September 2017 - Blueworx

Customer Experience trumps Customer Service

No longer is the phrase “customer service” being used, or even challenged. Instead, consumers everywhere have upped their game and demanded something even better – a “customer experience”. What does that even mean? Well, it’s like customer service but on a mai-tai-sipping-tropical vacation. Substantiated by research and behaviors, companies are giving these vacation-loving consumers exactly what they’re asking for. Out with the old, in with the new. But what exactly is the difference between customer service and customer experience? Let’s take a look.

Don’t Get Lost in the AI Forest

Getting lost anywhere is never fun, but what about getting lost in a forest? Unknowingly trekking your way over downed tree branches, jagged rocks and dusty trails, you’re being ever so cautious of what’s around the next corner. Maybe a bear? Maybe a snake? Whatever the case, the unknown is an eerie place to be. The forest of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is no different and with the abundance of information that’s available, it’s easy to get to lost. Don’t go rationing your supplies just yet. With our guidance, navigating through AI will be a breeze.

Step 1: Do not panic! Understanding the benefits that AI can add to your contact center is critical to developing a successful strategy. AI can reduce the cost to serve customers by increasing metrics like call containment or increasing an agent’s productivity as well as their capacity to deliver services. Not to mention you’ll be creating an experience for customers that is more natural and interactive than the traditional static call flows.

Insert Brain Here

Artificial intelligence, or AI, has gotten record breaking smart. It has outsmarted world champions in poker, chess, and even won jeopardy (we all thought for sure it was impossibly rigged, who knew?!). But does AI use its membranes and actually think?

The definition of intelligence is actually pretty complicated. For instance, one can be book-smart, emotionally gifted, rational, wise etc. It’s pretty rare to be more than one. Our brains respond to things differently, which further complicates our question, does AI actually think?

Setting Big Data Free

Artificial intelligence, also known as AI, is woven throughout the economy. It’s used to provide investment advice, test vehicle autopilot systems, and to create the can’t-live-without virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri. AI is also being used to predict future sales. The potential of AI to increase economic growth is being explored all over the world.

The heaviest advances in AI are stemming from a data-intensive technique known as machine learning. With machine learning, a ton of data is required to test, create, and train the AI… so as AI is becoming more important, so is data. Needing data about customers as well as the ability to program AI to analyze that data have become some of the most important tools businesses use to compete against each other. But what happens if a business lacks access to good data? How much control over data is there? If access to data is too complex and difficult, business may not enter the arena, there may no longer be competitive pressure, and ultimately innovation could suffer.

Catching Your IVR System Up With the Times

The office of the 1970s was built on paper files, the office of the 1980s was built on word processing, spreadsheets, and other PC software, and the office of the 1990s was built on websites. These days, the office is built on cloud-based apps. In fact, we all use cloud-based applications in our daily lives – whether we are at work or connecting with family and friends about neighborhood happenings. We communicate and manage information in the cloud through all sorts of devices and applications. With most everything else going to the cloud, why not your IVR system?

Our White Paper, The Journey of Contact Center Cloud Migration: Ten Keys to Success, provides a complete set of guidelines on how to move your IVR to the cloud. Here’s an excerpt from the White Paper: