Omnichannel customer service
Omnichannel customer service often begins with web, chat or email, as customer self-service platforms field the first contact. Giving agents a full view of how a customer engagement begins and escalates is key to quickly and effectively solving those issues.
Top Stories
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Tip
01 Jun 2022
Compare pros and cons of live chat vs. phone support
Phone support offers personalized experiences, but live chat agents can answer simple inquiries more quickly. See how these service channels stack up against each other. Continue Reading
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Guide
24 Mar 2022
Contact center of the future is now
AI, machine learning, NLP, advanced analytics, cloud-based tools and workforce management software are transforming the simple call center into multidimensional contact centers. Continue Reading
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News
13 Jan 2022
Genesys CEO on the future of contact center tech
In this interview with Genesys CEO Tony Bates, we discuss the intersection of empathy and technology, as well as the future of video in the contact center tech stack. Continue Reading
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News
09 Dec 2021
Automating customer service empathy a work in progress
Bots and AI tools can help clean up customer service texts, emails and chats -- and make them more consistent. But finding empathy is still mainly the purview of humans. Continue Reading
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Feature
02 Dec 2021
10 customer service best practices to follow
As customer service evolves into a multidimensional force, agent training and experience, performance analysis, virtual assistance, customer sentiment and net promoter scores rule. Continue Reading
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Feature
24 Nov 2021
The future of customer service: 12 trends to watch
Advanced technologies continue to shape customer service goals to streamline digital workflows, increase positive experiences, lower agent turnover and improve contact center ROI. Continue Reading
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Report
28 Jun 2021
15 essential contact center software features
Looking for the best contact center software features? We review some of the most useful capabilities including data reporting, speech analytics, routing methods and AI. Continue Reading
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Answer
17 Jun 2021
How do omnichannel vs. multichannel marketing differ?
While multichannel marketing connects customers and companies through various forms of communication, omnichannel marketing takes it further and removes any silos. Continue Reading
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News
01 Apr 2021
Qualtrics adds XM tools for marketing, service, B2B sales users
Post-SAP spinoff, Qualtrics moves quickly to give B2B sales users -- along with their marketing and customer service colleagues -- new features to sharpen post-pandemic business. Continue Reading
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News
10 Feb 2021
Oracle CX updates focus on loyalty tech, B2B selling, service
Oracle releases Fusion Cloud Customer Experience suite updates that include tools for B2B selling, B2B customer service and loyalty programs connected to Oracle CDP data. Continue Reading
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News
23 Dec 2020
Salesforce's acquisitions lead CX tech buying spree in 2020
Most CX vendors acquired new companies to enhance their platforms, none bigger than Salesforce buying Slack. Facebook's Kustomer buy might be the most intriguing. Continue Reading
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News
20 Oct 2020
Salesforce Work.com gets customer, employee experience tools
Salesforce continues to build out Work.com as a place for broadcasting pandemic-specific employee and customer communications, as well as to enable remote work. Continue Reading
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Feature
08 Oct 2020
Call center customer experience ROI is more about metrics
When measuring contact center ROI, don't get caught up in dollar signs. Focus on CX metrics, including the length of customer calls, wait times and net promoter scores. Continue Reading
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News
08 Oct 2020
Twilio adds video developer tools, field service app, Flex apps
The developer-centric UCaaS vendor Twilio offers users new tools to support video chat, field service workers and aggregation of customer activity data. Continue Reading
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News
25 Aug 2020
Zendesk Support, Sunshine CRM expand data sharing, analytics
New Zendesk Explore Enterprise analytics and data visualization tools enable small and midsize users to create dashboards to share across organizations. Continue Reading
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News
19 Aug 2020
Salesforce pulls plug on Einstein Voice Assistant
Salesforce's voice assistant made a big splash at Dreamforce last year, but the AI tool -- personified with the Einstein brand -- didn't survive the pandemic. Continue Reading
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Feature
04 Jun 2020
10 ways to improve CX when developing virtual agents
Consider these 10 methods when building new virtual agents for your clients to help balance design, user experience, technical feasibility and business value. Continue Reading
