Contact Centre Evolution

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1 Brand icons C O M M U N I C AT I O N S, S O RT E D. Cloud Connectivity Inbound Mobile VoIP Connectivity Inbound Mobile VoIP Inbound Mobile VoIP Brand icons - reversed Cloud Brand icons - green background Cloud Connectivity Contact Centre Evolution The Changing Face Of Customer Contact Brand icons - blue background Cloud Connectivity Inbound Mobile VoIP

2 Cloud Computing 2 Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 The Evolution Of The Contact Centre 4 Telecommunications Timeline 5 Technology Drives Change 6 VoIP 7 The Consumer Revolution 8 Commercial Considerations 9 Next Generation Contact Centres 10 Inbound Strategies 11 Key Marketing Insight: Integrating SMS 13 T F E info@

3 Cloud Computing 3 Executive Summary Customer Contact Centres have always played an important role in ensuring customer satisfaction. They are the primary point of interaction between businesses and their customers; the point at which often complex or emotive enquiries are handled. As such, they play a vital role in ensuring an excellent customer experience. As telecommunications and networking technology has evolved, so has the Contact Centre. From early adoption through expansion to the modern evolution, technology has shaped the way in which we communicate with our customers. Step-changes brought about by PBX, ACD, SIP and VoIP technologies have wrought changes to the Contact Centre landscape. Modern Contact Centres are more flexible, more resilient and more productive than ever. The latest incarnation of Virtual and Cloud Contact Centres are delivering unprecedented levels of performance. Technology has eliminated many of the barriers to efficiency; geography and capacity are no longer inhibiting factors. As consumers have become increasingly diverse, demanding and communicative, the Contact Centre has had to evolve to cater for a range of media. The convergence of business, personal and social media sees Contact Centres handling enquiries from SMS, and Web Chat as well as the telephone. Enquiries can become further complicated as the medium of inception is not always the medium of resolution. The development of Contact Centre applications, such as call recording, analytics, IVR, automated payment, CTI, call queuing and routing have driven improvements in Contact Centre operations by reducing average call times, increasing first-call resolution rates, facilitating call avoidance and ensuring compliance with regulatory standards. The right inbound strategy can have wide-ranging benefits for businesses of all sizes; whether it s the use of non-geographic numbers, the integration of SMS and multi-media channels or using the right IVR or call recording platform. Even small and medium sized businesses can expand their reach, help encourage inbound traffic, reduce call abandonment, track marketing activity, maximise revenue opportunities and reduce costs. The Contact Centre is not a cost centre. It is a strategic business asset that has a major influence on your customers experience. Getting it right can aid business development, improve customer satisfaction and enhance your reputation in the market. There is only one boss; the customer. And he can fire everyone in the company from the chairman down, simply by spending his money somewhere else. Sam Walton, Founder of WalMart T F E info@

4 Cloud Computing 4 The Evolution of the Contact Centre Contact Centres are big business; according to industry analysts Contact Babel, at the start of 2014 there were over 5,500 call centres in UK, employing more than 1 million people. Customer Contact Centres as we know them can trace their origins back to the fledgling call centres of the 1960s and 1970 s. Prior to the introduction of the Private Automated Branch Exchange (PABX) and Automated Call Distribution a company s incoming calls would be routed physically by an operator using chords and an analogue switchboard. Even internal calls had to be routed through the operator. The introduction of PBX and ACD technology revolutionised call centre operations. The ability to effectively manage large volumes of inbound calls brought with it significant increases in call centre productivity and efficiency. During the late 1970s and 1980s, global utilities, airlines and financial services companies pioneered the use of call centres. Little has changed in this regard, as customer-centric organisations continue to dominate the market. Advances in networking, call routing and queuing technologies saw a rapid expansion in the call centre market, though the fundamental nature of the call centre remained unchanged until the expansion in multi-channel communications, driven principally by changes in consumer behaviour resulted in a radical evolution of Contact Centre operations. In a recent Ipsos MORI pole (Sept 2013) the majority of people polled still preferred to use the telephone for customer service enquiries (35%, compared to 21% for ). Next generation contact centres feature cloud technology to address financial, functional and operational drivers and to provide the essential scalability and flexibility required to maintain the right balance between resource and demand. Traditional call routing and queuing technologies are integrated with CRM and collaboration tools, along with management applications such as call recording, speech analytics and workforce management and optimisation. The nature of the Cloud delivers greater flexibility, increased speed to market for new services, rapid scalability and significant improvements in business continuity. T F E info@

