A pop-up that shows an agent the customer’s account information as the agent is answering the call. A chatbot that uses artificial intelligence to answer customer questions quickly and accurately. A forecaster that tells a call center supervisor whether they have the right number of agents for the day’s anticipated workload.

As famed science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke noted in 1962, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” A modern, cloud-based contact center—either as a UCaaS (Unified Communications as a Service) or CCaaS (Contact Center as a Service) solution—can seem magical.

Better Customer Service

A robust client contact center should make it easy for customers or prospects to do two things:

• Get quick answers to their questions
• Communicate the way they want

For example, a university’s frequently asked questions might include: What is tuition? When does the semester begin? Can freshmen have a car on campus?

A chatbot can use artificial intelligence to answer FAQs instantly. Students or agents don’t have to wait for a human to respond, and contact center employees can concentrate on other inquiries.

By compiling a list of FAQs and programming a chatbot to respond, any organization can significantly boost the efficiency of its contact center. If a chatbot can’t fully answer a question or the customer wants more information, the chat transfers to an agent—along with the conversation history between the customer and bot. As a result, the agent can quickly respond to the customer’s inquiry without asking them to repeat themselves.

In addition, a multimedia contact center lets customers use the communication method they prefer, whether phone, email, text, or chat. For busy contact centers, the callback feature improves the customer experience by allowing callers to leave a number where the next available agent can reach them. In each case, account information is automatically provided to agents, which saves customers’ time.

An omnichannel solution allows customer service agents to migrate a conversation from chat to email to phone at the press of a button, without sacrificing functionality.

The Security of Redundancy

One important benefit of a properly designed cloud-based system is built-in redundancy. If a server malfunctions or a network center suffers a power failure, the system can seamlessly switch to another server or center and agents can continue working as if nothing had happened. No panic, no lost calls, no angry or frustrated customers.

The second major benefit is that contact center staff can work from anywhere as easily as if they were all sitting in the same office, and the contact center is scalable as the organization grows.

More Insights, Better Cost Control

Another significant benefit of a cloud-based contact center is reporting and forecasting. Supervisors can monitor average hold times, number of calls abandoned, and other critical metrics. Supervisors can monitor performance by day, hour, agent, or virtually any way they choose, and use that information to help coach agents.

Supervisors can also run what-if scenarios to optimize staffing. For example, if the goal is to answer a customer’s call within 60 seconds, an algorithm can predict how many agents will be necessary to meet that goal during peak periods and less busy times.

The VOIP Network Approach

The best contact center for any organization doesn’t start with technology. It starts with people. How does the organization operate? What capabilities does the organization need? Does information from the contact center need to integrate with other software or systems? How will the organization grow or evolve in the foreseeable future?

To answer those and other critical questions, VOIP Networks begins by holding focus group meetings with potential customers even before a proposal is written, and those meetings continue after a contract is signed. The goal is to ensure that every stakeholder, from contact center supervisors to IT staff, plays a role in the development and deployment of the new contact center.

We also ensure that security and other protocols match the regulations of the organization’s industry, whether that means HIPAA requirements for medical organizations or PCI compliance for financial information.

In short, there is no off-the-shelf contact center solution. We can customize every aspect of the contact center, from available reports to integration with other business applications (e.g., CRM, ERP, etc.), backed by white-glove service and ongoing support and training.

VOIP Networks designs and manages contact centers that are efficient, cost-effective, scalable, and designed to meet each organization’s unique needs and operations. For more information, or to discuss your communications needs, please contact us.