Why integrating a unified communications strategy in contact center gives your company a competitive edge

We live in an increasingly connected world where consumers expect to be able to easily reach businesses. Questions, complaints and orders aren't just made via telephone. They're done via email, on Twitter, through FB messenger or as a DM on Instagram.

As a Contact Center Manager or Chief Information Officer, you're responsible for helping to ensure clear and efficient communication with your customers. To do this, you need a unified communications system. Streamlined omnichannel communications help your teams work smarter while giving your company a competitive edge. This also helps with customer retention as it's estimated that customers often stop supporting brands due to a poor customer experience. Here are a few reasons why creating a unified communications contact center can give your brand a competitive edge.

Why use a unified communications system?

Streamlined communications

Many businesses continue to seek solutions that fit the modern consumer. A digital transformation is no longer an option as eCommerce continues to grow with 2020 worldwide sales totaling approximately $4.28 trillion. Customers may need to communicate with members of your team to track orders, organize returns or submit complaints. In a traditional call center setup, customers would need to call a phone number and talk to an agent. This might cause long wait times, and agents often spend time answering questions that could have easily been organized on a FAQ page.

Unified communications integration allows you to better organize customer requests. Through one dashboard, you can track conversations that may have begun on Twitter and then switched to email. All team members can also track the status of a ticket to ensure that they have the most up-to-date information possible regarding customer inquiries.

Automation

These systems also allow you to set up automation. In recent years, automation has been one of the fastest-growing unified communication trends because it frees up team members to handle the most pressing customer inquiries.

Automated bots can help to field customer inquiries by providing near real-time communication. These bots allow managers to input answers and solutions for commonly asked questions. They can also help to direct customers to the correct department by asking relevant questions. Over time, as the algorithm gets smarter, automated bots increase their knowledge.

Expand your teams

One of the unified communication trends that continues to give companies a competitive edge is the ability to have remote team members. Most unified communications call center software is cloud-based, which means that it can be accessed from any computer, tablet or mobile device that's connected to the internet. Rather than needing to be in the same office, a customer inquiry can be sent directly to a team member who is qualified to handle the issue.

Cloud-based private branch exchanges (PBXs) allow you to capture all incoming communications and then distribute them to the appropriate department. Businesses that unify call center efforts may allow team members to work from home or remotely. Using unified communications call center software can help to make your business more accessible while reducing labor costs.

At 8x8, we've developed a high-quality unified communications system that's designed to help contact centers succeed. Our award-winning unified communication integration solutions are secure and cost-effective. We also have a global presence in over 120 countries that allows you to connect to customers and team members in every time zone. Contact us today to learn how to unify call center efforts for your business.