effectively in customer service. But how many of these theoretical tips have actually

What Are the Differences Between LDAP and Active Directory?

Active Directory or AD directly integrates with several products like Microsoft Office and performs the role of the service provider by keeping assets organized. On the other hand, Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, or LDAP, is a protocol that is directly involved in the query process and solves the problems of different directories, including Active Directory.

Today we will go through the detailed concept and discussion about Active Directory and LDAP. Our main focus is to understand the difference between both of the protocols.

Let’s dive in!

What Is Active Directory?

The core purpose behind the creation of Active Directory

What Drives an Excellent Customer Experience?

As more and more companies realize the importance of customer satisfaction, the focus has become increasingly redirected towards improving overall customer experiences. Companies are now investing in more customer-friendly services, offering quick responses to clients, and operating fully under the principle that states "the customer is king."

According to a study by PWC, 80% of US consumers say that knowledgeable assistance, speed, convenience, and friendliness are the key elements of a positive customer experience. This study holds a lot of truth. However, it is also found that once you provide top-notch services and communication, it oftentimes doesn’t matter if

Top 9 Ways to Attract Customers From Competitors

When it comes to attracting customers, there are certain tried and tested techniques that work wonders. Whether you happen to be a brand or an online business, these techniques can make your company stand out from the rest and attract more customers than ever before. All of these methods have been used by businesses for decades, and according to statistics, they have been proven to work. Thus, without further delay, let's talk about competitive strength and the top nine ways to attract customers from competitors. Before diving in, it’s important to keep in mind that companies with better customer

Why Is Strong Cybersecurity in the Support Department Critical to Business Success?

When you connect to a network, you expose yourself to the possibility of a hacker targeting your firm. Cybercrime is becoming a huge business, and corporations and governments worldwide are focusing on cyber risk. If a company's cybersecurity plan isn't up to the mark, it faces significant financial and operational concerns. New threats develop every hour of every day in today's technological environment. Cybersecurity refers to safeguarding internet-connected systems, including hardware, application, and data, from cyberattacks. Individuals and businesses utilize the method to guard against unauthorized access to data centers and other critical infrastructure.

IT security solutions are critical for

U.S. Data Laws: A Comprehensive Guide to Federal and State Data Privacy Laws

The United States has various regulating privacy laws that work to ensure the safety and security of personal information, or personally identifiable information (PII). The United States federal and local governments have introduced a very strong system of laws regulating the privacy of individuals. This means that there is not a single comprehensive federal law in the United States that covers the protection of PII. Instead, various industry groups and government agencies have collaborated in establishing self-regulatory systems that have accountability and enforcement components. All of these components combine to reduce the risk of data security breaches and promote

6 Key Tips for Delivering Superb Customer Support in the Aeronautical Industry

Contrary to how things were years ago, the aeronautical industry now has widespread patronage, as more and more people continue to book flights. According to a recent study from global records in 2019, an estimated 100,000 flights took off and landed daily in countries all over the world. This goes to show how essential the aeronautical industry has become for personal and business travel. Thus, this industry has a big task to accomplish nowadays and excellent customer support in this highly saturated market has become a competitive advantage!

Any industry that provides imperative services to customers also needs to

Top 5 Customer Service Workflows To Enhance Customer Experience

The relationship between businesses and consumers is more customer-oriented than it has ever been before. With so many products and services to choose from, consumers have the advantage of basing their purchase decisions not just on quality and price but on their overall experience. A study by Microsoft found that 90% of American consumers decide whether or not to engage in business with a company based on customer service. In order to stand out from their competitors, businesses must prioritize the customer experience.

What Is A Customer Service Workflow?

Customer service workflows offer companies an opportunity to increase efficiency while

Private or SaaS Cloud - Which Is Better?

Cloud computing was not very popular in the past decade, but now it has become the norm for most businesses. Business priorities have changed and now people work in a diversified cloud-based environment. As we know, technology is never straightforward, and there is a popular discussion on choosing private or SaaS clouds. Many people want to know: is one better than the other?

There are cases where it makes sense to spend more money on a private cloud-based system and we can justify the expenditure of time and effort. On the other hand, if we look at the SaaS cloud-based

Robinhood Hacking Incident

Robinhood, a popular trading app, has recently suffered from an online hacking incident that put the personal information of its users in jeopardy. Around 7 million accounts were affected by this attack, and many are concerned about how the incident occurred in the first place. It was reported that around six months ago, some user accounts were compromised on the platform. This may have happened in July 2017, which was when the company first noticed suspicious activity.

Why Was Robinhood Hacked?

Robinhood is only two years old with its headquarters located in New York City. It has become a popular

10 Ways the Pandemic Has Affected Customer Support

Overall, the pandemic’s impact on the customer support service system is quite positive. Because of the pandemic, omnichannel communication solutions and cloud-based customer service have made it possible for customer support agents to provide services from the comfort of their homes.

Moreover, various organizations shifted their customer service team to remote work. As a result, customer contact volumes have increased considerably for most businesses. However, businesses are also facing various challenges and one of them is reduced staffing.

To see which support areas got worse and which got improved during the last year, scroll down!

A. Ways the Pandemic

8 Skills Every Customer Support Rockstar Must Have

Customer service or customer support is a key aspect of both B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) businesses or enterprises. The end goal of these kinds of ventures is always consumer satisfaction; most businesses actually depend on this to be successful. Customer service is the support you provide during your customers’ journeys—both before and after they purchase and use your products or service. This practice helps to ensure the highest customer satisfaction score (CSAT).

As a customer support manager or representative in today’s business economy, your responsibilities extend far beyond answering customer phone calls. Customer support has expanded into

The GDPR Compliance Checklist

If you are looking to improve your GDPR compliance, reading this checklist will help you achieve all your GDPR goals.

It all starts by understanding the concept of controller and processor. Controllers and processors are different organizations that focus on providing diverse storage and processing functions for personal data. If an organization plans to store or process personal information, we call it the controller organization. On the other hand, if an organization focuses on providing a system with users and data collection procedures for multiple legitimate purposes, it is a processor organization.

In the upcoming lines, we will use processor

Top 5 Ways to Upgrade Your Helpdesk Software

Helpdesks have significantly changed over the years and are continuously improving customer experiences. The most important benefit of upgrading your helpdesk software is that it advances both customer and employee experiences. When your agents are happy, your customers are too, right? Remember that customer experience has become the key brand differentiator, which is even more important than competitive pricing and product quality.

Markets have become saturated and many companies have similar work processes. Luckily, you can make your mark by following the latest support trends and upgrading your helpdesk software regularly. Helpdesk software upgradation is necessary to meet customer expectations

Mexico’s Data Protection Law

Like many countries of the world, Mexico has adopted the international trend of ensuring the privacy and security of its people. On July 6, 2010 a federal law was enacted that further protected the personal data held by private organizations.

This data law places a major responsibility on data controllers and requires them to have appropriate administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to ensure the protection of its customers' personal data.

Basics of Mexico’s Data Protection Law

The main objective of this law is to protect personal data of customers and employees by establishing foundational principles and implementing them in

Data Protection Impact Assessment’s Complete Explanation

Do you want to minimize data protection risks? Then you must consider adding the Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) to your important cybersecurity procedures list. This assessment significantly minimizes the chances of personal or organizational data exposure by identifying and analyzing actions that might affect data protection.

According to article 35 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Data Protection Impact Assessment is extremely important for company tasks related to data protection. Every project that is processing personal data should be taking advantage of DPIA.

Let's see how!

