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voip analytics

via IT Toolbox

Before implementing a voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) solution, you looked at feature lists, costs, and other purchase decision factors prior to procurement. One important facet of VoIP solutions that is often overlooked is the analytics capabilities of the system.

VoIP and unified communication (UC) systems can track a wide range of data, from the most common types of support inquiries to multi-channel call volume. The amount of business intelligence (BI) generated by these solutions allows you to streamline customer support operations, improve customer experience, and use your resources more effectively. When $41 billion is being lost each year by companies not providing adequate customer service, it’s important to use the BI you have available to improve the customer experience.

Common Support Inquiries
VoIP and UC systems can categorize customer support contact so you can visualize common support inquiries. For example, you can categorize account setup requests, internal and external support inquiries, product-specific problems, and refund requests. This information allows you to keep your self-service support options updated with common issues, look into hiring specialists if complex problems are tying up support lines, and expanding or segmenting the customer support department.

Average Handling Time
How many times does a customer need to contact you before her problem is solved, and how long does it take? While you don’t want customer support representatives rushing customers off the phones with unsolved problems to keep the average handle time low, you do want to optimize the process as much as possible to increase your first call resolution.

A major advantage of improving the first call resolution numbers is decreasing the chance the customers have to repeat their issues, which is a cause of customer dissatisfaction with 72 percent of callers. One method of doing that with VoIP analytics is finding out which agents are particularly skilled at handling complex problems. The interactive voice response the VoIP and UC system uses can check agent specialties and availability to route the call to the agent most likely to fix it on the first try.

If the average handle time is too high, consider implementing a call-back feature into the interactive voice response. This feature takes the name and number of the customer, a preferred call-back time, and a summary of the problem. When there’s a break in call volume, the appropriate agent can call back instead of leaving the customer on hold.

Another benefit of interactive voice response analytics is seeing the typical path the customers take through the system. Identify areas where you can direct the callers to self-service support options, such as your website, to help reduce the volume of calls.

Call Quality
Call quality is a major concern with VoIP systems, as you don’t want customers getting frustrated because they can’t understand the customer support agents. Look at average performance, use call monitoring tools to directly examine call quality, and mark customer contact that notes complaints about call quality. There may be problems that are easily solved, such as improving your network bandwidth or configuring a quality of service feature, but they could lead to long-term frustration if they’re not identified and addressed.

VoIP and UC systems offer a wealth of business intelligence data, from what customers really need help with to your call quality. Use this data to optimize your customer support, improve the customer experience, and identify potential issues to fix before they become long-term problems.