What company doesn't want to strengthen its relationship with its customers and boost its competitiveness by differentiating itself from its competitors? Whether large or small, all companies are now thinking about customer experience and satisfaction, if they haven't already done so. The "customer journey" and the "omnichannel" strategy are now established expressions.

However, this quest for competitiveness is frequently accompanied by a search for cost-saving positions, which necessitates pooling company resources, while dispersing them geographically. As a result, working patterns are becoming asynchronous, with team members increasingly required to work at different times and in different places. How, in such a context, can we ensure that the quality of the company/customer relationship remains intact?

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Phone calls, again and again

The introduction of platforms integrating multiple communication channels (webchat, social networks, e-mail, etc.) should not obscure the fact that telephone calls are still the most common way for customers to communicate with a company: 66% of French people spend more than 24 hours a year on the phone with a customer service department (1).

Not to mention the increasing demand for rapid response (2). "Ten years ago, a customer might have been considered impatient on the phone after five rings, but this year it's three, and next year it'll be two", stresses Fabrice Lanoë, Managing Director of HCG (3).

When it comes to telephone communication, we have many tools at our disposal. Landline telephones, of course, but also smartphones and other softphones.

However, in spite of this multiplicity of tools, a large number of employees admit to encountering difficulties on a daily basis in reaching a contact person "the first time" (4). What, then, are the feelings of customers outside the company?

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One number, multiple terminals

It's important to bear in mind how difficult it is for each and every one of us to manage multiple means of communication. This is one of the roles of a unified communications platform: to associate several terminals with a single business telephone number, and enable the user to choose the most accessible (or most appropriate) terminal according to circumstances.

But more than that, unified communications make it possible to reconcile mobility, presence and availability. Indeed, in mobile situations, managing presence and availability becomes crucial.

For example, a user answering a call using his or her smartphone must be clearly identified as being "on the phone" for other employees.

Instant messaging is another common feature of unified communications. It makes it possible to obtain information even when the person is online. This is particularly useful for call center agents, who sometimes need to get expert advice quickly in order to respond to a customer.

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A new deal

Call centers and telephone answering in the broadest sense of the term must now deal with a new situation, and integrate closely with the communication tools used by the company and its employees, otherwise the quality of telephone answering will deteriorate significantly. Ideally, business applications and customer relationship management software such as Salesforce should also be interfaced to enable, for example, automatic recording of customer interactions.

This convergence of communication tools must combine the telephone, presence and availability reports, instant messaging, conferencing and collaboration sessions, mobility and corporate business applications in a truly unified environment, guaranteeing efficiency and customer satisfaction.

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Counterpath Bria Stretto: a solution for every application

Call centers and telephone answering in the broadest sense of the term must now deal with a new situation, and integrate closely with the company's communication tools and those of its employees, otherwise the quality of telephone answering will deteriorate significantly. Ideally, business applications and customer relationship management software such as Salesforce should also be interfaced to enable, for example, automatic recording of customer interactions. This convergence of communication tools should combine the telephone, presence and availability reports, instant messaging, conferencing and collaboration sessions, mobility and corporate business applications in a truly unified environment, guaranteeing efficiency and customer satisfaction.

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Thanks to this unified communications solution and its presence and availability management tools, team members can interact with customers and contact colleagues without wasting time or sending unnecessary messages. Online presence detection functions enable each person to indicate his or her availability and choose the most appropriate terminal for communicating at a given moment (landline phone, smartphone, softphone, etc.).

To enable companies to choose the equipment best suited to their users' profiles, the Bria Stretto softphone offers the same features and the same interface, whatever the terminal and platform used (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android).

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In addition to classic telephony features such as call waiting, call transfer or message waiting, many other possibilities are offered, including call supervision and recording, and address book integration. Other available features include automatic answering, remote call control (call centers), Microsoft Office and Salesforce integrations, SMS sending/receiving and transfer of calls in progress between WiFi and 3G/4G networks.

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The CounterPath solution offers the advantage of working with the majority of communication platforms on the market (IPBX, Centrex, etc.). It enables the deployment of all the mobility and collaboration services expected by users, without calling into question existing systems, while maintaining independence from suppliers (equipment manufacturers, operators, etc.). It can be put into service without any intervention on the part of the user, facilitating the deployment of BYOD initiatives and telecommuting.

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(1) Harris Interactive poll -Source: Les Echos Executives January 29, 2018

(2) See also our article "Customer relations: why and how to react "on the fly"?

(3) Les Echos Executives January 29, 2018

(4) Sage Research survey

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