A Detailed Look at DPIA

There are various projects in which

How To Quickly Improve Customer Relationships

You have to build a strong customer relationship in order to increase your customer base and boost sales. The end-goal of every business is monetization, but customer loyalty is priceless. This is accomplished through an in-depth analysis of the customer’s needs, demands, and buying experiences. Loyal customers are your brand’s biggest advocates and will likely share your business with friends, family, and anyone else they regularly talk to.

Customers will voluntarily share information about your brand and help boost your sales.

So, it is worth investing time, resources, technology, and energy in loyalty schemes because loyal customers are

The Key Principles of Australia’s Privacy Act

The Privacy Act of Australia was finalized in 1988 and provides information about the privacy rights of individuals. This Act also reveals the commitment of Australian government agencies and organizations in keeping private individual information safe and secure.

The Personal Privacy Act includes 13 Australian Personal Privacy Principles (Applications), which apply to specific economic sector organizations and most Australian federal government firms. These are jointly described as APP entities. The Personal Privacy Act also controls the individual privacy component of non-mortgage consumer debt reporting systems, tax file numbers, health and wellness information, and clinical study data.

To succssfully comply

Why Do You Need Password & Multi-Factor Authentication?

Password and multi-factor authentication (MFA) are necessary for meeting data compliance requirements and keeping all of your personal information protected within an organization. The need for multi-factor authentication arises whenever an organization creates a robust multi-layered access environment.

If we look at the statistics, we will know that 99% of systems with traditional passwords aren't secure enough. These systems require powerful technology to prevent unauthorized access and hackers from stealing your employee credentials.

For this purpose, the need for strong passwords and multi-factor authentication is becoming more and more obvious. Multi-factor authentication is considered a tried and tested method of

The Customer Is The Hero

Customers should be the center of attention for every business, because a business cannot operate without customers, right? Various marketing strategies reveal whether or not an industry has adopted a customer-centric approach.

Without adopting a customer-centric approach, your business cannot excel, since customers are the primary source of revenue that keeps you afloat. For this purpose, your brand story and storyline should revolve around the customers' needs and should clearly address those needs.

What is a customer-centric approach?

Whenever a business adopts the customer-centric approach, it means that the business is reviewing themselves from the viewpoint of the customer. For

A Comprehensive Guide To The Executive Order Signed By President Biden

Technology is evolving every single day. People and businesses are embracing advanced tech tools to make their lives more convenient and ensure business prosperity. Today’s technology makes it so much easier to bring smiles to your customers’ faces.

According to the statistics, 40% of the world’s population has access to the internet while the 90% of the global data was transmitted during the past two years only.

Tech revolution supports the development of the emerging economies. For instance, the worldwide adoption of online banking, including the developing countries has a potential to create 95 million new jobs and

UK Privacy Protection Post-Brexit Laws

If we look at the history of the United Kingdom and their privacy rules, we will come to know that the UK has always been compliant with the European data protection laws and regulations, including the 2018 GDPR regulations. But now, new UK privacy protection post-Brexit laws are being introduced. These  laws require companies to completely fulfill privacy regulations, rather than simply performing box-ticking procedures.

The new UK privacy rules apply to online operating procedures as well as business headquarters and may lessen the need for consent requests. Additionally, this regulation will certainly facilitate data transfer between the UK companies.

An Exhaustive Guide: Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act

Singapore’s Personal Data Protection Act, or PDPA, is a major information security legislation governing the collection, usage, and disclosure of an individual’s data within an organization. The PDPA was passed by the Parliament of Singapore on 15 October 2012 and was executed in 3 phases. The rules and regulations regarding data security were implemented on 2 January 2013.

On 2 November 2020, the Parliament passed an amended bill that affected the PDPA previously established in 2012. The changes went into effect immediately, and many businesses were requred to redefine their privacy policies.

Let's dive into the entire Singapore’

4 Key Business Trends You Should Keep An Eye On

The 21st century has created various changes and introduced advanced tech solutions in the business world. The most important thing about this new era is that now, the internet has taken the world by storm and almost all businesses need the internet to market or promote their products or services. The internet has definitely played a positive role in the business arena and we can expect more prosperity from its use.

Today we are going to discuss four key business trends that you should keep an eye on in 2021. It is particularly important to focus on these points if

How Does CPPA Apply To Canada?

In November 2020, the new act was introduced by the Canadian legislators and its name was set to be the Consumer Privacy Protection Act (CPPA). This Canadian data law was created with an aim to provide maximum data protection to consumers working with merchants and other small and large businesses.

It is considered as one of the most comprehensive data laws because it regulates the use of both new personal data and the information covered under the Data Protection Regulation Act (DPRA).

The CPPA's main goal is to function similarly to the GDPR and govern the privacy principles of PIPEDA.

Helpdesk Monitoring - Top 7 Features For Efficient Support Management

It is no secret that the success of a business depends on laser-focused support practices that ensure excellent customer experiences. However, more and more businesses are starting to transition from providing in-person services to remote services. This transition has caused a dire need to proceed with help desk monitoring and the use of other digital channels to provide maximum help and support to a business’s customers.

Following the current trends, modern businesses need to utilize digital internal helpdesk solutions now more than ever. This is because customers are now more oriented towards the use of online and remote support

8 Ways To Earn Customer Trust

Earning customer trust is the first and foremost desire of any company or brand. Customer trust can be attained by providing excellent services and products to your customers and asking them to leave feedback. This feedback helps the company improve their overall services. According to a study on online reviews, 97% of consumers check online reviews before buying a product to obtain additional insight. If you are a business owner or an entrepreneur considering starting one, you must know the importance of trust between you and your customers.

Like in every other relationship, trust is a connecting factor between a

How Helpdesks Keep Your Company Data Safe

When it comes to reducing the service downtime, the role of a helpdesk can never be denied. Helpdesks work as a multidimensional resource that focuses on the functionality of an end user and provide quick resolution for technical issues as well as other relevant problems.

In today's world, companies are focusing on data security and safety, which requires helpdesk software systems that can provide maximum protection.

Over time, people have become increasingly dependent on technology, which has increased the demand for online security defenses.

In this era of modernism and technological advancement, companies face variety of cyber threats while dealing

How To Master Customer Service In 5 Steps

It is no secret that every customer looks for professional and high-quality customer service. If we look at the statistics, we come to know that 41% of customers feel extremely frustrated when they are placed on hold. Moreover, 86% are willing to pay more for a better customer service experience that includes minimal delays. In fact, customers are least concerned with the management issues of customer service support providers and are more concerned with receiving instant solutions for their problems.

Quick and reliable customer service is the foundation of a loyal customer base, which is something that companies should never

Customer Complaint Management: Don’t Let the Snowball Grow

According to an estimate, more than 50% of companies do not answer customer complaints, which is where the snowball starts to grow.

When complaints are not handled well and in a timely manner, customers become dissatisfied.

Even if you are providing the best services, there is still a chance that you will face some kind of criticism or customer complaint. This means that every company should understand that although they can address most client’s needs, they will not be able to keep everyone happy.

Sometimes a customer makes a complaint regarding the quality of products or services. This situation

Top 40 Customer Service Statistics

The role of top-notch customer service can never be denied, which is obvious from the statistics about mass customization and customer-focused technology. This is because a business only prospers when customers are treated respectfully and when a company focuses on building strong relationships with customers as well as company employees.

Why Top-notch Customer Service Is Important

The importance of top-notch customer service can never be denied, because customers actively look for company responses and do not want to be ignored.

Having a look at several statistics will give you an idea of how it works:

• Most of the U.S.

Top 7 Customer Support Trends

Did you know that 77% of customers say that they are more loyal to businesses that offer top-notch service? Customer support is considered to play a vital role in this regard. This means that if you focus on the latest customer support trends, your business can excel by meeting changing customer expectations.

