5 Features to Look Forward to While Choosing Your UCaaS Providers

Yukti Verma

Author

Contact Center

April 19, 2021

8 mins read eye

Table of content

Technology keeps evolving and so do the requirements to stay on par with it. At times, you may outgrow your technological capabilities and need more resources.

For example, your small business may have functioned exemplarily on a traditional communication system. However, the need for a unified communication platform arises as your workforce grows along with your business.

An article by Cision PRNewswire estimates that unified communication as a solution (UCaaS) market will be worth $79.9 billion by the year 2024.

Furthermore, the current day scenario of the COVID-19 pandemic has left a deep mark on the way businesses function in the future. You will need to make sure your remote working environment is ready at all times to address emergencies. The business ecosystem should be able to continue its operations even in a distributed environment. This connectedness within the team and organisation is induced by a unified communication solution in place.

However, there are several providers of the unified communication system and it is important that you thoroughly analyse the pros and cons of each provider before finalising.

So, what are the features that should be looked out for in a Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS) provider? Let’s check them out right away!

1. Check for scalability

Your unified communication system should be able to accommodate the growing needs of your organisation. You may need to meet sudden infrastructural requirements for short-term projects. The unified communication system provider should be able to handle them effortlessly. Even if you need to scale down for any reason, they should always offer the flexibility to do so.

For example, consider that you get an immediate requirement to migrate a particular tool to a completely new technological platform. Your in-house facility does not have the infrastructure suitable for this technology. It may be difficult for you to purchase equipment spontaneously.

Moreover, you should keep in mind that the risk of underperformance also exists. Furthermore, the purchase of additional hardware or software may be expensive.

Therefore, your unified communication services provider should be able to take charge of this situation. Your provider should be able to equip your enterprise with the required resources to meet this project need. As UCaaS is cloud-based, the provider should work on a pay-as-you-use model. Here, you will be billed additionally only for the extra resources you will use for the particular period.

This billing pattern will not only save cost but also help you to meet emerging technology requirements.

2. Confirm round-the-clock support availability

Enterprise systems are prone to technical flaws and your communication landscape is no exception to this. Glitches in the system may be due to a manual error or technical malfunction. Whatever be the reason, it should be addressed spontaneously.

You should check if your unified communication provider maintains a 24x7x365 helpdesk to address technical issues during untimely emergencies. If your problem is not looked into immediately, it may result in a company-wide downtime, interruption in services, thereby hurting your reputation.

Furthermore, you may check if your provider has a local presence. This is because a few technical concerns are best resolved after a detailed assessment of the facility. You should check if your provider accommodates on-site visits if required.

3. Ensure a compliant and secure system

With an increasing number of data breaches, regulatory agencies have begun to impose severe penalties on non-compliant businesses. Non-adherence to compliance regulations will leave your communication system exposed to cyber threats.

Ensure that the UCaaS provider you select always stays updated on the compliance regulations. These regulations differ by industry and the geographical region of your business. Most UCaaS providers are equipped with detailed knowledge on the type of compliance regulations your enterprise will require. Make sure that the provider updates and maintains a compliant communication system.

Enforcing stringent security practices is cardinal. Cyberattacks are on the rise and one major reason for their occurrence is a compromised and unprotected network. Therefore, your communication provider should make sure to employ a few security best practices like the following.

Has secure encryption to communication like end-to-end encryption and secures your passwords and data with a reliable method like bcrypt hashing.
Appropriate firewalls, anti-virus, and anti-malware should be installed in your system. This will help guard confidential information and neutralise vulnerabilities.
A strict password policy should be employed. Employees should be educated about the need to maintain strong passwords. Password secrecy must be highlighted and they should be changed frequently too.
Role-based access to confidential information should be provided. That is access to only the information required to accomplish tasks should be granted. Managers need to be able to decide the level of permission to be granted to each employee. This limits exposure to cyber risks.
Employees should be trained in techniques to identify phishing attempts. Also, they should be educated about avoiding unnecessary downloads and clicking on unknown links from unauthorised sources.

4. Check for features and the ability to customise

A unified communication system should be able to provide a holistic view of the different business processes. It should include several capabilities to facilitate the free flow of communication across your organisation.

For example, you should check if your provider offers audio and video conferencing. The communication system should include collaborative tools like instant messaging apps and text messaging. It should also accommodate simultaneous access to business-critical information securely.

In addition to these capabilities, your unified communication system should be unique and based on your organisation setup. For example, if your enterprise has a completely remote workforce, your provider should pay more attention to collaborative tools and work towards improving centralised access to data from anywhere across the globe.

It may not be useful if the provider focuses on providing state-of-the-art devices for your employees. Though high-end equipment is important, remote workforce primarily depends on their own devices. Therefore, your service provider should keep a check on those aspects to streamline communication between remote employees.

This way, you should check if your communication system provider can flex based on your individual needs or simply delivers general requirements without understanding specific demands.

5. Evaluate the ability to integrate

The success of a unified communication system lies in its ability to integrate seamlessly with different tools across the organisation. This capability enables you to obtain intuitive insights and information to solve a problem at the earliest possible. Most importantly, it bridges any kind of communication gap between the various teams of the organisation.

For example, consider that one of your customers has applied for a product refund. The customer has also provided feedback about the malfunctioning of the product. To address this situation, the intervention of the sales, finance, and product teams is required. Let us see how the integration of tools will help.

The first step is to verify the identity of the customer and whether the purchase has been made, done by the sales team. They will then check their standard refund policies for eligibility of terms and conditions. If the customer is eligible for a refund, the details are forwarded to the finance team.

This team will check for the amount and also evaluate if the customer should be provided with a full refund of the amount. As the customer reported a defect in the product, this issue is forwarded to the product and manufacturing team to note discrepancies and take further steps to correct the issue.

A simple refund involves three different teams from your organisation. You must integrate knowledge bases and tools like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to facilitate seamless flow of information within the different departments of the company.

This will not just help in expediting resolutions but also eliminates the chances of data stagnation and the dependency on individual resources, thereby improving transparency across the organisation.

Wrap up

With remote work becoming the norm, many companies are adopting a unified communication solution. This helps break through a siloed working environment and offers centralised access to information. It also helps companies to work as a single entity. However, it is important to select the right UCaaS provider to reap maximum benefits.

We have provided a sneak peek at what you should be looking at while selecting the right UCaaS provider to overcome communication barriers across your enterprise.

Wish to know more? Call Acefone on 1888-859-0450 or send an email to [email protected].

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

Write an email to

[email protected]

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Yukti Verma

Author

Yukti is a content marketing enthusiast with a soft spot for Saas. She loves weaving complicated concepts into simple stories. When not at work, she is found reading books or watching movies.

Enhance Your Social Media Marketing with Cloud Tools

Yukti Verma

Author

Contact Center

April 16, 2021

8 mins read eye

Table of content

In today’s world, social media is an unavoidable medium of communication. People of all age groups use this platform for various purposes, from networking to reaching out to a brand of their choice. Due to its ubiquitous presence, marketers began to utilise its power for empowering their marketing initiatives.

Maintaining an active online presence helps marketers better understand the pulse of their target audience, interpret their needs, and improvise their products and services based on trends. Furthermore, social media marketing enables customers to provide feedback and share their experiences over a simplified platform.

Now let’s talk about cloud tools—this has become a buzzword among businesses. In fact, these days you can be pushed out of the competition if you stay away from cloud technologies. This is because business operations on the cloud provide you with a holistic view of your organisational performance. You can obtain intuitive insights and ease categorisation and supervision of business processes irrespective of their sizes.

