Seriously! Not another analytics play?
For many people, a series of false starts led to scepticism regarding the role of analytics in Customers Experience. The principles were sound, but in practice it seemed too hard to deliver the anticipated benefits and required too much energy to sustain them over time.
Cisco’s Connected Analytics for Contact Centre however, is the real deal – right solution at the right time.
De-mystification of Data
There is a clear resurgence of interest in data. As CX professionals, we can handle more data and we can interrogate it more effectively than ever before. More importantly, we are comfortable challenging it if we are not convinced by the answers it suggests.
In short, we are no longer afraid of data. It has been demystified to the extent that it is now our servant and not our master.
Best Next Action
The demystification of data is part of a paradigm shift that sees data not as an integration challenge, but as an opportunity for insight.
We are more comfortable with analytics and we are changing the way we think about the scope of what it can achieve. In the past, optimisation and efficiency were the limits of our ambition. It was enough simply to be able to describe what was happening in vast volumes of data – but now we are looking for more.
What had been our “descriptive” approach to analytics has given way to “predictive” analytics. We have sufficient data on what has happened in the contact centre in the past to be able to say, with reasonable certainty, what is likely to happen in the future.
But even this “predictive” approach to analytics comes up short. We regularly see scenarios where clients say words to the effect of… “we can tell you when and why a customer is likely to leave, and what do we do? …… we watch it happen”.
In these scenarios, analytics only adds real value if, when it predicts a negative outcome, it tells you what actions you can take to avoid it. Based on experience of what has worked in similar scenarios analytics must include a “prescriptive” dimension which flags the Best Next Action to be taken to persuade the customer to stay.
Cui Bono?
The benefits of this Best Next Action approach touch all stakeholders in the CX conversation – from the contact centre manager who will see improved operational performance to the agent who will have a simplified experience and ultimately to the customer who will experience substantial reductions in effort.
Turning Stones
With the birth of predictive and prescriptive analytical tools, Cisco clients can sidestep the false starts of early adopters and now meaningfully leverage business data to solve and diagnose business issues.
In the past, organisations had to run their operations using only the structured data that they had gathered themselves and maintained within their own data centres. But now, no stone is left unturned and our clients need, and can get, data from everywhere, from every device, at any time to answer questions about their markets and their customers that they never could before. You can find out more here
Let me know your thoughts on this in the comments below or by tweeting @lee_leephill or via LinkedIn – Lee Phillips.
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