This is because customer support is the most authentic way to directly reach out to your potential customers and quickly solve their issues. One trend that will never change is the expectation to respond quickly to customer inquiries while providing quality solutions with short waiting times.

To discover

12 Ways to Reduce Helpdesk Ticket Response Times

A helpdesk plays a vital role in maintaining the overall progress of your business, irrespective of your niche or type of business.

According to a study, poor customer support can shatter the confidence of loyal clients and can cause them to feel less confident about conducting business with you again. This proves that the opposite of this fact can also be true, which means excellent customer support enables businesses to win the hearts of even the most skeptical customers.

In this regard, it is important to spend an appropriate amount of time with your customers in order to ensure they

Top 5 Market Segments That Face Data Security & Privacy Governance In 2021

It is no secret that market segments are not safe from modern cyber attacks. Statistics reveal that more than 1,400 data breaches took place in 2019. The Data Breach Quickview Report explains that a variety of market segments are facing data security and privacy governance caused by threats associated with exposure of sensitive data.

If we take a closer look at various market segments that face data security and privacy governance in 2021, we come to know that there are five major industries that report data breaches and face data management issues.

Let's dig deeper and analyze the top

What is Canada’s Privacy Act?

When providing personal information to government authorities, citizens want to know how their government will use their data. Citizens and residents are concerned about the legitimacy of data collection, thus they request clear notice describing to what extent privacy rules will be followed while analyzing their personal data. To ensure the maximum data safety of its people, Canada has established a well-defined Privacy Act.

Let's have a look at how information is being used and which basic privacy rights are guaranteed to the citizens of Canada.

1. What is the Privacy Act of Canada?

According to a trusted source:

The

Top 6 Techniques To Keep Customer Data Private

Data privacy is one of the hottest topics in today's business world. A report from TRUSTe/National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) Consumer Privacy Index has shown that people in the U.S. are extremely concerned about the privacy and security of their data. They give to it more importance than to their jobs and worry about it even more than they fear unemployment. Some high-profile data breaches, such as recent IBM's fiasco, also prove that everyone should be concerned about data privacy in the same way they care about their primary source of income.

Nowadays, when cybersecurity attacks are affecting

The Key Principles Of LGPD

LGPD stands for “Lei Geral de Proteção de Dados” and is translated as the “General Law on the Protection of Personal Data.” It is a Brazilian data protection law that governs the way people and organizations handle personal information in Brazil.

Following the global data protection law evolution, Brazil has also taken several practical data protection steps for using and disclosing personal data. The practical implementation of the Brazilian data protection law started on August 16th, 2020. The main purpose of this law is to provide information and rules regarding the processing of personal data.

Let's have a look at

How Technology Has Reshaped Communication Forever

In this era of modernism and technological advancement, digital commumication has become a norm rether then a choice. Technology has undoubtedly changed the way we live, interact, and conduct business forever.

It is not hard to notice that a business cannot succeed without the use of various tools for digital communication. All organizations can achievee their goals more effectively and efficiently by utilizing a new generation communication software.

In the past, telegrams and phone calls were major communication channels, but now the world has advanced and people can choose  between hundreds of online chats as well as modern devices, including

How To Create A Quality Customer Service Policy

If there is one thing that all successful companies have in common, it’s an outstanding customer service policy. Not only does a customer service policy give customers the level of support that will make them repeat customers, but it also gives employees a clear outline of how they’re supposed to operate.

A. What Exactly Is a Customer Service Policy?

A customer service policy is a set of rules and guidelines that gives employees a standard operating procedure when it comes to dealing with customer issues. It also provides customers with a framework they can turn to when they

5 Indicators That Your Company Needs to Change its B2B Customer Support Software

It seems that these days, every second advertisement we see is telling us to upgrade, switch brands, or get the next best thing. Because of consistently changing technology, the ‘switch’ and the ‘upgrade’ have become an overwhelming sensation. Whether it is a phone network provider advertising an upgrade that apparently saves you money on your plan or a car company enticing customers into buying their newest model. It seems that the entire world is telling us that the grass might be greener on the other side.

So, when is the right time to actually upgrade something? This question can be

What are the Consequences of Non-Compliance with Data Laws

Every business today can testify to the importance of integrating tech solutions with work processes. No matter the size of the business, integrating technology with business operations brings efficiency, speed, accuracy, and production quality, among other benefits. The integration will help meet customers' demands and will provide trade benefits, improved revenues, and alternative profits.

However, integrating support technology comes with potential problems that may be difficult to solve and can cause a massive loss in the business. Therefore, companies should focus on tech investment and integrate the necessary measures to embrace the vital role of technology: efficiency.

Businesses today are

Cybersecurity vs. Information Security

There has always been a cybersecurity vs. information security question in the computer science world but let's just say both are important for the safety of our data.

To understand these terms better, we must know the difference between data and information. Data is simply a raw form of information. For example, “J9” is data but when we reframe it as “block J and house number 9”, it becomes a piece of information.

Now let's put this in the context of the original topic: cybersecurity vs. information security. Cybersecurity and information security are often used by people interchangeably without conirdunique

9 Heartwarming Customer Care Stories

Companies all over the world have finally realized that their customers are savvy and will not accept being treated as a secondary part of the sales loop. In order to prosper, multinationals have expanded their approach from being strictly marketing-centric to also being focused on the customer care sector. When you are unfamiliar with a brand, a frequent user or current happy customer can surely convince you that it is worth a try.

Customer care stories have the power to influence public opinion on a company’s image. However, you need to have a spotless reputation first to start a

How to Make Your Virtual Customer Service Top-Notch

Although all of your workers are responsible for ensuring that your clients are satisfied, you can’t run a successful business today without a dedicated customer support staff. This is the most effective way to guarantee the quality of the customer support will remain high as the company grows. However, if you want to expand your business more quickly, you will need to set up a qualified virtual customer service. Due to uncertainty caused by the pandemic, flexibility in working remotely has become a non-negotiable tactic to incorporate as the company grows. However, it should be noted that this recent

How Can a Helpdesk Improve Your Sales?

Many companies aren’t putting enough effort into improving their customer service due to the common misconception that it should be a secondary goal, which is completely wrong. A secure helpdesk enables your customer service team to resolve customers’ issues quickly. But helpdesk software is more than that. It can help you improve your customers experiences, but sales numbers as well!

The ability to satisfy both lies in the task management feature. Depending on the phase of a customer lifecycle, you may allocate certain requests to your sales or support department.

Moreover, product quality and effective pricing are as important

12 Must-Have Customer Service Skills

Customer Service involves providing care to both new and existing customers. Customer service reps respond to customer queries related to a company’s offer. This process is done through face-to-face, chat, phone, and social media interactions. In today’s digital and highly competitive business world, having a chatbot on your website is a must-have if you aim to follow the latest industry trends.

But what is customer service and why is it so important? There are many misconceptions that good customer service is only related to solving their customers' problems. However, you must realize that there is much more to

Managing Remote Support Reps is Fine Until This Happens

Remote work practices have revolutionized the labour market. Nearly 25% of the US workforce has experienced working remotely, even if it’s just part-time. Millennials now form the majority of the global population and they’re fully embracing digital tools and remote work that gives more freedom of movement and task completion. Since 2014, there has been a 4% increase in the Millennial remote workforce, from 38% to 42%!

However, both managers and employees benefit from remote work opportunities as it improves both their professional and personal lives.

While some companies recognized the benefits of working remotely early on, others

What do Your Customers Expect from Your Customer Service Team

Markets in the US and across the globe have entered their most saturated evolution phases. The countless product and service options available online have spoiled customers who are now only one click away from choosing the competition over you. Industry leaders have recognized this trend and focused their business strategy on deploying customer-centric methods and tools to deliver top-notch experiences and beat the competition.

