Many organizations, regardless of their size or industry focus, will have employees who need to frequently interact with customers. However, that doesn’t always necessitate the use of a comprehensive, formal “contact center” platform.
For budget-conscious companies, an informal contact center solution can optimize employee and customer experiences, streamline operations, and reduce costs, combining customer service tools with pre-existing communication systems, like Microsoft Teams.
A lightweight, innovative, and omnichannel informal contact center solution not only empowers businesses to accomplish more with less, but offers channel partners and resellers an excellent opportunity to differentiate their services in the competitive communications industry.
Here’s your behind-the-scenes guide to the rise and benefits of informal contact centers.
What is an Informal Contact Center?
An informal contact center is what companies build when the people who handle customer needs on a day-to-day basis aren’t necessarily full-time contact center agents. They include IT, accounting, finance, and other back-office experts who work together on customer service.
Demand for technology and solutions that support informal contact center operations has increased in recent years. Evolving customer expectations, new workplace trends (such as hybrid and remote work) and technological advancements are reshaping the contact center environment.
While not every company requires a formal contact center environment, every organization does need an effective way to communicate with and engage customers. Informal contact centers empower companies to leverage their existing communication resources (such as Microsoft Teams), alongside integrations and customer service solutions, with an exceptional level of flexibility.
A channel provider can build the ideal “contact center” environment for a company, leveraging their Microsoft Teams instance, Azure calling applications, and lightweight connectors to CRM systems, analytical tools, and reporting features, creating a unique environment for customer service.
The Benefits of Informal Contact Center Solutions
Informal contact centers benefit from being more cost-effective, agile, and user-friendly than their traditional, “formal” counterparts. They empower channel partners and companies to embed contact center functionality into their existing resources, ensuring every employee can play a role in enhancing customer service, even if they’re not a full-time contact center agent.
Solutions like Voca’s Conversational Interaction Center for Microsoft Teams transform an organization’s existing MS Teams investment, with a certified, lightweight solution, built on Azure, and packed with valuable tools for unifying customer and employee experience.
The benefits of these informal contact center solutions include:
Enhanced Employee Experience, and Performance
Informal contact center solutions like Voca optimize a company’s existing investment in Microsoft Teams, aligning back-office experts, internal agents, and anyone else who may be responsible for managing customer service in one unified environment.
With a lightweight solution like Voca, companies gain instant access to an Azure-based app, using trusted Teams calling infrastructure, for internal and external communication. They can provide companies with a single, unified environment for collaboration and communication, allowing teams to organize interactions by channel and service, with dedicated call controls.
Plus, with integrations to CRM systems and knowledgebases, employees can access the insights they need to serve, support, and engage customers, without switching between applications.
Instant Access to Innovation
Formal contact centers aren’t the only groups that can benefit from technological advancements in the customer service landscape. Any employee responsible for interacting with consumers regularly can boost their productivity, and enhance performance with the right technology.
With a solution like Voca, employees gain access to innovative tools, like embedded conversational AI solutions that leverage speech-to-text, text-to-speech and natural language understanding to rapidly handle routine inquiries. Channel partners can even help to customize the informal contact center experience, offering access to drag-and-drop flow and workflow automation designers, that connect disparate systems and drive operational improvements.
