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Cloud Hosting VS On-premises VS Hybrid Cloud for your call center solution: Make the best choice!

The cloud: the trendy solution On-premises storage: old, but so valuable So-called “hybrid” cloud data hosting: The best of both worlds? Conclusion What type of data storage should you choose for your call center solution:  cloud or on premise? Not an easy question… fortunately, we are here to give you a helping hand to help you better understand the two concepts. In addition to shining in society by using a few complicated words during your conversations, you will be able to decide which of the two is the most accessible, the most affordable and the most secure for your business!   Today, most call center solutions offer both options: either cloud storage on a shared/private server or the ability to install your solution directly on your company’s servers. However, we will also discuss a third, lesser-known option: hybrid data storage!   Ready ? let’s go.   1. The cloud: the trendy solution Since the health crisis, the cloud solution has been on the rise! Between new hybrid working styles, reduced costs, the increased need for mobility and scalability, let’s face it, the cloud is the sweet spot when it comes to flexibility, with data able to be stored on servers anywhere in the world . a) Advantages of the cloud solution Easily back up and restore your data Have you also lost the last copy of the final version of the 356th revision of your presentation file after a crash? Of course, we’ve all been there! And thank goodness the drive saved your life. Everything is stored and pre-recorded automatically to guarantee you a final backup anywhere, anytime! Well, the same goes for CCAAS cloud solutions, which reduces the risk of data loss. Improve collaboration This allows employees to work closely on any type of data stored online and/or outside the company firewall. Thus, a cloud-based platform can be used by employees to share, edit and work jointly on common projects. Additionally, maintenance and upgrades are taken care of by the cloud service provider itself. Total accessibility Access your apps anytime, anywhere via a web browser and on any connected device. Cloud call center solutions do not require the use of a specific device or being in a particular location to access data, which facilitates and optimizes emergency management! Mobility Thanks to cloud storage, your agents can now work from a beach in Mauritius or Mount Fuji! mobility The mobility and flexibility of this type of solution allows employees to work at any time and from any location, which encourages a high rate of engagement from your employees. Save money Cloud storage is the right compromise in terms of value for money, because it does not include installation costs or prior hardware. Only maintenance and support are subject to operating expenses (OpEx). However, these are predictable costs, with full monthly coverage including upgrades and backups. Deployment The deployment of a cloud solution can be carried out remotely and at any time, so it will be much faster. Flexibility and extensibility It is possible to extend the solution on demand according to your needs. It is easily possible to increase or reduce your storage needs. The cloud does not require investment at source. Updates happen easily outside of business hours with minimal disruption. Reduce your IT staff No need to mobilize staff to ensure updates. The provider takes care of everything so the company never has to take care of network upgrades and monitoring. b) Disadvantages of the cloud solution Internet connection & CAAS solutions A stable and reliable internet connection is essential to use your solution. But that’s not the only obstacle. The basic architecture must also be in place. We know of cases where agents had to connect their computers to Ethernet cables to operate full cloud solutions from some famous competitors (no, we won’t give names 😊).   Limited control Backend infrastructure and server shell access as well as firmware updating and management cannot be managed by the user. And this lack of control over your data storage can be a major inconvenience.   Costs We said earlier that the cloud could save you money. However, in the long term, this is not entirely true. The total amount spent over time maintaining cloud storage will ultimately be much greater than if you had your own servers.   Data security Every time you sign on to a cloud provider, you give up control over the security of your data. Indeed, there is always a risk that unauthorized people will access your data. To avoid this, you should research the provider’s security policies and ensure that your data is encrypted both in transit and at rest. Although security has improved significantly, couds can still be hacked. A common corporate directory server should be used to manage employee access through onboarding and offboarding procedures. 2. On-premises storage: old, but so valuable a) Advantages of the on-premise solution On-premises storage for call center solutions means everything is managed internally and supported by the customer. The software is purchased, installed on physical hardware owned by the owning organization and no third parties are involved. You have both complete ownership and full cost of production. On-premises storage uses your physical location to manage your data. As you own the equipment, you are responsible for its maintenance and management. Let’s keep it simple You may consider on-premises storage the right storage for you if its aspects seem important to your business: High security You keep all data. This means that access to on-premises storage can be more easily controlled and granted only to authorized individuals. As data is not stored online, on-premises servers are inaccessible outside the network. Which can be very valuable for industries that process sensitive data (like the financial sector for example) where confidentiality is assured. No one can steal or dig into your data. Additionally, it is easier to install additional protection tools and specific programs on an on-premises system rather than on a cloud system. Access to data is always guaranteed Access

