Cisco Cisco Finesse 8.5(3) Weißbuch

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White Paper

Evolving the Agent Desktop - Why the Time Is Now

Introduction

All organizations should plan for three trends when considering the next-generation agent desktop for their contact

center: 1) the increasingly unstructured and unpredictable nature of contact center work, 2) the shift from reactive

inbound to proactive outbound interactions, and 3) the incorporation of Web 2.0 technologies.

The increasingly unstructured and unpredictable nature of contact center work extends from the fact that

most customers are content to use self-service tools such as e-commerce applications for order entry, billing, and

shipping status, and they use a knowledge base for things like technical product support. If those self-service

options fail, many customers turn to Internet searches, customer forums, and social networks for help. As a result,

the contact center now often becomes the last stop for customers. When they do call, they are extremely well-

informed, their problems are more complex, and the problems cannot readily be solved by the agent alone. The

agent must collaborate with other people in business functions such as sales, marketing, product management,

accounts payable, and shipping to solve these problems. A new type of agent desktop is required to support this

modern, collaborative style of contact center work.

The shift from reactive inbound to proactive outbound communication refers to the growing importance of

social network monitoring and response. With the growth of applications such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and

blogs, organizations must now proactively monitor customer discourse to capture opportunities and respond to

brand equity threats from poor customer experiences. A singular bad experience is not just between a customer

and a company any more - it can now include millions of Twitter followers, YouTube viewers, and Facebook

friends. This need for proactive social network response shifts the emphasis of contact center work from reacting to

inbound calls to proactively inserting the company into social network conversations. Once again, a new type of

agent desktop is required to enable this proactive outreach in the contact center.

The incorporation of Web 2.0 technologies into the agent desktop more effectively enables the two trends

mentioned previously. These technologies include thin clients, browsers, HTML 5, JavaScript, XML,

Representational State Transfer (REST), JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), Extensible Messaging and Presence

Protocol (XMPP), and OpenSocial gadgets. Collectively, these technologies create a mash-up, or portal, providing

a customizable

“cockpit” with all the information agents need, when they need it. This programmatic model is

infinitely more flexible, supportable, and extensible than the traditional fat-client, compiled computer telephony

integration (CTI) applications of the past.

The new Cisco Finesse

™

agent desktop addresses these three trends. The following sections explain how.

From Task Worker to Relationship Manager

It is evident that the nature of the transactions performed in a contact center is changing dramatically. When the

contact center was the primary channel for delivery of real-time information, most of the work performed there was

repetitive. Now, callers are seeking a highly personal and specialized dialog. By the time they reach an agent in the

contact center, they have exhausted self-service alternatives - either because their request is complex, the

systems have failed them, or they need specialized consulting. In other words,

exception handing is the “new

norm”.