Uc Today - Out Loud

Call routing has always been considered a dark art with little or no recognition within businesses, despite the crucial role it plays within system functions. From Automatic Call Distributors through the development of CTI systems, the development of routing has come a long way. Queue based routing was the original premise with skills based routing a later enhancement. Now we have reached the age of predictive routing where AI can be utilised to maximise potential. 

Customer Contact Week is arguably the biggest and most important contact centre, CX and customer care event on the planet. UC Today attended the event this year, which took place in Las Vegas in June. Five9 was the main sponsor and one of the most visible and prominent brands at the event. Patrick is joined by some of their executive team to discuss the event from a Five9 perspective but also review their position in the industry. 

As usual loads has been going on in the world of Cisco collaboration. Our monthly update for June brings you all the latest news and updates for the platforms. Webex Teams has a new user interface (UI) and our Cisco expert takes us through the main changes. The changes all tie into Cisco's drive to make the platform as simple to use as possible. Further integration with the WebEx meetings platforms has also been enabled. 

Security threats continue to grow, evolve, and multiply, continually threatening organisations with a variety of undesirable outcomes. Now more than ever it is vital to clearly establish the most efficient and effective way of protecting your business systems. As organisations adopt more collaboration and communication solutions the risk of breach potentially increases with more access points for intruders. Security cannot be an afterthought it must be present through all stages of planning, deployment and usage. 

Workforce behaviour is changing dramatically, the rise in remote and flexible working is dictating the requirements for employers. The youngest members of the workforce have very different ideas about how they are most productive, the traditional office setup and the tools businesses provide may not align with that. We also need to consider the next workforce generation who are not yet in employment but will be the graduates of the future in the next 5 to 10 years as their ideals might be even more radical. 

Organisations spend huge amounts of money on their public image. Branding, websites and marketing materials all play a crucial role in amplifying and enhancing a company's public image, but what about your telephony on hold systems? For too long phone systems have had unprofessional and inefficient on hold systems, often considered to be unimportant they actually play a huge role in the frontline of customer services. In this episode we discuss these systems and how they can be enhanced. 

RingCentral have commissioned some research in their Zen Survey examining collaboration, where they try to establish the most efficient ways of working. The huge amount of communication and collaboration platforms available has increased the complexities for organisations when trying to optimise their workflows. Communication and collaboration methods vary according to various factors, including industry verticals but also within the different generations of an organisation's workforce. We take a look at the best ways to avoid disruption and ensure productivity. 

PeterConnects offer a variety of innovative solutions to enhance Microsoft’s Skype for Business and Cisco’s Unified Communications Manager platforms. Their customer contact centre solutions comprise an Attendant, ServiceDesk, ManagerAssistant, OmniDirectory and a ContextManager. We hear from their CEO where we discuss the penultimate leg of their European partner tour and the future of their portfolio. 

The traditional sales landscape is changing. The different purchasing models used by businesses and also within the consumer environment require a shift in sales approach. Many more services are moving to consumption models. Historically a sale for a particular product or service might have been made only once every few years before an upgrade. Now though with the rise in the consumption economy and with increased buyer power, flexibility on the behalf of the buyer is enhanced. We consider these changes and how selling may need to morph to reflect changing industries. 

Ribbon Communications are one of the largest communications equipment and software manufacturers after the merger of GENBAND and Sonus Networks. Their annual event 'Ribbon Perspectives 2018' took place in Los Angeles and UC Today were there to hear from some of their senior executives and bring you a summary of the event. We hear about the importance of the gathering and also about some of their innovative new solutions that took centre stage during proceedings.

Customer Contact Week is arguably the biggest and most important contact centre, CX and customer care event on the planet. This year's event starts on the 18th of June in Las Vegas and UC Today will be there to bring you all of news. One of the biggest and most exciting brands attending will be Five9 who provide leading cloud contact centre software. In this episode we speak to them to preview the event to find out why it is so important for providers of CX enablers. 

Unified Communication platforms are some of the most important business systems utilised by organisations. Providing the vital links between departments, colleagues, partners and customers they are the lifeblood of nearly all industries. But are they working to their full potential? Research conducted by UC management specialists Virsae indicates that many are not. Over provisioning, inefficient design and underutilised capacity are just some of their many findings which could be costing businesses millions worldwide. We hear from Virsae about the research and look at the best ways for businesses to try and improve their systems. 

May has been a huge month for Cisco, following all the April news from their collaboration summit where they announced the end of Spark. The rebranding in full began in earnest in May. We follow up all the news and look at the changes that have come into force. Most of these changes seem to be in line with a general transition in terms of strategy from Cisco, where they are looking to focus more one product set, Webex. There was also some breaking news in terms of departures so we explore those as well. 

Digital and business transformation is one of the main focus areas for organisations looking to modernise and ensure they remain relevant within their industries. Avaya have a huge customer base and their latest promotion is designed to help their customers on their transformation journeys. For every organisation digital transformation is a unique process but Avaya are in a critical position to help their customers examine their communication platforms to ensure that they enable the benefits that transformation can bring. 

Emerging technologies like AI are really creating a buzz within the industry, but how do customers take advantage of the benefits? Pure-cloud communications provider Dialpad are here to help. They have added a specialist AI business TalkIQ to their platform and plan to enhance their existing proposition by adding further AI features and tools to their three main business offerings. 

RingCentral were one of the biggest brands at UC EXPO 2018, we hear from them about their attendance at the event and some of the main trends from this year. Once we hear about their expo exploits we then move on to get their take on the current communication industry. 

Toll fraud has for a too long been a major problem within the UK Communications industry. Every year businesses fall victim to various sophisticated schemes which run up huge bills and leave the businesses to pick up the tab. In today's episode we host a panel of expert guests who all see fraud from a different angle within the UK. Tollring are specialists in fraud detection and prevention and they are joined by their partners BT and Daisy Group to discuss the issues and how the industry can better deal with this threat. 

Communication and internet privacy is a hot topic, not just within industry but around the world globally. Government, big business and cyber-crime networks are all working to track and utilise data gleaned from your user activities, whether that’s what you look at or who you communicate with. Providing insights on how to ensure your privacy online BestVPN not only offer comparative VPN reviews but also other insights onto how to try and keep your data private online.

UC EXPO is Europe's biggest communication and collaboration event and 2018 did not disappoint. UC Today attended the event as media partners so in this episode of the Out Loud podcast we take you through all of the main news from the show. From Cisco through to Microsoft and stopping off on the way to discuss the emerging technologies on show at the event, we cover off all of the news for you if you weren't able to make it to the Excel in London.

GDPR comes into force on Friday the 25th of May and the hugely anticipated deadline has created so much buzz in the industry. A set of regulations that further enforce and tighten the restrictions around organisations and businesses managing the personal data and privacy of EU citizens. There are threats of huge fines for those who don’t comply with the new regulations. We speak to Five9 about how they have been preparing and helping their customers to be as ready as possible.