5 Cloud Computing 5 Telecommunications Technology Timeline The concept of the Contact Centre has arguably been around since the invention of the telephone. Whilst the modern Contact Centre is a multi-channel institution, telephone is still the most common medium of communication. As technology is one of the major influencers on the nature and operation of a Contact Centre, it s worth looking back on how it all began Telephone Patented 1990 World Wide Web 1878 Telephone Exchange 1991 GSM Mobile Network 1880 Wireless Telephony 1992 SMS 1887 Multiplex Switchboard 1996 VoIP 1889 Switching and trunking 1997 Hosted PBX 1891 Automatic Telephone Exchange 2000 SmartPhone 1919 Rotary Dial Telephone 2003 SIP Trunking 1926 Trans-Atlantic Telephony 2006 Twitter 1941 Multi-Frequency Dialling 2007 iphone 1960 PABX G 1963 Touch Tone Phone 1969 TSPS Mobile Phone 1982 Caller ID 1985 Non-Geographic Numbering T F E info@

6 Cloud Computing 6 Cloud Adoption Over the past 40 years, there have been a number of factors that have influenced the evolution of Contact Centres. Whilst it would be impossible to ignore the roles of globalisation, consumerism and the competitive drive for improvements in customer service; technology has been at the core of the changing face of customer engagement. Advances in technology provide modern Contact Centres with increased functionality, greater flexibility, improved resilience and unprecedented levels of management information. Modern ICT infrastructure leverages enterprise-grade connectivity, providing Contact Centres with the ability to manage high volumes of bandwidth-intensive voice and data calls. High-bandwidth, high-availability networks are just one of the enabling technologies helping Contact Centres deliver greater performance at a reduced cost. Virtualisation of infrastructure and Unified Communications solutions continue to yield benefits for organisations of all sizes. Virtualising the hardware that supports your Contact Centre operations can result in significant reductions in hardware, power and cooling costs; simply though the process of server consolidation. Virtualising Contact Centre UC applications can also yield significant benefits in terms of flexibility, cost-effectiveness, reliability and performance. Organisations are looking at ways to cut costs, better utilise assets and reduce implementation and management time and complexity. Virtualisation addresses all of these concerns. Gartner T F E info@

7 Cloud Computing 7 VoIP Typical Hosted Services IVR Menus Voic Intelligent Call Routing Call Recording Call Queuing Fixed Caller ID Portability Web-based Self- Management Portals Low Cost VoIP Call Rates Instant Messaging Audio Conferencing Video Conferencing WebEx Presence Collaboration Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is one of the most significant technological changes to affect the business communications market in the last 20 years. A means of carrying voice and data across digital IP (internet) networks, VoIP is not all that different to the way in which traditional telephony works. However, it does offer a number of benefits in terms of cost, ease of use and scalability. Hosted VoIP provides a scalable, feature rich system for voice, chat, video and presence; all hosted in the Cloud. Agents are able to leverage soft phones, mobiles or traditional handsets to access a range of features. Traditional vs. Hosted In a traditional telephony environment, an on-premise PBX provides all of the functionality required by the business, such as call queuing, routing or IVR. However, upgrading a traditional PBX to incorporate services such as call reporting, call recording or remote working can be expensive to deploy and frequently involves upgrading the underlying telephone infrastructure. Hosted IP Telephony (VoIP) provides the telephone system functionality required by the business without having to have a PBX on-site. The intelligence is hosted within an external network on carrier grade IP voice platforms and is delivered to an organisation s sites across an IP network. Hosted IP Telephony (VoIP) uses IP (Internet Protocol) rather than analogue or ISDN lines. This means that a single IP network can be used for telephony and data / internet requirements as part of a converged network. This means that it is no longer necessary to have one network for data and another network for voice, offering tangible savings from line rental reductions and improved operational efficiencies. A hosted solution also offers substantial benefits in terms of business continuity. In the event connectivity to an office is lost, or an office becomes unavailable (perhaps through fire or flood), calls can be managed from within the network and diverted to an alternate office, a number of home-workers or even mobile phones. Hosted solutions can also offer more than just savings on hardware, converged networks and maintenance. Unlike a traditional PBX, where capacity is scoped in advance of implementation and often results in organisations paying for capacity they don t use, Hosted IP Telephony offers a clear upgrade path with fixed, pay as you grow pricing. The scalable nature of VoIP means businesses only pay for what they use. In addition, as remote sites are connected to a single IP network, internal calls or calls between individual sites are free of charge. Moves, Adds and Changes (MAC) become a simple process, providing immediate scalability and eliminating the concerns of complex management or future proofing. T F E info@

