Cloud-based Contact Centers for Digital Transformation

Customer service standards have changed over time. Companies must reimagine their support service from the consumer’s point of view to keep up with growing customer expectations. Digital transformation, personalization, and analytics are the keys to successful customer service.

Learn how contact center as a service (CCaaS) paves the way for digital transformation to improve the customer experience by reading the article through to the end.

How Does a Cloud-based Contact Center Help Accelerate Digital Transformation?

Adopting cutting-edge technologies, such as a cloud-based contact center, is central to successful digital transformation. Offering features like call deflection, automation, and customization, these centers modernize customer service to meet increasing demands.

With customer expectations at an all-time high, there’s a pressing need for timely, unique support across various digital platforms, along with seamless integration of these platforms. Comm100 reports that the use of live chat, a key component of cloud centers, is rapidly growing, with a 43% increase in chats per agent per month in 2022 compared to the previous year. This surge reflects the importance of efficient digital channels in customer service.

Cloud-based contact centers comprehensively view customer interactions across multiple channels like email, chat, social media, phone, and IVR. This integration enables agents to offer personalized and real-time support that efficiently resolves customer issues.

Moreover, cloud centers are not merely multichannel but omnichannel, providing a holistic view of the customer journey. This approach is crucial for businesses aiming to address labor shortages and elevate the customer experience in the evolving digital landscape. 

Six Ways Cloud-based Contact Centers Embrace Digital Transformation

According to the World Economic Fund, over 84% of employers plan to digitize processes. However, digital transformation is a long process and requires the right technology, platform, strategy, workflow, service provider, integration partners, and consumer data. It’s about prioritizing business aspects that support transformation.

Take a look at how a cloud-based contact center expedites digital transformation. 

1. Getting Superior CX with Multifactor Authentication

Identity authentication and verification of clients are the backbones of successful customer service. With the digital transformation, verification policies and methods assume more relevance in protecting transactions and calls.

Here are the reasons multifactor authentication is important in digital transformation.

• Relying on single-factor authentication, such as one-time passwords (OTPs) and knowledge-based authentication (KBA) is less safe and more at risk of errors.
• Better authentication that eliminates KBA improves customer satisfaction and Net Promoter Scores (NPS).
• Using multiple synergistic factors such as automatic number identification (ANI), voice, behavior, devices, and risk improves confidence in the authentication method.
• Multifactor authentication lets customers identify themselves across various platforms.
• Continuously authenticating clients across platforms streamline the verification process and improves customer experience.

2. Using Voice Biometrics

A reputable cloud-based contact center uses deep neural network-based voice biometrics. This technology is vital in omnichannel, cohesive, and client-focused customer service. 

Here are some ways voice biometrics can benefit you.

• Voice-based interactions replace manual and time-consuming work, improving productivity and efficiency.
• Voice biometrics protects contact centers from malicious actors with replay attacks, deep fakes, or synthetic voices.
• Contactless voice interactions enhance customer satisfaction by letting them authenticate themselves when other active methods are not applicable or feasible.
• A seamless, passive, and frictionless voice biometric tool enables the authentication and identification of clients via phones, mobile apps, chatbots, and IoT devices.

3. Leveraging Machine Learning and AI

No other technology is as vital to digital transformation as artificial intelligence (AI). The Harvard Business Review reports that 52% of companies are accelerating their AI adoption.

Contact centers use machine learning to automate and route interaction across the team. Additionally, machine learning tools deliver real-time analytics for better decision-making that improves the customer experience.

Here are some ways machine learning and artificial intelligence can help.

• Optimized and well-trained machine learning tools offer much intelligence on consumer identity, behavior, and patterns. Businesses use such intelligence to make smarter call routing, personalization, and authentication decisions.
• AI is essential to analytics, chatbots, and workflow optimization tools. It helps organizations work in a scalable and efficient manner.
• Deep learning, automated speech recognition (ASR), robotic process automation (RPA), and natural language processing are key to speech and intent recognition, customer authentication and identification, and managing interactions in an omnichannel environment.
• Robust AI datasets, models, and learning environments are crucial to guaranteeing effective automation that drives digital transformation.

4. Boosting Self-service Options

A cloud-based contact center increases customer access to self-service across multiple platforms.

The ability to use self-service options is the linchpin of digital transformation. Better self-service with stronger protection helps with customer satisfaction, reduces costs, and improves the management of ticket capacity.

Here’s why self-service options help with digital transformation.

• The number of customer tickets has increased post-pandemic. The burden on representatives has increased with limited agent capacity, creating longer wait times and queues.
• Giving customers self-service opportunities alleviates the burden on agents and shortens wait times.
• IVR is often underutilized. Containing more calls in IVR with self-service options improves agent efficiency and lowers the cost of agent call handling.

5. Offering a Personalized Customer Experience

Personalizing consumers’ support experiences is an integral part of digital transformation. Personalize the experience by recognizing the caller’s identity in the initial greeting or giving them a custom menu of products or services based on previous behavior patterns.

Here are other ways to personalize the customer experience.

• Use tools such as spoof detection and ANI validation to analyze the risk of incoming calls. Low-risk calls have fewer intrusive authentication processes with fewer OTPs or KBAs. Doing so ensures more satisfactory authentication processes for high-call traffic.
• Personalize agent greetings and menus in the IVR based on the customer’s authentication feedback, enrollment profiles, and the contact center’s verification processes.
• Personalize verification processes for each customer based on their enrollment profiles and risk variance. That can include no KBA for low-risk signals and trusted customers with enrolled profiles. Conversely, higher-risk callers get stricter authentication policies.

6. Protecting Contact Centers With Fraud Detection

Every digital transformation’s core includes keeping out fraudsters and preventing identity thefts and data breaches. Cybersecurity accidents lead to monetary losses and a negative brand reputation.

Cloud contact centers with strong fraud detection protect your organization from thieves and malicious actors.

Here are a few things to remember:

• Using risk signals validates customers without enrollment, saving time and money.
• Vulnerable platforms such as IVR require more protection. Protecting IVR helps prevent fraud and increases the confidence of callers.

The Bottom Line

In a world where digital technology is a staple of daily life, customers crave unique experiences and expect seamless support at every interaction point. Contact centers stay ahead by leveraging interconnected technologies and preemptively addressing and resolving customer issues.

Integrating digital tools like call deflection, personalization, analytics, and automation transforms traditional call centers into futuristic contact hubs.

Achieving a complete digital transformation involves strategically using the right technologies, including cloud-based contact centers, coupled with effective agent training.

Embracing cloud technology is crucial for delivering exceptional service, differentiating from competitors, and attracting new business opportunities. For expert guidance on this transformation journey, consider contacting Unity Communications.