The telecom industry has changed dramatically in recent years. The must-haves for business telephony are very different from even just a couple of years ago. This guide paints a picture of what well-functioning telephony should include – and how a great solution also enhances your company's customer experience!
Today, a cloud-based PBX is the foundation for a well-functioning communication platform – and the smartest way to go about when setting up your telephony. The solution includes traditional telephony integrated with IP telephony, CRM, IVR, etc. Today you’ll get more value for your money when investing in telephony, allowing you to create a better service and more value for your customers.
Smart telephony is defined by several common factors for digital services today. But what does the term smart telephony actually include? Here are five attributes we consider to be the most important ones:
The technology should be a facilitator that simplifies internal processes with a simple, smooth interface. No one should have to think about where or how to invite people to a conference call. The system should be so user-friendly that every action is obvious.
Everyone must be able to understand and use the platform immediately. The person’s IT experience or knowledge shouldn’t matter – since a smart solution is a solution that doesn’t require a manual. The system should be presented to you by a provider that offers the whole package and delivers a finished product, ready to install. After that, it’s all done!
In order to offer your customers a well-combined and coherent experience, an optimal solution is also to integrate your PBX with IP telephony, CRM, and other services. This is described in detail later in the guide.
In a time where remote work is growing considerably, you won’t gain anything from fighting against it. Instead, you should adapt to the development. Company employees are demanding a more flexible work situation, and to live up to both present and future expectations, you should ensure that your telephony is adapted to this.
A cloud-based solution will bring great value to your company, whether you’re working in the reception or as a sales representative. When customer service can provide professional support from the home office and employees working in IT can do their troubleshooting on the bus, there’s a win right there.
If the company’s entire telephony can be handled within the same app, it will be much easier for different teams to communicate with each other. That can enable better collaboration between, for example, the sales and customer service departments.
The most important thing for company employees is to have the right tools for the right assignments and that methods and approaches are established and suitable for one’s work.
Today, there are apps for everything, and this, of course, also applies to solutions for telephony. Smart, digital telephony should be able to manage exclusively via an app for the work to flow as smoothly as possible. That means you can do your job on your work computer at the office or via mobile on the way to a customer meeting. For maximum efficiency, you should be able to handle PBX features, transfer and connect calls, chat with colleagues, and more – all in the same app.
The majority of company employees could suffice with only a mobile phone number. However, some people, like salespeople or customer service staff, could also benefit from a fixed number linked to a desk phone. A fixed number is more about achieving the appropriate, professional appearance rather than actual functionality.
The same goes for the company’s main number. It’s still good to have a fixed number where customers who have more general questions can call. For employees, on the other hand, the most important thing is that they can call whenever and wherever they want. Even if a seller has two numbers, they can answer through any device they want – and call from the computer app or the mobile, and it works just as well.
With the rise of remote work, great tools for establishing efficient collaboration are required. Hybrid meetings, where some participate from home and others from the office, will increase. To keep up with the development, consider implementing a strategy for video calls and investing in a video conferencing tool that ensures excellent audio and video quality. Learn more about Telavox’s video conferencing tool here.
One clear trend that has accelerated since the onset of the pandemic is that your customers have higher demands for how and when to contact you. Simply having company phones isn’t enough, but in combination with email, social media, and a chatbot – you’re ready to go!
So, how can smart, well-adapted telephony make you collaborate better and more effectively and lead to a better customer experience? By reviewing the following parts, it’s pretty simple to achieve!
Getting in touch with a company today should be an easy thing – and customers expect to do so in a variety of ways, such as telephone, email, and chat. Today’s increased demands for availability also mean that customers should be able to contact you whenever they want to. One way to create a seamless way for customers to contact you, regardless of what platform they’re actively using, is through omnichannel. Read more about omnichannel and how a contact center strengthens customer experience in our guide.
If your company has a central number, it should be clear when people can reach you there. Many companies only refer to an email address today but to create better customer service; you have to adapt to the customer! Therefore, it’s always wise to get a main number (or keep your current one) where everyone can call, regardless of the matter. Lots of people find it easier to talk to a person directly, and by closing that option, you can lose both potential customers and existing ones.