Social media marketing and cloud tools, when clubbed together, can deliver seamless experiences to both customers and business owners alike.

Here’s how cloud-based social media marketing can help you differentiate your business in a tough competition space.

1. Easily reach the target audience

The most commendable competency of social media marketing is that it reaches the screen of the intended audience effortlessly. The first step here is to understand trends among your clientele and accordingly produce content.

For example, consider the scenario wherein you run a tablet service center and have an active vanity number in place. The advantage of vanity numbers is that it highlights the service or branding you wish to promote. So if you use the number 0800-TAB-SERV, the client will immediately register your number and purpose.

When you include this catchy number on your social media advertisement and post it on your account, you’re more likely to reach the right type of audience. Your customers need not make the effort to note down numbers but can simply remember this flashy code to contact you. This can do wonders for your customer acquisition strategy.

2. Showcase your brand

Listening to what your target audience discusses over online platforms is absolutely vital. This will enable you to understand their needs and trends in detail. You may participate in discussions on online platforms or even initiate them. Basically, you should be projecting your brand wherever possible.

Moreover, these discussions needn’t be necessarily a question-answer-like session wherein you deliberately promote your products and services. You can make them more informative and gain respect as a trustworthy, reliable and well-established business. and even encourage them to explore offerings like increasing social media followers & free likes on TikTok as they engage with your content.

For example, as an IT services provider, you may start a discussion on the different technologies businesses should focus on to remain competitive. Throw light on how these technologies can simplify processes for organisations and what role you can fulfil.

Your social media gives your business greater exposure, and these new leads can check out your company profile for more details. If you include an avenue of communication like a toll free number in the profile, it eases the process for customers to contact you. These points showcase your brand in a positive light.

3. Easy monitoring and tracking

Unified communications systems offer various advantages. They enable a comprehensive view of business processes across the organisation. Cloud-based communication systems help break through the siloed environment and enable the free flow of information across departments. They also enable the integration of communication tools required to deliver seamless customer experiences.

So how does this help social media marketing? When unified communication systems work in unison with social media, they enable a consistent customer experience across multiple channels. This is extremely important for businesses to strike the right chord among the customer base.

Your customers may use different communication channels to contact you. These may include your contact center number, social media pages, email, text messages or audio messages.

You should be able to deliver the right message across these channels. For example, say a customer contacts your contact center for a refund. Cloud-based communication systems are capable of communicating with internal tools like the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. When your representative gets this access, they can view the customer’s previous interactions with your brand. Suppose, the caller has already contacted your brand on the social media page for a refund and also emailed your business ID.

These repeated attempts may have made them agitated. If they’re asked to repeat their issue yet again, they’ll be annoyed even before the interaction really starts. Equipped with the competency of cloud and social media, you can obtain all the information about the problem presented from previous conversations.

This enables you to deal with the issue right from where it was left off, not start anew. What’s even better is that you can improve your first call resolution rate so that this issue doesn’t pop up again. This not just saves time but also leaves the customer happy.

Moreover, cloud tools facilitate unified access to information. So, if information about a product or service is updated on your knowledge base, you can get access to this data irrespective of your location. They also help you promote accurate and updated information on social media pages, thereby improving relevance.

4. Spread the positive word

Earning the right reputation plays an important role in any business. Consider this: a customer has posted a positive review on your social media. This is for public view and several other users may see this comment. It will have a positive impact on the reputation of your brand.

Of course, you face the risk of negative reviews as well. But if your representative is quick and competent in addressing the complaint, you can showcase your brand’s responsiveness and dedication.

Both these scenarios reflect the importance of social media in communicating and showcasing your brand. In this kind of word-of-mouth marketing, your customers become your strongest advocates. They speak for your brand and help in augmenting your customer base.

5. Supervise campaign performances

Marketing campaigns are an integral part of any business’ growth. They enable marketers to focus on specific business offers, target a particular set of audiences best-suited for these products and services, and begin marketing on this basis.

However, it isn’t enough to simply initiate campaigns. Every campaign should have a solid medium to track its performance. Cloud tools when dovetailed with social media can provide exemplary results.

Let us understand this with an example. You have triggered a campaign for a service line. When you use a cloud-based telephony number, it eases the process of customers contacting you. When it comes to a social media campaign, you can dedicate individual contact numbers for separate tracks. This way, you can easily gauge the responses of the audience to this campaign.

It also enables you to mark high-performing campaigns based on the location of the contact numbers. Overall, your cloud telephony number empowered by the reach of social media enables you to supervise campaign performances with the appropriate categorisation of locations and product and service sectors.

Thus, these insights help you focus more on poorly performing areas and understand the high-performers for your business. You may try finding glitches in the lesser pronounced areas of services and improve them.

Wrap up

Cloud tools and social media marketing are two powerful mediums. When coupled together, they can create unsurpassed customer experiences for brands. This post elaborates on a few of its many competencies that can help businesses improve their reach and customer acquisition.

If you have any more questions, feel free to contact our dedicated agents at 1888-859-0450 or send an email to [email protected].

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

Write an email to

[email protected]

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Yukti Verma

Author

Yukti is a content marketing enthusiast with a soft spot for Saas. She loves weaving complicated concepts into simple stories. When not at work, she is found reading books or watching movies.

How To Turn Customers Into Your Promoters?

Acefone Editor

Author

Operations

April 14, 2021

8 mins read eye

Table of content

Customers can make or break a business and are the true backbone of its success. Considering that they are the lifeblood of your brand, you do not want to leave any stone unturned in making them happy.

The quality of services and customer care that you offer are vital to your growth. Customers will not blindly believe a brand is worth their loyalty.

Hence, you should take the necessary steps to attract and retain customers, working on both organic and inorganic mediums to reach your customer base. Make adequate investments and hire a dedicated team to achieve these objectives.

That said, we all know the best form of marketing is via word of mouth when happy customers share their experiences with friends and family.

Have you ever wondered if your customers could become your promoters? If yes, then how can you facilitate this transition?

Customers will become your promoters when you strive to go beyond satisfying their demands and exceed their expectations. When this happens, they will connect with other people and spread the word about your brand, thereby becoming your strongest promoters.

When do customers become your promoters?

In today’s competitive world, customers do not purchase your products to merely meet their needs. Considering your competitors offer similar products and services as you, you need to find your edge and give customers some reason(s) to choose you over everyone else.

It could be anything––hassle-free payment, seamless delivery, post-sale servicing, or unique discounts on purchases. These offerings will differentiate you from your competitors and attract more clients.

What are the different strategies you can adopt to transform your customers into your promoters? Let us take a look at a few points listed below.

Utilise the power of social media

Social media is a powerful platform used across age groups. On this medium, a positive reputation spreads like wildfire. You should begin with interacting with your customers over social media. This doesn’t need to be a marketing pitch that talks high about your brand or product.

Instead, you should focus on interacting with the target audience. Creating general awareness about the various aspects of your products, use-cases, etc. will help kindle their interest.

For example, if you aim to market a laptop, you may begin telling your target audience about the advantages of a laptop over a desktop, the different types of configurations available or how purchasing one will help your customers, etc.

Informative content serves as a good conversation starter, garnering views, likes, comments and queries. Leverage these interactions to showcase your brand as a reliable and knowledgeable entity that is focused on more than just sales.

Furthermore, you can find discussion trails about your product and its types across social media pages. Shortlist a few trending questions that people need answers to. You can even ask an expert from your industry to collaborate and answer these questions on behalf of your brand.

