Salesforce1 SOS for Apps – The Customer Support Game Changer for 2015

It’s changing! The customer-support space has experienced a long and rapid list of changes over recent times, and this momentum is not likely to slow down as we move into the New Year as Salesforce launches SOS button for mobile apps. Have a look at the changing trends:

Smartphones and tablets have become an extension of humans, turning us into a mass of digital natives. Dreamforce ’14 focused all on mobile and one of the most interesting additions to Salesforce1 Service Cloud support product was SOS for apps.

What is Salesforce1 SOS for Apps?

Meaning of SOS

System of systems (SOS) is the viewing of multiple, dispersed, independent systems that pool their resources and capabilities together to create a new, more complex system, which offers more functionality and performance than simply the sum of the component systems.

Salesforce1 SOS for Apps

Similar to the Mayday button on Amazon’s Kindle Fire, Saleforce1 Service Cloud SOS gives apps a prominent help button within the app. It provides a one-way video chat window where friendly service reps can pop up and talk to customers to assist them through a service issue.

Features of Salesforce1 SOS for Apps

78% of customers use mobile apps for customer-support. To meet this rising threshold of customer expectations on smartphones, Salesforce1 SOS for Apps features:

• Live one-way video support
• Live two-way audio support
• Routing to right agent
• Real-time customer assistance
• Personalized 1:1 Support
• Screen-sharing
• Mirror image view of customers’ screen for Agents
• Live screen drawing tools for agents for step-by-step guidance
• Full customer history during service interactions

Availability and Pricing

• Its general version is expected to launch in the Spring ’15 release
• Salesforce1 Service Cloud is generally available and pricing starts at $65 per user per month

Technical Know How’s of Salesforce1 SOS for Apps

• It can be completely integrated with the Salesforce1 Service Cloud (The Customizable Mobile App)
• SOS button that can be branded and placed anywhere in the mobile app
• No proscribed shape or size to which the button must conform; it can be a customized product for each company
• It can be made available to whichever customers the company wants
• Agent is immediately alerted once a customer clicks on the SOS button
• Specifically for use with native mobile apps running on iOS and Android devices

Pilot testing for SOS for Apps has already begun and Preview enabled Sandboxes can start playing with it. “We want to give our clients time to learn how to use the SDKs and get everything right,” said Larry Robinson, VP of Product Management for Salesforce Service Cloud.

Missing features in Salesforce1 SOS for Apps

The companies selected for the Salesforce SOS for Apps beta were pre-chosen long before the Pilot release, and to be considered for the SOS Pilot, you must already have your Salesforce1 mobile app developed. Though SOS for Apps seems to be the new key to personalization in the customer support arena, there are a few features that are given a miss:

• Camera Sharing (two-way video)
• Desktop compatibility for customer
• Live screen annotation
• Co-browsing between agent and customer
• Recording of the call
• Sharing of pictures/screenshots
• Freeze frame

Salesforce is a significant contributor in mobile self-service, but must also support businesses to understand how tools like SOS can be used together with mobile self-service. SOS should also be integrated with mobile communities, chat, and social feeds, so that customers have diverse and instant ways to find answers to issues.

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