With most of America sheltering in place, network voice usage is on an upswing. In fact Verizon registered a 25 percent bump in voice usage between the weeks of March 12 and March 19, a sharp reversal in an age dominated by texting, chat, email and social media. For businesses, voice is an integral tool for keeping teams focused on their work, customers serviced and operations moving forward. But for this unprecedented moment in time, voice should be just one of a number of robust advanced communications solutions used by nimble organizations of all sizes. Here are the advanced communications tactics that are helping forward-facing organizations reinforce connections and shorten distances.
VoIP services: A reliable, feature-rich Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) system, which enables calls over a broadband connection instead of an analog phone line, gives organizations pinpoint control of communications — down to the individual call and where it’s routed. It also can help improve customer experiences and simplified day-to-day operations, all while saving money. And with a virtual private branch exchange (PBX), employees are connecting and collaborating seamlessly, no matter where they are.
Unified communications services: Web, voice and video collaboration tools are providing teams with a seamless environment for working faster and smarter. With these services, organizations are giving their employees virtual rooms to collaborate and share content as if they were in the same room — from small brainstorming sessions to meetings with many participants — and do it any time, from virtually anywhere.
Productivity solutions: Remote workers may be out of the office, but they can always be within touch. Solutions like Verizon One Talk assign one number for compatible mobile handsets, desk phones and PCs, ringing them all so employees can be moving freely between devices and engaging with customers wherever they are.
Voice Call Back and Proactive Notifications: In times of high call volume, activating a network-based queue management service can give customers the option of avoiding lengthy hold times and receiving a call back when an agent becomes available. It may sound simple, but such a solution can help serve customers, reduce abandonment and deepen brand affinity.
Contact center services: Virtual contact centers employ trained remote agents to assist customers who contact a business via phone, email, chat, text or social media. Streamlined contact center services can support quicker resolutions to issues and, ultimately, lead to more efficient, effective customer service.
Digital customer experience (CX) solutions: For those times when a live agent isn’t necessary, CX solutions incorporate technology such as artificial intelligence and natural language processing to quickly provide customers with the service and information they need. When reaching a live representative is essential, these same solutions assist in gathering information quickly via a single interface, and routing calls to the appropriate agents.
81%
Percentage of businesses employing call centers that felt customers wanted the reassurance that a live agent brings to a conversation.
$7.00
Average cost of a live service telephone call.
$0.50 – 0.90
Average cost of a telephony self-service session.
93%
Percentage of businesses that found telephony callback functionality “fairly useful” or “very useful” in improving customer satisfaction and experience.
84%
Percentage businesses that found telephony callback functionality “fairly useful” or “very useful” in managing call volumes.
Source: ContactBabel, 2019-20 US Contact Center Decision-Makers’ Guide (12th edition).