[tjarratt]

Maybe I'm missing something, but this doesn't feel like an improvement over customers having my personal phone number. I understand providing good support is important, but being able to step away from unnecessary contacts and work in your personal space when you are up against deadlines / emergencies is something I value more than being available for a customer.

This rant really only applies to the suggestion of using a chat client - the interface to see their customers' pertinent information (logged in, pages browsed, location, unique visits) does look very helpful.

[mjpizz]

I see what you mean, but...there are a few things that make it different than a phone number. For one, you can just set an away status (when busy), which you can't do with a phone. And customers never get your IM screen name, they just chat from a chatbox on the page itself :)

Also, sorry if it came off as a rant - I actually agree with thafman that extra tools can help large organizations with big customers. For us, we deal with many SMBs and other small organizations, so email is more than adequate for communicating with those customers.