A Forrester study revealed that 95% of respondents would name excellent customer experience as their strategic priority. The same study showed that 75% of business owners see customer experience as a key company differentiator and they

8 Top Sales Closing Techniques That Will Win Your Customers

Are you looking for the best closing techniques to help you close even the hardest deal? If so, you are in the right place! One disclaimer before we dive into the details: while the following sales techniques can help you increase your company’s profit or accomplish the desired profit margin, results aren’t guaranteed. This is the nature of sales; there isn’t just one technique that can deliver a 100% sales success formula.

Yes, in theory a sales process sounds simple. You are expected to:

• Show up prepared: This rule means you need to do thorough research on

How to Turn your Customer Support Stories into Sales

There is a popular opinion in the business world that customer service in sales is a myth. We at Helpy think that this statement is misleading because they really represent two sides of the same coin, which ultimately boils down to customer experience. Therefore, the coexistence of customer service and sales guarantees success in both departments. Without superb customer service, you cannot close a deal. On the other hand, without a sale it would be impossible to continue building long-lasting relationships with your customers.

Only complete cooperation between these two departments can lead to memorable customer conversations, which can further

What is PIPEDA?

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) represents a Canadian data privacy law that regulates how businesses collect and use personal data within Canadian territory. This federal law came into force in 2000, much earlier than other privacy laws such as the GDPR and CCPA. At that time, Canadian federal legislation had a goal to increase trust in e-commerce and protect consumer personal data. Since then, PIPEDA legal officials have introduced several amendments to include other industries as well. However, there are still organizations that are exempt from this data regulation.

In terms of privacy, we can say

Should You Use Free Tiers of Software If You Face Data Privacy Regulation?

There is no such thing as a free lunch, right? We all love cheap things, or in the best scenarios, the ones we can get for discounted prices or even for free! However, free products or services are myths. No company offers free items without asking for something in return because no one can afford that luxury.

This is especially true for the IT industry where you can find numerous free trials for various types of software, including customer support software. The free software subscriptions are quite luring as they represent a great deal when it comes to testing the

Top Vendors of Security and Privacy Tools in 2021

Cybersecurity is a 2021 business trend and necessity! All eyes are pointed toward new data privacy laws and regulations that are giving a hard time to both global and local companies. There is no longer an option to collect data as you wish in the European Union, California, or Brazil. However, if you are in the finance, healthcare, or education industries in the US, you will also need to meet certain legal privacy requirements. If you collect the data of EU residents then you are expected to comply with the GDPR. Similarly, Californians now have the CPRA and Brazilians have

The 8 Most Notorious Data Breaches in History

We are entering an era of data security! This business aspect has finally gained the popularity it deserves. Today’s businesses are facing multiple data privacy and security regulations based on the territory and the industry to which they belong to. These new policies have redefined the boundaries of a company’s and a consumer’s data control rights. They have a shared goal of increasing cyberseingty while giving more power over data use to data subjects. The data lawmakers didn’t specify exact tools to use to reach these goals; however, they were explicit that the tools should protect

How Customer Support PII Affects Your Ability to Comply with Various Regulations

The rise of data privacy and protection laws has made Personally Identifiable Information (PII) the hottest topic in the customer service industry lately. The new data regulations reshaped data processing practices to give consumers more power over their sensitive data.

The goal in mandating these procedures is to create transparency and trust between the parties to guarantee maximum data privacy and security. They don’t discuss specific tools that you need to use however, they clearly demanded the use of new generation software solutions that ensure data safety, such as customer support software.

PII is an expensive asset. It helps

What Kinds of PII Typically End Up in Customer Support Software?

Do you want to know what the most expensive commodity is nowadays? If so, take a look at the value of customer information a.k.a personal identifiable information (PII). It is important to both companies and customers. Customers want to receive excellent support and companies need it to guarantee top-notch practices.

However, customers want to keep their information private and secure while upgrading their experiences. If you target consumers under the age of 45, you simply can’t present your offer without letting them know your privacy policy as 61% of this age bracket is active about their privacy.

Should You Self-host Your Chat Software?

The purchase decision regarding SaaS-based or self-hosted chat software is critical for your data privacy. Both solutions provide high levels of data security if you pick the right customer support software; however, one of these options involves a more thorough approach. Your decision greatly depends on your company’s resources and needs.

The size of your business requires a specific amount of data control. Nevertheless, a budget is one of the key factors that drives any business decision. How can you get the best of both worlds? The answer lies in the analyses of factors that impact your data protection

How to Hire Customer Support Reps in the Data Privacy Era

In order to reach your business goals, you need the right people on your side. However, it’s not sufficient to just have top notch talent at the top of your company pyramid. You need to invest a significant amount of time in recruiting both department managers and less qualified employees. This is especially true for hiring customer support staff.

Support reps are the face of your company! They are at the forefront of every customer interaction, trying to please your customers on a daily basis. Yet, in today’s world that is only a part of their job. They

Pros and Cons of Self-Hosting Your Help Desk Platform

For a long time, SaaS help desk software options dominated the industry. It was a new solution on the market that came with multiple beneficial functions to speed up and facilitate support tasks.

However, developers eventually recognised its flaws and started creating safer and more suitable self-hosted help desk software for businesses of certain sizes. The basic support functions remained intact; however, the advantages from the IT professional perspective are enormous.

While your support agents may not see the difference between the two, your IT and legal experts will definitely notice the distinction. They will have more obligations, but your

5 Industries with the Strictest Data Privacy Compliance Rules

The data privacy era posed new challenges to businesses around the world. For example, territory-specific data laws were introduced such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which was enforced in May 2018. Since then, EU officials have issued at least one fine in each member state, with the highest penalty of €50 million given to French Google.

Not so long after, Californian law enforcement introduced California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in 2019 with a goal to replicate the key GDPR requirements and increase the safety of personal data that Californians share with multiple companies. California is known

7 Types of Self-Hosted Software Every Security-Conscious Organization Needs

Today’s increasing reliance on Internet of Things (IoT) devices has led to a broadening of the cyber threats landscape. Various economic and social crises only contribute to making both businesses and individuals more vulnerable to hacking incidents. The scary number of data breaches in 2020 is proof of that.

This digital trend drives the demand for advanced security methods and tools that guarantee maximum privacy for consumer and company data. There is no doubt that our business world lacks a satisfactory security-focused mindset, which could result in fewer data breaches worldwide. At the moment, 50% of companies track security

How New Privacy Laws Affect Customer Support

Customer support is a prime target for hackers and considering that a hacker attacks every 39 seconds, you should take your support security seriously. Support is the weakest link for a reason. The first data collection steps happen here, yet this department is the hardest to maintain due to its size. Additionally, customers’ personal information could end up in an unsafe chat room. For example, in e-commerce businesses customers may give their credit card numbers over an email. In a medical chat or ticket, customers may disclose their social security or medical history. In a travel setting, customers may type

10 Things Every Customer Communication Should Include

Quality communication opens every door! It is vital for having a healthy personal life as well as for business prosperity! Advanced communication skills are essential ingredients for success in every business department; however, they play a critical role in customer support. Poor communication can have a dramatic effect on your business operations. For example, when a customer leaves your website angry or, in a worst-case scenario, leaves a bad review.

Communication is a very tricky area where one word can mean dozens of different things, both positive and negative. Your goal should be to always make your customers happy. In

FAQ vs Knowledgebase

Your recently acquired customer, Doug, is working on an assignment late at night and suddenly he faces an error that he cannot fix. He looks for his phone to call your support agent, but he soon realizes that no one will pick up the phone at 10pm.

