IVR UPGRADE: Relieve Strain on IT to Improve CX & Deliver Contact Center Progress

Transcription

1 IVR UPGRADE: Relieve Strain on IT to Improve CX & Deliver Contact Center Progress ebook by

2 Contents An Outdated IVR Doesn t Help Anyone The Squeeze on IT The Importance of IVR Modernization IVR Must-Have Capabilities Three Characteristics of a Modern IVR Steps to Fast, Easy, and Affordable IVR Migration IVR Upgrade: Relieve Strain on IT to Improve CX & Deliver Contact Center Progress

3 An Outdated IVR Doesn t Help Anyone "An outdated IVR creates a vicious circle of issues that can only be disrupted by your IT team." An IVR system has the potential to help your contact center increase customer satisfaction, multiply the rate of first contact resolution, and reduce costs. Yet, a solution is only as good as its ability to do these things effectively. Many contact centers have IVRs that are years old, which means they aren t as useful as they could be! But, you may not realize how an outdated IVR creates a vicious circle of issues that can only be disrupted by your IT team. CUSTOMERS IT TEAMS For a customer already upset about a problem, there s nothing more frustrating than an IVR that contributes nothing to solving their issue or, even worse, creates barriers to resolution. Such aggravation instantly diminishes customer goodwill and loyalty, and can even result in lost business. CONTACT CENTERS Caught between customer demands for an IVR that reflects current engagement trends, and the strain on IT to improve the company s system, contact centers often get stuck with something that simply doesn t work. Customers Contact Centers IT Teams The more out-of-date an IVR system becomes, the more likely it is to require complex integration and coding and to have inconsistent documentation. These conditions make it difficult and time consuming for IT to make, test, and deploy the changes required to address customer and contact center needs. As a result, the company overpays for legacy IVR operational changes and support while simultaneously growing more anxious about the system going down at any time. In addition, IT struggles to find and keep skilled resources to make these changes, which further increases the cost of maintenance. In one study, about 43% of contact center supervisors said their present technology doesn t meet their current needs, and 79% feared it wouldn t meet their future needs 1. 1 Call Centre Helper, What Contact Centres Are Doing Right Now. 3 IVR Upgrade: Relieve Strain on IT to Improve CX & Deliver Contact Center Progress

4 The Squeeze on IT "IT is responsible for three of the four major barriers that prevent contact center progress." When it comes to shouldering the burden of an IVR that supports your contact center and, therefore, the business, the squeeze is undeniably on IT. Of the top four major barriers that prevent contact center progress, IT is responsible for three! Like never before, technology teams are burdened with the pressure to provide modern capabilities that integrate with current systems to improve customer experience and engagement. 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 67% 44% 40% Budget IT Issues Need New Technology 35% Technology Integration Issues Retrieved from Call Centre Helper, What Contact Centres Are Doing Right Now. 4 IVR Upgrade: Relieve Strain on IT to Improve CX & Deliver Contact Center Progress

5 The Importance of IVR Modernization "A fully operational IVR can help your IT team save on maintenance costs and free up their time for more critical projects." A modernized IVR delivers a number of benefits not only for IT, but also for: Contact Centers Contact centers experience greater efficiency, lower costs (often up to 30-40%), and the ability to quickly adjust to customer needs. A smoothly functioning IVR is like a reliable car. It seamlessly takes you where you need to go. Companies with modern IVR technology understand the smooth process that customers experience, and enjoy reduced maintenance costs. Such benefits are critical for operations that value quality and efficiency. Smart companies also recognize the strategic importance of retaining customers. Often, consumers have more than one choice, and a company with shoddy customer service won t come out ahead. An IVR that can keep up with customer needs and demands can go a long way toward reminding customers that they ve made the right choice. Contact centers have more to worry about than faulty technology. Many modern IVR systems require no specialized skills to operate, so customer service professionals can focus on core tasks. Customers Customers benefit from a transparent process that helps keep them happy and engaged. Modern consumers have a tendency to use online resources as a go-to choice for company assistance, leading many businesses to believe that web- or appbased methods should be the way to go when investing in new customer service channels. However, studies have shown that, yes, customers gravitate to online sources first, but they re more likely to get their problem solved through phonebased interactions. An IVR is the first impression a caller gets of a company s phone presence. As such, it has the potential to create a positive experience by ensuring the customer gets properly routed. Call center agents are trained to provide a consistent customer experience, and IVR systems should be programmed to facilitate that process. Beyond simple call steering, an IVR can exhibit many of the characteristics callers prefer about the online experience, including responsiveness, adaptability, and the ability to allow customers to self-serve. Unlike its outdated counterpart, a modern IVR can deliver these advantages more easily, as well as many additional capabilities. 5 IVR Upgrade: Relieve Strain on IT to Improve CX & Deliver Contact Center Progress

