Everyone has a favorite “best of” list: best songs, best major league pitchers and even best films of the 1980s. Any directed by John Hughes or Stephen Spielberg get my vote. In the spirit of these “best of” lists, I’ve compiled my choices for the top contact center innovations in the newly released Genesys Winter 2018 Innovations Guide.

Our seasonal innovation guide showcases what’s new with Genesys products and services over the second half of 2018, including hundreds of new capabilities and enhancements. For Winter 2018, many of these innovations are geared toward helping contact center employees by using AI and machine learning to simplify everyday tasks. Here are a few of my favorites:

New Era in Forecasting and Scheduling with AI and Automation 

Say goodbye to inconsistent and unavoidable human errors with the first AI-powered automated forecasting and scheduling service for contact centers. What I really love about this capability is that it makes one-click, AI-powered forecasting a reality for contact centers of all sizes. Traditional workforce management software typically has been out of reach for most mid-sized centers. As a result of this new capability, companies can finally get past the frustrations of spreadsheets and use AI to predict best staffing levels. In 30 seconds, you can generate a forecast automatically with 97% accuracy. Before this, it would have taken a data scientist years to do this manually.

You also can ditch the rule-based algorithms from the 1980s and generate schedules 60 times faster than old methods—from hours down to minutes. Compare multiple schedules simultaneously and pick the best one for your business. It doesn’t get better than this.

Automated Agents for Faster Customer Service

It’s time to let AI automate routine conversations using native Genesys or third-party voicebots, including Google or Amazon Lex. These powerful agents offload redundant tasks, letting human agents focus on more meaningful engagement. Automated agents are accessible from a phone, smart speakers, laptop, tablet or app.

Automated Agent Assistance Drives Better Outcomes

Streamline your agent experiences with new tools that give them automated and contextual insights about customers:

  • Agent Assist – This AI-powered virtual assistant analyzes voice or text conversations in real-time. Then it automatically presents agents with guidance and tips during customer engagements. It’s great for on-boarding agents and giving them their own “bot consultant.”  Watch the video.
  • Predictive Engagement and Prospect Conversion – Reach out to online customers and prospects to engage, manage and shape their journeys, resolve issues, and win conversions.

Optimize Routing and Performance

Performance DNA and predictive routing offer AI-automated data sharing between the routing platform and the workforce engagement suite. Correlate employee skills and knowledge with business metrics, such as sales, customer satisfaction, service levels, and contact center metrics.

Add New PureCloud Apps in Five Minutes

It takes just five minutes to purchase and install new premium client (third-party) apps directly from the AppFoundry Marketplace. This new capability removes effort and complexity when adding third-party integrations. Get a free trial experience for select apps to kick the tires and see if the app is right for you. Genesys® PureCloud® customers can sign up for a free 30-day trial with nGUVU, a gamification app for the contact center.

Get More Details in Our Interactive Webinar

Join us for an interactive webinar with Genesys product executives on Winter 2018 Innovations and learn more about “best of” capabilities that take employee and customer engagement to a deeper level. Whether you rely on the PureCloud, PureConnectTM or PureEngageTM platform—or if you’re considering them—you can participate in breakout sessions for a deeper dive. With plenty of time for Q&A, get a jump start on achieving better business outcomes—faster.

Register now for the webinar.