For some time, companies have been searching for better ways to align their communications and enhance customer experience in the process. A better-connected team leads to improved productivity, better performance, and more informed staff members, ready to serve any client. Unfortunately, many organizations still struggle with silos between their back-end specialists and contact centre agents.
Five9, one of the market leaders in customer experience innovation, is working to bring an end to the gaps between contact centre and internal communication. The company recently received Microsoft Teams certification for their contact centre solution, designed to bring UCaaS and CCaaS together.
By creating synergy between two parts of the communication stack, Five9 is ensuring contact centre agents have the information, guidance, and support they need to deliver unforgettable customer experience.
I spoke to Senior Director of Product Development at Five9, Beatrice Casanova, to find out more. Beatrice previously worked with Cisco Cloud Collaboration group and Poly before joining Five9.
Microsoft Teams Compatible Contact Centres are in Demand
The demand for Microsoft Teams compatible contact centres has skyrocketed lately, as the overall adoption of the software continues to grow. Teams now boasts around 250 million active users each month. According to Beatrice, it only makes sense for companies investing in tools like Teams to ensure they can connect their contact centre to their UCaaS software.
“Microsoft Teams has an incredible market share right now, which means a huge number of companies have knowledge workers and agents operating through Teams. Rapidly, these groups are beginning to realise their contact centre can’t operate as a separate silo to the rest of the business. Agents need to be able to communicate with employees in the back-office, and vice versa”.
Casanova told me the importance of connecting the contact centre and UCaaS environment has grown increasingly crucial since the pandemic. With people locked in their homes, the agent became the face of every brand. Service agents started dealing with huge volumes of queries, often more complex than the calls they were used to. “Connecting CCaaS and UCaaS gives agents the support they need to thrive.”
The Importance of Microsoft Certification
Five9 had a relationship with Microsoft for some time before the contact centre solution was officially certified. According to the Five9 team, and Beatrice, getting the official certification was an important step forward. “We have had an integration available to customers for a while, and our clients loved using it, but earning certification gave us that extra credibility.”
Microsoft’s certification program is extremely specific and highly stringent. It takes time and focus for brands to get through the process, and customers appreciate the effort that goes into certification. “The connected contact centre for Microsoft Teams program verifies that we’ve been fully vetted by Microsoft as a valuable solution for contact centre integration.”
Beatrice told me Five9 has been on this path for a while now, and they’re glad to be one of a select group of partners earning the certifications.
What it Means for Five9 Customers to Have Teams Integration
The Microsoft certification for Five9 contact centres is an important evolution for Five9 customers. According to Casanova, this integration means Five9 agents in the contact centre environment will be able to collaborate with back-office subject matter experts quickly, so they can answer customer questions and deliver valuable solutions faster.
“Agents will be able to use their Five9 address book to find contacts by group or name and verify who’s available to take a call. Agents can also transfer customer calls to SMEs, or conference with an SME and a customer at the same time.”
Beatrice told me the benefits of linking Microsoft Teams and the contact centre are significant. Companies can offer customers a seamless experience, with faster average handle times and better first-call resolution. Even employees get a better level of satisfaction because they feel more empowered to solve customer queries at speed.
How Does the Integration Help FCR?
One of the major benefits of the Microsoft Teams and Five9 integration is the ability to improve first-call resolution. Beatrice told me the chances of solving an issue first-time are higher because a Five9 agent will already be spending a lot of time in the Five9 desktop client, taking calls and dealing with messages. When they need help from a subject matter expert, it’s not convenient to open a separate Microsoft Teams application.
“We take the solution and import all of the directory information you need from your Teams environment, into the Five9 contact centre directory, so it’s easier to reach out to colleagues fast. There’s presence integration too, so you can see who’s available to answer questions in the moment.”
With Five9’s Microsoft Teams integration, the agent never has to leave their Five9 desktop client, so they spend less time jumping between applications.
Deploying Microsoft Teams and Five9 technology
The Five9 team has an extensive deployment and integration process in place to make connecting the contact centre and Teams environment as straightforward as possible.
“First, we work with the customer to configure their telephony needs on the SIP Trunk between Microsoft Teams and Five9 technology. This allows for convenient bi-directional calls between Teams users and Five9 agents, with toll-free access for the customer.”
After handling the telephony integration, the customer installs the Microsoft Five9 adapter, granting Five9 access to their Teams presence and directory features. The Five9 professional services teams have a lot of experience with this, so they can easily guide the customer through the process.
As Five9 proved in a recently released case study for Westfield Bank, they’re also capable of working alongside partners to create the most convenient customised experiences for customers. CallTower and Five9 worked together on the Westfield Bank solution to help the financial company get more access to valuable information and improve the real-time flow of data.
Westfield bank said that the flexibility of being in a hosted environment with CCaaS from Five9 and direct routing from CallTower has been a powerful value add for their technology stack.
Customers and partners who want to learn more about Five9’s Microsoft Teams solution can check out the latest details here.
