Going Global: Enabling Cross-Language Customer Service Chat

Today's globalized, digital world provides a myriad of opportunities and challenges for businesses. Globalization provides ease of access for companies looking to enter new markets while simultaneously presenting challenges related to interacting with customers across an ever-increasing range of geographies and languages.

Take, for example, customer service. It is no longer sufficient to provide customer support in one channel or language. In this digital and globalized age, companies need to provide customer support in languages native to their customers, via a medium their customers are comfortable with. Customers' expectations for support have changed-they now expect 24/7 support across a variety of devices. For many companies and customers, providing this support means turning to customer service chats. The American Express 2014 Global Customer Service Barometer showed that in the United States, half of the respondents use company websites to share their customer experience; in India, that percentage jumps to 74 percent.

Globally supported chats can be a daunting endeavor for companies. Traditionally, companies developed local customer service hubs for each market and hired local customer service representatives who speak customers' native or preferred languages, adding a considerable cost to global expansion.

Thankfully, technological advancements in both computing and language support have drastically changed the customer service landscape. Now, offering chats in customers' native languages is not only possible, but a highly cost-effective option. Chats can reduce call center volume, drive faster issue resolutions, and increase customer satisfaction by ensuring that companies are connecting with customers on an individual level in their native language. 

Using machine translation, chats can be translated in real-time, enabling brands to remain engaged with customers, regardless of perceived language barriers, and eliminate the risk of excluding global customers. ...