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AI and Humans: partners for an unrivaled customer experience

< Return to blog < Return to blog AI: a tool for customer experience Humans: at the heart of customer relations A harmonious collaboration Towards an enriched customer experience Conclusion In a world where technology increasingly shapes our daily interactions, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into customer service and customer experience (CX) represents a major evolution. However, far from replacing human intervention in the relationship with the customer, AI is now an essential partner in offering a new experience to consumers, despite the latter’s clear reluctance in the face of the rapid evolution of this innovative technology. This synergy between AI and humans opens up new possibilities for companies, allowing them to optimize their processes, while preserving the human dimension at the heart of each interaction. 1. AI: a tool for customer experience AI is revolutionizing the way businesses interact with their customers. Using sophisticated algorithms and machine learning, AI systems can analyze huge volumes of data in real time, anticipate customer needs and offer the most relevant solutions to each customer request. Chatbots, for example, can be programmed to answer common questions instantly, providing 24/7 support. Additionally, AI can predict customer behaviors based on their data and conversation history, allowing businesses to anticipate future needs and provide offers tailored to each individual. 2. Humans: at the heart of customer relations Despite recent advances in AI, human participation remains essential in customer relations. Indeed, nothing can replace the warmth, empathy and understanding that only a human being can offer. Faced with complex situations or those that involve emotions, the role of the human agent is essential to establish an authentic connection with the customer. Advisors can actively listen to customer concerns, identify specific needs and offer personalized solutions. Thus, advisors understand the nuances of language much better and react appropriately to clients’ emotions, while a robot would remain cold in the exchange. 3. Harmonious collaboration Rather than opposing each other, AI and humans can work together seamlessly to deliver an exceptional customer experience. AI takes care of repetitive tasks and simple queries by providing an automated response to the requester. It frees up valuable time for human agents who can then focus on high value-added interactions that require their interventions. Finally, humans can supervise and train AI systems, ensuring more precise responses tailored to the context of the request. 4. Towards an enriched customer experience By combining AI capabilities with human expertise, businesses can create an enriched customer experience, where every interaction is seamless, personalized and memorable. Customers benefit from instant and efficient assistance while having the option to seek help from a human agent if the response provided by the AI ​​is not satisfactory. This hybrid approach allows businesses to meet evolving customer needs while maintaining high levels of satisfaction and brand loyalty. 5. Conclusion No, AI does not replace Humans. The latter are not adversaries, but complementary partners in the quest for a new customer experience. By combining the strengths of AI for efficiency and speed of execution and humans for empathy and detailed understanding of the customer, companies can truly transform their customer service and stand out in an increasingly market. more competitive. This is what we provide to our customers through a range of solutions dedicated to customer services: Dialogg.ai. Thanks to this new range of products, they benefit from a real conversational assistant which provides directly actionable solutions, but also features such as real-time transcription of the exchange, detection of customer sentiment and satisfaction or another summary of the conversation and the recommendation of the most relevant next actions. To discover all the possibilities offered by Dialogg.ai, as well as our vision and objectives behind this new offer, go to our dedicated page. You are already convinced of the collaboration between humans and AI and want to integrate it into your customer service? We talk about it right here: You want to integrate it into your customer service? We talk about it right here: Integrate AI into your contact center in 5 steps! Integrate AI into your contact center in 5 steps! Share this content on your favorite networks! Facebook Email LinkedIn Interested in our solutions? Contact us for more information! Recent articles

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🎓 MASTER THE BASICS: Contact Center Definitions

