The contact center is a bastion of innovation. Customer service is taking center stage in business, as our omni-channel world lends itself to viral posts and headlines composed of notions similar to what nightmares are made of. Poor customer service can snowball quickly, so in an effort to avoid the negative ramifications of a rowdy customer fresh off a negative experience, firms are deploying contact center solutions equipped with the proper armaments to serve on the front lines of customer service. A weapon recently added to the contact center arsenal, chatbots, are beginning to see their time in the sun. From workforce optimization, to calming an incredulous customer, the results speak for themselves.
Today, Aspect Software announced the availability of its enterprise chatbot, Aspect Mila for Slack – adding to the growing list of Microsoft Teams and Facebook Workplace (coming in Q2). The personal assistant chatbot was announced last year, and in its brief history is providing enterprise and contact center employees with the ease of automation, self-service and more.
“The integration of Aspect Mila with commonly-used workforce collaboration and messaging tools is a natural next step of providing contact center agents with enterprise-connected, self-directed shift management,” noted Mike Bourke, SVP and GM for Workforce Optimization at Aspect. “Chatbots are becoming an effective and desired means for both consumer and enterprise interaction. Mila’s integration with Slack gives both in-office and remote employees their own workforce personal assistant right at their fingertips.”
Employees can sign into Slack, and via voice commands, can address workforce and schedule management needs. Employees simply ask for a day off or for an extra shift, and Mila works in conjunction with Aspect’s Workforce Management solution to take this task out of the hands of management allowing the focus to be on business operations – not who wants to take next Tuesday off.
Due to the integration approach, the end result is a seamless experience between one’s personal and professional life. And, employees don’t require Slack to put the workforce virtual personal assistant to work; as it has been available in this capacity for some time.
The deeper a firm allows Mila to integrate, to greater the benefit. The chatbot does not need to be relegated to simple workforce management issues; it is also well equipped to address HR, onboarding, training, etc. Enterprises can easily create a one-stop self-service shop for team members.
“The integration of Aspect Mila with commonly-used workforce collaboration and messaging tools is a natural next step of providing contact center agents with enterprise-connected, self-directed shift management,” said Mike Bourke, SVP and GM for Workforce Optimization at Aspect. “Chatbots are becoming an effective and desired means for both consumer and enterprise interaction. Mila’s integration with Slack gives both in-office and remote employees their own workforce personal assistant right at their fingertips.”
Chatbots are serving to transform the contact center in addition to the delivery of customer service. The further industry leaders like Aspect delve to the depths of capability, the more the customer experience will transform. Trends like self-service, social media and the omni-channel experience are not passing fads; it’s not your Dad’s contact center anymore.
Hello 2017, and hello Mila.