Overall, showcasing your brand on social media platforms will earn you a positive image among customers, thereby encouraging them to promote your business.

Ask for feedback from your customers

Asking for personalised feedback and responding to it positively is the best way to make your customers feel valued. Consider a situation—a customer has purchased your product. They are happy and register positive feedback. You must reply to this by thanking them.

On the contrary, if your customer has negative feedback for your product, you should connect with them at the earliest possible and delve into the reasons for this feedback. You should ensure the customer that the necessary steps will be taken at the earliest.

To add on, you can also send a personal note to the customer once the problem has been rectified. This shows that the customer’s feedback has been acknowledged, addressed, and resolved.

This kind of feedback mechanism can help you earn and retain customers while giving them compelling reasons to become your brand advocates.

Use testimonials as a marketing material

In several cases, your customers may be extremely satisfied with your services. Try and record this happiness and satisfaction as a testimonial. You can include it in your marketing collateral. Additionally, you can display them on your website and social media pages.

Testimonials are great for attracting customers. They are true experiences of common people and, hence, boost customer engagement and relatability with the brand. In these testimonials, the client may have had similar requirements as those of the prospect. Hence, when a customer is quoted to have a good experience, it motivates the viewer to join the bandwagon without second thoughts.

This connection with your audience through testimonials allows you to market the usage of a brand/product.

Keep in touch with your customers even after a purchase/sale

Customer relationships do not end once a sale is complete. Your after-sales engagement should not take a backseat just because the deal is over. In fact, a lasting relationship with the customer begins only after the sale.

If your product, let’s say an electronic appliance, needs servicing, you should send reminders via emails or messages to inform the customer about service dates. Feel free to ask for feedback regarding the product. If there are any defects or flaws reported, ensure that they are addressed at the earliest.

When you adhere to this proactive approach even after a sale is done, your customers will feel valued and become returning customers, or even promoters.

Host events

Another effective way to promote your brand and spread the positive word is by holding events. These events should be a gathering of like-minded people. Here, you should motivate your existing customers to speak about their experiences.

Conduct a detailed survey to find your best-suited target audience. This will help your brand reach a relevant audience. You may offer hampers and goodies to people who share their views in the event to encourage enhanced participation.

When a group of like-minded people come together, your customers automatically become your promoters.

Initiate referral and loyalty programs

Referral programs are a great medium to enhance your company’s reputation. You can gamify your campaign and present a freebie or discount to your customers on their next purchase. This can substantially increase engagement and motivate them to promote your brand.

On the other hand, loyalty programs involve rewarding returning customers with a gift or a special discount. For example, if you find a customer keeps coming back to you for a range of products, appreciate this loyalty by offering a freebie or special gift. You may also offer a free subscription for the product purchased or offer discounts that will keep your customer happy and encourage them to refer to your brand.

Offer best-in-class services

84% of companies believe that quality customer experiences report an increase in their revenue.

You should understand that negative reviews spread faster than positive ones. Therefore, handle customers with utmost care. Earning negative comments is not a problem. It is the way you address them that matters.

Add a personal touch to how you interact with your clients. Use their name and be empathetic when you interact with them across communication channels.

Make sure to resolve the issue or at least direct the customer to the right person. This ensures speedy resolution and convinces customers of your conviction to make them happy.

Wrapping up

Customers must be kept satisfied and their requirements should be met. This implies to businesses across industries. When customers become happy, it motivates them to spread the positive word about your brand via, both, social media and word of mouth.

We hope to have covered the various aspects that may help to transform a customer into a promoter.

Feel free to comment below—share your experiences and connect with us to know more.

For excellent customer service, opt for Acefone communications today. Call at 1888-859-0450 to get a free demo.

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

Write an email to

[email protected]

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Acefone Editor

Author

Acefone provides a broad range of cloud communication services to businesses of all sizes, which includes Hosted Phone Systems, Free Phone Numbers, and Cloud Contact Center Solutions. Being the UK's leading provider of VoIP service provider, we always strive to provide excellent customer service and high-quality custom solutions to our customers.

7 Benefits of Softphones

Yukti Verma

Author

Expert Opinion

April 12, 2021

8 mins read eye

Table of content

Consider this: a customer repeatedly tries to contact a business representative, only to find that they are unavailable. This customer, a UK resident, has been trying to reach an agent in Los Angeles. Owing to the difference in time zones, the representative is unable to attend to the customer.

Although the brand has maintained a distributed environment across the globe, it isn’t able to offer optimum customer services. And this can cost the business heavily, in terms of both reputation and profits, considering customers prefer one-on-one interaction. In fact, the global live chat software market is expected to reach $987M by 2023.

However, businesses can resolve such customer service gaps by deploying softphones.

So, what are softphones and how do they benefit companies? Read on to find out.

What Are Softphones?

A softphone is a downloadable application that is compatible across various devices and platforms. The application enables users to make calls over the Internet.

Softphones do not come as a standalone product but are coupled with business PBX solutions for a better communication experience. Their interface looks similar to that of a smartphone keypad. However, it includes additional information about the caller’s identity like name, their location, previous purchases, interaction history, etc.

Softphones, dovetailed with VoIP phone systems, come with features that include video conferencing, call recording, monitoring, and analytics among others.

A commendable advantage of the technology is that it ensures unfettered availability. Representatives need not be tied to their desks anymore––they can attend a call from anywhere. All they need is a reliable Internet connection and a smart device.

How do softphones work?

Like we said, you don’t need much to get your softphones going––an Internet connection, microphones, and headsets. Simply download the app, follow the setup instructions, and voila! You are ready to make and receive calls.

This also means that softphones do not need on-premise infrastructure. They work on Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) which initiates voice-over IP sessions, and converts analogue to digital signals through a reliable Internet connection.

It improves the capabilities of cloud-based VoIP systems and supports a unified communication environment. Softphones are especially beneficial in a distributed ecosystem as they support mobility and facilitate all the features of a state-of-the-art communication system.

What are the benefits of softphones for businesses?

Supports geographical flexibility

The technology’s Internet-enabled calling capabilities empower your employees to serve customers from anywhere around the world.

The CoVID-19 pandemic has pushed businesses to look for alternate ways to connect with their customers. Softphones allow your contact center representatives to establish these connections via their desktops and or any other communication tools used on-premise. This way, they can speak to customers and clarify their doubts straight from the comfort of their homes.

Furthermore, softphones have proved to be a boon to businesses with an augmented global reach. Customers may try reaching out to your contact center at any time, even during the off-hours or public holidays.

However, with softphones, your employees will be able to attend to calls and speak to customers irrespective of their geographical location and time zones. These capabilities ensure uninterrupted customer services, thereby showcasing your brand as a reliable one.

Enables integration with tools

Integration of softphones with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools helps in importing customer contacts into a single interface. Customers dread entering personal details and providing their query information repeatedly. And for an already aggrieved caller, having to repeat themselves often becomes the dealbreaker.

When softphones are coupled with CRM, the representatives get access to customer details like name, location, and history of interactions with your brand.

This practice allows the customer and your representative to resume the conversation from where it was left off rather than having to start all over again. This saves time and eliminates the chances of agitating the customer, thereby helping with customer retention and satisfaction.

Improves team collaboration

Team collaboration is cardinal to every business’ success. You should focus on maintaining a collaborative environment, even more so when working from distributed locations.

Softphones come with features like video conferencing, one-on-one calling, instant messaging, etc. All these capabilities allow your team members to reach out to each other in case of any urgency.