Discover all the attractive contact center definitions:  Abandonment   Abandonment refers to the incoming calls that are ended by the initiating customer before they an agent answers or before having navigated on an IVR. For example, if you are taking inbound calls, a long waiting time can raise abandonment rate.  Arborescence  It is a hierarchical structure of the menus and sub-menus of a vocal server. The tree structure of a voice server is by convention structured in the form of a tree. That is, the welcome message represents the trunk and the sub-menus the branches.  ACD   Is short form for automatic call distribution. It is a telephony system that automatically receives incoming calls and distributes them to an available agent.  Admin interface   This is dedicated to administrators of contact center solutions where they can configure and maintain the solution.  Administrator   It is the person responsible for setting up and maintaining the software solution. The administrator manages user accounts and can also modify the status of customer advisors.  Agent   Also known as the “customer adviser”.  Agent interface   The agent interface is a platform where a customer service agent can make calls as well as receive them. There is also the option to have a coffee among several options on Nixxix Contact Suite where the customer service agent can make the caller wait. Nixxis Contact Suite can be customized based on agent availability.  Agent position   The Equipements making up the workstation of a customer adviser.  API   The Application Programming Interface is a set of functions that provides access to the services of an application, through a programming language. The API allows developers to integrate a remote application into their own business applications, without having to know how the core of this remote application works.  ASR   The Automatic Speech Recognition is also known as the “speech recognition”.  Asterisk   A software implementation of a PBX (private branch exchange), used to establish and control telephone calls between telecommunication terminals. For example, there are regular telephone extensions, destinations on the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), and devices or services on Voice over Internet Protocol. networks (VoIP).  Audiotel   This service has several tariff levels for the caller, some of which allow repayment to the service provider.  Barge-in   A feature that allows frequent users of a voice server to interrupt the complete broadcast of a given message to navigate in the voice menu on a quicker way. This interruption can be manual or through voice recognition.   Blind transfer   The time where an agent transfers an incoming call to another agent, without ensuring that the latter is available to pick it up.  CCAAS   The “contact center as a service”, is software from a contact center provider that allows companies to manage all communication channels in real time. Nixxis Contact Suite is a technology that a business buys whereby it evolves as business evolves. CCaaS is an ideal option for many contact centers, scaling as business needs evolving within a single interface.  Call center  Is also referred as “Customer Relations centre”.   Call deterrence   This feature allows you to send a voice message to callers so that they can call back later. This is done outside the opening hours of a Customer Relations Center, or when the queue is at its maximum.  Conversation recording   A supervisor can record a conversation between an agent and a caller, for training purposes for example.  Call-backs only   This feature only redials missed calls to the Agent.0  Call routing   A set of distribution of incoming calls to the agents of a Customer Relations center. Call routing can be single or multi-criteria.  Call waiting   A feature allowing callers to wait before being put in touch with an agent. For example, there may be a message on hold or background music during telephone hold.  Call whisper  This feature allows a supervisor to remotely listen a conversation between a customer service agent and a caller.  Contact center   A technical solution which, integrated into the IT and telecom infrastructure of a Customer Relations center, allowing its customer service agents to manage all the incoming and outgoing calls. A contact center solution can be deployed for the following needs: customer information, sales administration, hotline, after-sales service, tele secretariat, taking orders or appointments, etc.  CRM application   The Customer Relationship Management is a business application that allows companies to better recruit and retain their customers, through the analysis of centralized data structured around the customer. These make it possible to support the sales and/or pre-sales and/or after-sales functions of companies, through analysis and decision-making tools.  Customer Relations Center   All the technical means such as the contact center solution and human resources, are combined to process incoming and outgoing telephone calls in large quantity. The missions of a Customer Relations center, set by Management, can cover several areas: customer information, after-sales service, sales, teleprospecting.   Click-to-call     A feature that allows customer service agents to dial a phone number by simply clicking on a button or text. This is done from the customer service agent’s interface. As a result, a click-to-call avoids the agent from having to manually dial telephone numbers.  Conference call  It is a telephone service that allows a user to communicate at the same time with other interlocutors.  Consultative transfer   The action where a customer service agent transfers an incoming call to another agent, ensuring that the latter is available and able to answer the call as well as respond to call requests.  Customer adviser   Also known as a customer service agent in a Customer Relations centre. This person responsible for handling incoming and outgoing calls.   CRM   A Customer Relationship Management is a set of business processes and functions aimed to attract and retain customerss, etc. This can be done as: marketing and customer services.  CTI   Computer telephony integration, also called computer–telephone integration is the coupling present between IT tools and telephony. The CTI makes it possible to identify the caller by his telephone number and

