Uc Today - Out Loud

Emerging technologies and the changing consumer landscape have transformed what customers expect from their business interactions. The traditional model of the contact centre has to transform too. In many cases it already has. With the massive increase in cloud based contact centre platforms many would argue we have already reached a new era. Brain Solis, author of Contact Center 2.0: The Rise of Collaborative Contact Centers, is the expert guest on the podcast today to provide an overview of his report which was commissioned by RingCentral. The report focusses on the premise that digital transformation is making contact centres more unified, collaborative and intelligent.

UCaaS and CPaaS platforms are some of the most innovative within the communications market and can enable some real benefits for organisations that leverage them fully. One of the most desirable attributes for a business is that of agility, allowing them to react quickly and decisively in their often competitive industries. UCaaS and CPaaS platforms can really assist to create agile structural models for business and in this episode we look at how they can do this. Ribbon Communications have an intense focus on helping their customers and partners to achieve agile processes so are the perfect guest to join Patrick on the podcast for a deep dive into how they do this.

Customer Contact Week is arguably the biggest and most important contact centre, CX and customer care event on the planet. UC Today attended the event this year which took place in Las Vegas in June. Mitel are one of the huge players in the communications landscape. They have made an enormous effort when it comes to transitioning their customers into the cloud. At the event they were showcasing their latest cloud contact centre solutions and we were there to discuss them and take a look.

Cavell Group is the thought-leader in the European future voice and VoIP marketplace providing analytics and insights across the industry. In June this year they hosted their Cloud Comms Summit in Washington DC and we were there to bring you all the news and themes from the event. Along with the Cloud Communications Alliance (CCA), Cavell hosted the summit which is the leading event for Service Providers and the cloud communications industry to share best practices, discuss key trends and meet the industry vendors. As the industry is in flux it provided great insight into the main changes and trends that will be shaping the landscape in the future.

Customer Contact Week is arguably the biggest and most important contact centre, CX and customer care event on the planet. UC Today attended the event this year which took place in Las Vegas in June. One of the most disruptive players in the communications market has been Twilio. Their innovative development based platform has captured the imagination of a huge amount of customers. As a CX focused event CCW's main premise suits the Twilio proposition so well as their platforms are hugely flexible, allowing organisations to tailor solutions to enhance their customer service as much as possible. 

Customer Contact Week is arguably the biggest and most important contact centre, CX and customer care event on the planet. UC Today attended the event this year which took place in Las Vegas in June. In this episode we hear from Talkdesk who is a leading cloud contact centre software provider. As a provider of customer contact systems events like CCW are vitally important for Talkdesk for a number of different reasons. We examine the main themes from the show and also look at some of this year's biggest industry trends.

Unified Communication systems seem to be the last bastion of an organisations infrastructure to move into the cloud. This can be the result of a number of factors but Avaya and their partners are keen to ensure the industry is fully prepared in all aspects. They have shifted their focus over recent years to their cloud portfolio. Today we hear from one of their specialist cloud partners, Formation Tech, about how their business started and why they chose Avaya's cloud platform as the foundation for their solutions.

Customer Contact Week is arguably the biggest and most important contact centre, CX and customer care event on the planet. UC Today attended the event this year which took place in Las Vegas in June. Genesys were one of the most visible brands at the event with various presenters and speakers taking part in the conference itself. One of the most interesting ideas we heard at CCW18 was the use of storytelling within CX experiences. Not fanciful tales to mislead customers but using narratives to ensure the customers get the best experiences possible.

Deploying a new communication or collaboration system across a business is undoubtedly a huge undertaking. How can you be sure your network is capable of successfully managing the traffic required? Today we look a tool from the experts at Modality Systems which can enable businesses to ensure their network environment is ready for such a large system change. Their Impact Assessment is specifically designed to test customer networks prior to deployment to mitigate any potential risk when a Microsoft Skype for Business or Teams project is initiated. 

