Microsoft has taken a bold step into the CRM market with the release of its Digital Contact Center Platform, announced at the firm's virtual Inspire event.
The Digital Contact Center Platform combines audio, video and chat services from an array of products, such as Dynamics 365, Microsoft Teams, Azure and the recently acquired Nuance AI.
The service pulls together productivity and collaboration features as well as customer service technologies, similar to Zoom's own Contact Center. The combination of Dynamics, Teams and Nuance brings together a comprehensive "yet flexible" service for contact centres, according to Charles Lamanna, the corporate VP of business applications and platform at Microsoft.
"Best-in-class" AI capabilities will also power self-service experience, live customer engagements and even fraud prevention, Lamanan notes. Conversational AI capabilities will come directly from Microsoft's $19.7 billion acquisition of Nuance AI, a deal that was completed earlier this year, despite some concern from the UK's Competition and Markets Authority.
"This gives both customers and agents tools to resolve issues faster and with more personalised service, thus reducing resolution times while improving customer satisfaction," Lamana wrote in a blog. "It also enables contact centres to offer targeted incentives to build brand loyalty and upsell opportunities to boost revenue."
On average, customers use multiple channels to communicate with a specific brand, according to Microsoft. The Digital Contact Center Platform will streamline this and offer secure interactions to resolve customer needs with automation, connect them to virtual and live agents that are best suited to their needs, and offer a 'hyper-personalised omnichannel' service.
The will also be real-time insights and analytics to improve customer satisfaction as well as instant trend information with user behaviour tracking and predictive targeting functions.
Microsoft can also offer an extensive partner network for its contact centre network with Accenture and Avanade providing services for 'customer experience transformation'. Additional partners include Hitachi, KPMG, PwC and Genesys.
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