6 IVR Must-Have Capabilities "The key to a positive outcome with an IVR is selecting the features that will have the biggest impact." Modern IVR deployments are as varied as the companies that use them. Each industry and each business has its own requirements for what makes an effective system. For example, based on typical customer needs, financial firms are more likely to be successful with voice recognition than, say, utility companies. The key to a positive outcome with an IVR is selecting the features that will have the biggest impact. In addition to a baseline ability to handle touch tones (DTMF) and text to speech (TTS), compatibility with standard middle-ware, and full life-cycle design, a modern IVR should have the following capabilities: Personalization Many customers have become used to the highly customized nature of online interactions, and expect the same when using other channels as well. An IVR can adjust how it interacts with a customer in a variety of ways with personalized product recommendations, or reflecting the customer s specific situation or recent activity (such as booking a flight, or tracking a purchased package). Integrated Self-Service Included in personalization is the ability for IVR systems to integrate with other technologies. For example, an IVR integrated with a customer relationship management (CRM) system can greet a caller by name based on incoming phone number, or send them directly to a dedicated agent if they are a premium customer. Such features decrease frustration and build trust and loyalty. Integration With Other Channels IVR integration with other channels is also important for giving customers the experience they expect. For example, a customer should be able to use a mobile app to access their account, and dial a customer service number from within the app, without having to log in again. The company should be aware of a customer s actions across all channels, and provide service accordingly. Natural Language Recognition Natural language recognition takes IVR one step further by engaging callers in a seamless conversational process. At its best, natural language recognition enables customers to self-direct to the appropriate information, and greatly expands the level of self-service possible. Combined with other customer-conscious actions throughout the system, the result is a more efficient and accurate caller experience. Business Intelligence No matter how thoughtfully you plan your IVR implementation, the only way to gage its success is through feedback from customers. You can gather this data directly by asking them about their experience or indirectly, with smart analytics. The indirect method can reveal, for example, why customers are calling, creating the potential to deploy additional automation for frequent inquiries; or when they re abandoning calls, pointing to opportunities for enhancing specific parts of the process. 6 IVR Upgrade: Relieve Strain on IT to Improve CX & Deliver Contact Center Progress

7 Three Characteristics of a Modern IVR "A unified, diagnostic, dynamic system can help you offer a more individualized process, understand what s not working, and efficiently adjust in real time." To summarize, these features personalization, integrated self-service, integration with other channels, natural language recognition, and business intelligence add up to the qualities that you should expect from a modern IVR. These characteristics make a unified, diagnostic, dynamic system that can help you offer a more individualized process, understand what s not working, and efficiently adjust in real time. Unified Unlike the siloed IVRs of the past, a modern IVR system must work with your company s other systems, including other customer service channels. Dynamic Diagnostic A modern IVR solution must be able to provide meta information to help you fine-tune weak spots in the system. When the diagnostic component reveals a process or feature that s not working well, the modern IVR must be flexible enough to enable your IT team to make needed changes. 7 IVR Upgrade: Relieve Strain on IT to Improve CX & Deliver Contact Center Progress

8 Steps to Fast, Easy, and Affordable IVR Migration "A robust SWIFT TM IVR modernization solution makes the upgrade process as painless as possible." At Aria Solutions, we ve been partnering with Genesys, building our own contact center technology, and implementing complete solutions for 20 years. This experience has enabled us to develop our own project methodology, SWIFT TM, which is designed to deliver projects much faster and at a much lower cost. We have applied the SWIFT TM methodology to standard IVR modernization projects, and created a tool that enables an easy migration from an existing IVR to a new one. A robust SWIFT TM IVR modernization solution makes the upgrade process as painless as possible: Fast From assessment to implementation, Aria s proven process wastes no time in delivering a functional IVR: 1. Assess the existing IVR (2 weeks)* 2. Assist in hardware setup (1-2 weeks) 3. Install Genesys Voice Platform (GVP), which received a Strong Positive rating in Gartner s MarketScope for IVR Systems and Enterprise Voice Portals report (1-2 weeks) 4. Document the existing IVR flow and generate a new one (3-4 weeks) 5. Provide integration with third-party systems (1 week) 6. Test and deploy the complete solution (2-3 weeks) *Note, all timeframes are dependent on customer requirements and existing technology. Easy Aria will help to make the process as easy as possible by: Using existing call flow and discussing new call flow requirements Providing hardware requirements so you can purchase hardware that meets your company standards and those of the IVR Providing voice talent requirements so you can determine internal talent, or to hire external talent Testing the solution Assisting you to determine your support resources for the deployment Affordable Most savings come from Aria's IVR migration tool that allows less coding effort. The tool takes the design (call flow) and translates it into part of the code. This also ensures accurate documentation, which eliminates the need in updating it manually. Overall, Aria works with you to find the right solution, and the right price. Our goal is to offer the best value while providing the features needed for a truly beneficial solution. 8 IVR Upgrade: Relieve Strain on IT to Improve CX & Deliver Contact Center Progress

9 About Aria Solutions Aria Solutions has been partnering with Genesys for nearly 20 years, successfully executing complete Genesys contact center solutions that involve strategic consulting, professional services, system support, managed services and products. Aria employs over 50 contact center experts with a thorough methodology, knowledge and experience in helping companies create exceptional customer experiences and delivering positive business results. They have enabled over 500,000 agents, completed over 1000 contact center projects, and provided 24/7 support for the largest, most complex contact centers - that include many Top Fortune 1000 companies. For more information, visit Follow on Copyright 2015 Aria Solutions Inc. The information contained herein is proprietary to Aria Solutions Inc. No part of this ebook may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying without written permission of Aria Solutions Inc. The exception would be in the case of brief quotations embodied in the critical articles or reviews and pages where permission is specifically granted by the publisher or author. Although every precaution has been taken to verify the accuracy of the information contained herein, the author and publisher assume no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for damages that may result from the use of information contained within.