8 Cloud Computing 8 The Consumer Revolution IP Insight Whilst consumers are happy to utilise a variety of media to initiate a conversation, voice is still the preferred medium for resolution of complex enquiries. Analysis of customer support interactions in the second half of 2013 showed that, when it comes to the allimportant metric of customer satisfaction, voice is still the channel of choice. , social media, SMS and web chat are useful tools when seeking to understand the nature of an enquiry, but the inherent nature of a one-to-one conversation provides customers with a greater degree of transparency, instils trust and ultimately leads to a more satisfied customer. The modern consumer is more savvy, more connected and more demanding than ever. They are faced with a proliferation of media telephone, , SMS, IM, web self-service, web chat and social platforms. If businesses are to maintain acceptable levels of customer service, they need to be able to respond effectively across the customers medium of choice. Consumers are always on. The convergence of business and personal devices means they are no longer tied to a single device or a single location. Smartphone and tablet adoption means 40% of s are opened on either tablet or mobile phone (source: Super Monitoring 2013); the result is a customer who expects an instant response to their enquiry, wherever they are. Almost two thirds of the UK population own SmartPhones, granting immediate access to a range of contact media. The web has opened up a global marketplace. With global sales opportunities comes the need to provide customer service 24/7. Social media is having a significant impact on both consumer behaviour and customer service. Whilst social media such as Twitter and Facebook are not likely to become the dominant medium of resolution, they do have some very specific characteristics that make them important. The visible nature of social media can be a double edged sword in customer service terms. An open forum represents an opportunity for savvy customer service departments to demonstrate an excellent customer experience to a wide audience. Conversely, if a customer feels like they have had a poor experience, they are able to instantly share their thoughts with a potential audience of millions. Recent Omnibus research shows that this fast food mentality to customer service is breeding a generation of demanding customers. The research shows that customers check their Smartphones every 36 minutes for , every 48 minutes for texts. Social media is checked every 39 minutes in the case of Twitter and every 57 minutes on Facebook. If they are expecting a response from a customer service enquiry, this frequency comes down to as little as every 10 minutes on average. The situation is often complicated by the need to manage an interaction across multiple media. The medium of inception is not always the medium of resolution. The same Omnibus research found that the average UK consumer uses up to 7 different digital channels in a year. The nature of inbound calls to Contact Centres is also changing. Half of consumers will only call a Contact Centre when the nature of their enquiry becomes complex, preferring self-service or web-based channels for simple transactions. Customers don t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong. Donald Porter, VP, British Airways T F E info@

9 Cloud Computing 9 Commercial Considerations Whilst every Contact Centre will profess to putting the customer first, there are still some commercial realities that need to be considered. For a number of years, the Global Contact Centre Benchmarking Report ranked service improvement and customer satisfaction as amongst the top three commercial drivers for Contact Centres. Since 2012 however, we have seen a move away from the altruistic, customer-centric approach to more practical considerations. Whilst service improvement was still ranked highly, increasing efficiency, increasing revenue and reducing costs all outranked customer retention. The stark reality of running a business is that there will always be a trade-off between customer service and costs. Whilst there is an ongoing requirement to deliver an excellent customer experience, it also needs to be affordable and sustainable for a business. The success of a Contact Centre is not purely down to financial performance. Value is calculated by analysing customer interactions and utilising qualitative data as well as quantitative. Measurement drives performance and the latest incarnation of Contact Centre reporting and analytics provides management with an unprecedented degree of information on key performance metrics that contribute to the overall customer experience, including: 1. First call resolution 2. Cost per call 2. Speed to answer 3. Call abandonment rates 4. Average call duration 5. Call transfer rate Naturally, the factors that drive consumer satisfaction are not always the same as those that drive Contact Centre performance. However, as interaction analytics become more powerful, we are able to answer more questions about who is calling, why they are calling and what the outcome is. The result is a convergence in interests that should prove to be beneficial to both Contact Centre managers and their customers. In the 2013 UK Contact Centre Decision Makers Guide, First Call Resolution was by far the most important factor in determining customer satisfaction. The actual duration of the call was well down on the list, indicating that customers are happy to invest a little more of their time in order to secure a resolution first-time. T F E info@

