February 22, 2014
Call Center Software Week in Review
By Blaise McNamee
Web Editor
When it comes to customer service, software is among an agent’s best weapons. Today’s world demands a technological approach to business, and by extension, customer support. Thus, the call center software industry continued to churn out new products and developments over the past week, in an effort to cater to this need. Here’s a brief rundown of some of the highlights.
Starting off the week, Vocalcom, a provider of contact center software, announced that it had signed a partnership agreement with TapCrowd, which will see the integration of TapCrowd’s mobile customer engagement apps with Vocalcom’s suite of contact center products. The result of the collaboration is Vocalcom Mobile, a platform designed for self-service customer engagement via the mobile channel. The companies ultimately hope to eliminate the gap between the contact center agent and the mobile customer.
“Vocalcom wants to manage the entire customer journey. Self-service features, the contact center, social and mobile have never been intimately connected,” said Vocalcom CEO Anthony Dinis. “We change that today - not only for customer service but also for marketing automation and sales. We even wonder if we should make a difference. The Contact Center will become the Customer Engagement Center. Now the apps become the omni-channel link to the consumer. Personal, relevant, context-aware and direct.”
Also this week, we learned that HomeStreet Bank had successfully deployed an interactive voice response (IVR) contact center solution from TeleVoice. The bank aims divert a portion of its growing number of incoming customer service calls to an automated IVR system, which will lighten agent loads and assure compliance with certain new financial regulations.
“As the regulatory environment continues to evolve, it challenges servicers to leverage the latest customizable, seamless technology to not only achieve compliance, but complement internal business processes already in place. As HomeStreet Bank grows, TeleVoice’s systems will continue to support its business and compliance needs, while enabling it to provide the high level of customer service that its staff strives to provide its customers,” said Barry Hays, co-founder and senior vice president at TeleVoice.
Finally, Cyara solutions, a provider of automated customer experience testing software, announced that it has named BrightContact, a provider of contact center technology, consulting and outsourcing services, as its first expert partner in the European region. As part of Cyara’s Expert Partner Program, BrightContact will be able to integrate the company’s automated testing software into its exclusive Customer Experience Innovation Lifecycle solution.
BrightContact Managing Director Carsten Warta said, “We have worked with Cyara in the delivery of large, complex and highly successful projects, and we are thrilled to be recognized as an expert partner. Providing our customers with the means to continue to rapidly innovate the customer experience, while managing risk, further differentiates BrightContact and the solutions we provide.”
That’s all for this week. Be sure to check out what else you may have missed here on the Call Center Software community. As the market continues to evolve, stay tuned for the latest news, insight, and analysis.