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October/November 2017
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Check Out the Enterprise Connect 2018 Program! ...continued from page 1
begin building your schedule, but check back o en as we’ll be eshing out the program with new sessions and additional details over the next few weeks. In the meantime, here are a few highlights to help get you started:
As announced last week, Slack will join us
for the rst time at Enterprise Connect. Cal Henderson, co-founder and CTO, will take the keynote stage on Tuesday, March 13, at 10:45 to 11:15 a.m., to share the company›s enterprise vision. Stay tuned for more of our keynote lineup, coming soon.
New to our track roster this year is Speech Technologies. Attend this track for a tech tutorial, a peek at innovative speech-related companies,
and an answer to the question: Are speech technologies ready for the enterprise? Other tracks are: APIs & Embedded Communications, Cloud Communications, Contact Center & Customer Experience, SIP/SIP Trunking, Systems Management & Network Design, Team Collaboration, Uni ed Communication & Collaboration, and Video Collaboration & A/V.
Chart your journey through the Enterprise Connect program using our new Hot Topics option available in the le -hand column of
the schedule builder. Discover sessions across tracks on any of the following hot topics: AI and analytics, decision support, digital transformation, mobility, organization and management, SD- WAN, and security/compliance.
Based on attendee feedback from our 2017 event, Enterprise Connect 2018 will feature more in-depth, interactive programming. In “Ask the Expert: An Interactive Session on Network & Systems Management,” for example, you’ll have
the opportunity to bring your toughest challenges and most vexing questions for discussion
among Terry Slattery, principal consultant
with NetCra smen, and a panel of experts.
(You can even get them thinking ahead of time by emailing your questions to asktheexpert@ enterpriseconnect.com.)
And, in a supreme example of interactivity, Enterprise Connect has once again teamed
up with TADHack organizers for TADHack- mini Orlando, which will run over the preceding weekend, March 10 and 11 (register here). is is a great opportunity to dabble with communications APIs in a friendly, no-pressure learning environment -- and potentially to share your hacks and applications at Enterprise Connect in a post-hackathon session, “Hackathon Spotlight: Programmable Communications is for Everyone.”
Also in the APIs & Embedded Communications track, you can hear from
one of 2017’s TADHack-mini Orlando participants, Justin Haefner, who is a collaboration architect at Medtronic. In an interactive session, Haefner will share his real-world experiences running and participating in internal hackathons, discuss necessary new skills, and lead a discussion on the shi ing communications landscape. Check out his session, “Why You Should Embrace the API Movement.”
Back by popular demand is our forward- looking one-day conference-within-a-conference, “Enterprise Communications & Collaboration 2021,” as well as perennial must-attend
sessions such as “Cisco vs. Microso ,” contact center market report and executive forum,
and SIP trunking tutorial.
I hope I’ve whetted your appetite, and
that we’ll be seeing you in Orlando next March! Register now with code TELRESEL to save an additional $200 o the Advance Rate or get a free Expo Plus pass! ■
With less on-premise equipment to maintain and on-the- y so ware upgrades, IT costs decrease and reliability improves.
● AI-enabled bots and intelligent virtual agents
(IVAs): Providing a way to serve customers better, bots and other non-human points of contact o er two bene ts. First, they enable a higher level of self-service, allowing more forms of customer engagement, and second, they can o oad many routine inquiries, freeing valuable live agent resources to focus on more complex interactions.
● Knowledge management: e advancement of AI has stimulated new innovations in how knowledge management (KM) is de ned and used in the modern contact center. Beyond searchable content or forums, KM can also empower agents by providing real-time access to subject matter experts and best practices. With access to robust KM systems, agents can solve customer problems faster and more accurately.
● Speech analytics: Gathering customer information provides key insights into contact center performance and operations. e most innovative contact center solutions use speech analytics to help route inquiries and provide immediate feedback to agents and managers, resulting in higher quality customer interactions.
Other innovations, such as voice biometrics, customer journey analytics, and gami cation, also have merits for certain contact center uses. e best place for contact center leaders to start is to have a clear understanding of their organization’s unique business goals and needs, and then evaluate the innovations that promise the most bene ts. ■
Innovation in the Contact Center: Where to Start
Mobile, omnichannel, AI, integrated CRM, analytics -- with the universe of contact center technologies rapidly expanding in every dimension, decision-makers may nd it challenging to know where to focus their attention and investments.
Which areas are critical for delivering a good customer experience?
Which can be implemented without disrupting operations?
Which will help boost agent productivity? Which can you ignore until the technology
matures or better suits your business strategy?
By looking at both the areas of technological innovation and their impact on the customer experience, contact center leaders can develop a clearer picture of which areas will be most bene cial to their business goals.
Here’s a round-up of a few Technologies Transforming the Contact Center. Most organizations looking to transition to a next- generation contact center, enhance agent productivity, and improve the customer
DEININGER
by Nick Deininger, Solution Engineer at Bright Pattern (nick. deininger@brightpattern.com)
experience will look for solutions that incorporate several of these innovations.
● Cloud-based infrastructure: Cloud-based contact centers have numerous bene ts, including greater exibility, simpli ed integration, and plenty of room for growth.