ISG Software Research Analyst Perspectives

Qualtrics XM Platform Zeros in on Customer Experiences

Posted by Keith Dawson on 27 March 2023

Modern business relies on having a clear, continuous understanding of customer perceptions and intentions. That insight is increasingly used to deliver them experiences that they would consider excellent, in turn leading to higher satisfaction and more profitable relationships. Qualtrics, a provider of Experience Management (XM) software, focuses on creating applications that analyze customer... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, Contact Center, agent management

8x8 Pivots to Emphasize Contact Center Technology for CX

Posted by Keith Dawson on 23 March 2023

At its March 2023 analyst conference, 8x8 described a significant pivot in its focus. Going forward the company will be emphasizing the Contact Center (CCaaS) side of its portfolio, which to this point has represented a small portion of its overall sales. It made several product announcements to bolster the argument that it can effectively meet the needs of complex contact center operations while... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Contact Center

Making Automation Easier for Contact Centers

Posted by Keith Dawson on 02 March 2023

Contact centers are very often keen on optimizing their costs through automation. Technology vendors supplying this market have recognized this need, and in the past few years, they have been putting workflow and automation tools front and center in their offerings. This has raised some questions among practitioners about the most effective strategies for implementing automated processes. Based... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Contact Center, agent management

The 2023 Value Index for Customer Experience Management: Vendor and Product Ratings

Posted by Keith Dawson on 25 January 2023

I am happy to share insights gleaned from our latest Value Index research, an assessment of how well vendors’ offerings meet buyers’ requirements. The 2023 Ventana Research Value Index: Customer Experience Management is the distillation of a year of market and product research by Ventana Research. Drawing on our Benchmark Research, we apply a structured methodology built on evaluation categories... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, Contact Center, Product Information Management, Digital Commerce, Subscription Management, agent management

All-Inclusive CX Suites Reveal the Big Picture to Optimize CX Management

Posted by Keith Dawson on 19 January 2023

Having just completed the 2023 Ventana Research Value Index for Customer Experience Management, I want to share some of my observations about how the market has developed. We found that there are many tools available for various needs related to customer management and communication, ranging from marketing tools to contact center systems to data and analytics applications. It is rare to find all... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, Contact Center, Product Information Management, Digital Commerce, Subscription Management, agent management

The 2023 Market Agenda for CX: Analytics Takes Center Stage

Posted by Keith Dawson on 12 January 2023

Ventana Research recently announced its Market Agenda in the expertise area of Customer Experience. CX has emerged as a way for organizations to demonstrate value and stand out in the marketplace. The technology underlying modern CX is transitioning from tools that are based on communication to those centered on data analysis and process automation. This allows organizations to build great... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, CEM, Self-service, Analytics, Contact Center, agent management, AI and Machine Learning

Verint Bets Big on Engagement Automation and Intelligence

Posted by Keith Dawson on 11 January 2023

Since 2021, Verint’s message to the customer experience community has focused on the “engagement capacity gap,” a way of describing how the available resources for CX clash with the high level of customer expectations. The argument is that efforts to close that gap require a rethink of how contact centers (and their parent organizations) operate and plan. At Verint’s December analyst conference,... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, Contact Center, agent management

The CCaaS Business Case Shifts from Costs to Capabilities

Posted by Keith Dawson on 14 December 2022

The market and buyer landscape for contact center operating services has changed significantly since the onset of the pandemic, now almost three years ago. Three years would have been enough time for some significant shifts, even without the pressure the pandemic put on service operations. Nevertheless, with on-premises systems now taking a backseat industrywide, it’s fair to say that CCaaS,... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, Contact Center, agent management

Optimizing Customer Communication Channels

Posted by Keith Dawson on 09 November 2022

For quite a few years now, two trends have put the contact center on a collision course. First, the technology used to handle customer inquiries has been evolving quickly, moving organizations farther and farther away from the traditional mode of primarily answering voice calls. At the same time, consumers have become much more demanding. There’s no doubt that customers are more likely to use... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, Contact Center, agent management

NICE Elevates Power of Customer Experiences

Posted by Mark Smith on 02 November 2022

Pressures to engage consumers through every interaction and provide a delightful customer experience are influencing advancements in business and technology. Organizations are challenged to manage friction points experienced by billions of consumers amid expanding digital channels. These issues must be addressed to engage and respond to customers every second of the day. We assert that, through... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Contact Center, agent management