A big step towards a better customer experience is to have an interactive voice response (IVR) implemented in your telephony solution. That could either be a recorded voice presenting your opening hours or what options the person has and actions they can take, depending on the nature of the call.
An IVR can also be useful for the employees to set different personal messages; if they are sick, on vacation, in a meeting, or just left for the day. Customers will be more satisfied if they get the direct information that a person leaves at 4 pm. That will make them try again earlier in the day instead of continuing to call after hours and thus never get in touch with the employee in question.
To achieve the best possible customer experience, your CRM should be integrated with your telephony. Why? Well, it will make your support more effective and profitable – it’ll also bring even happier customers!
When a customer calls, the support staff will get the person’s contact information straight onto their screens – providing the details needed to help. Not only can they see a customer ID, personal number, and such, but they also find their previous purchases and if there are any other registered inquiries.
When calling a company, no one likes to wait in line or get transferred between many different phone menus. You want to get in touch with the right person straight away! However, most people are okay with waiting in line for a minute or two, given that they get the help needed when they’re connected. Most people also feel better about waiting in line (and getting notified of their queue position) rather than calling again and again just because the phone line is busy.
Pro tip: Look into how busy your current company’s PBX is. If customers need to wait in line for several minutes or more, you might consider scaling up your PBX services.
One specific way to enhance the customer experience is through your contact center. Many contact centers now include omnichannel. It is a way to achieve precise and coherent communication across all channels – on all devices. Your customers are busy and have a high desire to be able to seek contact whenever they want on the platform they’re active on.
All voice- and text-based communication is gathered in one view, which helps agents solve problems easier and reduces internal errors. Customers get a consistent user experience across all devices and channels with omnichannel. So, for a modern and personalised customer experience, omnichannel is the way forward for all contact centers in 2022.
One crucial factor in improving your company’s telephony and communication functions is tracking metrics and studying analytics. Study your customers and learn from their behaviour and adjust accordingly, if possible. We recommend measuring metrics like first contact resolution, to see how often your agents solve a customer issue on the first try.
It’s also vital to have a live overview of your contact center – how many calls are waiting to be answered? How long does the average caller need to wait for a response? How many agents do you have available to answer calls? By monitoring the situation you can adapt to ensure your service is as effective and efficient as possible.
Telavox was one of the world’s first providers of IP telephony, and we were working in the cloud as early as 2002. Modern, smart company telephony has always been a part of our DNA. We strive to help our customers communicate better through great functionality and flexibility.
Connecting your various tools with each other ensures better work days for employees and streamlines your workflows. It’s easy to integrate your favourite tools with Telavox, such as:
And one of the most common integrations our customers use is with Microsoft Teams. With your telephony in Microsoft Teams, it’s easy to stay connected at all times, no matter where your colleagues are stationed. Read more about our integrations with Microsoft Teams.
This is the dream function for all team managers/supervisors out there. An efficient way of collecting insights without having to add new metrics. You get a clear overview of:
Omnichannel communication is available as an add-on feature in our contact center solution. With this, you have all the information about your customer available right at your fingertips, no matter which channel they use to contact you. Used effectively, customers won’t have to repeat a question to customer support ever again, pretty nice, right?
The Call Center Pro is another add-on solution to level up your PBX with extended statistics and queue functionalities. Who is it for? Well, everyone who uses a contact center that wants to enhance how they manage calls and handle statistics really.
That was all the information we wanted to share with you about more successful business telephony. Just as the telecom world is constantly evolving, so are we at Telavox. As our UCaaS solution is developed in-house, we always look for ways to improve it to make it easier for your customers to communicate with you – and for your employees to communicate with each other.
If you’re interested in reading more about trends in telecom, take a look at what our VP of Product, Tor Blomdell, has to say about the topic. And if you’re interested in knowing more about us at Telavox and what solutions we can offer you, don’t hesitate to reach out!
We’d love to show you what Telavox can do for your business – contact us now to arrange a demonstration.
