Case management for Customer Service Management

  • Release version: Xanadu
  • Updated August 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Case management for Customer Service Management

    Case management in Customer Service Management (CSM) enables organizations to efficiently handle customer requests and issues by creating cases, routing them to the appropriate agents or groups, and working systematically toward resolution. It supports effective communication with customers and provides agents with tools to evaluate, respond to, and resolve cases, thereby enhancing the overall customer experience.

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    The case management process begins with case creation through various communication channels such as email, phone, and chat, followed by categorization, routing, assignment, resolution, and reporting.

    Key Features

    • Case Workflows: Automate and streamline the steps and tasks involved in resolving cases to simplify processes, track progress, and speed up resolution times.
    • Case Types: Define and separate different case handling processes for various departments, business units, or products, allowing tailored support workflows.
    • Service Definitions: Link products, services, and case types to help agents and customers quickly find relevant case types based on the customer’s product or service.
    • Playbooks: Provide agents with visual, step-by-step guidance to handle specific case types, boosting productivity and ensuring consistent customer service.
    • Major Issue Management: Manage communication and resolution for widespread issues affecting multiple customers by proactively identifying and notifying all impacted parties.
    • Customer Project Management: Track and manage complex, long-term customer projects, including issue resolution and cost tracking, to improve customer satisfaction and reduce operational costs.

    Practical Benefits for ServiceNow Customers

    By leveraging these case management capabilities within ServiceNow CSM, your organization can:

    • Streamline case handling processes and reduce resolution times through automation and workflows.
    • Customize support approaches for different business areas or products using case types and service definitions.
    • Enhance agent efficiency and customer experience with guided playbooks and proactive major issue management.
    • Effectively manage complex customer engagements and projects to improve service delivery and control costs.

    Manage customer requests and issues by creating cases, routing cases to agents and groups, and working toward resolution. With case management, you can provide your agents with the tools they need to evaluate cases, communicate with customers, answer questions, and resolve issues.

    Getting to know the case management process

    Case management refers to the business processes and activities designed to evaluate and address customer issues and requests while managing the overall customer experience through effective communication. Case management enables you to engage with customers, categorize and route cases, assign work to agents, and manage cases through resolution and reporting. Case management starts with case creation as customers reach out through a number of communication channels including email, phone, and chat.

    The following diagram shows the case management process.

    Figure 1. High-level process flow for the case management process
    Workflow displaying the case management process. For the text description, refer to the preceding text in the Getting to know the case management process.
    Use the following features with the Customer Service Management application to manage the cases for your customers:
    • Case workflows
    • Case types
    • Service definitions
    • Playbooks
    • Major issue management
    • Customer project management

    Case workflows

    A case workflow is a series of steps and tasks that are involved in closing a case. By using a case workflow, you can automate systems to simplify your processes, track task completion, and accelerate case resolution.

    To learn more about case workflows, see Configure proactive case flows.

    Case types

    A case type is a collection of data and processes that are needed to resolve a specific type of issue. For example, case types are needed when a company has different processes for supporting customers across multiple departments, business units, or products. By using a case type, you can separate these processes through case applications that support each process.

    To learn more about case types, see Customer Service Case Types.

    Service definitions

    A service definition refers to a specific type of service request that your agents can offer to customers for a case type. Service definitions establish a connection between the products, services, and case types so agents and customers can quickly access the relevant case types by the customer or product.

    To learn more about the service definitions, see Service definitions.

    Playbooks

    Playbooks provide agents with a visual guide, including step-by-step guidance for the various tasks that the agents can use to resolve the specific type of customer service cases. A playbook helps to improve agent productivity and your customer experience by digitizing and automating complex customer service processes.

    To learn more about playbooks, see Playbooks for Customer Service Management.

    Major issue management

    With major issue management, you can efficiently manage your customer communication and resolution process for a major issue that impacts multiple customers. By identifying other affected customers who haven’t reported the issue, you can proactively create cases, notify the affected customers, and manage all the issues until resolution.

    To learn more about major issue management, see Major issue management overview.

    Customer project management

    With customer project management, your company can track and manage long-term complex projects, resolve issues, and track the cost of serving customers on complex projects. Customer project management helps your company to improve the customer experience, reduce inbound calls, and lower costs.

    To learn more about customer project management, see Integrate with Customer Project Management.