Voxeo Talks

This recent Harris Interactive poll should be of interest to anyone who works on mobile customer service initiatives or mobile-payments programs – Harris’ recent study took a look at what smartphone capabilities people are using, and what capabilities they are comfortable with.

About 55% of the respondents indicated they had a smartphone capable of performing advanced functions. At first glance, the results seem to suggest very limited mobile adoption:

According to a recent Harris Poll, very few are taking advantage. Smart phones today can store information to make our lives more efficient – information that can be scanned to make a purchase, or displayed as a ticket for admission, allowing us freedom from printed confirmations or carrying bulky wallets. However, when asked about a list of items that one could scan their mobile or smart phone for, only small minorities report having done so in each case.

They reported single-digit percentages for use of most functions that could improve or streamline a customer’s experience, like utilizing the smartphone in lieu of a movie ticket or airline ticket, or to make payment for a purchase of apparel or convenience items. However, pairing these numbers with the second set of questions asked, which revolved around comfort levels with these activities, shows an interesting contrast. A couple of comparisons:

• 5% have scanned their smartphone as a movie ticket. 47% are “very” or “somewhat” comfortable with the concept.
• 3% have scanned their smartphone to pay for a purchase of clothing or electronics, while 39% would be “very” or “somewhat” comfortable using a gift card-style account in this manner and 24% would be “very” or “somewhat” comfortable using a stored credit card in this manner.

In general, higher comfort levels were found among younger consumers (age 18-35 “echo boomers”) and men.

So, why the huge gap in use vs. comfort? There are a few possible theories – the dichotomy could possibly be driven by the existence of a limited number of retailers offering self-service options that take full advantage of smartphone capabilities, lack of communication of the availability of these functions, the multi-channel self-service functions not yet delivering the value customers are looking for, or retailers currently offering these programs not doing enough to make the “somewhat” comfortable consumers feel secure with their implementations.

The takeaway for those offering or planning to offer additional mobile self-service options to their customers is that a potential userbase is out there and possibly growing, but the utility, positioning and data security and compliance of your services will all be critical if they are to be a success. Harris finished the article with the results of a question they asked about when, if ever, information stored on mobile phones would be used more pervasively as a form of payments than cash. Only 30% said “never”.

Want to find out more about how Voxeo delivers multi-channel self-service on a secure platform your customers can be comfortable using? Get our whitepaper, Delivering On the Value Of Multi-Channel Customer Interactions.

Smart businesses know their customers and can leverage that knowledge into personalized and efficient self-service channels that build loyalty and improve customer satisfaction.

Join Voxeo and Digital DataVoice on Tuesday, May 1, 2012 at 1 PM Eastern time to explore how personalized customer self-service leads to happier, more loyal customers and contact center cost savings. Hear from some of the industry’s leading experts who will explore the design, development and business benefits of modern, personalized IVR and multi-channel self-service.

Best Practices Covered Include:

-Personalized multi-channel self-service design and development

-How to deliver dynamic, relevant and specialized content to the caller

-Using personalization to provide proactive outbound service

-Using personalization to more effectively cross-sell and upsell

-Metrics from companies that have improved their customer experience with a well designed IVR

Waterfield Technologies is a leader in voice, web and mobile solutions for financial services customers and other enterprises worldwide, providing leading-edge self-service solutions and robust database and application integration services that synchronize and optimize the end-to-end customer experience. Some of Waterfield’s clients include GE, Citibank, and CenterPoint Energy. We recently spoke with John Marino, President and CEO of Waterfield Technologies, and asked him about Waterfield’s history, focus and method for integrating multichannel communications within these industries.

Overview:

Waterfield has been providing voice solutions since the mid-80s. The company’s legacy hardware focus on infrastructure solutions has evolved over the years to now support a myriad of software based applications include IVR, web and mobile solutions, and other, multi-channel (voice/email/SMS) capabilities.

How are you specifically addressing the key concerns in your markets?

Especially in the financial services industry, and in other regulated industries as well, there are specific issues that clients need to address: data security, regulatory issues and disaster recovery and response. Given our long history of working within this industry, we are able to customize solutions that interface with the core platforms that financial services companies use for data management, while keeping a targeted focus on building application solutions that address the current trends facing banks and credit unions. Many solution providers are focused around how to deliver technology (voice, mobile, web, etc), we are focused on how to use technology to solve business issues and move the needle from a customer service perspective, ideally bringing real change and a platform for evolution in a history stagnant part of most financial service organizations.

Also, our deep understanding of the business allows us to take a more consultative role with our clients, functioning not just as a voice solution provider but as a company that embraces multichannel solutions, building a strategy and road map, and helping our customers gauge progress towards their respective automation objectives.

Why did you partner with Voxeo?

