{"id":27632,"date":"2023-10-12T14:58:30","date_gmt":"2023-10-12T13:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/?p=27632"},"modified":"2023-10-12T14:58:30","modified_gmt":"2023-10-12T13:58:30","slug":"highlights-from-ucx-europe-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/gb\/en\/blog\/highlights-from-ucx-europe-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Highlights from UCX Europe 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"

RingCentral was once again at the annual UCX event in London on 4 and 5 October \u2013\u00a0one of Europe\u2019s biggest unified communications conferences.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As usual, there was a packed agenda, including speakers from Dell, Meta, ITV and Trustpilot. Delegates could choose from plenty of panel talks and fireside chats covering the latest trends and insights in communications and collaboration technology.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are some of the topics from this year\u2019s event that really got us thinking.<\/span><\/p>\n

New workplace dynamics bring new challenges<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Pascale and James talk new workplace dynamics<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the session, <\/span>How changing workplace dynamics are impacting your UC&C strategy<\/span><\/i>, RingCentral\u2019s Pascal Coignet and James Currie, highlighted some of the new challenges that have emerged as a result of the <\/span>work-from-anywhere culture<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

They discussed the expectations for employees to multi-task and be contactable wherever they are, and the need for organisations to intentionally create <\/span>collaboration opportunities<\/span><\/a> and invest equally in the <\/span>four modes of work<\/span><\/a> that we now have.<\/span><\/p>\n

They revealed that 84% of employees now work for global teams and almost half of those (48%) have to work together on a daily basis. Given that \u201cwe can\u2019t fix time zones\u201d, said Pascal, this makes collaboration more complicated. For example, at a global virtual meeting, you might have one attendee joining via phone while dropping the kids off at school, another on a desktop in a different time zone staying late at the office, and another missing family dinner time to dial in from home.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pascal and James discussed how AI tools could help to address these issues, such as <\/span>live transcription<\/span><\/a> for catching up on what you\u2019ve missed when you arrive late to a meeting, and <\/span>unlimited whiteboards<\/span><\/a> which enable collaboration across all devices \u2013 both during and after the meeting. More on AI next!<\/span><\/p>\n

AI potential to benefit customers, agents, and the wider business<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Niall, Severine and Jon talk AI<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We\u2019ve already touched on it, but unsurprisingly, talk of AI was everywhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

Enhancing the entire customer journey<\/span><\/h3>\n

In the session, <\/span>Is integrated AI the trick to a highly engaged customer journey? <\/span><\/i>RingCentral\u2019s John Aspinall and Stewart Donnor argued that AI should be used to improve the entire customer journey.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This should start, they said, with more intelligent self-service tools before customers even reach the contact centre, since <\/span>81% of customers try to solve their issue first using digital tools<\/span><\/a>. It could then continue with AI-powered routing to match customers with the best agents, real-time assistance to help agents provide a better CX, before ending with <\/span>AI-driven insights and advanced analytics<\/span><\/a> to ensure continuous improvement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Empowering people, not replacing them<\/span><\/h3>\n

In the panel, <\/span>Will I be replaced by AI? <\/span><\/i>Jon Arnold from J Arnold & Associates, and Niall Carter and Severine Hierso from RingCentral, both highlighted AI\u2019s ability to provide intelligence at scale. They explained how this could provide agents with enhanced customer intelligence as they deal with ever-more complicated enquiries. Again citing the 81% figure, Jon said that typically, the customer is now calling the contact centre as a last resort,<\/span> when they\u2019ve exhausted all other avenues.<\/span> \u201cNow the agent\u2019s in the hot seat; they need to have the right information at their fingertips because there is a lot more at stake.\u201d\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

The panellists also stressed the current limitations of AI. It was effective and trusted for routine, transactional communications, such as logging a missed bin collection, but couldn\u2019t be a substitute for more complex or sensitive interactions \u2013 though it might augment these. Jon gave the example of an agent dealing with a customer enquiry through chat. <\/span>Generative AI<\/span><\/a> could add great value here, producing an answer quicker than the agent could think or type. But he stressed, <\/span>\u201cAI works for you, you don\u2019t work for AI.\u201d<\/b>
\n<\/b><\/p>\n

Niall felt that AI \u2013 especially generative AI \u2013 was <\/span>\u201cdemocratising technology\u201d <\/b>and removing the gatekeepers to it, enabling people to create solutions to solve problems faster.<\/span><\/p>\n

Converging UC and CC is good for employees and customers\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Amir talks UC and CC convergence<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Several sessions referenced the growing trend of <\/span>integrating unified communications (UC) and contact centre (CC) platforms<\/span><\/a>, and the benefits this can bring, such as:<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n