Cloud contact center technology: empowering your employees

Regardless of industry, the customer has always been the foundation of a successful business. This is what makes contact centers and the employees that operate them among your most important investments. But how do you manage call center agents in a post-COVID era defined by mass remote working? This is where cloud contact center technology comes into play.

Service matters

As remote and hybrid working becomes more prevalent across the world, businesses are being forced to consider what they need to accommodate such a transition. While many roles are easily transferable to a home office, the same isn't necessarily true of your contact center agents who typically require more robust connectivity and access to cloud-based applications These agents are an essential first point of contact with your customers, and particularly in the public sector, they play a vital role in delivering government services such as help and advice during times of crisis.

According to Zendesk, 60% of consumers have purchased from a brand solely based on the service they expect to receive, and 73 percent of customers will leave after more than one disappointing service experience. Because of this, your call center agents play an increasingly important role in the overall delivery of a brand-supporting customer experience.

Cloud contact center technology 101

Managing contact center agents effectively means enabling them to efficiently and productively work from home. Cloud contact center technology can help by offering a set of cloud-based resources that empower staff to turn their homes into a virtual call center—using just a computer, a headset and a dedicated, business-grade internet connection. Wireless business internet—be it 4G or 5G—can help lay a solid foundation for cloud contact center deployment.

Cloud contact center technologies can offer:

• Automated call distributor: An omnichannel routing engine based on agent skills that intelligently connects customers to the right call center agent.
• Integrated voice response: A voice-based self-service software that leverages natural speech to collect caller information and determine the proper handling for accelerating call resolution with fewer costs.
• Agent desktop: A web-based service that allows the agent to view and manage all of their customer conversations no matter which method of communication is used (chat, email, social, mobile).
• Workforce management: Software that maximizes operational efficiency by ensuring you have the right number of staff and skills to handle call volumes at any given time.
• Advanced analytics: These increasingly use AI algorithms to analyze call center data, with the ultimate goal of improving the customer experience and business success.

How do cloud contact centers operate?

Cloud contact centers typically require IP services to function as the call traffic is routed over the internet, which can provide major cost savings, drive operational efficiencies and improve the customer experience.

Great contact center platforms should have traffic delivered by a superior network which can provide a range of benefits, including:

• International reach so you can ensure no matter where your agent is located he can receive and respond to customer calls.
• Intelligent call routing could help improve the customer experience by directing their calls to the proper agent to handle their needs.
• Enhanced productivity where agents receive callers' information thanks to automatic number identification and calling party name features.

Getting smarter

Advanced AI-powered analytics is becoming an essential tool for call center managers to help improve customer satisfaction and employee engagement. According to NICE, AI can help chatbots solve simple problems and if the issue is more complex, the chatbot will efficiently pass the information it collects to a live agent and help reduce average handle time. Moreover, an AI-driven Knowledge Assist technology can help agents understand the intent of customers’ questions and provide consistent answers across channels, helping to drive customer conversations.

Don't forget security

However, amidst all these opportunities to drive contact center technology improvements, it's important not to forget the potential risks associated with the role of contact center agents. Given their position on the front line of customer engagement, agents may handle highly sensitive personal data and payment information and can provide access to customer accounts. This makes them a target for hackers and fraudsters. Nearly two-thirds of those in the financial sector who participated in a recent survey believe that most account takeovers start in the call center.

When it comes to working virtually, there may be more opportunities for hackers if the agents' home PC, data and communication channels aren't properly secured.

This makes it important to consider:

• Technology providers with solutions in compliance with major regulations and standards (HIPPA, FedRAMP, PCI, FISMA, GDPR, CCPA, etc.).
• Anti-fraud and authentication technology such as VoIP Inbound Anti-Fraud and Authentication can help analyze the voice, device and behavior of callers to determine the likelihood of a malicious imposter.
• Strong data encryption at rest and in transit.
• Multi-factor authentication for all logins.
• Regular backups of customer data.

Partnering with a contact center technology provider that can strongly integrate cybersecurity into its solutions can allow you to focus more of your team's energy and efforts on delivering a world-class customer experience. With the right technology platform in place, you can create a highly scalable and cost-efficient virtual call center, staffed by happier, more productive employees.

Learn how Verizon's Virtual Contact Center solution can help you drive business success by improving your customer's experience.

The author of this content is a paid contributor for Verizon.