Highlights –

  • The UJET-Google Cloud partnership brings to light the intent of a big brand to provide more complete solutions than toolkits.
  • Google Cloud touts the platform’s ability to handle multiple channels without having to switch between voice, text, and chat.

UJET, a CCaaS provider, announced a partnership with Google Cloud to strengthen its contact center platform and services.

According to various reports and surveys, consumers today opt to deal with those companies that provide decent products and provide strong, personalized customer service than those that offer great products but poor customer service.

Especially the COVID pandemic has highlighted gaps in customer service. Companies and brands were pushed to quickly adapt to a changing landscape – in whatever channel or format their customers prefer.

The result has been massive growth and interest in Contact-Center-as-a-Service (CCaaS) and smart contact centers.

“Customer service is at the forefront,” said Vasili Triant, COO of UJET., a CCaaS provider that has partnered with Google Cloud to strengthen its contact center platform and services.

Market Research Future stated that the cloud-based contact center market will reach USD 45.5 billion by 2030, showing a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of nearly 25%. And the CCaaS market, which was worth USD2.23 billion in 2020, will grow at a CAGR of nearly 18% by 2030.

Many companies, including ChaseData, Alvaria, Avaya, Genesys, Aircall, RingCentral, and Five9, are looking for their share in this expanding market space.

Cisco presents its Webex Contact Center, while Amazon Connect is used by Intuit, the UK grocery chain Morrisons and Rhode Island’s Department of Labor and Training. Google recently introduced its Contact Center AI (CCAI) suite and is now using UJET to help support it.

In November 2021, Microsoft introduced a new CCaaS tool, Dynamics 365 Customer Service. It is a data-driven AI-powered tool that leverages Microsoft Azure and integrates with Microsoft Teams.

Power Virtual Agents are engaged in interactive voice responses and chatbots for SMS, live chat, and social messaging channels. The platform features AI-based routing, real-time transcription, recommendations, live sentiment analysis, and transcript translation.

With traditional contact centers, “ensuring a continuous personal experience across all channels is difficult to achieve,” Jeff Comstock, Vice President for Dynamics 365 Customer Service, said in a press release. “Multiple tools and disconnected data silos prevent agents from having a complete view of the customer journey.”

A direct message from Google Cloud

Triant expressed that when it comes to Google Cloud, the new UJET capabilities allow customers to consolidate their technology stack with a tool managed, provided, and supported by Google Cloud and running on its platform.

The innovative platform integrates with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems and tools and leverages AI, cloud scalability, and multi-experience capabilities. It includes mobile/web SDK (Software Development Kits)  that are compatible with iOS and Android, as well as automatic scheduling, schedule compliance monitoring, and employee scheduling management via Workforce Optimization integration. Customers can avail of self-service using a web or mobile interface using Visual Interactive Voice Response (IVR).

Google Cloud boasts about the platform’s capability to manage numerous channels without having to pivot across voice, SMS, and chat, as well as the ability to foresee customer demands and accurately route calls using AI based on past CRM data and real-time interactions. Agents can view customers in a single workspace that includes real-time AI intelligence, agent call control, and transcription.

UJET SDK features include channel mixing, photo and video sharing, and biometric authentication. Triant also said that the tools could “grab” geolocation data and other identifiers to authenticate customers. Tickets are presented before the agents so that they get inside-out information about the customer and where they have already been. Furthermore, auto-disposition tickets are created and given to agents when they complete interactions.

Yariv Adan, Director of Product Management for Cloud Conversational AI at Google Cloud, explained that the platform brings together support, sales, and marketing data with an aim to provide a more engaging, personalized, and flexible experience. It aims to eliminate the “pain points” caused by data fragmentation and “rigid” customer experience flows.

“Customer expectations are rising at a rate that goes beyond old-fashioned contact center infrastructure solutions,” said Adan. “The value of leveraging AI to enhance customer experience and scale contact center interactions is clear at this point.”

An evolutionary call

The ultimate goal for any business should not just be to define customer needs and to solve customer problems but to better engage customers, said Triant. “Because it’s not if You have a problem, that When You have a problem,” he said.

As consumer demand for self-service and digital engagement continues to rise, organizations investing in a consolidated infrastructure across AI and customer experience will benefit.

Implementing AI in customer interactions and combining sales, marketing, and customer support data results in more tailored and consistent customer experiences, whether that be delivered via virtual agents, human agents, or a combination of both.

According to Adan, Google Cloud CCaaS users have noticed cost reductions, reduced call volumes, and increased agent productivity. Marks and amp; Spencer, for example, cut in-store call volume by 50%, while The Home Depot raised call hold by 185%.

“This allows them to focus on providing the best experience for their customers,” said Adan. In turn, “we continue to stay focused on enabling our customers to provide their customers with engaging experiences in a new post-pandemic world.”

Triant also emphasized thriving landscapes. Contact centers are typical “lots of third-party components piped together,” he said. But it is increasingly shifting to more integrated and efficient solutions.

The UJET-Google Cloud partnership “shows the intent of a big brand to want to provide more complete solutions compared to toolkits,” he said. “That’s where the industry will go.”