Agility, Speed Essential for Contact Center, Genesys Xperience Speakers Stress

DENVER -- Agile technology and workers who know how to leverage that technology will be the differentiators for the contact centers of the future, speakers said at the Genesys Xperience19 conference Wednesday.

"Technology is moving at an incredible pace, and that is accelerating a change of how business is done," said Peter Graf, Genesys' chief product officer. He pointed to the ability to 3D print a part on site rather than waiting for it to be delivered from a distant plant, minimizing any disruption in production. Similarly, genetically engineered medicines are changing how people are managing some healthcare issues.

The introduction of newer technologies is going to drastically change customer relationships, Graf said. "You need to keep your technology flexible. That's what we've done. We want to be your partner for life. We want to serve all of you."

Graf explained that Genesys Cloud and Genesys PureCloud serves contact centers with anywhere from 25 agents to 250 agents.

Omnichannel capabilities and artificial intelligence are essential components of the cloud offering because, while contact center interactions are expected to grow 3.5 times over the next three years, the number of actual phone calls is expected to remain steady, according to Graf. So agents need to be able to work with texts, emails, web information, social media, and phone calls, sometimes aiding the customer by accessing multiple channels at the same time.

By using natively deployed AI, the Genesys technology is designed to route the end customer for the best business result, whether that be automation, something requiring a human touch, or some combination of the two, Graf said.

"Digital transformation is changing every business," Graf said. "According to IDC, worldwide spending on digital transformation will be $1.2 trillion, 40 percent of all worldwide technology spending. We see our cloud as a platform. We want customer journey optimization via AI and better analytics."

For example, if a prospect or prospect on a company's website clicks away from a purchase form, analytics shows that it is likely the person won't purchase. But if that prospect gets a chatbot popup or some other engagement tool while on the form, he or she is more likely to purchase. There are other similar opportunities to engage with a customer at critical buy/don’t buy decision points that AI helps uncover.

By adding this additional level of engagement companies can improve the average 2 percent sales conversion rate, according to Graf.

In addition to this capability, Genesys'technology uses AI to route communications to the best agent to handle it, Olivie Jouve, executive vice president for Genesys PureCloud, said in an interview with CRM.

The cloud also enables Genesys to have worldwide, diversified scalability so it can handle customer communication volume spikes and enable customers to have the latest Genesys upgrades as soon as they are available, Jouve added.

Security is another cloud advantage, according to Graf. Whereas many companies, particularly in health care and financial services, had hesitated to go to the cloud over security concerns, cloud providers such as Genesys have placed a high priority on security.

By using the cloud, companies don't have to wait for security patches to be installed on premises.

However, Graf added that Genesys can work with companies that aren't ready to move everything to the cloud by supporting some contact center services in the cloud while leaving others on premises.

Need for Skilled Agents

With routine calls (e.g., "what's my balance?") moving to AI, agents of the future will need to be more skilled to work with customers and to work with more advanced contact center technology, Graf said.

To that end, Genesys has developed Genesys Beyond, which will launch sometime in 2020.

The focus will be on education/professional development opportunities for individuals to learn and master specific customer experience technology and a place for individuals to showcase their skills to the businesses that need them, providing job opportunities so they can gain experience and advance their careers. Additionally Genesys Beyond will provide partners with highly qualified staffing for specialized roles to complete customer experience projects.

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