When Alexander Graham Bell called out, “Mr. Watson, come here. I want to see you!” in the first-ever telephone call, he couldn’t have known that his device’s successors would one day solve problems, transmit video and coach sales teams to close business. But here we are.
Phone systems have been evolving to support business outcomes for decades—especially following the transition from analog to digital signals. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) introduced superior call economics, advanced features and convenience-oriented functionality. Unified communications (UC) ushered in the customer experience (CX) battlefront as companies leverage omnichannel communications to pursue outcomes like single-call resolutions to customer complaints.
Now, with AI maturing and powering our phone systems, your company can delight customers, increase competitiveness and even generate more revenue.
Superior Sales & Service Interactions
AI-powered sales and service improvements—some in real-time—can improve your company’s customer experience and coach sales teams toward better outcomes through features such as:
- Intelligent call routing based on your representatives’ strengths, your caller’s history and the purpose of the current inquiry
- Sentiment analysis that helps to identify your callers’ emotional states based on tone, word choice and intonation
- Personalization-driven prompts that provide your agents with important customer history and coach them during calls
- Real-time transcription and analysis that empower your customer service supervisors to coach your sales and service employees toward desired outcomes, such as satisfied customers or closed deals
- Performance metrics that identify areas for improvement across your company, specific departments and even individual employees
Improved Automation & Efficiency
Automation-based efficiencies enhanced or fully powered by AI can also drive better customer interactions while improving productivity for your business thanks to solutions like:
- Smarter chatbots that can handle your customers’ inquiries and resolve basic requests instantly
- Automated issue resolution through AI-powered self-service options offered to customers who are contacting your company call centers and support lines
- Predictive maintenance that identifies potential problems before they occur, minimizing downtime
- Advanced analytics that provide insights into your customers and business, such as common requests and complaints, sources of confusion and customer insights, such as behavior, preferences and attrition-risk patterns
Enhanced Voice Security
You probably know the best cybersecurity solutions bring AI to the fight. However, you may not know that many of the most powerful AI-oriented concepts in traditional cybersecurity apply to VoIP-based solutions and solutions developed expressly for specific voice communications use cases. Examples include:
- AI-powered encryption that protects your data during transit
- Real-time anomaly detection based on system pattern mapping and recognition that can identify tell-tale signs of fraud, such as spikes in call volumes or calls to certain destinations
- Voice authentication that provides biometric-based authentication for users and callers
- Fraudulent activity screening based on IP addresses, call duration, time of day, call logs and other data sources
Deliver Better Outcomes for Your Business & Customers
These
communications advancements are happening amid a massive migration toward
unified solutions. Indeed, 75 percent of businesses like yours plan to adopt
unified communications by 2030, according to Metrigy.
Most companies are looking for platforms that can handle increased customer
demand for fast resolutions via their preferred communications channel, enable
remote workforce enablement and offer greater affordability made possible by OpEx vs. CapEx models.
The future of phone systems comes down to three “A’s”—any channel, anywhere and AI. AI enhancements to VoIP systems can empower you to achieve better outcomes for your business and customers.