Video conferencing capabilities allow meetings and casual interactions such as icebreaking sessions within the team members. In a situation like the ongoing pandemic, these apps will help in engaging your staff and eliminate the chances of them feeling isolated.

Boosts team efficiency

Your team members may need assistance while clarifying customer queries and may wish to reach out to a supervisor instantaneously. Softphones have in-built messaging tools. These allow employees to message each other immediately and seek clarifications.

In case there is a need to escalate calls, softphones indicate the availability status of the supervisor or other colleagues. For example, if the status says “busy” or “do not disturb”, the representative can direct the customer accordingly.

Moreover, softphones provide better insights into queue monitoring for sales and support teams. In peak times, supervisors can monitor the caller queue and route calls only to agents who are free and available. This will eliminate unwanted waiting time, missed calls, and confusion over the availability of agents, resulting in a streamlined process.

Helps engage more contacts

33% of customers feel highly frustrated when asked to hold. Others feel agitated when asked to repeat themselves to multiple representatives.

Not all customers like speaking to agents on a call––they may have varying capacities to communicate. Therefore, text messaging services are just as important as voice calls.

In the case of text messages, customers can easily connect with a business without the need to speak to a live agent.

Yet another advantage of text messages is that you need not be instantly available to answer a text message. Customers will send SMSes that remain in your representative’s inbox; they can check them when they’re not occupied with calls.

These messages can be replied to in-between calls or during non-peak times. Therefore, softphones help in expediting resolutions.

Allows easy upgrades

Softphone software needs regular updates. You may simply opt for the latest version of the software within the application interface. This does not include additional charges and is readily available for use without adding equipment to the already existing devices.

To conclude…

Softphones are a quintessential asset for next-gen communication systems. Businesses can utilise these phones to connect over remote working ecosystems and avoid the need for employees to stay glued to their desks.

Integrations with high-end tools and improved team collaboration are other advantages of the technology. Therefore, softphones are just the solution you need for your communication system.

Get in touch with us at 1888-859-0450 or send an email to [email protected] anytime to get started with cloud solutions.

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

Write an email to

[email protected]

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Yukti Verma

Author

Yukti is a content marketing enthusiast with a soft spot for Saas. She loves weaving complicated concepts into simple stories. When not at work, she is found reading books or watching movies.

What is Co-Browsing? Is It Something You Need For Better Customer Interactions?

Ratnam Sinha

Author

Expert Opinion

April 9, 2021

8 mins read eye

Table of content

How easy would customer support be if you could be on the same page as the customer, literally? Imagine, you’d be able to guide them to a solution while seeing the exact problem.

What once seemed like a dream too good to be true is now absolutely possible.

So, what is co-browsing?

In the literal sense of the word, you’d conjure up an image of an agent sitting side-by-side with a client, surfing the same page together. However, that wouldn’t be quite accurate.

Co-browsing is actually short for collaborative browsing, which allows agents to navigate the same page as the customer––virtually. It is also a secure way of support as only the customer controls the navigation and the agent simply supervises. Moreover, clients can hide other applications on their devices by only sharing a specific tab or window.

How does co-browsing work?

Based on Web Real-time communication technology, or WebRTC for all you tech-savvy people, co-browsing requires no downloads, installation, or even plugins to work with its full potential. Unlike online streaming, it is actually a browser-based technology that transmits simple HTML codes to initiate a session between two browsers and deliver instant communication.

Since it is based on the cloud, the technology doesn’t require any on-premise hardware. It is the use of HTML, to pass data between customers and agents, that makes it instant. And a one-time install javascript that can render the customer’s browser HTML inside an iframe for the agent helps to do away with plug-ins.

We know what you’re thinking––if multiple people are using the same page at the same time, the website might slow down. But it doesn’t! This is because no data is transferred to the agent until the co-browse session is initiated.

Why should you be using co-browsing?

Undoubtedly, the COVID-19 pandemic made it hard for businesses to retain the same quality of customer service as before—even more so with the sudden shift to a remote working environment. Agents at home lacked the resources and proper equipment to accomplish tasks. This definitely made customer satisfaction suffer.

An article by Forbes states that co-browsing shoots up the customer satisfaction rate to up to 89.3%, which is six points higher than the average.

The reason? Quite apparent—agents are able to know exactly where the customer is stuck, which leads to an effortless conversation and quicker resolutions. With constant visual cues, agents can guide the customer to the solution with ease.

Another trouble businesses ran into during the pandemic is the crunch of funds. Many firms hit an all-time financial low, and yet needed superior technology to help perform better than their competitors.

A report by Aberdeen Group shows how co-browsing helped reduce support costs while also increasing the customer satisfaction rate. It can be a pivotal technology for any support center, being easy to use and quick to the solution.

How does co-browsing empower your agents?

Collaborative browsing is loaded with useful features to help agents in most situations. It gives your team full insights into customer problems, ensuring that the process is carried out smoothly. Let’s take a look at a few unique features that agents are entitled to.

Remote control: Customers can grant system control to agents anytime during the session. This lets them perform certain actions which the customer might not be able to, thereby reducing the time and effort involved in the task.
One-click request: It only takes a single click for the customer to send a co-browse request to an agent. This makes the process effortless and smooth for the customer and easy for the agent to explain. No downloads, no wait time, no lag.
Simultaneous browsing: While the agent and the user are in the co-browse mode, any URL that the customer accesses is also accessible by the agent. Thus, while co-browsing is limited to one tab, it is not bound to a single page. As long as the customer stays on the same tab, the agent is able to monitor every single activity, providing him with the information required to solve the problem.
Co-scrolling: With co-scroll, both parties move on the webpage, or scroll through it, in real-time. So, they can hover over different web elements for effective communication.
Live annotations: Agents also have the option to take notes or highlight certain elements while they are in the co-browse mode. They can even draw, like encircling or drawing an arrow to point something out, to lend clarity to the customer and handle the issue with ease.
Live chat: During the session, both parties can communicate via the chat option. This enables the agent to address any additional issues faced by the customer or explain the solution more thoroughly.

How does co-browsing empower the customer?

In addition to the agents, co-browsing offers many handy features at the customers’ end too. While the agent is able to see the customer’s screen, the customer is also capable of knowing what the agent is doing. This develops mutual trust, enabling the agents to perform better. Let’s look at some of these features:

Session control: The user can give the client complete control of the co-browse session. They can then decide to give the agent partial control or dictate when to give or restrict access anytime during the conversation. They can even restrict the agents from switching to other tabs.
Mask data: Many customers have cyber-security concerns. Co-browsing allows them to mask their data and hide confidential information that they don’t want the agent to see.
Multi-device compatibility: Another major advantage for customers is the ability to access co-browse mode across various devices. This ensures that the agent is able to provide support to the customer 24×7 irrespective of the device they are on.
Marking tools: Providing visual cues to the agent can be crucial when trying to explain a complicated problem. Customers can take advantage of various marking tools such as the highlighter pen, pointer, drawing brush, etc. to explain and highlight key elements on the webpage.

Can different industries use co-browsing?

No matter what industry you work in or how you tend to your customers, customer interaction is always going to be vital for your business. And hence, co-browse technology can be a huge advantage. Let’s take a look at a few industries and how they benefit from them.

