Speech Technology - October 2008 - (Page 6)

ALEX HALIKIAS INSIDE OUTSOURCING Building a Welcoming Front Door For long-term customer relationships, go beyond the traditional IVR the a second W e all knowmakeexpression “You never get For busichance to a great first impression.” why they were calling or how important they were to the business. This often resulted in customers hanging up out of frustration, which not only negatively impacted a company’s bottom line, but also its customer retention. nesses, that statement has never been truer. For most customers, their first impression is formed when they walk through the front door of your business, even when that front door is no longer a physical one. The new front door Costs Versus Benefits to your business is now often your Web site, an inquiry to Instead of viewing the contact center as a cost center, your call center, or an email, but what hasn’t changed is companies should view it as a strategic asset. This shift in that your customers’ impressions of your front door are as thinking alone allows an investment into a proactive, cuslasting as ever. tomer-centric approach to service, which can help create a It’s widely held that roughly three-quarters of consumers better strategy that results in stronger customer satisfaction, have said that they would give more business to companies higher revenue, and increased productivity. that provide them with great customer servAdvanced speech applications also proice. At the same time, though, many studies vide an effective way for callers to interact Instead of have found that call centers—often the cenwith a voice platform. By using an open viewing the ter of the customer experience—are the voice platform, companies can enhance their contact center as most underutilized of corporate assets. One customers’ experiences with intelligent, nata cost center, companies should thing is certain: No matter what industry ural language speech capabilities. They also view it as a your business falls into, your call center can provide self-service that satisfies routine strategic asset. needs to be as welcoming as possible to requests, enabling agents to focus on more ensure a long-term relationship with each productive and complex calls. one of your customers. The best way to meet this goal is by Another benefit comes from the creation of a consistent going beyond the limitations of basic interactive voice brand experience, which can mesh with a company’s response (IVR) systems. advertising message, corporate Web site, or other brand iniMany leading vendors in the IVR space offer solutions tiative. Most important, customer loyalty is enhanced by that can easily help executives re-examine their existing IVR the end-to-end customer experience. systems. Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories, for What does your company’s call center (a.k.a. front example, recently began offering the Intelligent Customer door) look like today? By blending intelligent routing, inteFront Door (iCFD), a solution that not only greets the caller, grated self-service, agent-assisted service, targeted marketbut also gathers the caller’s intentions, adds contextual ing, callback, and proactive contact, companies have the information about the caller to his profile and history, and opportunity to create stronger customer relationships then routes him to the suitable resource that will most effec- while delivering on their brand promises. The elevation of tively resolve his issue or perform his transaction. the call center from a mere cost center to a strategic, cusThe iCFD solution provides a more positive and person- tomer-centric asset in your organization will not only give alized customer experience through the intelligent use of your company a competitive advantage, but it will provide blended self-service and agent-assisted service. It also the ability to adapt to changing business conditions and offers the opportunity to better align the contact center allow your company to better position itself for future with the business goals and customer service strategies of growth and innovation. the organization. Traditionally, IVR systems had been designed with cost Alex Halikias is global sales and market readiness leader of the Business Process Outsourcing Group at EDS, a global technology services provider. savings in mind. Developers achieved this goal by forcing He can be reached at info@eds.com. customers into a self-service menu structure, no matter 6 | Speech Technology OCTOBER 2008 www.speechtechmag.com http://www.speechtechmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Speech Technology - October 2008

Speech Technology - October 2008 Contents Editor’s Letter Industry View Inside Outsourcing Interact Keynoter Highlights the Shrinking Technological World Former Hacker Tackles IVR and Biometrics ‘Press 1’ for Caller Thoughts Soundbytes Voice Vote A New Dragon Emerges Overheard/Underheard An Emotional Mess Emotional Intelligence The Case for Call Recording Unified in Care and Communications An Education in E-Learning Guest Column Standards Speech Solutions Voice Value Forward Thinking

Speech Technology - October 2008

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