Now that we’ve covered the “what” in part one of this series about WebRTC in the contact center, it’s time to look at the “why” when it comes to WebRTC. While most companies haven’t yet embraced WebRTC for customer interactions (We’re still in the early adoption cycle as the specification continues to work its way through the standards process and gains more industry awareness) it’s critical for companies to begin crafting a strategy to empower their digital customer service with WebRTC.
Why It’s Important to Consumers and Enterprises
The word “convergence” gets thrown around a lot, but it’s not often defined in the way designed to benefit customers. There has been a wave of new technologies in communications in the last decade that have ostensibly been designed to facilitate communications convergence. It began with voice over IP (VoIP) when companies began realizing the benefits of voice transmitted over data pipes. This convergence wave, however, has stalled somewhat. Over the past 10 years, nothing new and notable has been brought to the table in terms of converged communications…until now.
WebRTC has the potential to bring converged communications to reality by putting digital communications – Web, voice, video and data – all together in a single location. What’s most critical about this idea, however, is that it needs to happen from the customer’s perspective, and not the company’s. Think about today’s consumer: they have become more addicted to digital communications, and the Web has become their first stopping point for their interactions. When customers begin their journey on the Web, they don’t want to have to switch devices to go across channels. WebRTC allows them to start from the Web and stay on the Web. Their information from the browsing session is transmitted to the agent who picks up the call with no need to repeat information. In essence, WebRTC is likely to become the vehicle that enables true multimodality in communications by eliminating disconnections and providing that seamless cross-channel communication customers are hungry for, and enterprises are struggling to deliver.
“Make My Interaction with You Simple”
“Simplicity” is an overused word in customer service circles, but it remains an underserved reality. Research on consumer behavior often concludes that customers’ number one request is, “Make my interaction with you simple.” In other words, don’t make me tell you who I am constantly, and don’t make me repeat my requests or my problems across agents and channels. Instead of bouncing me from the beginning of my transaction to the end through a haphazard series of stopping points, take me directly from A to Z in a simple and easy straight line. It’s good for the customer and it helps organizations dramatically increase that Holy Grail of metrics: first-contact resolution.
Strategy Should Drive Tactics from the Customer’s Perspective
When companies are building a customer service strategy, I advise them to build it from the outside in: from the consumer perspective, and not the IT perspective, which has traditionally been the case. This is particularly true in a multichannel strategy. “Multichannel” shouldn’t mean, “We’re multichannel. We have self-service, voice, e-mail and chat.” It should mean multichannel communications options are integrated onto the same platform in a coordinated strategy. Call it “omnichannel and cross-channel integration,” but in the end, it should mean that when a customer crosses from the Web to voice, e-mail, SMS or chat, they want that transition to be seamless. The goal is a complete view of the consumer journey in one glance. It will allow your company to understand your customers better and know what it is your customers are looking for from you as an enterprise so you can serve them better.
True Multi-modality in a Single Web Browser
As research data shows, 90 percent of customer interactions start on a web browser. This statistic is not just simply a big (percentage) number; it’s an opportunity for enterprises to create a powerful digital customer experience that benefits both the consumer and the business bottom-line. The right multichannel web strategy with WebRTC can truly deliver a complete multimodal customer interaction all without leaving the browser! Think of some two-way interactions that go across channels: I type a message in a chat box to a help desk, and they send me back a “how to” video. I’m in a Web browser, but I need to talk with someone to help me navigate. Essentially, multimodality happens when I reach out to someone via one media and receive a response in another. WebRTC, which allows you to bring all these channels onto the same platform (and the same interface), is likely to be one of the fastest ways for enterprises to offer customers truly multimodal interactions, all from a single browser session. Consumers can now start and finish their transaction in a web browser while crossing any type of media at any time.
Guest blogger George Matar is consultant with over 20 years of experience in the customer service industry.