Banking sector: One of the most common issues customers of the finance industry face is filling up forms. With co-browsing, however, the task is barely an inconvenience. With the help of a skilled agent, the user can be guided through the entire process in a jiffy. The agents can also help customers upload the right document and avoid minor mistakes that delay the process.
Retail industry: Not only can the agents help the user identify better products while browsing together, but they can also upsell and cross-sell to increase the revenue.
Medical industry: Patients and customers of the medical industry might not be very tech-savvy. So, when we introduce the co-browse facility to them, agents can guide them through the portal, helping them generate their reports or to fill forms before their medical exam.
Travel and hospitality industry: Providing your clients with too many options is a problem in itself. However, with an agent surfing by their side, clients can quickly choose the best suitable package. Additionally, agents can also help with the ticket booking and hotel reservation processes.

Final words

To conclude here would still leave a lot about co-browsing left to explore. Stay tuned for more updates on this amazing feature ahead.

As of now, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that providing an exceptional customer experience will lay the foundation of your brand. With so many people opting to go online for everything, including queries and support, adopting technology such as co-browsing will definitely elevate your customer interactions.

Needless to say, it will also put a long-lasting impression on your clientele while providing you with a good return on investment.

Call us up at 1888-859-0450 or drop an email at [email protected] to get started with the cloud right away.

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

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1888-859-0450

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Ratnam Sinha

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Ratnam is an SEO enthusiast and content writer working as a Digital Marketer with Acefone. He is fond of traveling and new experiences. He is a huge Marvel fan and is always open to learning.

5 Reasons BFSI Businesses Should Embrace Hosted Call Centre Software

Acefone Editor

Author

Call Center

April 8, 2021

8 mins read eye

Table of content

The State of Global Customer Service Report by Microsoft has some interesting statistics on customer experience:

58% of consumers consider customer service as a leading factor affecting the choice of a brand.
61% of consumers stopped transacting with a brand after an unsatisfactory service experience.
59% of consumers expect better customer support than they did a year ago.

This applies to all domains, including banking and financial services. Businesses in this sector need to go the extra mile. Your call center operations are critical as they streamline sales and support, so you need to ensure quality and availability.

Since customers expect expertise, quick resolution, and convenience, you will require high-end cloud contact center software teamed with trained agents to match these expectations. Owing to the various advantages of cloud-based solutions, these are common for BFSI businesses today.

Let us begin with the basics and understand the value of cloud contact centers for the industry.

The value of contact centers for BFSI businesses

The BFSI sector is growing at a rapid pace. Even during the pandemic, this sector witnessed a sustained growth. However, incidences of fraud and cybercrime have increased exponentially and emerged as a big challenge to customers’ security and trust.

Financial institutions realize the significance of customer experience and its importance in acquiring new customers and retaining the existing ones. A powerful contact center lets banks and financial providers meet the expectations of the customers and stay a step ahead.

Here are some ways a call center solution can empower your BFSI business.

Call center agents can assist customers with simple transactions that may be overwhelming for some individuals. These include withdrawing money, making deposits, paying bills, and checking account balances.
Some complex transactions require expert assistance to ensure that customers can do them seamlessly. Hence, round the clock availability of call center agents can substantially boost CX.
Mortgage companies, insurance providers, and investment firms offer new products and services, with certain nuances that may be hard to understand for a layman. Experts at your contact center can explain these products and boost sales for your business.

Call centers have a crucial role in winning the trust of your customers and building the credibility of your business. It even shows your intentions to go the extra mile to serve your customers.

Why BFSI companies are moving from traditional set-ups to hosted contact centers?

A hosted contact center takes your operations on the cloud, which means that you need not be confined in terms of location and time zones. Moreover, unlike traditional setups, there is no need to maintain on-premises infrastructure.

Next, you don’t need an IT team to help with constant upgrades and maintenance. The cloud communication service provider takes care of everything, and you have a reliable system—up and running.

Further, cloud contact centers offer an interactive voice response (IVR) system. This solution empowers your contact center with a self-service feature. This means callers can handle basic tasks on their own, and your agents have ample free time to address more complex issues that require human intervention.

Additionally, hosted contact centers offer a data repository that empowers agents with the requisite information even as they work remotely.

Let us understand some more benefits of hosted contact centers for BFSI businesses:

Customers may want to access and manage their funds at any point. Contact centers help them by addressing their queries and concerns round the clock—eliminating the constraints of normal business hours. You can even leverage the automation features like IVR to help customers serve themselves. Missed call solutions and call routing also make your call center agents accessible at all times.
Call center software eliminates the limitations associated with a single location. Your agents can connect with callers from anywhere and at any time. Cloud phone system lets them work remotely with a business number, which addresses the WFH concerns in the new normal.
Disruption in services is no longer a worry for large financial service companies with offices at multiple locations. If there is a technical glitch or natural disaster in one branch, you can easily route the callers to another call center. The callers wouldn’t even know, as you continue serving them seamlessly and as a result, retain their trust.
It is vital for agents to be well prepared to handle frustrated clients. The ability to fetch the required information quickly can make all the difference between an agitated and satisfied customer. Cloud contact centers empower agents with a helpful database and facilitate agent training as well. New recruits can access the old recordings of interactions and hone their skills with real-life training.
A cloud phone system can be integrated with software solutions like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to create a digital ecosystem. Your agents can fetch information from the CRM and offer personalized interactions to each caller, with solutions and offers tailored to their needs.
BFSI is a highly regulated industry with several compliance norms. Managers need to track each agent to ensure that they follow regulatory guidelines at all times. With a hosted solution, you can easily monitor call center activity and ensure the same.

Conclusion

The BFSI domain is complex, and players such as banks, mortgage companies, credit unions, insurance companies, and related businesses have to balance a good customer experience with the right processes.

A cloud-based phone system makes it possible to attain this delicate equilibrium while providing flexibility, scalability, security, and reliability. Moreover, you end up saving a fortune on infrastructure, maintenance, and upgrades—associated with traditional setups.

Everything boils down to finding the right cloud-hosted call center software that comes from a provider you can trust.

It is worth going the extra mile to find one you can rely on, and Acefone matches the expectations and needs of BFSI perfectly. We offer an innovative cloud telephony suite tailored to the needs of financial companies, ensuring competitive edge, sustainability and profitability goals.

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

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How Free Phone Number Is Secure?

Yukti Verma

Author

Contact Center

April 7, 2021

8 mins read eye

Table of content

Undeniably, the current business scenario would come to a complete standstill if it wasn’t for the telephones. Phone lines have widespread uses that include connecting your employees, knitting your target audience with your brand, and vice versa.

This being the situation, your business would take a back seat if you were to overlook phone lines. Even though a business may have multiple channels for their customers to reach out to, telephones are still considered the best and preferable medium for all customers.

The most important advantage of telephone lines is that their usage does not require any technical knowledge. Any child or adult can use a telephone effortlessly. Having this in mind, businesses began to use free phone numbers. This enabled customers across the world to contact a brand in a hassle-free manner. Additionally, these numbers were free-to-call which attracted more customers.

Let us understand toll free or free phone numbers in detail.

What are free phone numbers and how do you get one?

As the name suggests, free phone numbers facilitate inbound calls without charging any costs to the callers. However, as a business (or call receiver) you will bear the charges and pay your service provider. A toll free number is a centralised number that can be used across a country.

This number starts with the country code followed by a customised number that you may choose. At times, toll free numbers also come with vanity numbers. These increase the recall value and help your customers directly connect with the brand.

Free phone numbers are obtained through service providers of cloud telephony systems. These providers take complete charge and ensure the seamless functioning of your customer-facing communication system.

What is toll fraud?

As is the case with every other technological innovation, toll free numbers are also exposed to fraudulence and misuse. Strict rules are implemented to eliminate any chances of toll fraud.

