In the past months after engaging with customers from different industries and continents, it is clear, that we are at an inflection point when it comes to customer service and experience. The speed of business, customer expectations and the proliferation of engagement channels, are driving a sea of change in the customer contact industry. As a result, I was not surprised when I recently learned that one of the major global banks had hired a Customer Experience Officer to address this.

One thing that is also clear from my interactions is the focus on voice as a key channel for customer delight and differentiation in combination with new technologies and delivery methods. This is a key reason why Plantronics is now partnering even closer with Genesys.

In fact, a recent Benchmark survey, commissioned by Plantronics, DMG Research LLC concluded that “…the study makes it clear that providing outstanding phone and email-based service and support is a business imperative. And despite the claims that email is the method consumers most prefer for communicating with a business, a call is rated highest when the consumer’s need is the greatest.”

Plantronics is pleased to announce that we’re deepening our ongoing partnership with Genesys by offering a new integration between the Genesys Workplace Desktop Edition (WDE) application and Plantronics headsets through Plantronics Hub 3.10. Now when customers deploy a Plantronics USB enabled headset and Plantronics Hub with Genesys WDE, they will receive integrated call control functionality as well as full visibility and management through the optional Plantronics Manager Pro service.

Many of our joint global customers requested this integration to simplify processes and improve the user experience within their contact centers and thus the overall customer experience. Plantronics and Genesys worked together on this integration to help streamline the customer contact center representatives workflow and freeing up valuable time towards a contact center’s expected wait time.

For example, Genesys customers using Plantronics DA Series USB adapters and Plantronics Encore Pro series headsets can control volume, answer, end and mute calls by simply pressing buttons on the toggle switch. 

What’s more, this data is captured in the optional Plantronics Manager Pro Usage Analysis reports and can be accessed through Plantronics Open Data Access to provide data to quality management systems or status boards. Now, data from the Asset, Usage, Conversational suites are available for Contact Center managers giving insights to what devices are deployed, how they’re configured, who is using the devices and with what applications.

The data provided by the optional Plantronics Manager Pro service further identifies whether agents are engaging the mute or quick disconnect button in unexpected ways. Center managers will also appreciate being able to measure the protection from acoustic events afforded by Plantronics headsets and shown clearly in the Plantronics Manager Pro Acoustic Analysis suite.

Genesys, a leading contact center vendor, and Plantronics, an audio pioneer and communications technology leader, working together means customers now have the option to have a better experience for our joint users putting the focus on ease of use and superior audio performance and customer experience.

On that note, I would like to encourage you to join experts from the industry and Plantronics very own customer contact center in the on-demand webinar coming soon where the discussion centers around the future of voice in contact centers focusing on people, places and technology.

This blog post was co-authored by Peter Jakobsen. Peter serves as the Business Lead for the Customer Engagement segment at Plantronics. The role encompasses strategic alliances and marketing for products and solutions within the segment globally. Peter also leads the development of Plantronics’ Reference Designs which are user defined solution sets. Prior to joining Plantronics in 2015, Peter spent a number of years with Cisco Systems based out of Singapore, where he led Cisco’s Collaboration, Customer Care and Video Solutions Marketing teams inclusive of Tandberg in APJ. Jakobsen was also part of the APJ Collaboration Management Team and the Global Collaboration Architecture Marketing Board.