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Finally, the 3 most actionable call center KPIs 🤓   

This article will not be about the listing of the KPIs within call centers because you probably already know them all. Today’s article is based on the best ways to translate 4 essential KPIs into action to optimize your call center and achieve your best SLA objectives.  Definition  Let’s take a quick look at the 3 categories of KPIs.  There are many indicators to consider which can be grouped into 3 main categories: human resources, management and productivity.  These KPIs make it possible to measure and evaluate the performance of actions within an organization. The purpose of this data collection is to help, manage and measure the effectiveness of the activity in order to ensure decision-making or monitoring in several areas to achieve specific objectives.  Smart or nothing  KPIs have SMART objectives, they must be: Specific, Measurable, Accessible/Achievable, Achievable or Realistic and Time-bound.  Having specific performance indicators is essential to avoid wasting time. In this context, there defining an indicator is very important to know what it corresponds to exactly. Thus, it must be detailed, and target only one specific element, that is : one thing at a time.   Not to forget, the final objective is obtained through comparisons. Thus one can orient oneself in the margin of progress towards the given objective. The more specific your indicator is, the easier it will be to compare and measure over time.  A performance indicator must be accessible and achievable in order to gather relevant data to have a result around common objectives. There is no point in setting goals that you know are unattainable before you even start. The ultimate goal of the approach tends to realize our margin of progress at the moment in relation to a future objective. There is therefore no point in putting the cart before the horse, we must realize that whatever we are doing now will définitely impact the future.  Finally, a performance indicator must be able to be measured over time in order to establish comparisons between several key periods.  Achieving your goals: the 4 essential metrics  The pick-up rate  The pick-up rate is an indicator measuring the number of calls your teams answer out of the total number of calls received. It is calculated according to the following formula: number of calls answered/number of calls made x 100. This KPI is an indicator of efficiency and quality which is used to measure the proportion of incoming calls answered within a given time expressed in seconds.  The improvement of the pick-up rate is made through the optimization of the outgoing call dialing strategy. Dialing a number and waiting for someone to pick up does not guarantee sales growth. Nowadays, the dialing processes adopted by outbound contact centers are generally smarter:  The average processing time The average processing time is combined with the average conversation time, which must be calculated in order to be counted as an after-call. So, after the call, we will take into account the traceability of the communication and the processing time of the request. To conclude, if you take too long to process a request, your indicator will automatically drop.  Here are some tips for best results and good optimize treatment time:  First contact resolution rate This indicator corresponds to the rate of requests resolved during the customer’s first contact. It can be through a voice contact, an email or even a chat. This metric is used to assess customer satisfaction as well as the performance of the support team. It is calculated by taking the total number of requests resolved on first contact divided by the total number of requests over a given period. In order to improve the resolution rate, certain standards must be applied:  Average response time  The average response time is used to estimate the quality of work and thus assessing the efficiency of a call center. It is coupled with other customer satisfaction indices, because the objective is not only to respond “quickly”, but also to respond “correctly” to the request of his customer.  To reduce the waiting time, having an efficient IVR is essential, as it is simple and precise. It allows the customer to have a good experience due to the quick access to a qualified agent. This agent can quickly respond to the needs in order to have satisfied customers and thus, a shorter queue.  To conclude, your call center needs to measure its strengths and weaknesses in order to evolve and progress towards your objectives. Through these 4 key indicators, you will already have an understanding of the position of activity. This is to establish a specific to-to-list of things to improve both in terms of your human resources and your management to boost your productivity.  .   

