Tag Archive for: teams

Where has the demand been shifted in Technology?

We work with over 150+ vendors and partners, continually in contact with them. Rather than selling the technology, we looked into how they’ve adapted and what they see as the latest trends.

 

Our partner network says COVID-19 has changed their organisation focus, with some hitting their yearly targets within two months – some having their technology consumption go from 1.5m users to 10m within 21 days – others adapting and creating short-term offerings to plug the hole which they anticipate.

 

The COVID-19 pandemic initially frightened shareholders, investors, vendors and solution providers’ plans for 2020 in the cloud technology market. However, soon after, technology priorities shifted as their prospects and customers faced the pandemic’s force of either group to remote and work from home scenarios or suspending operations entirely.

After enduring weeks of pandemic situations and understanding the beginnings of what a recovery will look like, solution providers are starting to recognise the short-term technology demands of the prospects and customers. According to research by The 2112 Group, these are what solution providers say are the top 5 technologies for the remainder of 2020.

5. Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR)

Companies understand that their operations will cease if they cannot have access to their data and IT resources.   Nevertheless, business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR) services are gaining revived recognition in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Businesses are reevaluating their business continuity plans and resources as they identified gaps in their capabilities during the shift to decreased operations and remote workforces.

 

 

4. Networking

Though basic infrastructure and network may not be the most riveting technology, yet one-quarter (26%) of solution providers claim switching and routing will continue to be an essential product set. Businesses are reevaluating their network capacity demand to account for the shifting use cases as a consequence of the pandemic. Many companies anticipate reconfiguring their networks to support more remote connections and reduced latency for cloud-based applications.

 

 

3. Communications and Collaboration

Before the pandemic, Zoom established itself as one of the popular kids of the cloud-based video conferencing platforms. With Microsoft Teams physically distanced, Zoom with its minimal subscription and free offering sprinted on ahead overnight. Microsoft Teams, Cisco WebEx, and Google Meet observed growth in demand and utilisation. Every video conferencing, collaboration, and unified communications service is witnessing growth as businesses look to empower their new work from home contact centre and aiding the workforce to keep connected during social distancing. As we all look to the recovery period, many think working from home will become the new norm and permanent for many people, shaping communications and collaboration as a red-hot commodity for the foreseeable future.

 

2. Cloud Infrastructure Services

The cloud is earning its keep throughout the pandemic. Each company reluctant around migrating their infrastructure to the cloud – in both hosted or hybrid configurations – discovered promptly through their pandemic encounter the need of having access to data and resources. While the economy took a high in the first quarter as spending came to a sudden halt, cloud service providers witnessed considerable increases in their sales and consumption.

 

 

 

 

1. Security

For the past couple of years, Security technologies are always high on the agenda and demand as the threat of hackers is everywhere, and growing government regulations enforce data protection. The pandemic exposed new problems with IT security: An uneven distribution. As businesses moved to a work from home strategy, they soon realised that their security standards weren’t up to the job. People leaving the office were now using home PCs with consumer operating systems, inadequate security software, and poorly secured WiFi networks. Security technologies – especially managed security services – is witnessing growing demand as business reinforce their data protection measures to account for their distributed workforces.

 

 

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How Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will revolutionise the future of Contact Centres

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) has never been higher with current spend more than $35.7 billion in 2019 and predicted to more than double by 2022 to $79.2 billion. 

Excelien looks into how AI will make an impact in 2020 in the Contact Centre space, looking into growing trends and future predictions.

Increasing your AI-focused workforce 

Organisations that embraced AI and ML ahead of their competitors will be in a prime position. They will have their data sets in place and skills within the workforce to a point where they can begin to drive the results out at scale.

Research by McKinsey illustrates that up to 58% of companies have implemented at least one AI capability into a process or commodity in at least one function or business unit, an increase of 47% in 2018.

The importance of AI and ML will change from cost minimisation exercises and operational productivity to focusing more on growth projects.

AI and ML will continue to deliver automation and operational efficiencies, though 2020 is set for companies to deploy AI in ways that support business advancement.

Chatbots increasing the bottom line and helping agents

Automating suggestions of relevant products and service resolutions to the agents at the pace of the conversation is the most common way that chatbots are being used more productively in contact centres.

Chatbots are known as the most common form of AI. There are more uses for AI within Contact Centre and as AI matures and continues to embed into more technologies such as self-service, interactive voice responses (IVRs) and analytics systems, the more data, AI and ML will have to grow.

AI is continuously growing in the contact centre signifying a shift from a “nice to have” to a technology meriting of substantial investment.

The silo mentality – The “unknown” reason for poor customer service

In the common contact centre, silos will exist at the individual agent level, team level, senior level and across the business, with each level having little or no idea what’s occurring beyond the immediate co-workers.

AI solutions will rapidly develop, and particular silos of data inside the contact centre will be consolidated with data sources across the business to produce more precise and improved results.

Customer-focused businesses will realise that this adaptability and integration with a broader spectrum of AI solutions can be a vital key to their success and retention of customers.

Contact Centres will combine their knowledge alongside AI

When customers call into the call centre, customers expect to have answers – and with AI they won’t have to. AI has a significant function in assembling the collected data pool within the organisation to deliver results faster and more efficiently.

Moving into 2020, we’ll frequently recognise AI connect the data gaps among cloud-based communication solutions and contact centres, enabling consumers to receive and benefit from the information of various departments within a business in real-time.

It includes the conception of virtual assistants and the use of video applications to enhance the outcomes and promptness of customer experiences.

Enhance your data with better management

When we think of AI now, attention is drawn commonly to self-driving smart cars, Apple’s Siri or Amazon Echo, but 2020 will see a greater focus on AI and how organisations utilise its most expensive commodity, data.

Using AI and ML, businesses can gain more profound insights into their data give logical clarity and direction to make more informed decisions. 

Ultimately, guiding the business into the future, faster and quicker.

In summary, the journey for AI has only just begun for many organisations; however, to reap the rewards, organisations will need to look at significant investments and not the short-term goals. In 2020, there will be an increased need for data engineers to meet the AI and ML demand for an evergrowing market. 

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