Productivity is key in contact centers, and in this economy. One of the best means of improving it is by having integrated customer interaction channels and vital information at the agents’ fingertips, on-screen. This avoids wasting time and avoiding annoying invaluable customers that are on hold caused by flipping through applications and screens. The net benefits are saved money and revenues.

 

Altitude Software is enabling contact centers to become productive in this fashion with its enhanced Altitude Unified Desktop solution. It provides agents with all the relevant media control and applications information in user-friendly environments. It adds new tools to focus on first call resolution (FCR) rates and other customer satisfaction and business key metrics.

 

The Altitude Unified Desktop is a family of desktop solutions, which includes a Web-based agent desktop, a swift windows based desktop, a Web services version via Altitude Integration Server and built-in knowledge base. This powerful solution enables higher FCR and smarter routing management, while it delivers unique value with its mandatory control of agent input during interactions, for further analysis in reports.

 

Altitude Unified Desktop directly controls the various channels such as voice, e-mail, chat, and co-browsing. It provides a customer interactions history view, enabling examining critical customer data in real time depending on the context of interaction in the business workflow. It may even make suggestions regarding cross/up sell opportunities or address compliance in real time. The data rich communication makes it easy for agents to get the information they need in order to effectively manage all types of customer interactions.

 

Enhanced agent desktops can help contact centers facing the economic downturn by improving first call resolution rates, agent productivity and operational flexibility, says a report “Agents Desktops: The Contact Center Universal Remote”, from The PELORUS Group and sponsored by Altitude Software (News - Alert). The report says unified desktops deliver what consumers want the most, that is, to communicate with the contact center at a time and channel of their choosing and get correct answers the first time.

 

“Unified desktops such as the Altitude uAgent from Altitude Software, intelligently route queries from all channels with equal alacrity, “states Dick Bucci, author and Senior Consultant for The PELORUS Group. “Interaction time is minimized and the end result is a significant increase in first contact resolution: a key driver of customer satisfaction. The payoff comes from reduced training time, higher throughput, improved agent retention, sharply reduced IT support costs, and faster response times to changing environments.”

 

According to the research, unified desktops benefit not only contact centers agents by providing higher productivity due to faster call handling, but also customers by enabling a higher FCR and the IT departments by simplifying system management task. These advantages are crucial for contact centers wishing to be competitive and retain customers in order to face the economic downturn presently affecting businesses.

 

“The contact center service reality is that too many times entails customers placed on hold for too long, unproductive talk time, and difficulty having to navigate dozens of applications to answer a call and so on, “states Miguel Lopes, Product Management Vice President at Altitude Software. “We are helping our customers to overcome these daunting challenges. Our technology delivers a framework that aggregates applications and interactions in a unified and easy-to-use desktop, with powerful tools using web services and browser-based applications. Thanks to our real time control of interactions, we can act on business decisions at the speed of light, and allow agents to focus on the essential: customer needs and service/ campaign goals.”

 

Altitude Unified Desktop is already helping leading firms grow FCR rates and boost agent productivity.

 

For example, Optima Communications International, a Canadian contact center outsourcer has seen its FCR rate dramatically increase after deploying the Altitude Software solution at its contact centers. “

 

“The Altitude solution helped Optima achieve its FCR targets by intelligent call routing and providing contact history at the agent desktop,” explains Elizabeth Sedlacek, Business Development Director for Optima Communications. “Moreover, as an outsourcer, we needed separate knowledge bases for each one of our major clients and the Altitude suite enabled us to do so. At the same time, it provided us with an innovative technology solution that increased our productivity and service levels.”