Customer experience has to change. Alarmingly, over half of consumers report that contacting customer support is stressful and exhausting, according to Zendesk. For companies to prosper, it is essential to win back customer trust by providing better service. Microsoft empowers businesses to achieve this with AI-powered Dynamics 365 Contact Center.
The customer service sector faces increasing pressure to deliver outstanding experiences in an era of rapid technological advancement and rising consumer expectations.
Unfortunately, only 5-8% of organizations are happy with their current standards of customer service. This gap often stems from challenges such as high agent turnover, limited visibility into call performance, and fragmented customer data that hinders personalization, all contributing to poor customer outcomes.
Most companies want to leverage AI to improve their capabilities, but they are still concerned about the cost, integration with existing technology, and skill limitations. However, people still expect a human touch when trying to solve a problem. A live phone call is still the preferred method for resolving issues across generations – outpacing live chat, email, and even social media, according to McKinsey’s 2023 State of Customer Care Survey.
Thus, a solution that uses AI to deliver more efficient self-service while also routing customers to the right agent to solve their query on the first call is truly a game-changer.
Introducing Dynamics 365 Contact Center
To help businesses modernize their customer experience, deliver better service, and improve agent productivity, Microsoft developed a dedicated cloud-based product, Dynamics 365 Contact Center.
This platform is specifically designed to help contact centers improve their efficiency using cloud technologies and integrated AI capabilities, while easily integrating with existing systems.
A flexible, stand-alone solution
The benefits of D365 Contact Center
Improved customer experience
Dynamics 365 Contact Center empowers organizations to deliver exceptional customer experiences at every touchpoint. Its omnichannel capabilities allow customers to connect through the channel of their choice, ensuring consistent and seamless communication regardless of the medium.
By connecting to your CRM, the platform facilitates personalized interactions. Integrating knowledge bases and other applications further enriches customer data, enabling more tailored service delivery.
Gen AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants analyze contextual data to predict customer needs and recommend the best solutions. The same capabilities over a call are available through a modern conversational IVR powered by Nuance.
Real-time data and sentiment analysis by AI helps personalize recommendations and route queries appropriately if needed. This ensures customers are connected with the service representative possessing the most relevant skills and experience, via their preferred channel.
This interactive, self-service experience can lead to a 20% reduction in query misroutes and a 31% increase in first-call resolution – thus improving customer satisfaction while freeing up agent time.
Increased agent productivity
The new platform for contact centers from Microsoft offers a range of features designed to simplify agent workflows and improve job satisfaction.
Over 1200 connectors enable organizations to consolidate customer data from various sources into a unified 360-degree view. Being part of the Power Platform ecosystem means all relevant customer information is readily available within the platform to provide context and necessary insights. This eliminates the need for agents to check multiple sources for the data they need.
The single-view desktop provides insights into interaction history, support topics, and real-time data such as translation and sentiment analysis, with AI-powered solution recommendations. It also allows agents to switch instantly between chat and voice/video channels, enabling them to adapt and respond accordingly as the conversation happens.
Omnichannel functionalities include the ability to review files sent by customers or – through third party tools – use features such as screen sharing and co-browsing if needed. And with native integration with MS Teams and Dynamics 365, agents can also collaborate with peers or subject matter experts to quickly get the expert assistance they need.
Agents can save much of their time using Copilot in Dynamics 365 Contact Center for everyday tasks. Real-time conversation transcriptions and summaries automate data entry and provide richer insights for subsequent interactions. Copilot can also draft emails, automate workflows or schedule tasks, speeding up operations.
These time-saving functionalities enable agents to focus on more demanding tasks, freeing up their days to focus on delivering better outcomes for customers. AI capabilities can reduce the average resolution time by 40%, which reduces the need for human involvement, and improves the overall customer experience by providing faster, more accurate assistance.
Efficient operations at scale
Dynamics 365 Contact Center enables contact centers to make their operations more efficient at any scale. Cloud capabilities ensure unparalleled service reliability and scalability, easily adapting to changing organizational needs.
The platform offers numerous features designed to simplify the work of contact center managers and service leaders.
Forecast reports help with predicting staffing needs, ensuring optimal resource allocation to match inquiry volumes. By easily connecting data and business applications, leaders can gain a broader perspective of operations and make better-informed decisions.
Real-time reporting and drill-down insights provide a comprehensive view of current inquiry backlogs, statuses, and statistics across all engagement channels, enabling proactive operational optimization and real-time adjustments when necessary.
Intelligent query allocation, based on agent skills, availability, capacity, and other relevant parameters, ensures customers are connected with the most suitable agents for their specific needs, improving their experience.
Following interactions, customers can receive automated satisfaction surveys. Copilot can aggregate these responses and provide comprehensive insights to guide service development and further improve customer satisfaction.
Dynamics 365 Contact Center also includes highly customizable features, including live chat and voice response. Low-code capabilities enable users to modify responses easily without the involvement of the IT department, increasing the agility of the contact center. Native integration with the Power Platform allows for the creation of fully automated workflows to further optimize and speed up operations.
All these features contribute to improved customer experience and increased satisfaction. According to Forrester, this can lead to over 1 billion USD in additional revenue.
Flexible query routing with AI
Dynamics 365 Contact Center seamlessly integrates with organizations’ existing telephony and IT systems to enable optimal query routing. The platform handles load balancing efficiently, using agent availability and experience as selection criteria, and managing customer expectations by informing them of queue progress. It also offers customers the flexibility to disconnect while retaining their queue position or schedule agent contact via their preferred channel at a later time, reducing drop-off rates.
The same capabilities extend to various text and social channels for a unified experience. This intelligent queue management system balances the volume of inquiries across available agents while simultaneously minimizing wait times.
Get started with Dynamics 365 Contact Center today
Dynamics 365 Contact Center is an innovative platform that empowers organizations to deliver outstanding customer experiences. Its compatibility with existing CRM systems and seamless connectivity to diverse telephony infrastructures make it a versatile solution.
Consistently exceeding customer expectations and maintaining their loyalty can give your organization a major competitive edge. If you wish to elevate your customer experience capabilities, contact us to explore the options for modernizing your contact center.
Real results
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