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Feature
27 May 2020
4 best practices for call center management
An effective contact center is a result of strong management and knowledgeable agents. Management teams must invest time and energy in training their employees properly. Continue Reading
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News
08 May 2020
Pega adds unified messaging to customer case management
Pega Customer Service Unified Messaging Edition, built from last year's In The Chat acquisition, adds omnichannel messaging to the company's customer support cloud platform. Continue Reading
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News
05 May 2020
ServiceNow CSM navigates pandemic, partners with Adobe
ServiceNow connects its Customer Service Management environment to Adobe Experience Manager to improve support experience through deeper personalization. Continue Reading
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Feature
04 Mar 2020
4 ways to create an effective personalization strategy
Creating a personalization strategy can ensure that businesses offer the best possible experience to customers, with simple yet effective interactions. Continue Reading
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Tip
08 Jan 2020
Video conferencing adoption a growing trend among businesses
B2B and B2C video conferencing is on the rise as businesses strive to provide exceptional CX to customers. Nemertes shares some of its research results. Continue Reading
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Tip
31 Oct 2019
CPaaS vendors can't ignore email in an omnichannel strategy
CPaaS vendors are expanding their omnichannel communications strategy beyond voice and SMS. Email APIs can create tighter integrations with business workflows. Continue Reading
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News
30 Oct 2019
Public sector's customer experience strategies analyzed, ranked
Some U.S. government agencies use technology to earn high marks for CX. Others need improvement in areas that corporate marketing teams can learn from. Continue Reading
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Feature
12 Sep 2019
Upselling customers adds ROI gold to contact center channels
AI, analytics and customer service technologies can predict behavior and secure brand loyalty, but generating impulse buys adds a new ROI wrinkle to the evolving contact center. Continue Reading
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News
09 Aug 2019
Planned $1.35B Salesforce ClickSoftware buy beefs up field service
Salesforce's ClickSoftware acquisition is aimed at improving Salesforce's field service management offering against SAP and Oracle. Continue Reading
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News
06 Aug 2019
Twilio Conversations, SendGrid Ads broaden cloud CX platform
Twilio extends its customer communications platform to support MMS, SMS and WhatsApp chat, as well as to support ad campaigns for Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. Continue Reading
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Guide
25 Jul 2019
Customer service technologies revolutionize CX engagements
This Essential Guide examines the strategic and multidimensional role customer service and its technologies now play in personalized customer experiences over multiple channels. Continue Reading
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News
24 Jul 2019
Salesforce Essentials adds direct messaging channels, telephony
Salesforce expands its small-business offering with tools to facilitate customer conversations on Facebook Messenger, Instagram, YouTube and web chat. Continue Reading
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Tip
17 Jul 2019
Customer service vs. customer experience: What's the difference?
Customer service is an age-old concept, but where does it fit into the customer experience? Here's how the two are different and where they intersect. Continue Reading
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Feature
03 Jul 2019
Contact center AI: Agents may be training their replacements
The goal for software developers training sophisticated agent-assist AI tools for contact center software platforms could be 'superbots' far smarter than today's chatbots. Continue Reading
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Feature
24 Jun 2019
The evolution of call centers to experience centers
The call center has evolved over the years, moving from phone-based systems to multichannel contact centers. The next move is toward a customer experience center. Continue Reading
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News
20 Jun 2019
Assist acquisition advances Conversocial chatbot service
Conversocial had rudimentary chatbots before acquiring Assist earlier this year, but now can deploy chatbots to take on more sophisticated customer engagements. Continue Reading
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News
19 Jun 2019
Helpshift launches omnichannel communication platform
Connected Customer Conversations is an omnichannel communication platform where a customer's information follows them from channel to channel for customer support. Continue Reading
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News
17 Jun 2019
CoreMedia launches omnichannel content creation platform
CoreMedia Content Cloud-Marketing Connector enables omnichannel content creation. It also gives customers access to CoreMedia Content Cloud content management capabilities. Continue Reading