10 Cloud Computing 10 Next Generation Contact Centres As consumer behaviour, commercialisation and technology exert their influence on the Contact Centre, we have seen a move away from the traditional, centralised resource. Contact Centres have evolved to take advantage of the benefits offered by the latest in virtualisation and Cloud solutions. Cloud Contact Centres The latest incarnation of the Contact Centre sees organisations leveraging Cloud services to deliver an improved customer experience. The inexorable move to the Cloud is having a profound effect on the way in which organisations interact with their customers. The new generation of as-a-service solutions are delivering an enterprise-class feature set for businesses of all sizes: Inbound and outbound routing Call Queuing CTI IVR Auto Attendant Web Chat SMS Web Chat Call Recording Screen Recording Speech Analytics CRM Integration Workforce Optimisation (WFO) Management Reporting & Analytics Administrative Tools Being able to consume these resources on a commodity basis, often as a price per agent, is an attractive proposition. The inherent benefits of Cloud technology flexibility, resilience, availability, scalability and cost effectiveness make a compelling argument for Cloud adoption. Cloud vs On-Premise Cloud is not necessarily the de facto solution for every Contact Centre. Cloud makes sense if you experience seasonal or time-of-day fluctuations in call volumes; if you are planning to open additional sites or make use of mobile and home workers. Cloud is also a viable option if you do not have entrenched back-office integration or complex reporting requirements. On-premise solutions are by no means a thing of the past. As with many Cloud-based discussions, there are times when the move to an as-a-service model is not justified. If you have a stable environment with a fixed location and headcount, if you experience predictable levels of traffic or you operate out of s single site without the need to virtualise, then the benefits of Cloud may not outweigh the costs of migration. Cultural barriers may still exist to Cloud adoption, particularly if your organisation is risk-averse or unwilling or unable to cede control of data to third parties as a result of compliance considerations. Finally, if you have a complex infrastructure with ingrained back-office integration and retain an in-house team of experts with extensive legacy experience, the Cloud may prove a step too far. T F E info@

11 Cloud Computing 11 Inbound Strategies 65% of people consider a Freephone number to be an incentive to call. With the telephone still the preferred medium for communication, particularly for complex interactions, your inbound strategy can have wide ranging implications for both customer satisfaction and revenue generation. Simple tactics such as choosing the right telephone number and incorporating SMS capabilities into your strategy can add value to the customer experience. Non-Geographic Numbers One of the fundamental elements of an inbound strategy is choosing the right phone number. Non-geographic numbers, as the name suggests, are not tied to a specific geographic area, they offer benefits in terms of customer use and help portray a business as having a national presence. Research shows that almost two thirds of people see Freephone numbers as an incentive to call and response rates to advertising typically experience an increase in anywhere between 50% and 300% when a Freephone number is listed. In addition to Freephone numbers, businesses will often take advantage of revenue generating NGNs such as 0844 or 0871 numbers. Public sector and not-for-profit organisations can also use 0300 numbers that are cheaper to dial from mobiles. NGNs are widely used throughout the private and public sector. Statistics suggest that the use of an NGN inspires confidence amongst consumers with individuals more willing to dial certain prefixes. Using an NGN can also help with call routing and queuing as well as providing useful geographic analysis as to the origins of inbound calls. Option Benefits Rate from Landline (pence per minute) Rate from Mobile (pence per minute) 0800 Attract more inbound calls Caller pays nothing to call you (from landline) Perception of national presence Easily utilised for marketing purposes Free 20-40p Free from mobile from June Caller pays low rate to call you Perception of national presence Easily utilised for marketing purposes 1-11p + setup fee of up to 14p 14-41p 0844 Higher revenue share Perception of national presence Easily utilised for marketing purposes 1-13p 20-41p 0870 Perception of national presence No more than local call rate from some providers, plus a setup fee. Up to 11p plus a setup fee from other providers p 0871/2/3 Higher revenue share Mix and match with an 0800 to reduce costs Perception of national presence Easily utilised for marketing purposes 11-15p + setup fee 20-41p 09 High revenue share 9-169p from BT. Up to 216p from other providers p The End Of 084 and 087 Customer Contact Numbers The government are putting an end to, expensive premium 084 and 087 numbers for customers calling to consult their service or product provider. The ruling is part of The Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 and comes into force on 13th June At present, consumers can pay more than the standard rate to call a customer helpline and costs can vary depending on the number used. T F E info@