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🎓MASTER THE BASICS: multichannel to omnichannel contact center solution

I guess you already experienced buying something out of the internet, the item arrives damaged, and then you try to contact the customer service by email and for example chat simultaneously and both send you contradictory info? How enraging is this? That’s what happens when the CX strategy is not omnichanel. The Omni-customers and immediacy are the main challenges for a successful CX. Before each communication channel was not communicating with the other, but now with the emergence of the Now customer everything has changed. But what is the difference between multichannel and omnichannel solutions? How can you boost your customer experience? Nixxis puts you on the track Multichannel and omnichannel, a paradigm change For many people, multichannels and omnichannels are synonyms. However, It’s in fact an evolution in customer experience management. Its a given that companies have various touchpoints with their customers (phone, email, social media etc.) but a very, very long time ago those channels were independant of one another with no communication in-between and then a miracle happened (probably coming from a guy who got really mad at some point of going back and forth with various company departments) leading to establishing lines of communications between those different channels. This is the evolution from multichannel to omnichannel: it’s the capacity that a company has to connect all its customer touch-points and deliver a harmonised response to every one of them. And this miracle of CX  is done through an omnichannel contact center solution that’s able to  connect all those dots together. You can read more about what is a contact center solution in this article:  WANT TO KNOW WHAT IS A CONTACT CENTER SOLUTION? READ THIS. So is a multichannel platform still up to date? Honestly, we’re an omnichannel contact center solution, you can’t expect us to say yes. But let us explain what is the fundamental differences between the two. Say you start chatting on a website to solve your insurance subscription issue. Things are taking their sweet time, and you’re loosing your patience, you ask to switch to a phone call. If the software used by the company is multichannel it won’t be possible to switch on the spot, you will have to call another number, wait in queue and then talk to another agent that the on you were liasing with. But with an omnichannel one, we assume that the agent behind is as proficient by chat as he is by voice and therefore can pick up a call in the middle of a chat conversation. Which situation do you prefer as a client? I’m guessing the omnichannel one. Omnichannel for an omni-consumer For the past 20 years, we have observed that consumers have been using several channels at the same time and are more and more impatient to receive a response. It is therefore imperative to be reactive on all fronts, in order to respond to solicitations in record time on the ambient immediacy.  Omnichannel no longer means several channels, but all channels. It is a solution that will not only bring together, but also interconnect all your touch points. It merges channels for a unified and responsive customer experience.  So if one of your customers sends you an email and then contacts you via chat, an omnichannel solution will provide instant follow-up on each channel in real time. An omnichannel solution, the Graal of customer experience It is essential to adapt the current media consumption mode and a synergy between your brand’s contact points, with an omnichannel contact center solution you can: Nixxis, tailor-made omnichannel contact center solution Manage your incoming calls at the same time as your social media with an immediate and adapted response. All this with an intuitive and ergonomic interface to allocate cases according to the skills and availability of each of your agents. Measure and adapt your objectives with a complete and personalized reporting. Test the Nixxis recipe now and request a demo Learn more about an omnichannel contact centre ? Visit our blog!

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Segmenting your customers: a priority for contact centers

< Return to blog The profession Geographic location The Age Have you also ever contacted a list of people who don’t pick up despite several attempts? How to avoid this? To cope with the number of call attempts (we recommend a maximum of 10) and optimize the use of your database, it is essential to carry out socio-demographic segmentation. ➡️ But what are the main socio-demographic criteria to take into account? 1. The profession Indeed, each profession has its obligations in terms of scheduling. As a contact center, you will need to adapt to everyone. For example, we know that a lawyer will certainly be in court in the morning and will therefore not be able to take a call at that time. We will also avoid contacting the catering sector during lunchtime. 2. Geographic location Geographic location is also a very important criterion. We know, for example, that around 6:00 p.m., people living in Île-de-France are likely to find themselves in traffic jams where they will naturally be stressed. And so this is not a good time to contact them. Instead, for example, you can contact people who live in Provence and who may be more available at that time. 3. The Age Age is a primary criterion. First of all, the probability that a person of working age will be able to respond during office hours is less than that of a retiree, for example. In addition, knowing the age of your customers will save you time for both the customer and your agent. Indeed, let’s imagine that your agent offers a subscription to the magazine “Neon” which rather targets “millennials” and that on the other end of the line, he comes across a “baby boomer”. What will happen? The customer will simply refuse the offer because he is not part of the audience targeted by the magazine. These are just a few examples allowing you to optimize the use of your database. Nixxis has several features to optimize your chances with each attempt. What if you watched our latest webinar? I access the replay I access the replay Share this content on your favorite networks! Facebook Email LinkedIn Interested in our solutions? Contact us for more information! Recent articles

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