Hoarding or warehousing of free phone numbers by a business or service provider is punishable and subjected to penalties. It is illegal for the service provider to block higher than the intended free phone numbers that they intend to use. Service providers may resell these numbers at a premium rate to business hence indulging in unfair practices.

Additionally, the selling of free phone numbers by businesses to other parties in the industry is also strictly prohibited.

What are the risks of toll fraud?

The major risk involved in toll fraud is number hijacking or short-stopping. In this scenario, the call traffic that is intended to reach your business will be hijacked by the fraudster.

Typically, when a customer calls your contact center using a toll free number, the call first connects to your service provider and then transfers the call to your representative.

In the case of toll fraud, the fraudster works in unison with the service provider. The calls are directed to the fraudster without the customer’s knowledge. The dishonest service provider shares the revenue obtained with the fraudster. These calls are typically used by the fraudster for advertising purposes.

Furthermore, in case you opt for a cloud telephony system, your information is available on a public network and this may involve the risks of a cyber-attack.

Are free phone numbers secure?

Every technological bottleneck comes with a suitable workaround. Risks of toll frauds can be proactively identified and promptly rectified.

In the case of toll frauds by telecom operators, you can set strict limitations to access your calling capabilities. They are as follows:

Reinforce account security

Ensure a stringent authentication process. Businesses should use a phone number and email address verification process to check the identity of the caller. It is also a good idea to partner with a third-party anti-fraud concern/organisation to make sure that fraudsters do not use your channel for their activities.

Limit your geo permissions

International toll free calls are an easy target for toll fraud. Restrict the usage to a few countries. Conduct a detailed survey to find the areas your customers or target audience belong to. If you feel particular geo permission is not required, do not think twice to turn off that phone line or deactivate it.

Diligently fix your call limits

Uninterrupted calls may attract toll fraudsters. They usually misuse newly created accounts as the call limits for these lines are not restricted. You should fix the number of calls you will receive every 60 minutes or every 24 hours. Furthermore, you may limit call duration and the exact number of permissible concurrent calls. This will ensure that the fraudster can’t create high traffic in a small period.

However, this method involves the risk of restricting legitimate customers as well. Whatever be the scenario, it is best to open your services for your customers only after appropriately verifying them.

On the other hand, we must remember that cloud telephony comes with limitless advantages. They secure your toll free kiosks from misuse and cyberattacks in the following ways:

Adherence to compliance

One most commendable capability of cloud systems is that they ensure compliance. Compliance protocols keep changing from time to time. Moreover, your business industry and geographical location also impact the type of compliance you will need for the smooth functioning of business processes.

Your cloud service provider identifies all said requirements and ensures that your communication system follows the best practices. Furthermore, compliance measures may change or get updated. The service provider keeps track of the same and updates your compliance protocols thereby enabling you to stay at par with the industry requirements. Hence, protecting your ecosystem from fraudsters.

Follows strict security protocols

Every IT network or communication system is prone to risk through malware, viruses, and cyber threats. Your service provider understands such risks and ensures the required anti-virus, anti-malware, and firewalls are in place to appropriately detect the entry of unwanted entities.

Furthermore, it is noteworthy that a few service providers insist on training your in-house staff about the dangers of cyberattacks and how they can contribute towards avoiding them.

They educate employees about the benefits of using strong passwords that aren’t easily guessed along with emphasising the need for a multi-factor authentication system for access to sensitive information.

Moreover, service providers brief employees about the risks of opening unknown links and emails. They advise employees to avoid unnecessary downloads and verify email senders if they receive messages from unknown addresses.

Proactive and reactive responses

Cloud service providers adhere to a combined approach that is proactive and reactive. They detect bottlenecks in advance and rectify them promptly. Also, service providers are equipped to handle concerns as and when they arise.

This makes sure that your system is forever under the supervision and thereby safe.

Continuous monitoring

The cloud telephony provider not just offers you the telephone lines but also constantly monitors your system. They may also have a 24/7 helpdesk in place that allows you to inform any technical issues that need urgent attention. Your service provider will enable real-time alerts that will equip them to address concerns spontaneously without letting them complicate into a bigger issue.

Such constant technical support ensures that your communication system is secure.

Wrap Up

Free phone numbers are most preferable by customers. However, their use may involve a few risks. We hope the above-mentioned points will highlight the different types of risks associated with free phone numbers and how they can be successfully mitigated. Hence, making them a secure medium of communication.

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

Write an email to

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Yukti Verma

Author

Yukti is a content marketing enthusiast with a soft spot for Saas. She loves weaving complicated concepts into simple stories. When not at work, she is found reading books or watching movies.

Election Campaigns Revolutionised: The Cloud Telephony Way

Acefone Editor

Author

Voice Broadcasting

April 5, 2021

8 mins read eye

Table of content

India is a country of plurality. We are home to not only diverse cultures or languages but a multitude of political identities as well. The sheer number of political parties that exist within the country reflect the same.

Our dance with democracy or elections is never too far away. General elections give way to state elections which make space for municipality or panchayat elections and so on.

In order to sustain in a system so highly charged, political parties need to ensure continuous campaigning efforts. Thus, a powerful and reliable ally becomes a necessity, considering the difficulties involved.

One such ally is cloud telephony—one-stop solution for all campaigning efforts. It can potentially be a game-changer for political parties and lead them onto the path of victory.

Here are a few ways election campaigns can be revolutionised with cloud telephony:

Easily connect with voters

The most crucial aspect of any election campaign is to reach out to and connect with as many voters as possible. It is paramount to inform the electorate of your party’s ideology, principles and goals. It is equally important for any serious contender to ensure their manifesto reaches as large an audience as possible to win the election.

Traditional campaigning via pamphlets, Custom posters and hoardings are not only expensive and resource-intensive but are also slow. It takes a substantial amount of time to ideate a message and to deliver it to your voters. In a fast-paced, competitive environment like that of campaigns, this delay can result in the intended message losing its essence.

Cloud telephony solutions help mitigate these problems and offer other great advantages. Political parties can leverage voice broadcasting, outbound IVR, and bulk SMSes to reach thousands of voters within minutes.

Cloud telephony’s voice broadcasting is great tool for political campaigns and allows leaders to directly reach the masses. This solution gives the impression of a one-on-one call, which in turn increases relatability with the candidate.

You can even implement an IVR that conducts a survey, recording public opinion with just one phone call. Alternatively, you can play your own voice recording or create a recording with the text-to-speech feature to convey your message.

Bulk SMSes are yet another medium to connect with the electorate instantly. Deliver live updates about the campaign or links to the website or other collaterals. SMSes can also be used to collect responses with simple one-word replies. All one needs to do is collate a database and draft a message. Your telephony service provider shall take care of the rest!

Enhanced personalisation

Commercial entities have mastered the skill of personalisation. They understand that it results in better leads and higher profits. Election campaigning is not very different. In order to ensure a victory, parties must value their voters and make them feel special.

Cloud telephony offers easy solutions to achieve just the same. Integrate a CRM with your outbound communication system to include your voters’ name and other details.

Broadcasting pre-recorded voice messages or SMSes in regional languages is yet another way to improve relatability. Parties can also use virtual numbers to easily establish a local presence in an area. Individuals would feel more secure if they call a local party number instead of one belonging to a different state.

Virtual numbers, as the name suggests, work via the Internet and do not require telephony cables or SIM cards. You don’t even need any physical infrastructure to get started. Calls are swiftly forwarded to a centralised number without the caller ever noticing the difference. This feature allows political parties to pick a local number without any hassles.

Overall, these small practices go a long way in establishing trust and confidence between the citizens and their potential representative.

