Virtual Office Resource

To establish a truly omnichannel customer experience, we have to have all the ducks in a row, so to speak, with each offering distinct value. We need phone connections, of course, but we also need email, mobile systems, and of course, Web-based systems like chat functions. Clickatell (News - Alert) recently took a step forward in augmenting our Web-based chat capabilities with Clickatell Touch, a system that provides several new advantages in business to consumer (B2C) communications.

Not only does Clickatell Touch provide a new chat option, which helps close the gap in the advancement of omnichannel, but it also allows for bot-driven systems which can respond to certain customer inquiries even when there's no live person on hand to step in. It also uses a combination of machine learning and workflow automation to address several key points at once.

With this multi-faceted platform at work, call center operations can be streamlined to produce better—and often faster—results. The machine learning systems allow the bots to learn more effectively how to respond to certain queries based on previous interactions. When the bots can't handle an issue, the issue is routed to human agents who are better equipped to step in. This helps ensure that the largest raw numbers of calls are handled; highly qualified agents no longer need waste time telling random customers what a store's hours are or how much is currently outstanding on an account. The bots, however, don't just shut down when not working; in the background, the bots continue to learn, and can even suggest potential solutions to the human agent.

Better yet, there's a distinct advantage to the Clickatell system. It's able to actually work with current customer support systems, which means there won't be the added expense and hassle that a “rip and replace” installation might yield. Since it works alongside what's currently in play, including both customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, it's not only more efficient, but it also yields more value in rapid fashion. Reports suggest that call center costs drop as much as 60 percent over the first three years of operation alone.

Improving the call center has been a priority in operations for some time now, as businesses increasingly discover the value inherent in providing better call center systems. Customers respond well to these developments, bringing return business and positive word-of-mouth promotion—even earned media promotion—along in the process. When customers are happy, those customers tell others. Plus, making happy customers prevents unhappy customers, who also tell others, but commonly in much larger numbers than the happy ones do.

Thus, making happy customers not only makes for positive effects, but it also defuses potential negative effects, resulting in a much better net positive gain. Clickatell's system will go a long way toward making sure those gains actually take place.