Contact Centers Should Revisit KPIs for Strategic Relevance

Posted by Keith Dawson on 02 November 2022

Traditional key performance indicators used for performance measurement in contact centers are no longer sufficient. These outdated standards don’t reliably inform mid- and upper-level leadership about the true impact of agent work and behavior. Organizations should begin to expand the notion of what’s important in order to make the contact center a stronger organizational institution, more... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, data artisan, Contact Center, agent management

Technology is Only Part of the Customer Experience Transformation

Posted by Keith Dawson on 06 October 2022

Through 2025, establishing customer experience application suites on a common platform will be the focal point of the drive to optimize customer and organizational engagement. Organizations that are passionate about improving the customer experience are choosing to empower processes and people with intelligence through smarter applications that embrace analytics, artificial intelligence and... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, Contact Center, agent management

Agent Performance Management Changes With the Times

Posted by Keith Dawson on 20 September 2022

Today’s contact centers need to revisit core assumptions around measuring agent performance. Changes in business conditions influencing agent engagement raise new questions about whether traditional performance models are sufficient to address the more complex customer needs that have taken center stage in recent years. In many respects, the nature of the agent’s job has changed. Instead of being... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, Contact Center, agent management

Why Outbound Is a Smart Channel for Customer Communication

Posted by Keith Dawson on 13 September 2022

Outbound communication is used in a number of different contexts. For potential customers, traditional telemarketing still exists, though it is limited these days due to its minimal effectiveness. Instead, many customer-experience planners have substituted digital outbound over voice for lead generation and nurturing campaigns. Customers find text messages in the channel of their choice to be... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, Contact Center, agent management

Preparing Agents for Success in Automated, Distributed Contact Centers

Posted by Keith Dawson on 04 August 2022

The contact center industry is reexamining how organizations engage with contact center agents. One thing that we learned from the forced movement to work-from-home was that organizations have to provide agents with appropriate tools to collaborate and communicate with peers and supervisors as well as workers in the back office who participate in all sorts of customer-facing or customer-adjacent... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, Contact Center, agent management

Field Service Heads for Greater Automation and Integration

Posted by Keith Dawson on 26 July 2022

Field service is a segment of customer experience that is dominated by two elements: the complexity of the issues handled, and the high cost of providing on-site services. It is recognized as a critical component of the service experience, especially when managing the condition of high-precision equipment in the medical, manufacturing and utility industries. It is also a high-risk moment in the... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, Contact Center, agent management

Amazon Connect Adds Workforce Optimization Capabilities

Posted by Keith Dawson on 01 June 2022

At Enterprise Connect in March, Amazon announced new functionality in its cloud contact center platform, Amazon Connect. The company is now including a full Workforce Optimization component, which includes built-in forecasting, capacity planning and scheduling capabilities. It's no surprise that Amazon is adding these capabilities, as WFO has become a core component of a complete CCaaS platform.... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Contact Center

Work-From-Anywhere Has a Communications Impact

Posted by Keith Dawson on 10 May 2022

Contact centers are undergoing a radical reshuffling of the workforce, partly because the pandemic shifted agents to remote work. But the trends were in place to reorganize the world of work long before the pandemic. Digital contact channels, which are gaining in popularity, require workers that are better informed and capable of handling more complex and interdependent interactions and... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, Contact Center, agent management

Technology Trends in Customer Support Software

Posted by Keith Dawson on 03 May 2022

Customer Service and Support (CSS) software is about more than case tracking and trouble tickets. Many organizations view the service call as an opportunity to solidify a positive customer relationship and perhaps enhance the loyalty and value of the customer. That has propelled interest in the emphasis on workflows and automation that now/currently drives CSS, particularly when it comes to... Read More

Topics: Customer Experience, Voice of the Customer, Contact Center

Ujet Simplifies Omnichannel Interactions in the Contact Center

Posted by Keith Dawson on 19 April 2022

Although the bulk of contact center seats are still served by on-premises equipment, there appears to be a consensus that the cloud is better suited to delivering a successful, omnichannel customer experience, and that most new contact center deployments will be run on cloud-computing platforms. The trend toward cloud-based contact center infrastructure (CCaaS) has opened a space in the market... Read More

Topics: Contact Center, CCaaS