12 Cloud Computing 12 Smaller Businesses Once a customer has been encouraged to call, either as a result of marketing activity or as a part of a customer service enquiry, it is important to make their journey as simple and intuitive as possible. For small and medium sized businesses, an auto-attendant solution could be the answer. Auto Attendant is an automated call answering, queuing and messaging service that is used to improve the flow of inbound calls. Auto Attendant can operate across multiple sites, even if there is only a single inbound number, and include whisper messaging, voic and voice2 services. Alternatively, businesses may opt for a Virtual Receptionist solution that includes customisable, multi-level menus that incorporate keypad navigation, time-of-day operation scheduling, missed call notifications and multiple voic modes. These systems are typically managed from an online control panel and feature a range of additional features that can be configured to meet any call answering, messaging or diversion requirements. Live call queuing statistics can help identify peak call times and service management applications allow for instant modification to meet changing demand. Call Recording Many businesses are required to record telephone calls for legal and compliance reasons, or to assist with dispute resolution. Others monitor and use recordings to train staff, evaluate marketing and improve customer service. Legacy call recording solutions used to require the purchase and installation of expensive on-site systems. Cloud-based call recording allows businesses to handle multiple inbound calls, scaling instantly to meet the demands of thousands of concurrent calls if necessary. As there is no additional on-premise infrastructure required these solutions can be provisioned rapidly without disrupting day-to-day operations. Call recordings are stored by your Cloud Service Provider and accessible online for playback, download or distribution via . Back-up and recovery will be in accordance with regulatory requirements and searchable by a wide range of criteria including date, time, duration, inbound number and caller ID. T F E info@

13 Cloud Computing 13 Key Market Insight: Integrating SMS Recent research indicates that no inbound strategy is complete without evaluating the merits of a short messaging service (SMS) option for customers and prospects. SMS-based campaigns have been shown to increase campaign response by an average of 30% with no additional impact on marketing budget. Offering an SMS response to marketing initiatives provides your target audience with a quick and easy way to respond. Responses can be allocated to specific initiatives, providing accurate information and aiding in the lead nurture process. SMS distribution can be used in much the same way as . Bespoke content can be sent to individuals or groups of individuals and delivery reports can be used to provide an overview of campaign performance. SMS can also be used as a secure message delivery system as a part of a multi-factor authentication process. Data capture is an essential part of any promotional activity but it can be time consuming, both for the customer who provides the information and the business that collects it. SMS services are highly versatile and allow customers to register their interest in a product, request further information, vote in a competition, donate or even pay for an item simply by sending a text message. The result is a considerably higher rate of conversion when combined with traditional tools. Loyal customers are the lifeblood of many businesses. SMS provides a quick and easy way to keep them informed of latest news, promotions or related activity. The opt-in nature of SMS communication means customers are more likely to read outbound marketing content and the immediacy of delivery to a mobile device makes responding to time-sensitive offers quicker and easier. If your business provides technical or product support, SMS can provide a quick and cost-effective channel for communications. SMS is characterised by speed and efficiency of response as well as accountability. Simple, robust policies can be put in place that enables either an automated response to common enquiries or to failover to customer service operatives for bespoke enquiries. T F E info@

14 Cloud Computing 14 About IP Solutions IP Solutions, one of the UK s leading independent communication services providers, has over 10 years experience of providing communication solutions for organisations of all types. Using their extensive market knowledge and analytical tools, they provide cost-effective solutions for businesses that are looking to maximise the benefits of unified communications. By reviewing and accessing the needs of an organisation, IP Solutions can provide critical information and advice their assistance with managing communications costs and implementing new tariff structures has saved organisations hundreds of thousands of pounds. Independent and jargon-free recommendations have helped a host of high profile businesses reduce their annual costs significantly, whilst achieving a flexible and productive communications infrastructure. As one of the largest providers of VoIP in the UK, IP Solutions can implement hosted solutions to help companies streamline their communications; delivering economies of scale, flexibility, greater workforce collaboration and productivity. T F E info@

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