Posts

Leverage Virtual Assistants & IoT to Make it Easier to Stay Connected with Your Customers

Customers are conversing with businesses in new ways, thanks to the Internet of Things (IoT). For many consumers, virtual assistants, chatbots and messaging apps are quickly becoming their preferred methods of communication.

CNBC reports that half of consumers will own a smart speaker by the end of the year, and among the top three uses for it will be shopping and ordering items.

Every business should take notice. According to Gartner, more than half of enterprises have already invested in virtual assistant technology, and 25% of customer service centers intend to integrate virtual assistants or chatbots across channels by 2020.

IoT enables businesses to place a greater emphasis on conversation to improve customer engagement. Gartner points out that companies already benefit from using virtual assistants across channels – ranging from a 70% reduction in call, chat and/or email inquiries to a 33% savings per voice interaction.

As these AI-driven services evolve, there’s an enormous upside to use them to create a more intimate connection with customers. Some businesses already leverage location and other profile information to make personalized recommendations.

For these applications to work effectively, businesses need to put the right communications technology in place. Unified Communications provides universal access to applications and data, which removes the typical barriers to successful implementation of AI and IoT technologies.

The time is right to start experimenting with these technologies and to start studying use cases with the idea of improving your operations. The Digital Transformation experts at TCI understand how IoT and artificial intelligence enhance customer interactions.

Ready to open more doors to converse with your customers? Contact us today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

Giving Machines a Voice… Overcome Field Service Delays with IoT and Cloud Communications

Today’s service customers have zero patience for field service delays. They simply won’t tolerate missed or late service calls, or technicians who don’t have the necessary skills to get them back online, or the old standby, “I don’t have the right parts with me. I’ll have to go back to the shop.”

The Internet of Things (IoT) and cloud communications have the potential to minimize such situations. In a recent survey of field service executives, 55% said IoT was the “next big thing” related to technology that they felt would most help with increasing service demands.

In the not too distant past, field techs were limited to voice-only cell phones to communicate with their home office. But with today’s smartphones and web-based solutions, they can message and locate coworkers, conduct video calls, and make voice calls – all from a mobile app.

IoT devices are taking field service to the next level… Multiple sensors on IoT devices provide diagnostic data that help service techs and engineers pinpoint the cause of maintenance issues at customer locations.

With better data, there is faster analysis and identification of the best solution. A cloud-based management system can even allow your techs to correct many problems remotely. By giving machines a voice, you can head off service problems before your techs need to hit the road.

Download: A Better Customer Experience Through Giving Machines A Voice

Does your business depend on Field Service? Keep your business focused on delivering the best possible Customer Experience. Contact TCI today: (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

Internet of Things: How Mitel is Giving Machines a Voice

Connecting devices allow businesses to operate more efficiently. The IoT’s ability to automate tasks like monitoring, sensing, and data collection is driving its adoption across many industries.

A new IoT innovation is being enabled by Mitel – giving connected devices a ‘voice’ to alert people who can interact and address whatever situation a device is reporting.

For example, airports are innovating to give IoT a Voice… an airport outfitted its automated external defibrillator (AED) cabinets with sensors to trigger messages to medical staff whenever a cabinet door opens. In the past, opening a cabinet would simply sound an alarm, but what the alarm was for, or who was responding to it wasn’t necessarily clear. With IoT, the appropriate personnel receive the alert, and they can notify others that they’re responding.

Giving IoT a Voice was also extended to maintenance processes. Environmental sensors monitor temperature and carbon dioxide levels throughout the airport. When, for example, the temperature of a certain part of a terminal exceeds a set threshold, sensors trigger messages to maintenance personnel, who are dispatched to identify and repair the problem.

Think about your own business and how you use devices… In addition to building management, security, healthcare and hospitality, virtually any industry will find applications for this technology, especially those looking to speed customer response.

Ready to give your devices a Voice? Let’s discuss your unique communication and networking needs. Contact TCI today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

 

 

Get to know ‘CloudLink’… Mitel’s On-Ramp to an IoT and Cloud Future

We want you to be ready when Mitel’s innovative ‘CloudLink’ comes online, so as news breaks look for more updates from us. ‘CloudLink’ will be a focal point of Mitel’s product roadmap moving into 2018, and we like what we’re hearing.

At a high level, the CloudLink vision is to provide:

  • A bridge to enable any Mitel call control platform to interface with cloud-based applications
  • Access to vertically-focused micro applications
  • An aggregation point for IoT sensors that can trigger communications actions or responses
  • APIs for third-party developers for use in creating applications
  • A zero-code application development environment that non-programmers can use to create apps
  • An integration point for third-party cloud apps like Salesforce, Zapier, and If-This-Then-That using call control signaling and notification in the workflow

CloudLink’s architecture has two elements: a CloudLink gateway device connected to the Mitel Next platform running in Amazon’s cloud (AWS). The gateway can be deployed either on-premises or in the cloud. CloudLink enables signaling protocols from a mix of PBXs – different makes and models – to be normalized so there is only one common signaling and messaging protocol between the gateway and the Mitel Next Platform.

Mitel CloudLink architecture showing integration with on-premises and cloud-based call control

What’s in it for me?

CloudLink will enable an instant on-ramp to cloud-based app consumption. You won’t be limited to using Mitel-created apps. With CloudLink, you’ll be able to build your own apps, communications-enabled processes, and IoT-enabled processes.

Interested in CloudLink? Let’s start talking about your technology roadmap for next year. Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.

5 Ways to Take Your Customer Experience to the Next Level in the Digital Age

There’s a lot of pressure to provide a great experience each time customers interact with your brand. Businesses are responding by prioritizing the Customer Experience as a competitive differentiator.

Your business needs to consider the full range of your Customers’ Experience: not just the call they make to sales or support, but all the different departments and technologies that your customers interact with to make a sale or resolve an issue.

Here are five ways to deliver exceptional Customer Experience in the digital age:

  • Be holistic – Review your current Customer Experience; it doesn’t start and stop with one phone call. It’s important to take a 360-degree view, including chat, social media, direct messages and beyond.
  • Respond immediately – To avoid customer frustration with misdirected calls, a unified communications and collaboration system can allow your agents and staff to collaborate on customer issues without leaving the call.
  • Consider IoT – Implementing IoT automated responses to certain triggers can prevent problems before they take place. For example, a customer’s air conditioning unit can signal your business when the unit is not running properly so you can arrange a tech visit. The customer can respond within their own messaging app.
  • Go beyond voice – When you’re looking at your own contact center, make sure you’re not relying too heavily on voice call metrics; factor in responses and workflows via alternative media.
  • Push for high availability – Your Customer Experience doesn’t stop when there is a disaster or system malfunction. Push for high availability by keeping a physical or virtual replication of your main contact center server.

Let’s talk about using new technology to boost your Customer Experience. Contact us today at (703) 321-3030 or info@tcicomm.com.