Cisco Cisco Unified Contact Center Enterprise 9.0(1) Libro bianco
THE VIEW FROM THE SADDLE
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PAUL STOCKFORD
2 CONTACT CENTER PIPELINE
❘
MAY 2016
There are as many unlikely working pair-
ings of technology in today’s contact center
as there were unlikely musical pairings in
“Wouldn’t It Be Nice.” As the contact center
has evolved from the telephone-based call
center to today’s multichannel customer
service center, there are as many or more
disparate communications channels as there
are divergent key changes in “Wouldn’t It Be
Nice.” Brian Wilson made all those layers of
musical complexity work together to create
what we know today to be a classic piece
of musical genius. Can that same process
be replicated in the contact center to create
customer experience genius?
as there were unlikely musical pairings in
“Wouldn’t It Be Nice.” As the contact center
has evolved from the telephone-based call
center to today’s multichannel customer
service center, there are as many or more
disparate communications channels as there
are divergent key changes in “Wouldn’t It Be
Nice.” Brian Wilson made all those layers of
musical complexity work together to create
what we know today to be a classic piece
of musical genius. Can that same process
be replicated in the contact center to create
customer experience genius?
The overriding challenge in today’s contact
center, directly related to the current drive to
provide the customer with an optimal service
experience, is to bring together the numer-
ous communications channels so that they
appear to the customer as a single pipeline
to service. The problem is, things don’t work
like that. The telephone line doesn’t typically
integrate with email or social media channels
or web chats or text messages or anything
else. Each channel works independently,
even though the customer sees them as sim-
ply being different ways to reach the same
customer service function. So if a customer
makes a phone call to customer service,
follows up with an email and consequently
initiates a web chat with an agent, that cus-
tomer sees it as a single customer service
transaction while the contact center sees it as
three separate, unrelated transactions. See a
problem here?
provide the customer with an optimal service
experience, is to bring together the numer-
ous communications channels so that they
appear to the customer as a single pipeline
to service. The problem is, things don’t work
like that. The telephone line doesn’t typically
integrate with email or social media channels
or web chats or text messages or anything
else. Each channel works independently,
even though the customer sees them as sim-
ply being different ways to reach the same
customer service function. So if a customer
makes a phone call to customer service,
follows up with an email and consequently
initiates a web chat with an agent, that cus-
tomer sees it as a single customer service
transaction while the contact center sees it as
three separate, unrelated transactions. See a
problem here?
The solution to this siloed-communications
T
his is a universal truth: If I played
you the first two measures of the
song “California Girls,” you would be
able to name that Beach Boys tune
you the first two measures of the
song “California Girls,” you would be
able to name that Beach Boys tune
in those 16 notes regardless of the year of
your birth. There’s something about Beach
Boys music that transcends time. I have a
DVD of the Beach Boys’ 50th anniversary
tour concert that was recorded in Phoenix in
2012. The audience was comprised of three,
possibly four, generations of fans. There were
audience shots of little girls moving to the
music right next to their grandmother or possi-
bly great-grandmother. Besides the appeal of
their fun, fun, fun, carefree California lifestyle
sound, the Beach Boys have always been
identified with the lush, complex harmonies
that poured forth from the brain of Beach
Boys co-founder
Brian Wilson.
your birth. There’s something about Beach
Boys music that transcends time. I have a
DVD of the Beach Boys’ 50th anniversary
tour concert that was recorded in Phoenix in
2012. The audience was comprised of three,
possibly four, generations of fans. There were
audience shots of little girls moving to the
music right next to their grandmother or possi-
bly great-grandmother. Besides the appeal of
their fun, fun, fun, carefree California lifestyle
sound, the Beach Boys have always been
identified with the lush, complex harmonies
that poured forth from the brain of Beach
Boys co-founder
Brian Wilson.
Brian Wilson was
the musical genius
behind a 1966
Beach Boys album
called “Pet Sounds.”
The Beach Boys’ 11th
album, “Pet Sounds”
was one of the first
concept albums in
musical history and
broke barriers in its use of layers of vocal
harmonies, symphonic arrangements, and
the inclusion of unusual instruments such
as harpsichords, bicycle bells and detuned
12-string guitars. In 2003, Rolling Stone
magazine ranked “Pet Sounds” No. 2 on its
behind a 1966
Beach Boys album
called “Pet Sounds.”
The Beach Boys’ 11th
album, “Pet Sounds”
was one of the first
concept albums in
musical history and
broke barriers in its use of layers of vocal
harmonies, symphonic arrangements, and
the inclusion of unusual instruments such
as harpsichords, bicycle bells and detuned
12-string guitars. In 2003, Rolling Stone
magazine ranked “Pet Sounds” No. 2 on its
“500 Greatest Albums
of All Time” list.
of All Time” list.
The opening track on
“Pet Sounds” is a song
called “Wouldn’t It Be
Nice.” Written by Brian
Wilson while the other
Beach Boys were on
a performance tour of
Asia, the complexities
of the various layers of
the song led Wilson to
turn to a group of Los
Angeles studio musi-
cians known as the Wrecking Crew to record
the music. With Wrecking Crew member Glen
Campbell on guitar, the musicians had to
navigate through the song’s introduction in
called “Wouldn’t It Be
Nice.” Written by Brian
Wilson while the other
Beach Boys were on
a performance tour of
Asia, the complexities
of the various layers of
the song led Wilson to
turn to a group of Los
Angeles studio musi-
cians known as the Wrecking Crew to record
the music. With Wrecking Crew member Glen
Campbell on guitar, the musicians had to
navigate through the song’s introduction in
the key of A, which
quickly shifts to the
key of F while the
bass player lays
down bottom notes
in the key of D. If you
know anything about
music, you know
how convoluted this
sounds and even the
Wrecking Crew musi-
cians thought that
quickly shifts to the
key of F while the
bass player lays
down bottom notes
in the key of D. If you
know anything about
music, you know
how convoluted this
sounds and even the
Wrecking Crew musi-
cians thought that
there must have been errors on their music.
But there were no errors. Regardless of how
it looked on paper, Brian Wilson knew those
were the sounds he heard in his head and he
was able to translate those sounds into the
reality of recorded music.
But there were no errors. Regardless of how
it looked on paper, Brian Wilson knew those
were the sounds he heard in his head and he
was able to translate those sounds into the
reality of recorded music.
CONTACT CENTER
OMNICHANNEL:
WOULDN’T IT BE NICE?
Blending disparate communications
channels into a harmonious experience
for customers and contact centers.
BY
Paul Stockford, Saddletree Research
Each channel works
independently, even though
the customer sees them as
simply being different ways
to reach the same customer
service function.