The Record - Issue 18: Autumn 2020

102 www. t e c h n o l o g y r e c o r d . c om T he adoption of collaboration tools within many enterprises has created a revolution that’s driving a new age of customer ser- vice. This revolution is shifting to an evolution as businesses over the years have looked to extract added value from services such as Microsoft Lync and Skype for Business, and more recently Microsoft Teams. The arrival of Teams, in par- ticular, has changed the approach of many busi- nesses as they move to unified communications (UC) environments and omnichannel customer interactions. Driven in part by the pandemic, Teams has become the collaboration platform of choice for many businesses. So what impact has Teams had on the contact centre? With the customer journey continuing to become ever more important to organisations, businesses are increasingly handling the routine or predictable interactions they have with cus- tomers through self-service or automated chan- nels. The remaining queries and interactions tend to be complex or awkward, often requiring the involvement of multiple parties to resolve. That is why we are seeing a growing number of organisations adopting Teams to pull in exper- tise from across the business to resolve more complex issues, resulting in first contact resolu- tion and an improved customer experience. Consider, for example, someone who is apply- ing for a mortgage. If they were just looking to re-mortgage their property, the application would be straightforward and could be done online or handled by front office staff. However, if there were certain conditions to the mortgage or covenants on the property it may need the involvement frommiddle- and back-office teams for final approval. Traditionally, before the advancement of UC, this could be a long-winded and protracted process, potentially involving multiple inter- actions with the customer, and inevitable delay and frustration. The advantage of integrating your contact centre with Teams means that agents can handle calls effectively by engaging with back office experts to provide the best res- olution available. Teams effectively allows organisations to extend the contact centre from the frontline agent into the middle and back offices, enabling them in turn to streamline the business process and improve the customer experience. The tool combines workplace chat, video meetings, file storage and application integration to deliver a powerful collaboration environment. In the mortgage example above, an agent could use Teams to get almost instant access to relevant individuals and information, quickly tending to the customer’s needs. Integrating your contact centre with Teams offers a highly-fluidmeans of communication that A new age of customer service As contact centres adjust to a new, more hybrid, way of working, Microsoft Teams is showing its value J E R EMY PAYNE : ENGHOU S E I NT E RAC T I V E “Integrating your contact centre with Teams offers a highly-fluid means of communication” V I EWPO I NT