Cloud Contact Center Archives

Posted on May 2, 2017 by West Corporation

Leverage SMS Messaging for Fiesta-Worthy Communication

Cinco de Mayo is nearly here, which means it’s time to keep an eye out for your nearest Mariachi band and celebrate the day that the citizens of Mexico gained their independence (Read through if you’re shaking your head!).

When we think of independence, we think of the freedom to do things in the ways we want. Among smartphone and SMS/text messaging users, 64 percent prefer texting over voice customer service.[i]

Instead of perpetuating the myth that customers only ever truly want agent support, it’s time to free them to interact more naturally. In an age where customers are moving faster than ever, it’s time to provide the liberation they demand. It’s time to let them be mobile.

How Utilities Should Respond to the Mobile Shift

Doug Thompson, Director of Product Development

According to Google, 87 percent of people now have their phones by their sides at all times.[i] Despite many utilities recognizing the need to address ever-rising customer mobility with newer, more proactive communication strategies, they still fail to make it a priority.

In my recent article published in CS Week’s Spring edition of Newsline Magazine (Page 3), I explore the customer experience (CX) challenges today’s utilities face, and offer my take on how utilities can capitalize upon the “mobile shift” that has gradually seeped into the industry. Read More >

Posted on April 5, 2017 by West Corporation

West’s Contact Center Infrastructure Recognized as One of Industry’s Best by CRM

West is proud to receive a 2017 CRM Service Leader Award for Contact Center Infrastructure. Recognizing the major role the contact center plays in a company’s customer experience and bottom line, West designed its contact center offering with the intent to connect interactions across multiple channels, boost agent productivity, increase connection rates and build long-term brand advocates.

Regulators Open the Door for Utility Investment in the Cloud

By Chandler Harrison, Sales Executive, West Interactive

As technology evolves and changes the way we live our day to day lives, expectations for agile customer service are ever-rising. As a result, customers demand the same speed and personalization from your utility customer experience (CX) as that of their favorite retail company.

Cloud-based technology can provide the flexibility and data-informed insights that utilities need to get ahead of today’s fickle utility customer. Traditionally, utilities have been unable to rate-base associated costs in the same way they can when it comes to on-premises software. In a nutshell, utility leaders would rather (understandably) realize a regulated rate of return from capital expenditures on in-house technology, rather than invest in the cloud and miss out. But things are changing… and fast. Read More >

Posted on February 8, 2017 by West Corporation

The 10 New Rules of the Inbound Contact Center

Things have changed in the contact center. Customer experience is no longer bound by the limitations of legacy on-premises system capabilities. In their place, new cloud-based solutions offer a more flexible and agile approach, resulting in considerably more rewarding customer interactions.

But while new cloud-based technology can play a major role in an organization’s ability to deliver a more effective customer experience, it needs to be grounded in solid strategy. “The 10 New Rules of the Inbound Contact Center” provides a playbook through which any brand can get the most from their cloud-based platform: Read More >

Posted on January 5, 2017 by West Corporation

SaaS or Managed Services: Which Contact Center Option Fits Your Needs?

You’ve made the big decision. You know you’re going to update—or even upgrade—your contact center with a cloud solution. But there are more choices you need to make. One of the first and most important choices about a cloud solution is whether to choose Software as a Service (Saas) or Managed Services.

Each option has its advantages, but your ultimate decision will depend on several factors. These include the depth of your in-house resources, your desired level of support and your outlook on a strategic partner that will continually optimize your business. To see the features and differences between SaaS and Managed Services, view this helpful infographic describing the benefits of each. It covers what you’ll need to consider about:

Staffing
Configuration
Support
Analytics
Channels
Cost

Posted on December 19, 2016 by West Corporation

A Better Contact Center for a Better Customer Experience

If you haven’t replaced or upgraded your contact center solutions recently, there’s a good chance your customers have noticed. Customer care has made huge advances over the last several years, and customer expectations have responded. Today’s customers demand the flexibility to communicate with you in their preferred channel at their preferred time. And they no longer accept long wait times and impersonal service as the norm.

You need to keep up in order to keep your customers.

In the past, updating or replacing your system to provide a higher level of service was cost-prohibitive. Today, that’s not necessarily the case. With a good cloud-based system and an experienced partner, you can take your customer experience to new heights without doing the same for your expenditures.

To discover how that’s possible, download our e-book, The Many Benefits of Modernizing Your Contact Center. In it, you’ll find how a modern contact center:

Saves your business money over time
Provides a better experience for your customers and agents
Needs more than just software

Posted on December 5, 2016 by West Corporation

Choosing a Contact Center Provider that Fits Your Needs

If you’re like many companies, you’re considering either an update or a complete upgrade of your contact center solution. This is obviously a decision that you can’t take lightly. You’re undoubtedly facing budgetary pressure, which means you need to implement the right solution the first time.

How to Deliver a Better Contact Center CX

During CRMXchange’s recent webcast, Does Your Contact Center Make or Break the Customer Experience?, Dan Gordon explored the notion of a collective customer journey, and how every interaction adds or subtracts from a big picture experience across multiple functions and channels. With the contact center at the heart of this journey, Gordon tackled a number of topics relating to contact center success.

Check out the webcast recording here, and leverage these key takeaways to start engaging your customers however, whenever and whenever they demand. Read More >

Posted on October 31, 2016 by West Corporation

Inbound and Outbound Campaign Strategies for an Improved Contact Center

There are many strategies you could implement to run a more efficient, more productive contact center. When it comes to inbound, you should implement multiple channels to ensure you can provide the best customer experience, no matter how your customers prefer to communicate. Then, you can prioritize your contacts by those various channels. And you should provide a dashboard that allows your agents a single view of all of those channels and how your customers are using each at any given time.

For outbound, it’s important to ensure you have enough data—and that the quality of your data is superior. You should also establish the right Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and use multiple channels in your outbound strategies whenever possible to increase your likelihood of reaching your KPIs.

Finally, consider having a multi-channel contact center —the most effective strategy for an improved customer experience.

For more information on these strategies, download our slideshow on effective inbound and outbound strategies, as well as the benefits of a multi-channel contact center.

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Category: Cloud Contact Center

Category: Cloud Contact Center

How Utilities Should Respond to the Mobile Shift

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