Get quick support

A major aspect of any election campaign is to garner support, be it for leaders or any topical issues. This builds the necessary momentum for your campaign, motivating party workers and volunteers to work with added rigour. Additionally, popular support sways public opinion and shall help you win the confidence of otherwise opposing or uninterested citizens.

Missed call service is a unique zero-cost offering that helps achieve the same. You can ask prospective voters to give a missed call on a specific number and voila! The cloud communication solution collects basic details of the caller and registers their response. Since the call is not actually connected, callers do not even incur any charges.

Set up special hotlines

Election campaigns can get highly competitive and this can easily lead to misinformation about your leaders and their ideologies. Dedicated telephone lines are a great way to clear the air and connect with not only your potential voters but also your volunteers and party workers.

Use toll free numbers to set up a zero cost communication channel. 1800 numbers have two primary advantages. Firstly, they offer pan-India coverage. Therefore, irrespective of where the next elections are, your party will be ready and won’t need to change its number.

Secondly, toll free numbers are easy to remember and, hence, considerably improve the recall value of your party. They stick with the callers and gradually become synonymous with your identity. You can even deploy a vanity number like 1800-party-name to make your contact number more recognisable and memorable.

Improve last-mile connectivity

Reaching remote areas physically or even virtually can be challenging. Imagine the logistical difficulties involved in campaigning in such areas. However, as a potential representative of the people, it is your responsibility to reach the last voter.

Since a stable Internet connection is still a dream to many, cloud telephony offers a simple yet robust communication medium. India has a teledensity (or the number of telephone users in every 100 individuals) of nearly 90%. This reflects the immense penetration telephony has in our everyday lives.

Cloud telephony solutions like bulk SMSes, toll free numbers and voice broadcasting do not require an Internet connection. Hence, they offer better chances of connecting with the populace as compared to the alternatives.

Strengthen coordination among party workers

A convincing campaign can only be curated when your entire team works in tandem. It is vital to establish seamless coordination, from top to bottom, in order to present a collective front. Furthermore, your communications platform should be as fast as the changing election landscape to be sustainable.

Features like call forwarding, transferring and an integrated dashboard ensure information is swiftly conveyed throughout the party. Cloud telephony further empowers party workers to stay connected from anywhere and at any time.

Customised pricing to fit all sizes

Election campaigning is an expensive exercise. Ensure your communications do not burden your pocket. Cloud telephony solutions, though powerful, cost only a fraction when compared to traditional mediums owing to a simplistic set-up.

No bulky or expensive infrastructure like servers, connecting cables or landlines are required. Instead, volunteers only need a stable Internet connection and a smart device to get connected. Cloud solution providers facilitate high-quality calls even on low bandwidth.

Furthermore, prominent service provider like Acefone offer bespoke solutions with customised pricing to fit your needs. Hence, there is no longer any need to worry about your budget! Go ahead and use these solutions to effectively connect with the voters.

Final words

As we learnt, cloud telephony can transform election management and offers a plethora of benefits to political parties and their leaders. When used efficiently, it can do wonders for your campaign. Reach out to more voters in their native language and ensure round-the-clock connectivity, one-on-one attention and much more. Equipped with this technology, the possibilities are limitless.

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

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Unified Communication In The Retail Market: Case Studies

Yukti Verma

Author

Contact Center

8 mins read eye

Table of content

The retail industry was one of the worst-hit during the COVID-19 pandemic. With stringent social distancing and lockdown regulations, brick-and-mortar stores were struggling to equip themselves for such a huge transition––going contactless.

Several retailers have been focusing on maintaining an online presence. However, solely depending on one medium of communication is a challenge. Retailers need to create a positive image and earn the trust of their customers, while restricting in-person contact. As a result, businesses are forced to outdo themselves and earn a competitive edge.

The most difficult challenge is to maintain effective communication across the various stages of the purchase cycle. Any issue in the communication during the process can drastically affect customer experience.

Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS) can equip retailers to effectively handle such situations. Let us understand this solution in detail.

According to a report by Mordor Intelligence, UCaaS in the retail industry was valued at USD 4733.85 million in the year 2020. This figure is expected to reach USD 17800.17 million by 2026 which amounts to a CAGR of 24.7% for the forecast period 2021-2026. That’s a massive climb, proving exactly how important it is to take your retail business to the digital scape.

What is Unified Communication as a Service (UCaaS)?

As the name suggests, UCaaS allows you to obtain a holistic view of the various processes across your organisation. It helps in creating a rich platform with smart solutions that enable better collaboration and contextual interactions between your brand and the customer while converging physical experiences with virtual ones and controlling costs at the same time.

UCaaS facilitates the free flow of information across the various moving parts of your business. This communication system breaks down silos and enables better transparency among the departments.

To elaborate on this, let us consider two use cases from the retail industry.

Use case 1:

Consider a customer visiting your brick-and-mortar store. They want to purchase a product they saw on your website. The customer is particular about the product as they have zeroed down on it after detailed research and find it most suitable.

If your store runs on a legacy system, your salesperson will have trouble finding the same product in the physical store. They might need to contact the inventory warehouse. This will include getting permission from the supervisor and the store-in-charge. To add to that, if the product is out-of-stock, it will have to be ordered afresh and provided to the customer. Most distressing of all, this whole process consumes a lot of time. The consumer may instead contact your competitor for expedited product delivery.

Now imagine this: your retail chain has a state-of-the-art unified communication system in place. This system enables seamless communication between the various departments of your store. So, when your customer asks for a product he found online, your salesperson can check the catalogue and get a product ID. This unique ID helps you find the desired product easily. The same ID can be used to check the inventory for stock availability and delivery updates.

A unified communication system also facilitates instantaneous approval by the supervisor and the warehouse in-charge. The whole process is completed in a single click, on the go. This speedy process brings together different parts of your retail store, thereby improving the quality of customer experiences.

Use case 2:

A customer orders a product from your online retail store. He is expecting the delivery in a day or two.

In the case of a traditional communication system, the customer will have to wait for the scheduled time of delivery, confining them to their home. Furthermore, a conventional delivery schedule may involve delays that the business will then be unable to communicate to the customer.

However, when you have a unified communication system in place, you enjoy the benefits of a holistic approach across your retail business. A unified communication system involves a middleware and location web services API.

The customer can be informed instantaneously about the exact time of the product delivery. Also, the middleware comes coupled with a GPS tracking system. This helps monitor the location of the delivery vehicle.

Equipped with this precise information, automatic notifications are triggered about the approximate product delivery time and the customer receives real-time updates. This allows them to be available accordingly instead of waiting indefinitely for the product delivery.

Now that we have understood how UCaaS solutions are used, let us delve into their advantages:

Help reduce costs

UCaaS functions on the cloud. Your cloud service provider takes care of the upfront expenditure, like that of infrastructure or hiring a skilled workforce to maintain the environment. This compendium of services takes away all the hassles and comes at flat monthly charges that prove to be cost-effective.

Facilitate collaboration

Collaboration plays an important role in the success of every business. A unified communication system helps inter-department coordination. For example, let’s say a product is out for delivery but the truck breaks down and halts for some time. This delay can be immediately notified to all the stakeholders. A proactive system will enable you to instantly inform your customers about any issues and take appropriate action.

Initiates quality customer interaction

UCaaS paves the way for contextual customer interactions. The technology enables the integration of customer support tools and helps obtain insights into the customer journey. For example, consider a customer contacting your support center about a product’s return policy.