The assignment is critical for his promotion so he rushes to find a solution by googling it. Your FAQ page pops up as well as your knowledge base. He is happy that he will find some answers and that soon this nightmare will be over. But which page does he visit longer and

Security and Privacy Requirements in the Public Utility Space

Data privacy and security are some of the hottest topics at today's business meetings. The utility industry has invested a lot in keeping up with the demands of revolutionary business technology. Automation has made the work processes more efficient; however, it has also brought challenges by introducing new and more sophisticated ways of collecting and processing data.

Utility companies simply cannot operate without data collection. It is not only a crucial component of serving customers and payments, but also necessary when maintaining the system and managing outages. Your home address, name, and phone number are needed when creating a monthly

Yes, the GDPR has Teeth. Which Nations were the Most Fined?

The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) set new standards and boundaries in the data processing and protection space, both locally and globally. These days you better think twice about your current and future data practices to ensure your data procedures are legitimate and the safety of your customers’ Personal Identifiable Information (PII) is not compromised.

However, this does not apply to all of your existing or potential customers. The GDPR is only for those who reside in the European Union. This can include EU citizens, permanent or temporary residents. No matter who belongs to which category or member

Consumer Privacy and Security in 2021

The rise of privacy and security laws in previous years has made data processing the hottest subject on the planet. Global digital transformation, remote work practices, and increasing cybercrime threats really pushed the envelope on data protection. The business world as we know it changed drastically last year!

Remote work and office work switched places as remote became the norm and commuting was suddenly optional. While working from home has multiple benefits in terms of efficiency, its practices are still in the infancy phase for the majority of companies. Together with the COVID-19 pandemic, it brought dozens of new security

Why Your Business Needs an Internal Knowledge Base

There is a lot of noise regarding knowledge base implementation these days, and for a good reason. It is a much cheaper support tool compared to the traditional costs, yet incredibly efficient and appealing to customers. A knowledge base is a truly revolutionary customer support software feature that turns our dreams into reality in terms of cost-effective solutions. Simply put, self-service is a trendy and preferred method among digital consumers nowadays, especially youngsters who spend most of their time on their cell phones and tablets.

However, there are internal knowledge base benefits too! But how are they different? The internal

Top Blog Posts of 2020

The New Year is here! This is the time when we should make new business resolutions, but also take a closer look at our previous achievements and what we have learned from them. Indeed, 2020 was a year of challenges, but it also brought new opportunities.

The customer support industry undertook major renovations last year. The year 2020 was a milestone for remote customer support management as well as the new generation support technology that enables it. Customer support software has become imperative to efficient and cost-effective support. Moreover, it has become a must-have tool to reach the highest satisfaction

10 Strategies for Creating a Knowledge Base That Will Reduce Support Tickets

The question of how to reduce support tickets has bothered companies for so long! Luckily, the answer has arrived. With the latest generation of customer support software, you can create a thorough and robust knowledge base that digital natives adore. Since 2017, Millennials have dominated the worldwide population landscape and they rely almost completely on their smartphones and other digital channels when making purchasing decisions.

Enabling anonymous searching for a solution is the key approach for this target market. The younger generations also embrace these trends, but Millennials are most interested in this category. Even Baby boomers enjoy the benefits

Understand Single Sign-On and How It Can Make Your Help Desk More Secure

What is Single Sign-On (SSO)? This question is quickly gaining popularity these days due to the increased importance of cybersecurity. Digital is not just a business option anymore; it has become a way of life. Prior to the digital revolution, we were only exchanging words and paper documents. Now we make virtual exchanges too. Moreover, we are transmitting 59 zettabytes of data through Internet of Things (IoT) devices per year! For us, that means a lot of customer data is being created, processed, shared, and stored. But for malicious hackers, it unfortunately means a lot of data can be stolen,

Live Chat For Financial Services: The Key Features and Benefits

The financial industry is one of the leaders of the digital revolution in business. Few organizations have embraced tech advancements as quickly and efficiently as financial institutions. For example, they pushed the development of self-service by deploying ATMs and mobile banking. Today we can enjoy completely digitized financial services. We can download our bank’s mobile app or log into their platform to transfer money or claim credit within minutes.

Banks, financial advisors, insurance companies, and credit unions are constantly in competition to provide more effective customer experiences, which drives the deployment of new financial tools. However, having a top-notch

CCPA 2.0 has passed: Meet the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA)

It hasn’t been long since the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) enforcement this year, and now there is the California Privacy Rights Act (CPRA)! On November 3, Californians approved the ballot initiative Proposition 24, or California Privacy Rights Act 2020, which expands their rights as consumers. The CPRA was built upon the CCPA; however, the amendments are so significant that it is more similar to GDPR.

The CCPA aims to protect the rights of Californian consumers while mandating certain procedures and practices that consumer-facing businesses need to follow. In contrast, the CPRA introduces innovative consumer rights, corrects existing CCPA

Service Desk Vs Help Desk: What is a Service Desk and How is it Different From a Help Desk?

The evolution of the customer service industry facilitated the overall working process by bringing numerous tech advancements and communication advantages.. Now your customer support reps can enjoy the many benefits of ticket automation and AI-powered chat. These features eliminate repetitive and trivial work, which gives your team greater  capacity to commit to more complex issues and create positive reviews.

In addition, you can enjoy an incredible increase in employee productivity and satisfaction as well as a higher customer satisfaction score. When you also consider that customer support software can halve your costs, these improvements can skyrocket your annual revenue. However,

How To Improve Your Customer Service in 5 Easy Steps

Can you imagine improving your customer service in just a week? Well, it has never been easier to do such a thing. Customer service technology has been developing rapidly, allowing you to make your support team’s efforts more productive, secure, and profitable than ever! You can’t count on long-term business prosperity if your churn rate is getting higher and higher, right?

Therefore, you should focus on providing an excellent customer experience (CX) that will not only guarantee your customers’ loyalty, but will also  turn them into your top-notch brand advocates.

Additionally, in the era of market saturation where

The Best Customer Support Software Features and CX Techniques for the Privacy Era

We are witnessing an incredible technological revolution that continues to reshape human lives. As Internet of Things (IoT) enabled devices become more and more common, the need for quality privacy protection features continues to rise! Customer data protection shouldn’t just be a concern of tech giants like Google or Amazon. Businesses of all sizes can suffer from data damage; however, the damage and risk in some cases are bigger than in others.

Today, most companies are required to comply with relevant local data privacy policies. If you have business operations in the EU, you need to comply with the

X Ways That Adding Live Chat Can Improve Your Customer Service Experience

You may ask, “Why do I need a live chat when I already have phone support and email contact options”? There are numerous live chat benefits; however, the key driver is that a majority of customers (41%) would rather reach out via live chat than via other platforms, including social media.

Today, digital natives are abandoning traditional customer support tools, in part because there are newer, more modern ways of communication, and in part because those ways are far more efficient.

Another live chat benefit lies in the ownership of this communication channel. If you utilize the latest customer support

Customer Service Skills for The Pandemic and Beyond

You may have a great product, but that’s not enough! If you don’t provide excellent customer service, your customers will leave, skip  your ad, and contribute to negative word-of-mouth. Being recognized for superb customer service is already a demanding task and it has become exponentially harder during the COVID-19 crisis.

The business world is shaken. Companies have been forced into a digital-only way of business operations. The loyalty of your customers has been put to the test. Today, customers prefer purchasing products or services online rather than visiting physical stores, which also may be closed due to the

Helpy Pro 3.2

We are excited to announce the availability of Helpy Pro 3.2.  This release adds some great new control over authentication with SAML, with a brand new preference pane for configuring authentication.