Most solutions being used to provide inbound and outbound customer service in the financial services industry have stagnated, and implementing a true multi-channel solution on top of old infrastructure would yield suboptimal results. We partnered with Voxeo so that we could offer solutions that were built for multi-channel communications from the ground up, with the capability to support what’s next in terms of customer communication preferences.

What’s up next for Waterfield?

We’re working on additional ways to leverage our partnerships to create solutions that are innovative and unique to the market, such as increased mobile optimization. Fundamentally we believe that the clients looking for solutions are tired of being forced one technology platform after another while yielding very limited results. We are focused on taking vertically focused, consultative solutions to our clients and working with them to use technology to solve problems, and create true change. Having a “newer, updated” solution is great – but as fast is the market is evolving, we feel that we can be doing more with the tools available and look forward to helping our clients embrace a holistic mindset towards customer self service and smart-automation.

For more information, check out the Waterfield/Voxeo whitepaper “Slashing Costs and Improving Customer Care in Financial Institutions”, and visit Waterfield Technologies’ website.

Gartner Customer 360 Summit is taking place March 30-April 1 in Los Angeles. Attendees can expect to leave the event armed with valuable information and strategies for growing and managing their customer experiences using new social, mobile and traditional customer points of interaction.

If you’re attending the show, be sure to stop by the Voxeo Booth. We won’t just be talking about social CRM and multi-channel customer interaction — we’re showing it in action.

• See how to use Twitter to proactively interact with customers, enhance loyalty and turn opportunities into revenue

• Learn how easy it is to integrate social CRM with other customer interaction channels such as speech-enabled IVR, click-to-call and text messaging

• See how real-time, cross-channel analytics can help you better understand customer behavior, identify areas for improvement in your applications, and take action to enhance the customer experience

Learn more about Gartner Customer 360 Summit here. Visit Voxeo in Booth J or contact us to set up a 1:1 meeting.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Like the power of VoiceObjects with its multi-channel service capabilities, personalization features, and integrated business reporting & analytics? Fear the overhead of setting up premise equipment to take advantage of this next-generation customer self-service offering? Look no more. Voxeo now offers its flagship service creation, management, and reporting environment as a production-ready On-Demand model as part of the world-wide Voxeo cloud.

In this session, Tobias Goebel will walk you through the steps of setting up a free Evolution account, building your first VoiceObjects call flow in the cloud, and deploying it as a voice and SMS application all with free phone numbers to try it all out. He will also show you some of the reporting that comes out-of-the-box and discuss extensions to get even more out of this powerful offering.

Join us for this session on February 02, 2011: 8:00 AM US Pacific, 11:00 AM US Eastern, 5:00 PM Central European.

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There are so many times when I just love the utter simplicity of our services!  I know… DUH! … you expect me to say that.  Sure. But seriously… I was speaking with a reporter at the Voxeo booth at SpeechTEK and she asked the question:

How hard is it to add SMS to an existing voice application?

To which I was delighted to be able to just say:

Let me show you!

I whipped out my laptop, logged into Evolution, and showed her the one single radio button:

Powerful simplicity!  I love it!

We were very pleased to announce at SpeechtTEK this morning in New York that we have extended our 100% Uptime Service Level Agreement (SLA) to text messaging (SMS).  For many years, we’ve offered a 100% Uptime SLA for voice/IVR … essentially we believe so strongly in our infrastructure that we’ll credit your account if we have any downtime.  Today we extended that 100% Uptime SLA to text messaging (SMS).

Today, so many companies are starting to use text messaging as a way to communicate with their customers.  However, companies are NOT thinking about the reliability of their text-messaging services. Yet, if text messaging is to be a core part of your customer communication, you really need mission-critical reliability.

That’s what we announced today!

We also explained again our SMS offering and offered a video:

• Outbound Messaging. Allows applications to send outbound text messages and campaign blasts.  Used to provide proactive alerts, send reminders, and allow users to take action on messages, such as accepting an offer, making a payment, or confirming an appointment.  
• Inbound Messaging. Allows applications to receive inbound text messages and automatically reply with requested information, present users with dynamic menus or choices, and route requests appropriately. 
• Normal phone numbers.   Voxeo customers can send messages from and receive messages to “normal” phone numbers, such as (407) 555-1212 in the US.  Phone numbers for the US and other countries around the world are available from Voxeo on-demand, ready in just minutes, with no wait times or significant monthly costs.
• Short-code phone numbers. Voxeo customers can also send and receive text messages using “short code” phone numbers, such as 12345.  Short codes take more time to obtain from mobile carriers but are best for high-volume or high-profile text messaging applications.  Voxeo manages the short code provisioning from start to finish.
• Multi-Modal Interactions.  Companies can also use Voxeo to deliver “multi-modal” applications that use both voice and text in the same customer interaction or with the same phone numbers. For instance, a customer calling to make a payment through an automated voice system could then receive a SMS confirming the transaction.
• Development Simplicity. Voxeo’s easy-to-use tools enable developers to create new SMS text-messaging applications – and to text-enable any existing VoiceXML application with very few or even no changes. In addition, customers can use  Voxeo’s VoiceObjects Application LifeCycle Suite to graphically build one application and seamlessly deploy it across multiple channels including voice, SMS, IM, video, and the mobile web – all while accounting for differences in user interfaces.  Alternatively, customers can use a simple HTTP-based API to send and receive SMS messages.
• 24X7 Monitoring and Support. Voxeo provides unmatched technical support and customer service. Unlike other vendors with limited, tiered, or cost-based support models, Voxeo Customer Obsession teams are available to Voxeo customers for free 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to rapidly resolve issues, answer any questions, and  share best practices.

