When you reach out for customer service, do you have different expectations based on the company’s size? Of course not – you expect the same high level of service from your local credit union or travel agent as you do from Amazon, Disney, Apple, or any other large organization.
Every company, regardless of size, needs to think strategically about their customers’ experiences and how they interact with customers. Customer experience (CX) is becoming a priority for all types of companies, not just large enterprises. And now the technology that was once reserved for those with the deepest pockets is available to everyone, at a very reasonable price point.
For small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), each and every customer is vitally important, and the loss of even one customer can be damaging. SMBs can’t afford to have too many setbacks, and even a few unhappy customers can have long-term effects on their business. Today’s customers demand and expect to interact with businesses in their channel of choice and to receive fast, efficient, and effective assistance, regardless if they’re interacting with a 500-person contact center or a 5-person support desk. If they don’t get the service they expect, these customers can easily take their business elsewhere.
Use cases
There’s a wide range of use cases and examples of small- and medium-sized businesses that can benefit from contact center technology, including:
- Doctors’ offices, hospitals, and insurance companies for scheduling appointments and answering patient questions
- Financial services businesses, such as local banks, credit unions, and investment firms for answering customer inquiries about accounts, products, and services
- Travel and hospitality businesses, such as airlines, hotels, and cruise lines for booking reservations, handling cancellations, and making changes to reservations.
- Home service businesses, such as plumbers, electricians, and HVAC technicians for appointment scheduling and answering customer questions
- Non-profit organizations for soliciting donations
The list goes on and on. Even hair salons can use contact center tools to schedule appointments, confirm existing bookings, and answer FAQs like salon hours and location. E-commerce stores can use web chat to offer real-time support to customers browsing products or completing purchases, along with intelligent virtual Assistants (IVAs) to answer product questions, recommend options, and assist with checkout process.
Omnichannel and AI
Today every company is required, by their customers, to offer customer experience across every channel. Consumers expect to interact with businesses in their channel of choice, including phone, email, chat, and social media, as well as with AI chatbots for self service. The demand for self service capabilities has rapidly increased, thanks in part to AI and automation, enabling consumers to get the information they need 24/7. Today’s AI technologies provide personalized interactions, with AI-powered insights to help agents understand customer needs and tailor their responses accordingly.
In order to serve customer needs, SMBs should look for contact center solutions that meet their needs by providing:
- Omnichannel capabilities supporting multiple channels
- Fast deployment, taking hours or days rather than weeks or months
- Simplified packaging and pricing, with predictable and affordable pricing
- AI that is easy to implement and use to assist both agents and customers, with conversational intelligence, agent assistance, self-service, and other capabilities
- Reporting and actionable analytics
- Forecasting and scheduling tools
- Basic CRM integrations
RingCX answers the call for SMBs
While SMBs need to provide the same level of service and support to customers as their larger competitors, they may not have the same tools and technologies as their larger counterparts. Contact center technology can be expensive, complex, hard to manage, and out of reach for many SMBs. Getting the right level of functionality at the right price isn’t always easy, as many of the contact center and CX systems available today are aimed at large enterprises with big budgets.
That’s where RingCentral’s RingCX comes in, providing the right level of capabilities at the right price point for SMBs. RingCX is an AI-first, omnichannel, intelligent solution that is attractively priced yet feature-rich. It’s ideal for SMBs and organizations that may have limited or restrained resources but require the tools and technologies to provide optimal customer service experiences.
RingCX provides inbound and outbound voice, including predictive, progressive and preview modes, as well as complete omnichannel capabilities, supporting more than 20 digital channels. It comes with real-time dashboards and historical reporting, along with omnichannel reporting and analytics that provide a single pane of glass view into contact center operations across channels. Quality Management and Conversational Insights lets supervisors look at deeper trends and root causes. And since it runs natively on RingCentral’s global telephony platform, RingCX can offers reliability, availability, and scalability, along with rapid deployment and ROI.
Conclusion
Accessing the same sophisticated, full-featured contact center tools as larger enterprises has been a huge challenge for many small and medium-sized businesses, putting them at a disadvantage. RingCentral’s RingCX is ideal for SMBs that are looking for a cost-effective and simple-to-deploy contact center solution with full omnichannel and advanced AI capabilities to enhance the customer experience. RingCX levels the playing field, making it easier for smaller organizations to provide consumers with the customer experience they expect.
Originally published Feb 21, 2024, updated Apr 16, 2024