ChannelVision Magazine

Replace historical data reports with predictive analytics Big data entails aggregating struc- tured and unstructured enterprise content into a common repository and running queries and algorithms to extract meaningful information. Obvi- ously, this can be a time-consuming and costly project, requiring massive infrastructure investments. By leverag- ing cloud resources, service providers can alleviate many of the costs asso- ciated with big data projects. An important point to keep in mind is that most of the data has little value in helping with customer intelligence initiatives. Avoid placing too much emphasis on historical data. Histori- cal data can give good insights about what’s happened with customers, what problems occurred and how customers felt about those experiences. However, relying too heavily on this rearview per- spective puts companies in a constant reactive mode — identifying past or current trouble spots and then reacting. By identifying and using only the data sets that matter most, the costs and complexity of analytics initiatives can be reduced significantly. Channel partners can be prepared to help their CCaaS customers con- sider how predictive analytics can be used to enable customers to be more proactive, not just responding to upset clients more quickly but an- ticipating clients’ needs even before the client makes a request. The Ab- erdeen study on workforce optimiza- tion shows that best-in-class contact centers automatically recommend relevant knowledge-base articles to agents through the customer service agent desktop. This allows them to quickly resolve the customer’s issue instead of spending time searching through the knowledgebase while the customer waits on hold. Strive for contact center Utopia: insight selling The contact center has the po- tential to become much more than an order-taking center. If agents are equipped with the right tools and training, it can become an ideal en- vironment for consultative selling, which when combined with real-time analytics can become insight selling. In a traditional sales conversation, the salesperson has to ask a prospect lots of questions before trying to offer a solution. Imagine if that same contact- center representative had all the key details about the client on their call- center dashboard, along with insights about similar companies and their challenges. Instead of having to ask the prospect lots of questions, the rep could offer valuable advice and serve as a trusted advisor. The cloud enables companies to be more agile in responding to their evolving technology and communica- tion needs. Customer intelligence is a key to becoming more agile in adapting to market, environmental and internal changes in productive and cost-effective ways without losing momentum or vision. As the CX trend matures, it’s becoming clearer that businesses have to adapt or they will fail. One only needs to look at all the disruption happening in retail this year to see how dire it is that businesses get the CX equation right. Channel parters that understand this trend can play an invaluable role in helping their clients embrace the customer revolution by leveraging the latest cloud-based CCaaS and combining that technology with not just predictive analytics technology but also with best-practice expertise. A properly configured contact center solution helps create a positive first impression for customers. Empowering agents with customer intelligence is what really sets apart your client — and you — from the competition. o Jacki Tessmer is vice president of service provider and cloud strategy for Enghouse Interactive, a global developer of contact center and cus- tomer interaction soft- ware and services. at your service: Xaas 49 January - February, 2018 | Channel Vision