We’re still high on Starbucks. Many of us like to share how busy we are on social media. And college applications, corporate presentations, and TED Talks continue to urge us to find our passion.
But a little downtime is important too. And lately we’re hearing more about the value of rest to help us be happier, healthier, and more productive individuals.
This important new discussion point, popularized in recent years by media icon Arianna Huffington in her bestseller The Sleep Revolution, was also the subject of a Contact Center Solutions article this week by the leader of MetroNaps.
In it, MetroNaps co-founder and CEO Christopher Lindholst talks about the importance of rest in call center environments.
“Research shows that taking a nap improves workers’ alertness, productivity, and receptiveness to learning, and call centers that have installed short-rest facilities have found that napping serves as a highly efficient stress reducer,” writes Lindholst. “For example, a call center in upstate New York that serves a large global insurer installed napping pods at its facility to boost employee productivity, satisfaction, and retention.”
Contact Center Solutions this week also tackled the topics of cloud contact centers, service in the age of social support, and WebRTC.
Guest writer Jacki Tessmer of Enghouse Interactive in her piece offers advice on how to avoid common mistakes when using cloud contact center technology. That includes discussions about preparation, the importance of simple GUIs, the need to address voice quality, ensuring your solution offers ease of integration and multitenant support, and more.
“Service providers often assume they have the structural organization in place to implement a new cloud proposition,” she says. “They often underestimate the challenges to overcome and the timeframe for operational readiness. In our experience, it’s usually a bad assumption. They often have to pool resources from a range of disparate teams to make it happen, and frequently they can run into trouble if they try to work in isolation on such projects.”
Meanwhile, Daniel Foppen of Oracle Service Cloud this week discusses the use of social media as a brand engagement and support mechanism. Enabling customers to use social media for this purpose removes friction for them, he says. But agents need the ability to handle interactions on social media using the same platforms they use to address other channels. That, he says, will make the process of customer service more seamless both for agents and for end users, he notes.
“Social channels allow consumers the opportunity to have a conversation with a brand in an environment where they are already spending a good part of their day,” writes Foppen. “Instead of searching for a phone number on a website, consumers can simply start a conversation thread with a business using Facebook Messenger, for example, or continue a conversation they’ve had in the past. This interaction is on their own terms, and they are free to go about their day until further action is required. Unlike the phone, the consumer doesn’t wait in a queue, they don’t navigate an IVR menu, and department transfers are seamless.”
A new relationship between Five9 and GENBAND was also covered this week in Contact Center Solutions. Specifically, contact center company Five9 is leveraging GENBAND’s WebRTC capabilities.
“More and more, enterprise customers are looking for innovative alternatives to traditional telephones or softphones for their contact center agents and are increasingly turning to WebRTC as the answer,” said Wendell Black, vice president of global channels at Five9. “Five9 is pleased to have found a partner in GENBAND with their Kandy platform which delivers scalable and robust WebRTC endpoints for the highly demanding contact center environment.”