• Enhanced permissions:  This release adds new permissions options.
  
• New Authentication panel: This adds a new authentication panel to the settings, from which you can enable or disable the built in Helpy login, access LDAP and AD support, or configure SAML
  
• Web support for SAML: Previously, configuration of SAML authentication required using a file to set variables, and was restricted to self hosted installs. Both cloud hosted and self

Is Encrypted Data Subject to GDPR?

The debate on the EU data policy gets trickier when you try to discuss the GDPR encrypted data requirements. Most of the GDPR requirements are clear with regard to how personal data is defined; however, encryption demands a higher level of cyber and legal liabilities. This is why a question of the highest importance continues to crop up: Is encrypted data subject to GDPR?

The answer to this query significantly impacts the global business world. It determines which GDPR compliance route you are going to choose and how much you are going to invest in it. Additionally, it helps you

How to Make Helpdesk Chat More Personal

Personalized customer service is a game-changer for business today! Faced with multiple products and alternatives, customers have high expectations. They want you to treat them with respect and to value their time, money, and opinion.

The quality of customer experience (CX) impacts their decision to come back or become members of your loyalty programs more now than ever. While there are numerous customer support chat tips nowadays, and many companies are competing in providing personalized customer experience, many of them actually fail to deliver on quality.  

In order to deliver a best-in-class, personalized CX, you need to answer these WHY

TOP 7 Customer Support Tips For Providing Excellent CX

Customer support is the core of your business machine. If it doesn’t work properly, all the other departments are at risk of falling apart. You can develop an impeccable marketing strategy and robust privacy policy, but if your customer support reps aren’t treating your customers right, you can only expect high churn rate and consistently lower revenue stats.

At first glance, having excellent customer support seems obvious. However, it is the most overlooked ingredient to business prosperity. Today, it has become a major competitive differentiator in the sea of immense options. The most recent Gartner survey has discovered

Data Security Lessons: The Biggest Recent Hacking Incidents 2020

This year may have had more than its fair share of troubles. First and foremost, we are surviving the COVID-19 pandemic whose scale and reach is unprecedented in our lifetimes. In addition, there is global economic turbulence, civil rights uprisings worldwide, geopolitical tests of power, and multiple business crises. It is completely understandable to feel like you are losing control over your business in 2020.

Your personal business has likely been impacted by at least one of these larger-scale issues as well. In fact, your company may be on the line. And if you, like a majority Fortune 500 companies,

The Key Principles of GLBA

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), also known as the Financial Modernization Act of 1999, is the US federal law imposed with the goal of protecting consumers’ financial privacy. According to this regulation, financial institutions have a limited right to disclose consumer's nonpublic personal information (NPI).

This data privacy and protection law aims to safeguard the most sensitive NPI, which certainly includes personal finances. The financial NPI consists of banking details as well as your ID number, which is a key target for most hackers.

Financial institutions are required to inform their customers about data collection, processing, and storing of their personal

Top Tips For Customer Service in the Education Sector

Customer service hasn’t always been a term you would hear when referring to educational institutions, right? When you mention this concept in relation to the business world, it sounds more natural. For a long time, customer service represented only a corporate strategy. However, it has now become one of the strongest assets in the education industry, bringing competition to a new level.

The importance of customer service in education has never been clearer as the market density has grown. This is not just because there are more educational institutions. There are also many other factors that impact revenues. One

What Are the Key Principles of FERPA?

With the surge of new tech solutions in the education industry, it has become more challenging to protect the incredible amount of student data. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is the U.S. education law enacted in 1974 that regulates the use of student records, who has the access, and what data and when can it be disclosed for public purposes.

Since then, education institutions are obliged to follow FERPA requirements that guarantee the security and legitimate use of students' records. Parents and students are afforded certain rights that give them more control over their data. However,

The Key Differences Between GDPR and CCPA

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are the data privacy and security laws that are reshaping the global business scene. Both regulations aim to guarantee strong protection of individual data rights depending on the territories they cover.  

The two laws bear similarity regarding their definition of certain terminology, the inclusion of rights to access Personal Identifiable Information (PPI), and the establishment of additional rules for individuals younger than 16 years of age.

However, the main differences between GDPR and CCPA lie in the scope of application, requirements in relation to accountability, and

The Key Principles: What Does HIPAA Stand For?

Due to increasing public concern regarding the safety of individual patient data and tech evolution that enables easy access to healthcare data, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had a goal to improve the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 by adding a HIPAA privacy rule.

Prior to HIPAA, no publicly accepted set of security standards or any kind of general requirements for protecting patient data existed in the U.S. healthcare industry.

As new technologies have evolved, the healthcare industry has begun to move away from paper processes and rely more heavily on

Customer Support Tips For Financial Organizations

The financial market has become saturated, bringing competition to a whole new level. Today financial institutions are ensuring their competitiveness by offering traditional banking services, following emerging digital trends, highlighting bonuses, and lowering their prices.

This situation leads to highly competitive prices and service similarities, making it hard for customers to make a choice in the sea of options. Furthermore, the price of becoming an industry leader is much higher.

So how do you win the game these days? The key market players have recognized that the key company differentiator is customer experience. A  Gartner survey has shown that about

The Key CCPA Principles

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is revolutionizing the U.S. data protection, introducing stricter measures and setting new standards for the consumer rights of California residents.

The CCPA represents a groundbreaking law in the U.S. legislation history, bringing hefty fines for corporations that don’t establish valid compliance. It was passed in 2018; however, it first took effect on January 1st, 2020.

And we’ve already seen the first lawsuits! However, the fines are not the only reason the large companies are in a hurry to become CCPA-compliant.Establishing a required data policy has become a symbol of

What is a Customer Support Playbook and Why You Need One

These days, customers have the power! They are spoiled with countless choices and exposed to multiple sources of information regarding companies’ performance, such as customer reviews. The ability to check reviews quickly or access the latest news that can be damaging to a company's reputation, has made it easier to switch companies than ever before.

Additionally, as global markets have become increasingly saturated and online delivery has become more normal than traditional retail, businesses have started competing in delivering excellent customer experience.  

Customer service has become a key brand differentiator that impacts your customer retention rate significantly. The latest Vonage

Why is Customer Support a Target For Hackers?

The customer service department is an essential part of any successful business. CEOs and team leaders are aware of the importance of having a qualified customer service team to provide an excellent customer experience.

However, it’s not just about pleasing the customers. This job also comes with the major responsibility of safeguarding your customers’ data. Companies build their businesses on customer trust. And nothing says that your company is unreliable more than a data breach.

If data procedures are not carried out according to certain standards, the risk of a data breach grows. Furthermore, that means that the consequences

The 9 Key GDPR Data Protection Principles

There has been a lot of noise regarding GDPR compliance lately. The first massive fines have been issued and the EU commission hasn’t gone easy on anyone. When you look at the total amount of GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) penalties, which is €175,944,866 for just about one year of its enforcement, this law is quite scary. And for a reason. It can be difficult to understand GDPR and all of its clauses at first.

You would need to hire an IT and law expert and completely change your company’s direction regarding consumer rights and data

10 Customer Support Chat Tips to Deliver Better Service Now

Email and phone calls are old school customer support tools. The new generation technology has reshaped the way customers want to reach you. This is an era of AI chatbots and Live Chats where real-time communication has become an indicator of a company’s prestige. Instant answers and rapid solutions represent the key factors of excellent customer service.