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News
13 Jun 2019
Zendesk Duet ties sales, service platforms together
Zendesk courts enterprise customers with a chatbot SDK that extends self-service tech into internationally popular chat apps, while Duet bundles Zendesk Support and Sell platforms. Continue Reading
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News
07 Jun 2019
Companies entrust CX to customer service chatbots, but only so far
Depending on the vertical, chatbots can relieve human agents of simple, repetitive customer-support tasks. But brands await smarter tech to fully trust them with CX. Continue Reading
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News
03 Jun 2019
Pega Customer Service adds digital messaging capabilities
Pegasystems users can now offer their customers support through text messaging and will be able to develop apps more easily with a new low-code platform. Continue Reading
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News
21 May 2019
Pegasystems acquires In The Chat digital messaging platform
Pegasystems' recent acquisition of the digital messaging platform In The Chat brings Pega customers new communication channels and improves AI chatbot capabilities. Continue Reading
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Podcast
21 May 2019
Replacing contact center platforms poses big dilemma
CX expert Scott Sachs discusses the various dilemmas posed by migrating legacy on-premises contact center platforms to the cloud. Continue Reading
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News
20 May 2019
Sparkcentral virtual agent framework blends AI, live agents
Bring Your Own Bot, Sparkcentral's virtual agent framework for chatbots, blends live agent and virtual agent assistance to augment the customer experience. Continue Reading
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Tip
20 May 2019
6 live chat benefits to consider in a CX strategy
Live chat enables customers to solve problems quickly and agents to multitask, but it also can be difficult to implement well and requires synchronous communication. Continue Reading
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Feature
18 Apr 2019
AI customer self-service platforms show analytical maturity
AI-enabled self-service platforms graduate from traditional customer support activities to more sophisticated methods of analyzing data on customer wants, needs and behavior. Continue Reading
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Feature
03 Apr 2019
5 must-read CX trends uncovered at Adobe Summit
As CRM, customer service, marketing and e-commerce morph into customer experience, Adobe speakers, partners and users pinpoint five trends in CX to watch develop in the next two years. Continue Reading
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Feature
27 Mar 2019
4 ways to use chatbots to improve Gen Z customer experience
More and more chatbots are entering the marketing, customer service and sales spaces. Here are four tips for brands looking to make their chatbots stand out from the others. Continue Reading
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Feature
27 Nov 2018
Customer support automation for B2B requires human touch
Robert Johnson of TeamSupport and Sandy Crowley of ICANotes offer tips on how B2B companies can use automation to supplement human customer support services. Continue Reading
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News
10 Aug 2018
Microsoft Dynamics 365 updates add AI features to CRM
Microsoft has introduced new updates to its Dynamics 365 CRM platform, including AI-driven business intelligence tools for sales, marketing and service. Continue Reading
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News
07 Aug 2018
InsightSquared unveils marketing analytics tools
At Ramp 2018, marketing technology vendor InsightSquared unveiled new software modules for gauging the effectiveness of marketing and sales efforts. Continue Reading
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News
03 Aug 2018
Google Contact Center AI makes early inroads in industry
Prospective users are already interested in Google's recently unveiled Contact Center AI system, and Google partners are avidly trying to sell it. But some in industry urge caution Continue Reading
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Opinion
19 Jun 2018
Separating customer service chatbot hype from reality
Vendors claim consumers want self-service chatbots. Turns out they'd rather scrub toilets or go to the dentist than converse with customer service in general, bots included. Continue Reading
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Feature
23 May 2018
Albuquerque Amazon Alexa skill takes heat off call center
Tens of thousands of Alexa skills -- voice-activated apps -- exist, with more to come. Learn how a city government's call center created one to help residents. Continue Reading
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News
19 Apr 2018
Salesforce Field Service Lightning gets appointment, scheduling upgrades
While the new Field Service Lightning features will help Salesforce users connect customers to their service needs, it lacks any of that Einstein touch of other Salesforce products. Continue Reading
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News
06 Mar 2018
Why improving social media customer service is important
By having a social media strategy in place, companies can quickly respond to customers' concerns through social media. Continue Reading