With a UCaaS solution, your representatives have ready access to tools like Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. This tool provides data about previous chat transcripts and the history of customer’s interaction.

If you find that the customer has been repeatedly contacting you for a return request, it is best to either accept the return as per policies or at least escalate the call for immediate attention. Such spontaneous action goes a long way in earning satisfied customers.

Improves productivity

UCaaS provides centralised access to business-critical processes and information. It enables your staff to work from anywhere and any device. This solution equips them with the required information to make informed decisions even when they’re not working from the office.

For example, if your staff receives a message from a customer about the status of their online order, they can check the same from their mobile devices and update the customer instantly. They need not wait till the next morning to go to the office and get the information. This helps in resolving customer queries and issues promptly, thereby boosting productivity and customer satisfaction as well.

Enables you to earn the competitive edge

When your retail store has a state-of-the-art unified communication system in place, it can deliver quality customer services across communication channels simultaneously. Therefore, your staff can serve customers better within shortened call times.

Furthermore, this communication system helps provide faster resolutions to the customers. All these capabilities make your customers happy, resulting in your brand earning a competitive edge in the industry.

Wrapping up

A unified communication system enables retailers to showcase their brand as a trusted and reliable entity. Equipped with UCaas, retailers are able to ensure on-time delivery and seamless interactions with customers, thereby reaping maximum benefits. Hopefully, the aforementioned use cases will provide a glimpse into how best-unified communication systems compare to conventional ones.

Get in touch with us at 1888-859-0450 or send an email to [email protected] anytime to get started with cloud solutions.

If you're interested in improving your business communication solution

Give us a call on

1888-859-0450

Write an email to

[email protected]

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Yukti Verma

Author

Yukti is a content marketing enthusiast with a soft spot for Saas. She loves weaving complicated concepts into simple stories. When not at work, she is found reading books or watching movies.

How Not-for-Profit Organisations can Benefit from Cloud Telephony?

Acefone Editor

Author

Contact Center

April 1, 2021

8 mins read eye

Table of content

Not-for-profit organisations often take part in a range of activities, dealing with lots of different customer bases—from businesses to supporting people in the community. Therefore, it is important that they have a strong and reliable communication system.

Of course, the cost is a big factor for NPOs since they aim to use as much of their funds as possible to support their clients.

For a cost-effective and reliable communication system, look no further than cloud telephony. With a range of extra features, cloud telephony provides a perfect solution that allows not-for-profit organisations to thrive and grow. Here’s how:

1. Connect with anyone, anywhere for less

The daily work of an NPO involves a lot of communication with external funders, businesses, and charities who can be based anywhere in the world. And so, keeping in touch with them can often be costly.

Some not-for-profits also make outbound calls to clients or service users too. The scale of calls required, particularly during a pandemic, means that costs can skyrocket with traditional phone lines. The higher the costs are, the lesser the money that can be invested back into the community. Thus, the need for a more effective solution for NPOs is quite apparent.

As cloud telephony works over an Internet connection rather than a traditional phone line, it is much cheaper to contact anyone—no matter where they are in the world. Employees can call their customers or business partners without worrying about racking up high costs, and the money saved can go towards helping those in need!

Another important element for a not-for-profit organisation is the ability to network. Networking often provides new funding streams for these organisations and so it is important they can do this freely. The low call costs allow easy networking with anyone they want, all over the world, to help them boost their income streams and take down the barriers between them and their next funding source.

With Acefone’s online portal, It is easy for organisations to keep on top of their spending. This simple tool allows managers to see exactly what has been spent in any given amount of time, with transparent call costs available at any time.

2. Boost internal communications

Quite often, there are many different departments operating within an NPO. It can be difficult for these departments to collaborate if they are busy supporting users, and complicated communication mechanisms make this even more difficult.

With cloud telephony, departments can easily collaborate in a number of ways. Calls between staff are completely free, so it is as simple as calling their extension number and you will be connected to the person you need. The simplicity of cloud telephony means that any member of staff will be able to pick this up without an issue, regardless of their technical knowledge. They can also use whatever device they are comfortable with, meaning no need for complicated desk phones if it doesn’t work for your business!

Another useful collaboration tool with cloud telephony is the conference calling feature. Volunteers from around the world can dial into meetings from their own devices and work together to provide updates for easy problem-solving.

Communications are strong and clear as cloud telephony works through your Internet connection. Therefore, you don’t have to deal with any lags or delays. Being able to dial into meetings also means that staff who are on the go don’t miss out on important meetings—all they need is their laptop or mobile, and they are connected within seconds.

A further collaboration tool with cloud telephony is call groups. This is useful if you don’t need one particular person’s help, but you need to contact a whole team or department. An example of this would be in marketing support. There may be multiple people who can support you, so you can simply make a call group wherein the whole team is ringed together and any free member can pick up. This is a great way to increase collaboration across a not-for-profit organisation and ensure that departments share relevant information at the right time.

3. Employees can work on the go

Many not-for-profit organisations have employees who are constantly on the go. They could be out meeting businesses, attending networking events, or any number of other activities pertinent to the running of the organisation.

To prevent employees from being out of the loop, you can use cloud telephony and use any compatible device which is connected to the internet to connect easily to your phone system. This means that these staff can connect to meetings and access any notes or customer information they might need to assist the client they are visiting.

You can also store important marketing materials, forms, or documents on the phone system; so whoever needs the information can access it quickly and easily, perhaps when visiting a client or business. Cloud telephone systems can also connect with powerful CRM apps, so employees working on the go can update records while they are out, limiting the amount of information which might go missing or be forgotten.

Working on the go is one of the most prominent reasons why many NPOs switch to cloud telephony. These phone systems truly set your employees free from their desks, while ensuring that they still retain that connection to your business without missing a beat. With plenty of remote working features such as voicemail-to-email, call flipping, find/follow, and more, they can represent your business with confidence and ease. They won’t become disconnected from any important updates and collaboration opportunities.

4. Keep detailed notes on client enquiries accessible to all

Cloud communication providers often provide an online portal for managing and tracking your office phone system.

In addition, to call costs and other analytics, the portal has a space for leaving detailed notes about customers on their accounts. These are accessible by any employee you authorise and help with a number of different things—like marketing preferences, information on support the customer is receiving, and more.

Your employee can access all the information they need to pick up where the last person left off, delivering a seamless service to the people. This is particularly useful during the pandemic when staff are working from home and are not sharing information as they might in the office.

If some caller’s enquiry needs a follow-up, call notes make the process much easier and efficient. You can also use them to keep track of people’s needs and tailor your services accordingly—the opportunities are endless!

5. Enhance your productivity

The wide range of cloud features provides many ways for employees to enhance their productivity. With easy access to all the information they need from the detailed notes on customer accounts, it is much easier to call a client and engage them in conversation.

As cloud telephony can connect to your CRM, this frees up some staff time since they won’t need to input data manually from their phone system. They can use this time more productively to support customers, rather than getting stuck in a cycle of administrative work which might not be the best use of their skills.

With easy access to anyone in the business through Internal calls and conference calls, employees can have productive meetings with their colleagues with just a few clicks. This open communication and collaboration make employees more productive, as they feel included and connected to the business and their colleagues—even when miles apart.

With crystal clear and reliable communications, cloud telephony can also increase productivity in the sense that more meetings can be conducted over the phone. Whether this is internal or with clients, phone meetings help cut out travel time as well as expenses. This time can be put to better use supporting an extra client or applying for new funding! Not to forget, the cost-saving benefit is of utmost importance.

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Your not-for-profit organisation can also benefit from cloud telephony—get in touch today!

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