Moreover, a g2crowd study has found that live chat has a 73 percent satisfaction rate as a tool for customers to reach desired businesses. Big companies have realized this opportunity and have installed the latest customer support software that includes both automated

Top 10 Customer Service Mistakes And How To Avoid Them

It feels great having your own department that is responsible for communication with customers. The wrong marketing or sales strategy surely costs a lot, but inadequate customer service costs you even more. A recent  PWC study has found that 73% of customers claimed that quality customer experience has the strongest impact on their brand loyalty.

And that shouldn’t be a surprising fact! You would probably  choose a company that uses an advanced customer service helpdesk and has a kind staff rather than a company that doesn’t invest enough in treating their customers nicely.

To create a community of

Top 10 Ways To Automate Customer Service

The most crucial component of the formula for customer service efficiency is a fast response. You need to understand that customers are always in a hurry. They want to get a solution quickly to feel appreciated.

Moreover, a Foster’s study has shown that 66% of customers claim that valuing their time during a support interaction is the most important thing a company can do. Thus, if you are not known for quick service, they may switch to a company that is.

However, if your customer base has outgrown your customer support capacity, responding in a timely manner can become

Top 12 Customer Support Platform Features

The customer service helpdesk industry is growing rapidly, making the purchasing decision a very hard task for you. However, there are always those best products on the market that guarantee your investment will pay off.

The best customer service software should include the latest tech advancements, have a user-friendly interface, and follow the latest data privacy and security regulations that apply to your business operations area. However, it can be difficult even to find an answer on what a customer service helpdesk software actually does.

To make it easier for you, here is a thorough guide on the best customer

Top 12 KPIs Customer Service Managers Need To Track

To provide the best possible results, you need to have the best tools available. But how do you know whether your tools and your customer service team are efficient? The answer is simple: you need to analyze their performance to determine if they are operating according to a certain winning standard.

That’s where these specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) jump in to help you! KPIs for customer service enable the comparison of data to help you make the optimal selection and in some cases even a change of direction.

You need to analyze and measure to determine whether your

How to Provide More Empathic Customer Support in the COVID-19 Era

During the past few months, you might have felt like someone “pulled the rug out from under you”. The shift to the new normal in both the humanitarian and economic areas has been widely visible. These days, many CEOsand department managers are in a hurry to adapt to new measures while making their businesses sustainable.

The key business success factor that speaks louder than others lately is connecting with customers. It is crucial to ensure that empathizing and bonding with your customers is still of the utmost importance to your company and its employees, as no other disruptor has changed

How to Communicate Security Breach Notifications to Customers

According to a recent study conducted by Risk Management Security, much has changed in the data breach world last year. There were more than 3,000 data breaches, which is a massive 54% increase versus the year before. It’s no secret that by now more than half of organizations have experienced at least one data breach incident that had an impact on their customers’ Personal Identifiable Information (PPI) usage.

Fortunately, the awareness of data security importance has also increased. Everyone, from industry leaders to startups, invests in data security technology that will make their business operations safe and keep

How To Respond To Angry Customers – Plus Examples

Being a customer service agent is not an easy occupation. Unfortunately, you are expected to deal with inconvenient situations to protect your company’s brand. The question that most often arises in the customer service industry is how to respond to angry customers? They are the most dangerous type of customers that can cost you a ruined reputation if you don’t deal with them properly.

As your company’s prestige is on the line, you may consider having training for your agents where you can present your company’s techniques for outstanding customer support. Having a document that outlines

Tips For Managing a Great Remote Customer Service Team

A new evolution phase in the labor field is at its peak. Remote work, especially freelancing, has been around for many years, however, many companies haven’t realized its benefits. But recently remote work has become a necessity for many companies, largely due to the pandemic. However, you should shift to remote working if at all possible, as it has been shown to deliver better results.

A Pennsylvania State University study found that remote employees are more productive and have a better work-life balance. One Stanford study backed these results, finding that remote workers are 13% more productive and that

Why Is Customer Data Privacy Important In Your Helpdesk Software?

In this digital age, customer data has become a highly sought-after commodity. Cyber attackers can profit from possessing this valuable information. Thus legitimate data privacy policies and robust data protection have become key determinants of business success.

If you experience a data leakage or you are accused of data mishandling, you will be faced  with a compromised reputation and lower sales numbers as a result. Many customers may decide not to do business with you again, putting your business at risk. It is possible you may never recover from this loss.

Would you like to avoid this scenario? If you

Worldwide Customer Data Privacy Trends in 2020

We can say that 2020 is certainly a year of data privacy laws! A good deal of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) fines and the first California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) penalties were issued recently, causing a lot of panic in the business world. The newest data privacy laws are increasing awareness regarding consumer rights. And there is no doubt that the massive fines are boosting the buzz and concern surrounding these policies.

Thus, many companies are starting to take these policies seriously to avoid the negative monetary ramifications and to garner goodwill with their customers and business partners. Establishing

How Can Helpdesk Software Improve Your Bottom Line?

Wondering how to improve your bottom line? Experts estimate that U.S. companies alone record a $62 billion loss annually due to poor customer service. That is quite a large amount of money!

However, a significant number of market leaders reported that using customer service helpdesk software helped them halve their costs! SaaS and AI technologies offer a unique opportunity to greatly improve your efficiency while reducing expenses.

Considering the fact that one single helpdesk software can replace a large part of a customer service department, how much do you think you can save each month by utilizing it? Start

Secrets Of Successful Work From Home Customer Service Agents

Next generation technologies are revolutionizing the labor market again. We are witnessing incredible, fantastic transformations regarding work processes. Fortunately, they are all good for us.

A decade ago, could you have imagined that you will be able to do your full-time job from the comfort of your home? Remote work sounds and feels amazing, right? Now we can both produce value and relax at our houses. And in this period of crisis due to the COVID-19 outbreaks, remote work seems to be a winning solution.

However, this creates new challenges for work from home customer service agents. It raises the

TOP Reasons: Why You Need A Great Helpdesk Ticketing Software?

A massive expansion of the global business market has increased the need for large-scale customer service solutions. Additionally, any successful business with a customer support department should opt for advanced tools to maximize effort and minimize loss.

A helpdesk ticketing system represents the latest customer service technology that skyrockets performance and customer satisfaction levels. It converts customer inquiries into  digital tickets, allowing you to work on numerous customer requests from a  handy dashboard.

If you are not sure how helpdesk ticketing works, stay with me!

What Do Helpdesk Ticketing Systems Do?

Helpdesk ticketing systems are here to stay! They organize

Helpy Pro 3.1

Helpy Pro 3.1 is here with a rebuilt IMAP collector and new security features to help keep your support data even more secure, along with some new bug fixes.  

• Security Panel with data masking, IP whitelist - This allows you to turn on data masking for credit card numbers, IP addresses and other PII or security sensitive data that may appear in the content of customer tickets or chat messages.
• IMAP email collector with fetcher - Allows you to receive email from an IMAP server of your choosing.  This is a self host only feature.
• Add signed in access

9 Winning Customer Service Experience Examples

Profit is essential for continued business growth and prosperity. You worked hard to get where you are now and it’s time to enjoy the fruits of your labor. To get the final results you want, we suggest you to start with enhancing or creating a strong customer service department early in your company’s existence. The chances to convert your visitors into buyers or to reach an optimal customer retention rate are significantly reduced if your customer service isn’t top-notch!

Great support is a foundational pillar for all your marketing efforts. If your response rate isn’t at

CCPA Update- The first wave of lawsuits are well underway in California

At Helpy, we have been anxious to see how enforcement and legal action surrounding the new California Consumer Protection Act (otherwise known as the CCPA) would play out.

It has now been more than six months since the CCPA went into law, and almost a month since the California Attorney General was to commence enforcement actions.

If you remember, the CCPA allows for class-action lawsuits against companies who violate customer’s privacy rights and features a relatively broad definition of what constitutes private information.  