The short video demonstrates how easy it is to create text messaging apps:

How to Create Text Messaging (SMS) Applications on Voxeo’s Platform

If you would like to try this out yourself, simply go to evolution.voxeo.com, sign up for a free account and check out our tutorials.  And when you are ready to launch you’re application into production, we’ll be glad to talk about our 100% Uptime SLA!

View the Voxeo Business-hosted  Webinar we held featuring Forrester Research, Inc. on “How to transform your Customer’s experience While Driving Down Costs”.

Customers today expect more when they engage with companies and offering merely “good” service is no longer sufficient to retain their loyalty. Contact centers need to quickly respond to changing customer demands and deliver dynamic support consistently across all channels. This webinar examined innovative solutions that support the new customer imperative. It provided insight into emerging market trends for contact centers including social media, blending inbound and outbound automated transactions, cross channel communications and customer experience analytics. Additionally, it is essential that today’s contact centers support solid business goals and deliver world class service while lowering operational costs. The session discussed best practices for achieving this optimal customer support balance.

Dan York, Director Conversations at Voxeo and Elizabeth Herrell, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, Inc. talked about customer expectations on phone self-services, benefits of multi-channel strategies in customer service, and the usage of new channels such as social medias within this service offerings. They provided best practices for state-of-the-art services, that increase customer satisfaction and reduce costs.

View the recorded session.

Join us for our Business Webinar on April 15, 2010.

Dan York, Director Conversations at Voxeo and Elizabeth Herrell, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, Inc. will talk about “How to Transform your Customer’s Experience While Driving Down Costs”.

Customers today expect more when they engage with companies and offering merely “good” service is no longer sufficient to retain their loyalty. Contact centers need to quickly respond to changing customer demands and deliver dynamic support consistently across all channels.

This webinar examines innovative solutions that support the new customer imperative. It will also provide insight into emerging market trends for contact centers including social media, blending inbound and outbound transactions, cross channel communications and customer experience analytics.

Dan York and Elizabeth Herrell will talk about customer expectations on phone self-services, benefits of multi-channel strategies in customer service, and the usage of new channels such as social medias within this service offerings. They will provide best practices for state-of-the-art services that increase customer satisfaction and reduce costs.

Looking forward to welcome you in this webinar.

Date: April 15, 2010

Time: 9:00 AM Western, 12:00 PM Eastern, 6:00 PM Central European

REGISTER NOW

Just a reminder that tomorrow at 8am US Pacific, 11am US Eastern, 5pm Central European time, our next Developer Jam Session will focus on how you can build “multi-channel” applications where customers can interact with those apps via voice, IM, SMS, web, Twitter and more…

Would you like to build “multi-channel” communications apps where customers can interact with your app via voice, IM, SMS, web and Twitter? Would you like to take existing voice applications you have developed and add these new channels to that app? Does the idea of writing an application once and having it interact with all these different communication channels intrigue you? Are you seeing requests from customers to interact with you in ways other than voice?

If so, please join our free Developer Jam Session webinar on this coming Wednesday, October 7th, 2009:

Topic: IMify your voice application! Exploring new ways of customer interaction with Voxeo VoiceObjects and IMified

Date: Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
Time: 8am PDT, 11am EDT, 5pm CEST

Speakers:
Dave Hoff, Senior Engineer, Voxeo
Tobias Goebel, Sr. Presales Consultant, Voxeo Germany

Abstract: With the acquisition of IMified and VoiceObjects, Voxeo has demonstrated its clear commitment to be the number 1 provider of Unified Self-Service™: the idea that one and the same service definition can drive dialogs in any modality available to end customers, be it voice, video, SMS, USSD, IM, Web, or even social networks.

This jam session introduces IMified, Voxeo’s hosted platform for Instant Messaging bots, and explains how VoiceObjects can be utilized to build dialogs that extend the scope of customer interaction to Instant Messaging networks such as Yahoo, Skype, AOL, MSN, or Google Talk, but also other text-based channels such as SMS or Twitter. Learn how to IMify your existing VoiceObjects application with minimal developer effort but maximum customer impact.

If you can’t attend on Wednesday, the session will be archived on our Monthly Jam Sessions web page for later viewing.