Call routing has always been considered a dark art with little or no recognition within businesses, despite the crucial role it plays within system functions. From Automatic Call Distributors through the development of CTI systems, the development of routing has come a long way. Queue based routing was the original premise with skills based routing a later enhancement. Now we have reached the age of predictive routing where AI can be utilised to maximise potential. 

Customer Contact Week is arguably the biggest and most important contact centre, CX and customer care event on the planet. UC Today attended the event this year, which took place in Las Vegas in June. Five9 was the main sponsor and one of the most visible and prominent brands at the event. Patrick is joined by some of their executive team to discuss the event from a Five9 perspective but also review their position in the industry. 

As usual loads has been going on in the world of Cisco collaboration. Our monthly update for June brings you all the latest news and updates for the platforms. Webex Teams has a new user interface (UI) and our Cisco expert takes us through the main changes. The changes all tie into Cisco's drive to make the platform as simple to use as possible. Further integration with the WebEx meetings platforms has also been enabled. 

Security threats continue to grow, evolve, and multiply, continually threatening organisations with a variety of undesirable outcomes. Now more than ever it is vital to clearly establish the most efficient and effective way of protecting your business systems. As organisations adopt more collaboration and communication solutions the risk of breach potentially increases with more access points for intruders. Security cannot be an afterthought it must be present through all stages of planning, deployment and usage. 

Workforce behaviour is changing dramatically, the rise in remote and flexible working is dictating the requirements for employers. The youngest members of the workforce have very different ideas about how they are most productive, the traditional office setup and the tools businesses provide may not align with that. We also need to consider the next workforce generation who are not yet in employment but will be the graduates of the future in the next 5 to 10 years as their ideals might be even more radical. 

Organisations spend huge amounts of money on their public image. Branding, websites and marketing materials all play a crucial role in amplifying and enhancing a company's public image, but what about your telephony on hold systems? For too long phone systems have had unprofessional and inefficient on hold systems, often considered to be unimportant they actually play a huge role in the frontline of customer services. In this episode we discuss these systems and how they can be enhanced. 

RingCentral have commissioned some research in their Zen Survey examining collaboration, where they try to establish the most efficient ways of working. The huge amount of communication and collaboration platforms available has increased the complexities for organisations when trying to optimise their workflows. Communication and collaboration methods vary according to various factors, including industry verticals but also within the different generations of an organisation's workforce. We take a look at the best ways to avoid disruption and ensure productivity. 

PeterConnects offer a variety of innovative solutions to enhance Microsoft’s Skype for Business and Cisco’s Unified Communications Manager platforms. Their customer contact centre solutions comprise an Attendant, ServiceDesk, ManagerAssistant, OmniDirectory and a ContextManager. We hear from their CEO where we discuss the penultimate leg of their European partner tour and the future of their portfolio. 

The traditional sales landscape is changing. The different purchasing models used by businesses and also within the consumer environment require a shift in sales approach. Many more services are moving to consumption models. Historically a sale for a particular product or service might have been made only once every few years before an upgrade. Now though with the rise in the consumption economy and with increased buyer power, flexibility on the behalf of the buyer is enhanced. We consider these changes and how selling may need to morph to reflect changing industries. 

Ribbon Communications are one of the largest communications equipment and software manufacturers after the merger of GENBAND and Sonus Networks. Their annual event 'Ribbon Perspectives 2018' took place in Los Angeles and UC Today were there to hear from some of their senior executives and bring you a summary of the event. We hear about the importance of the gathering and also about some of their innovative new solutions that took centre stage during proceedings.

Customer Contact Week is arguably the biggest and most important contact centre, CX and customer care event on the planet. This year's event starts on the 18th of June in Las Vegas and UC Today will be there to bring you all of news. One of the biggest and most exciting brands attending will be Five9 who provide leading cloud contact centre software. In this episode we speak to them to preview the event to find out why it is so important for providers of CX enablers.