As of July 1, 2020, The California Attorney Generals office also can bring enforcement actions and

A Complete Explanation: Data Privacy vs Data Protection

The marvelous IoT way of life has become more of a norm rather than a novelty. We all love to purchase online, surf the internet, or send gifs and chat with our friends from another side of the globe. However, every Yin has its Yang. When signing up for a platform or buying from a company, we provide highly valuable personal data that are targeted to multiple malicious attackers.

Unfortunately, there are always hostile intentions that we need to fight against. To shield our personal information we need data privacy and data protection. These two might sound identical at first

Future Trends: 7 Key Ways Technology Will Reshape Customer Service

We are witnessing many changes that advanced tech tools are making in the business arena. They revolutionize marketing practices, including customer service. To stay competitive, you need to track the latest customer service technology trends.

Quality customer service is a foundational block of your business growth pyramid. Nothing in the above structure will work if your customers don’t get an answer and the experience they were looking for. And that is where the latest customer service technology jumps in to help you.

How does technology affect customer service? Let’s find out!

1. SaaS Is The Revolution Leader

SaaS

An Essential GDPR Summary: 16 GDPR Requirements That Your Business Needs To Follow

Are you worried about your company’s EU General Data Protection (GDPR) compliance? Well, worry no more because we have prepared an easy-to-follow GDPR summary of all the requirements relevant to your business.  

Here, we will discuss mostly the GDPR data privacy part, which focuses on ensuring that consumers can make their own decisions regarding data processing.

This summary will help you avoid hefty fines imposed for violating consumer rights. These fines can be as high as €20 million or in some cases 4% of the company’s worldwide annual revenue. Both options sound quite unappealing, right?

Following the GDPR

Helpy Pro 3.0

We are excited to announce the availability of our largest update ever, version 3.0! This adds significant new features such as permissions, live chat, and support for multiple custom forms.  Here is a run down of the major features:

• Collision Detection:  Prevents multiple agents from working on the same ticket at the same time. When another agent is already editing or looking at a ticket, team members will be able to see this, reducing the chances of a customer receiving duplicate replies.
  
• Permissions: Determine which staff members have access to different features of Helpy, and which groups of customer

What Is the Definition of Customer Service Excellence

How you approach customers will directly reflect on the business’ success. Many marketers, business owners, and customer service experts talk about the importance of customer service excellence and innovations in this department. But what is customer service excellence?

Knowing how to provide great customer service experience is essential. That is why in the following rows you can find clarification on what falls under customer service excellence and how to achieve it.

Defining Customer Service Excellence

Can you define excellence? When we’re talking about customer service you can.

Customer service is providing customers with assistance. However, customer service excellence is

Helpy 2.8.0

Version 2.8 contains important security updates and the following new features:

Whats New?

• NEW It is now possible create users one at a time, with or without inviting them.
• NEW When creating tickets by API, you can now specify the CC and BCC for the new ticket.
• NEW A new API for viewing and editing taggings has been added (thanks @schmidt)
• NEW A honeypot (anti spam) feature was added to the new ticket form (thanks @schmidt)
• CHANGE Assigning an agent no longer automatically marks the ticket as "pending".
• CHANGE The whitelist of allowable file attachments has been significantly changed

Helpy 2.7.0

The 2.7 release of Helpy is here, with several great new features to help you better provide great customer support.

New Features in Helpy Core:

• nested categories feature lets you create sub categories with a drag and drop UI to group and administer them.
• New API setting for default reply type
• Site URL is now validated
• New Anti-spam setting to filter any ticket from matching email addresses to spam
• The email address a ticket is sent to is now captured

Features added to Helpy Pro/Cloud:

• New ticketing preference panel added, giving easy access to advanced ticketing settings
• New

Helpy 2.6.0

This release fixes several edge case bugs and adds a couple new API features and an all new Ukrainian language translation. Specifically:

• New Ukrainian locale #1378 @Serg2294

Bug Fixes:

• Translated versions are now properly included in the search index #1375
• The CC address is now persisted if you change the assignment of a ticket while editing the reply #1387
• Agents can now create an unassigned ticket #1317
• A rare bug that docs unclickable on mobile has been resolved #1371

API:

• A new endpoint has been added to get specifics of the currently logged in user #1242 @trevormerritt
• Categories can now

3 Tips on Improving Your Customer Service

By actively working to manage your customers’ needs, you can both avoid the pitfalls that result from lackluster service and encourage customers to bring back their friends again and again. Additionally, as America enters into one of the busiest shopping seasons, customer service is extremely important in managing long-lines and unhappy consumers. Listed below are several tips, tricks, and strategies for improving your customer service!

1. Ensure that You Possess the Necessary Skills

Whenever you or a member of your team interacts with customers, there are a number of skills that everyone must possess in order to manage their needs.

Helpy 2.5.1

This release is primarily a bug fix release and includes several important security updates.  It also includes a new feature for tracking the availability of agents.  This is currently only accessible by API call, and will remove "unavailable" agents from the assign to agent dropdowns.

Overall, this version includes:

• Added new status attribute to users to describe availability of agents
• Added new API endpoint for setting the availability of agents
• Scope assignment dropdowns to only include 'available' agents
• Improvement to the French translation
• Fixed a bug with updating ticket views in version 2.5.0
• Updated many dependencies

Notes for

Helpy 2.5

or hosted customers, each time Helpy receives an email using the hosted email service, the message is rated by SpamAssassin with how likely it is to be spam.  Two new settings have been added to either block tickets outright, or filter them to the spam folder, depending on that SA score.  Note: the default settings are pretty aggressive and you may need to adjust if you are getting false positives.

For on-premise and open source users, the spam features will work if you use a supported email service provider (Sendgrid, Mailgun, Mandrill, Postmark, etc.)

In total, the following changes have

Helpy 2.4

The new 2.4 version has just been released and includes some great new stuff:

All new tag manager- now admins can control what tags can be used.  Setup tickets through the admin UI.

Ticket tag picker: there is an awesome new search and select UI for adding tags to your tickets

Autosave for ticket replies and doc editing is here.  Now if you accidently click away, your changes will be still be there when you return.

New settings have been added to the API to control how Helpy behaves.  These settings will be added to a new preference

Helpy 2.3

Our January release (2.3.0) includes a number of great improvements, including:

• Addition of the new Nordic theme contributed by Seravo.com
• Bug fixes and updates to underlying dependencies and docker container
• Addition of a search to quickly and easily link to KB articles when you are replying to a customer inquiry
• Refreshed and improved UI for creating and editing Inbox Views
• Refreshed UI for creating triggers.  Triggers can now be activated and deactivated.
• Triggers can now be ordered by dragging them.

Want to make more money? Offering great support can help

In the software business, we have always *thought* that offering great support is good for business.  We all know that support can reduce customer churn or attrition- potentially saving a business a huge amount of money in the long run.  Furthermore, happy customers become a street force of evangelists who help spread the word and drive adoption of our products and services.

For SAAS businesses, there is now hard data that actually proves how beneficial offering great support can be, and it might just change the way businesses think of support- from a cost center to a profit center!

How

Ten ways an AI Support Bot will improve your customer experience

Mainstream media has left little doubt that AI has a strong future in the often repetitive world of customer support.  One of the primary implementations of early AI is in the form of chatbots or chat assistants, and with good reason.  On average, a well planned support chatbot can save companies millions by reducing tier one requests alone.

However, there are a number of other ways that adding AI to your support presence can drive significant benefit.  Here are ten ways that we have seen AI support chatbots revolutionize support:

1. Shorter queues, particularly in tier one scenarios

The obvious