1. VIDEO CALLING AND THE FUTURE OF CONTACT CENTER BPO ENTERPRISE CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS TO DEPLOYING A VIDEO PLATFORM IN A CONTACT CENTER ENVIRONMENT
2. A CHANGING MARKET Technology has exploded in recent years making video call capabilities widespread. High-speed Broadband, Fiber Optic Networks and 3G and 4G mobile speeds have made real-time video calling possible. Consumers are embracing the technology and many businesses are using it internally. The call center industry and specifically BPO providers must respond to this call to action. 4G
3. VIDEO ENABLED PHONES Apple sold over 20 million iPhone 4 units in Q3 2011 (ending 6/25/11) iPhone 4 has FaceTime – a real-time video chat application iPhone 4 is also compatible with Skype and other video chat applications Google launched Google Talk video conferencing for Android phones on April 28, 2011
4. WEB BASED VIDEO CALL APPLICATIONS Skype filed papers with the SEC claiming 663 million registered users at the end of 2010 Oovoo claims 10 million registered users with growth of more than 600,000 users per month Both Mac and PC come with pre-installed video chat software
5. ARE WE READY TO RESPOND? There are some significant obstacles to integrating video call/chat into a traditional call center environment TRAINING – Agents will need to be retrained on software and visual queues that will be read positively by customers LEGAL – FDCPA, TCPA and other laws haven’t caught up substantively with the latest generation of technology TECHNICAL – Traditional contact center software isn’t designed to handle video contact Many competing incompatible providers Inconsistent user identification models make outbound routing difficult – How do you route contacts using “handles”? COST – Purchase of new hardware and software can be a considerable expenditure
6. WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS? While the initial cost to deploy a video enabled contact center may be great, there are advantages that could offset the costs
7. HOW CAN WE BEGIN TO RESPOND? Interactive Video and Voice Response (IVVR)Technology appears to be moving in two directions Use the old with the new - Technology exists to split the audio and video of a call so that the audio can be passed through an ACD to an agent’s phone while the video is passed to the corresponding PC terminal Deploy as a stand-alone application, abandon legacy systems and start with a complete new workflow process
8. UNTESTED WATERS Businesses have not yet embraced video call/conferencing as a means to reach customers on a large scale Verizon – Opened a video call center for deaf and hearing impaired customers staffed by agents fluent in American Sign Language. Eliminates the need for TTY relay Improves perception due to customers’ ability to be assisted in preferred language
9. HOW DOES THIS IMPACT BPO? As our customers begin to embrace the new technology, they will expect us to be able to accommodate them as well Overflow contact handling Direct transfers Outbound Being at the cutting edge of this trend may present opportunities for growth and industry leadership
10. WHAT’S NEXT? Social Media is beginning to offer video chat solutions too. Facebook offers one-on-one video chat via Skype that could be expanded Google+ is in beta-testing. Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Computers is a big fan of the “Hangouts” video conferencing function and thinks it can be leveraged for customer service and tech support. “I am thinking about hangouts for business. Would you like to be able to connect with your Dell service and sale teams via video directly from Dell.com?” – Michael Dell on his Google+ profile
11. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? As this exciting new technology unfolds, it will be important to stay at the forefront. Consumers and businesses are embracing the new technology, and we need to be ready to respond along with our customers as demand grows.
Editor's Notes
Who here has used Skype to keep in touch with someone? I use it to call my parents so they can see their grandkids and my brother used it when he was deployed in Iraq to stay in contact with his family. The basic service doesn’t cost anything.
Is anyone else here as addicted to your smart-phone as I am?
Both Skype and Oovoo have both consumer versions starting at free and business versions. They offer some pretty sophisticated calling options that quite frankly are much more robust and useful than a plain old land line, or cell phone. Even some email functions can be accomplished better through their offerings.
Training issues – Training on the software will be easy. The difficulty will be in training them to manage their appearance. Body language will need to be taughtEliminating unwanted visual queues such as eye rolling, shrugging etc.Draw parallel to silent movies vs. talkiesLegal IssuesFor example – First you have to get them to accept chat/calls from you, so you have to request contact – How do you do that without disclosing?FDCPA prohibits calls at times before 8am or after 9pm, but outbound chat can only occur if both parties are logged on. So in theory, if you see a debtor is online and listed as available at 10pm their time, could that be an exception to the call times? Technical – Even if the contact software exists to route inbound and outbound based on handles, collection and customer service systems will need to be re-programmed
You cannot underestimate the value of being able to look someone in the eye when you are trying to assist the with an issue. The opposite must be mitigated as well. The possibility exists for misunderstandings based on misread visual queues.Ease of Use – Imaging clicking to contact your phone company regarding a billing dispute from your PC. Before entering the call queue, you click on a series of menus. This takes only seconds, rather than listening to a long list of menu options, or shouting repeatedly at the voice recognition system that keeps misunderstanding you.Improved efficiency – I could imagine software designed to monitor the status of thousands of Skype users and transferring to a live agent to attempt contact when their status goes from offline to online or from unavailable to ready. Another efficiency, and a legal protection in third party could be the use of facial recognition software to confirm the identity of a person to avoid 3rd party disclosure or collector error.
For most companies currently using regular text, an integrated widget acts as the portal to the contact queue. Video call/chat could be built on top of the current capability.
As with our current call flow capabilities, the divide between our clients and us must be transparent to their customers.
