Five ways Avaya innovation can change your world From customer service to process automation, Avaya innovations improve the way companies conduct business
Peeking behind the curtain In an economy characterized by ongoing uncertainty, some pundits will suggest that companies are too nervous to invest in R&D. Hogwash. At Avaya, we continue to embrace, cultivate and invest in innovation, both in the United States and abroad. We ve introduced breakthrough technologies for decades and have no intention of slowing down. In fact, the collaborative innovation model we use has raised the innovation bar in recent years by regularly bringing together Avaya customers, our world-class research organization, Avaya Labs and our world-class software development professionals at Avaya Client Services. This setting includes the folks who have the business need for communications, the wizards behind our latest innovations and the business-savvy technical specialists who make those innovations work in the real world. Through this approach, we engage Avaya customers in the innovation process and bring next-generation solutions to market faster. Want to take a look behind the curtain? Read on to learn about a few of the latest Avaya innovations that will change the way our customers do business and how you can become part of the process.
Revolutionizing collaboration As mobile devices proliferate, more people work at home and businesses become more global, some people rightfully wonder if we re stepping backward with productivity. Today s enterprise work environment is frenetic, and employees are often overloaded with information. So what if communications technology could help the average office worker recapture five to 10 minutes per hour throughout the workday? Take this example of an office worker. When a calendar invite pops up on screen, it takes only one click to join a conference with audio, Web and video access. Relevant documents are automatically located and converted to an appropriate format for sharing on PCs, Macs, ipad devices or Android tablets. People associated with the project are listed onscreen so with one click they can be added to the conference. All of this in a fraction of the time it typically takes you to prepare for a meeting. We ve developed this capability, Avaya Awareness, to revolutionize the way people collaborate. It makes telephone calls and voice-, Web- or video-conferencing more efficient and effective by enabling workers to move smoothly and quickly from one to another much as if they had an administrative assistant with them, in the background, preparing them for the next activity.
Harnessing the social media wave Most executives now know that social media is a force to reckon with. The immediacy, influence and viral nature of tweets, blog posts, fan pages and other channels demand attention and action. But are you effectively using available tools to leverage social media for improved customer experience? At Avaya, we ve pioneered listening to selected social media streams via commercially available software. That software sifts through, identifies and tags certain items of interest. Next and this is the secret sauce Avaya applications capture and convert relevant items, use presence to locate the most qualified Avaya contact center agents, route the selected items to those agents, and automatically track those items from capture through resolution.
Harnessing the social media wave (continued) How well does it work? Recently, we heard a tweet in which an IT executive was comparing phone systems from Avaya and a competitor. We responded with an offer to provide more information, and 13 days later landed a quarter-million-dollar sale. Innovation is helping us address the social media imperative within established mechanisms and processes efficiently, cost effectively and in alignment with our customer service strategies. And, yes, these innovations are available to Avaya customers.
Elevating your customer face time An electronics retailer wanted to provide a better sales and service experience for its customers, many of whom are young adults and teenagers. We suggested getting in the customers faces. Using Avaya Social Media solutions, the company now offers customers the option to add a link to their Facebook page. Click on the link from their desktop, laptop, iphone, Android, it doesn t matter and customers go directly to the company s website for a wide variety of self-service options. Another Avaya innovation enables personal voice, video and collaboration sessions between your company and your customers who have access to an Internet-connected PC, tablet or mobile device. Customers can interact with your enterprise workers and contact center agents by simply selecting a link from your Web page, or even from an e-mail or direct message on Twitter, and initiate a face-to-face video connection that includes contextual information. That context saves time and helps everyone involved avoid retracing recent steps. It also offers many opportunities for cross-selling or upselling to your customers.
Elevating your customer face time (continued) Either way, with a simple click, the customer can link directly to a contact center agent audio and video, audio-only, chat or e-mail, whichever is most convenient. As the session begins, the agent receives relevant information from the customer s Facebook profile and customer history, and so is equipped instantly with valuable information to help speed things along. The results? A much richer customer experience. Tremendous flexibility in how the customer interacts with the company. A viral marketing channel for the company (customers can forward the company s Facebook link to their friends). And priceless added face time with customers.
Connecting with customers on the run Consumers today want to shop, make purchases, troubleshoot issues and resolve problems while on the go. What they ve done from desktops and laptops for years, they also expect to do with smartphones and tablets. Now they can. Avaya Customer Connections Mobile extends your contact center capabilities, including automated self-service apps and agent-based services, directly to customers mobile devices. Customers have more options to solve issues themselves, but they can quickly and easily contact you if they need to. If a live agent isn t available, they can quickly schedule a callback at a convenient time. When the agent comes on line, so does all relevant customer info, saving time and relieving frustration. Is your company taking advantage of the consumer shift toward mobile devices? Bringing mobile channels into your contact center makes it easier for customers to do business with you and improves the overall customer experience. What are you waiting for?
Gaining a firmer handle on contact center performance Contact centers are inundated with calls today directly to their agents, as well as to the variety of self-service applications. How do you measure efficiency and effectiveness efficiency positive customer experience effectiveness problem identification compliance of both human and automated agents in the face of this avalanche of data? How can you use live conversations to learn about customer needs and opinions, as well as competitive intelligence? Now there s a way. Working with Avaya customers, we ve developed a portfolio of solutions that track and analyze contact center activities and measure their performance. Regardless of the entry point direct call, IVR, Web link, video, mobile, whatever these solutions not only show you what happens in the call center, but also why things happen. You can analyze calls using phonetic search to quickly identify effective practices that lead to positive customer experience or even find problem areas in real time that need attention and improvement. In the face of increasing regulatory scrutiny around the world, these solutions also can support your compliance efforts. With this deeper insight into the dynamics of your contact center operations, you can be much better informed as you devise ways to improve processes, procedures, systems and the organization. Think of it as a road map for performance improvement.
Keeping skin in the game Many of today s innovations will be business-as-usual in a few years. That s why we re constantly on the move, looking for fresh, winning ideas to advance the state of the art. No doubt we can do some of that alone, but the best innovations come from ideas we develop along with Avaya customers. Why? Because the solutions that come from our collaborative innovation process take direct aim at urgent business issues and opportunities. We and our customers invest significant time and effort in understanding business needs and designing solutions that address them. So how can the innovative use of communications help address issues in your organization? Why don t we start a dialog and explore the opportunities?
Learn more To learn more about the ideas presented in this ebook, our Avaya Aura TM and Intelligent Customer Routing solutions, and other innovative communications advances from the Avaya Emerging Products and Technologies group, talk to your Avaya Client Executive or Authorized Business Partner. Also, visit us at www./innovations. About Avaya Avaya is a global provider of business collaboration and communications solutions, providing unified communications, contact centers, data solutions and related services to companies of all sizes around the world. For more information, please visit www.. 2012 Avaya Inc. All rights reserved. Unless otherwise noted, all trademarks identified by the, TM or SM are registered trademarks, trademarks or service marks, respectively, of Avaya Inc. 07/12