AI | Fonolo

Contact Center Trends 2020: A New Age for the Contact Center

By Fonolo Team on December 17, 2019

Reply

Change is the only constant trend.

Everything from the way we shop to how we listen to music has changed in the last two decades. This includes our experience as customers. Modern consumers are no longer willing to accept poor customer service. In fact, more than 80% of customers now say the experience a company provides is as important as its products.

It’s been a journey: The contact center evolved from the humble call center, as more channels of communication became commonplace. In order to keep up with the demands of modern consumers, the contact center is destined to evolve further, into the ‘Customer Experience Hub’ of the future.

As part of this, many businesses are already moving away from the view of call centers as ‘cost centers’ and towards one that views them as a centers of opportunity for businesses — one where the opportunities the center creates well outweigh the costs of running it.

With this ‘meta-trend’ to give us some context, here are three of our top trend predictions for the call center in 2020. Continue reading →

How Chatbots Can Support Your Live Chat Customer Service Strategy

By Jessica Suezin on November 7, 2019

Reply

People often hear the word ‘bots’ and immediately think about some dystopian science fiction flick they’ve seen where robots ultimately take over the world and usurp humanity. There is still a lot of misunderstanding and miscommunication in the marketplace about bots, and artificial intelligence generally, which explains in large part the resistance some people have in adopting bots for their lives and businesses.

The truth is, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and messenger bots are a new frontier in technology that can be an excellent tool to support our businesses, particularly when it comes to customer service. When used and integrated into your call center and customer service strategy correctly, messenger bots have the potential to relieve backed up call center queues, assist busy customer service agents, and ultimately help serve more customers and increase sales and revenue for the long term.

This is how messenger bots can increase the efficiency of your customer service call center, improve customer satisfaction, improve the workflow of your customer service and call center agents, and increase the overall value of your company. Continue reading →

20/20 Vision: The Best Advice for Contact Centers in 2020 – The Experts Weigh In

By Samantha Mehra on August 29, 2019

Reply

Every year we ask: What can contact centers do to bolster their productivity, efficiency, and customer service offerings in the future? How can they survive and thrive in the face of so many variables? Well, it’s that time once again: We invited some of the top contact center experts from Ada, J Arnold and Associates, The Belding Group, Callzilla, Expivia, and other vibrant CX and CS avenues to offer us and you, our dear readership, their best pieces of advice for contact centers in this increasingly complex customer age.

As you read on, you’ll notice some pertinent themes arising for the coming year, some established, and some brand-spanking new: Leveraging AI and self-service in an increasingly competitive contact center space; optimizing training and education for employees; keeping the ‘human’ element of customer service in mind when incorporating new channels; being strategic with automation; and more. This year’s soundbites are rich with well-researched insights that a) act as a warning; and b) can help your contact center win.

Continue reading →

4 Takeaways from Our Live Discussion on AI and Natural Language Processing [Video]

By Drew Wilkinson on July 2, 2019

Reply

Last week, Fonolo hosted an insightful live discussion on the current state of AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP). The expert panel discussed how NLP relates to the general field of AI, the pros and cons of different approaches to NLP, and more. To save you some time, we’ve extracted video snippets showcasing highlights from the discussion.

First, let’s take a quick look at the panel of speakers: Frank Schneider, Tobias Goebel, and Shai Berger.

Continue reading →

CPaaS Expands but Boundaries Getting Vague

By Shai Berger on June 19, 2019

1

Six months ago I wrote that “CPaaS is a victim of its own success. The founding principle was to free communications from the grip of the carriers. But now many carriers have a CPaaS offering.”

Some folks responded that the point of CPaaS was not to demote the carriers, and that its success should be judged by the new products that it enables and not by whether it’s a net plus or minus for carriers. I admit it is easy to get wrapped up in, “inside baseball” type discussions. Maybe I spend too much time with analyst types.

So, what is the right way to judge success? What lasting impact do we expect CPaaS to leave?

Continue reading →

Four Reasons Why a Personalized Customer Service Experience is Important

By Jessica Suezin on June 18, 2019

Reply

Today’s customers are savvier than ever before and one thing many of them are looking for is a custom experience tailored specifically to their individual needs. A study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Ada showed that personalized customer service has a variety of benefits for the company providing these customized experiences. Companies with personalized customer service see a decrease in operational costs, more efficient call center agents and higher levels of customer satisfaction and engagement.

Despite the clear benefits of personalized customer service, only 5% of companies said they were implementing customized experiences regularly. With so few companies jumping on the customization train, brands have a huge opportunity to set themselves apart. Let’s take a closer look at some of the rewards you can reap by giving your customers that personal touch!

Continue reading →

Big Vendor Announcements Focus on AI at Enterprise Connect

By Shai Berger on March 21, 2019

4

The Enterprise Connect conference is one of the largest events in communications technology. It’s often the venue for major announcements from the biggest vendors. It was here that Twilio announced Flex. It was here that Avaya announced Breeze, SnappIns, and Zang. It was here that Amazon launched Connect.

Big announcements this year include the launch of two new cloud contact centers called Edify and Thrio; a new contact center from Vonage called CX Cloud Express (based on their acquisition of NVM which we covered here); and the rebranding of Polycom/Plantronics as “Poly.”

But as for the big call center vendors, their announcements were less dramatic, and all revolved around AI.

Continue reading →

Customer Experience Trends in 2019

By Astrid Monge on February 28, 2019

Reply

We are now controlling the transmission.

This year, the only transmission that companies should be ‘tuning in to’ is customer experience (CX). We are firmly in a CX renaissance: 89% of companies now compete on the basis of customer experience alone. So, in 2019, breaking through the noise coming from the competition and providing a static-free customer experience are both increasingly important.

Companies are striving to take customer experience more seriously than in the past and, as a result, are realizing that CX is what makes the difference in ROI, sales, customer loyalty, and overall success. However, this is easier said than done. The customer of today is informed, connected, and possesses more product and service knowledge than ever before. To succeed, companies must continuously meet the extraordinary demands and expectations of today’s connected consumer.

Continue reading →

New York Times Op-Ed Mentions Containment Rate

By Shai Berger on February 6, 2019

Reply

Containment rate is a well-established performance metric in the customer service world, but not as well-known as NPS or hold time. I would say it’s on the “wonkish” side as far as metrics go.

So, you can imagine my delight to see “containment rate” mentioned in a New York Times Op-Ed last week! Not surprisingly, it was in the context of a “robots-will-take-our-jobs” thesis, but it at least was a more nuanced approach than what we usually see in the mainstream press.

Continue reading →

4 Takeaways from Our Live Discussion on The Future of BPOs [Video]

By Drew Wilkinson on February 5, 2019

Reply

Last week, Fonolo hosted an insightful live discussion on the future of BPOs. The expert panel discussed whether reshoring is a permanent trend, the impact of AI on BPOs, and so much more. To save you some time, we’ve extracted video snippets showcasing highlights from the discussion.