Tag Archives: AI

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

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The Best Advice for Contact Centers in 2020 – The Experts Weigh InEvery 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.

 

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

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4 Takeaways from Our Live Discussion on AI and NLP 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.

 

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CPaaS Expands but Boundaries Getting Vague

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CPaaS Expands but Boundaries Getting VagueSix 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?

 

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Four Reasons Why a Personalized Customer Service Experience is Important

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Four Reasons Why a Personalized Customer Service Experience is Important

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!

 

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Big Vendor Announcements Focus on AI at Enterprise Connect

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Big Vendor Announcements at Enterprise ConnectThe 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.

 

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Customer Experience Trends in 2019

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Customer Experience Trends 2019 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.

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New York Times Op-Ed Mentions Containment Rate

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New York Times Op-Ed Mentions Containment Rate 1

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.

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

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4 Takeaways from Our Live Discussion on The Future of BPOs 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.

First, let’s take a quick look at the panel of speakers: Reagan Miller, Jeremy Watkin, Thomas Laird, and Shai Berger.

 

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Looking Ahead: Predicting the Future of BPOs [Slideshare]

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4 Takeaways from Our Live Discussion on The Future of BPOs

Companies have been outsourcing their call centers for decades to lower costs, increase productivity, and enable scaled-up customer support during peak times. It is so prevalent in the call center space that the term “Business process outsourcing” (BPO) is often used interchangeably with “outsourced call center.” In the last few years, the call center outsourcing industry has seen revenues crossing $140 billion. This growth is expected to continue, with Cushman Wakefield predicting 6% yearly growth up to 2020.

At the same time, major changes are impacting BPOs. Firstly, the impact of artificial intelligence is predicted to be extremely disruptive. For example, the outsourcing industry in the Philippines (the country with the most call centers in the world) is worried that the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) will eat into the 23 billion-dollar sector. Secondly, in recent years there has been a growth in “reshoring”: Call centers are returning to North America, a trend driven by several factors including low wage inflation and an increased focus on customer experience. Finally, BPOs are weighing up the benefits of adopting a multichannel approach as siloing the different customer service channels becomes taboo.

While BPOs are no strangers to challenging times, the next few years promise to be particularly interesting for outsourced call centers.

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The State of Bots in 2019: Successes and Failures

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The State of Bots in 2019 Successes and Failures“We are in the Era of the Customer,” says Shep Hyken.

We are indeed. It’s a modern reality where customers call the shots, armed with the knowledge that they have options. This includes their expectation of a certain level of customer experience, one that is seamless, omnichannel, and with bot offerings. In fact, according to Forrester, today’s “consumers have more tech at their disposal than ever before and it has fundamentally changed how they experience brands.” With more than 50% of companies already using chatbots, and 80% of businesses wanting chatbots by 2020 ( says Oracle), bots have been, and will be, rapidly transforming the customer service and customer experience landscape, especially in retail. In an article by Retail Dive, “Juniper estimates that by 2023 over 70% of chatbots accessed will be retail based.” Think about how many digital assistants, chatbots, and IVR’s that actually refers to, and in what capacity.

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